Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot (1999–2001) User Reviews

Sadly Cut Down In Its Prime

[sekhmet121 · 9/10 · 4 November 2006]

Very mild spoilers, but I'd figure I'd better play it safe than sorry.

Fifteen feet and ten tons of titanium and sophisticated weaponry, the BGY-11 robot (more commonly known as "The Big Guy) fights for truth, justice, and the American way with a quirky, ultra-patriotic personality. What the public doesn't know is that Big Guy is not the state-of-the-art robot that the Army promised, rather, Big Guy is nothing more than an exo-suit piloted by the reserved and competent Lieutenant Dwayne Hunter (voiced by Jim Hanks). Eventually, however, science finally achieves what it set out to do: create a true, independently functioning military robot. Enter Rusty (Pamela Adlon), powered by nucleo-protons and packed with military grade weaponry - and who also has all the sprightly optimism and maturity of an eight-year-old boy. His "mother", Dr. Erika Slate (Gabrielle Carteris) designed him to be a true artificial intelligence to learn from experience just as a human would. Unfortunately, the Army expected far too much from the inexperienced Rusty, making his first mission a failure. It was then decided by the powers that be that Big Guy and Rusty would be forged into a permanent team, with Rusty learning the ropes of world saving from the "robot" hero he idolizes. Add a bit of the greedy and slightly stupid CEO Dr. Donovan (Stephen Root) and his talking monkey Jenny (Kathy Kinney), and you've got yourself an amazing show.

Packed with action, great animation, often surprisingly mature humor, and a great cast, Big Guy was one of my favorites back in the day. It's a darn shame they canceled this gem, but you can find some episodes on youtube or the like. A truly great show.

A Cute Show

[Ginger87 · 5 August 2004]

I watched this on Fox Kids and grew attached to it. It was funny, patriotic, and Rusty was so cute. The plot of this show was really clever and the characters were all interesting. Especially Jenny the monkey.(LOL) She was so funny.

My favorite episodes were: "Rumble in the Jungle" and "Nephew of Neugog", tho I found all the episodes to be really well written and very entertaining. My favorite character was Rusty, who had the same voice(Pamela Segall)as Bobby Hill on "King of the Hill" and Spinelli on Disney's "Recess". I am a fan of both of those shows.

I suggest this show to everyone and give it 9/10 stars.

It's not something I can appreciate it's more of a Mixed opinion

[tailsgamerzy · 6/10 · 5 April 2017]

You see... the main thing that mad me really not like the show was robot kid his face was so disturbing to me I immediately stopped watching it I could not even get through the first episode! I don't like the intro either.. I give this some credit though the design for the big robot (i don't know his name) is really cool! Though I am not watching anymore of it i would much rather watch other shows nevertheless it's okay.. for my standards at least.

Average

[coles_notes · 5/10 · 20 March 2023]

Created for the Fox Kids Network and an adaptation of a comic of the same name by Frank Miller (that one) and Geof Darrow, Big Guy the robot hero we've always needed, the Friendly Giant meets Superman, America's greatest saviour when evil attacks. However the Big Guy has a secret, he's not really a robot but a soldier in a suit, the bold deception Quark Industries, America's leading robotics defence corporation has built its claim on. Finally we follow Rusty, a juvenile, childlike robot also developed by Quark Industries and their first successful true AI, and hopefully a final retirement for Big Guy. A fairly gritty premise set in a not too distant future for a kids show (Frank Miller is likely to thank for that), the cartoon that develops certainly is a kids show, and takes the comics origins to run with many monster of the week fights and shoot em ups. The show is more mature than many of those similarly airing at the time, being adapted by Richard Raynis, featuring quite large guns, explosions, and even the odd implication of death. Also with many surface level commentaries on capitalism and the military-industrial complex, I was kept interested simply to see if it had anywhere to go or much interesting to say. In the end, it didn't really, and with a two part finale of sorts that does begin to provide some cool origin stories but that's it, it was clear this was primarily a kids show meant to fill a time slot demographic consistently. Unfortunately the plots are fairly forgettable, and the vision isn't quite cohesive enough to stand out among everything before and after, unless you're a huge fan of this era of cartoons and have seen all the greats I can't particularly recommend. And it seems Fox themselves felt similarly, airing only the first 6 episodes upon its release, the fully finished remaining 20 eps would sit unaired for over a year, until there was room in a less desirable block in 2001. Cancelled after that single season, it's a show I probably wouldn't have normally flipped on, but it came up numerous times in different lists of 90s - early 00s cartoons to check out and after finding someone had uploaded it in its entirety on YouTube, well all content must be consumed at some point. Rusty is voiced by Pamela Adlon (Bobby Hill in King of the Hill), so hearing Bobby fly around and shoot lasers was certainly fun. The other voice cast in this is also quite astonishing, Fox Kids had developed a reputation for high quality young adult cartoons since 1992's Batman the Animated Series and all its successors, so many greats like R. Lee Earmey, Tim Curry, Ron Perlman, and Brian Doyle-Murray show up for parts. Again most of the episodes are quite generic, with few recurring enemies other than the Legion Ex Machina, it struggled to sell merch and keep kids attention, but it didn't struggle to keep mine over twenty years past its creation. I wouldn't say it was good but it certainly wasn't bad.

A kids series by Frank Miller?

[Kai-18 · 25 October 1999]

It's true. The guy who wrote the Dark Knight Returns (a great story about an aging Batman) and Sin City has created a show aimed for kids. And it rocks! It has strong stories, likable archtype style characters (Rusty is based on Astro Boy, Big Guy looks like a robot from an early 60s cartoon) and a fun atmosphere. And it's not just for kids. I watch it every week and enjoy the action packed adventures with tongue in cheek dialogue from Big Guy. It's theme song seems kinda cheezy at first but it grew on me with it's patriotic overtones (and I'm not even American) if Fox Kids shows more Cartoons like this I'll never get out on Saturday Mornings. Oh, and note that Jim Hanks (Tom's Brother) is the Voice of Big Guy's Alter ego.

Big Guy and Rusty make big smash

[spock065 · 3 March 2001]

Big Guy and Rusty is one of the best cartoons out there today. I read that someone related it to "Gigantor" meets "Astro Boy". The show is filled with voices you wouldn't think of doing a cartoon. R. Lee Ermey is General Thorton, he's still doing military roles but not like his known drill sgt. Stephen Root and Kathy Kinney are Donovan and Jenny, Stephen is Jimmy James from, "News Radio" and Kathy is Mimi from "The Drew Carey Show." Clancy Brown was recently in "Starship Troopers" and now he's all four voices of the Legion in the cartoon. The Big Guy is funny as he dishes out lines like "Who wants pie? Piping hot," with his guns drawn. The placement of his guns are humor enough, they look like arm pit cannons, and when he's not using his guns he's doing wrestling like moves to pummel the bad guys. Looking at the comic book, the animated version looks pretty good. Big metropolitan looking Neutronic City with the Shiny Big Guy and Rusty the boy robot guarding it against disaster. The Big Guy is patriotic while Rusty is learning the ropes of saving lives. With their number one rule, "Robots don't harm humans." This is a wonderful show with humor left and right, enough for the kids and the adults to enjoy. I hope we get more episodes or seasons, or more shows like this.

Awesome

[WeeBey · 18 February 2004]

This was an awesome show that I'd wake up at 6am for. Why'd it end? Did anyone see the last episode? Was there any ending to the show? The comic was incredible but I think it was only one issue and Rusty came only at the very end. That sucked and I wish Darrow and Miller made more. Darrow's illustrations are incredible. He also designed the matrix sentinels and other mechanical devices such as the gun used to suck out the bugs and the Nebucannezzar. Geoff's comic illustrations are so detailed he draws on huge sheets of paper that are then condensed to comic size pages. I also noticed while watching this show that Rusty and Bobby Hill from King of the Hill have the same voice. Cool.

Patriotism at its Best

[terminatrkid · 11 September 2001]

The show "Big Guy and Rusty" was deceptively interesting. Upon first hearing of it, I thought it would be off the air within a week. Of course, I had never read the comic, mind you. Little did I know that one viewing of one episode would lead to me become an absolute fanatic of the show. Not only has it inspired me to buy all the comics relating to the show, but has also inspired me to be a better American and to show respect for my country. That's right, folks. A kid's cartoon show has compelled to salute the flag and recite the pledge of allegiance.

Excellent Design

[funkarificjoe · 24 July 2001]

The artistic contributions of Geof Darrow are great. His designs were used for most of the vehicles and Legion Ex Machina Technology The legion did not appear in the 1995 comic book seres). His Dr. Spiderhead is also the inspiration of Dr. Noidburgh. This cartoon is one of the better shows to come from fox but is being replaced by thier crappy cartoon version of the avengers.