The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius (or justThe Adventures of Jimmy Neutron and often shortened asJimmy Neutron) is an American kids' animatedscience fiction andadventure television series created byJohn A. Davis forNickelodeon. It was produced byDNA Productions alongsideO Entertainment andNickelodeon Animation Studio, and the first Nickelodeoncartoon to be animated incomputer-generated imagery (CGI). Set in the fictonal town of Retroville inTexas, the series follows the adventures of the title character,Jimmy Neutron, a boy genius who is frequently accompanied by his best friends, Carl Wheezer and Sheen Estevez, with Jimmy's various inventions often going awry.[1][2]
The show follows a scientifically-minded boy namedJimmy Neutron from Retroville,Texas[6] who frequently goes on adventures with his two best friends, Carl and Sheen, usually involving his inventions going wrong.
There have also been three tie-ins with special episodecrossovers involving the Nickelodeon hand-drawn style seriesThe Fairly OddParents under the title "The Jimmy Timmy Power Hour" (the first alone, the second and third with the subtitles "When Nerds Collide!" and "The Jerkinators!," respectively); the five main characters from Jimmy Neutron meet with the main characters fromThe Fairly OddParents, Timmy, his godparents, and his two best friends Chester, and AJ, and often cross between each of their worlds of 2D and 3D animation.
Keith Alcorn andJohn A. Davis created Jimmy (then named Johnny Quasar) sometime during the 1980s and wrote a script titledRunaway Rocketboy (later the name of the pilot), which was abandoned. He later stumbled upon the idea while moving into a new house in the early 1990s. Davis re-worked it as a short film titledJohnny Quasar and presented it atSIGGRAPH, where he metSteve Oedekerk and worked on a television series of the short as well as the movie. Jimmy was still called Johnny Quasar before it was decided to name him Jimmy Neutron because the name sounded too similar toJonny Quest.[8]The pilot involves Jimmy Neutron testing a rocket ship that he has invented, and later uses it when he inadvertently stumbles upon a Yolkian plot to conquer Earth. The pilot was aired in short mini-episodes on Nickelodeon before the film's release, and its plot was used for the film. It was later included as an extra on the "Confusion Fusion" and "The Complete Series" DVDs. It was originally supposed to air as a short onKaBlam!, but the show got canceled before the episode aired.[citation needed]
The pilot had a few differences from the main series. In it, Jimmy wore a red and white striped shirt and did not wear his signature red atom shirt, Judy's hair was darker, Hugh wore a blue suit (instead of a sweater vest and tie) and was a bit smarter, the Yolkians all wore grey suits and King Goobot's crown was a different color, the theme song was longer with a few lines that were cut later, Goddard was voiced byNathan Lane,Carl Wheezer had a very different design, main charactersSheen Estevez,Cindy Vortex, andLibby Folfax were absent and the title card had a picture in the scene.
The show began with Jed Spingarn as story editor andSteven Banks as head writer, though the series featured a variety of freelance writers as well. Midway through the first season, Jed Spingarn was promoted to Co-Producer and started writing fewer episodes, while Gene Grillo took his place as story editor. In seasons 2 and 3 the show featured fewer freelance writers and Banks and Grillo wrote most episodes. In addition, season 1 was more episodic and had mostly 11-minute episodes, while seasons 2 and 3 had serial elements and mostly half-hour episodes.
DNA Productions retooled their pipeline when moving from the film to the TV series, to reuse assets for the episodes. Some of the programming team at the studio programmed a special code that allowed the animators to animate scenes inMaya, which can then be rendered inLightwave. This helped the team keep up with the deadline and avoid going over budget.[9]
In 2016, director John A. Davis has stated that he has a story for aJimmy Neutron reboot feature that he would like to make, but he is waiting for the "right situation" to make it.[10]
When asked about a reboot in 2020,Rob Paulsen stated, "Well, I've got to tell you, man. I go all over the world when we don't have thecoronavirus, and people love Carl. They love Carl. I don't think it would be a bad thing at all to reboot Jimmy Neutron. I think that's one of those shows that a lot of people would love to see again. It was very good. Really smart. That wouldn't surprise me."[11]
In 2025, screenwriter Adam Pava unveiled that a potential new film project based on the character was in the works since December 2023.[12]
The theme song was originally written and recorded byBrian Causey ofMan or Astro-man? for the pilot episode. Pop-punk bandBowling for Soup later revamped and extended Causey's theme for the film version theme. Ultimately, the original theme was kept for the TV series intro and outro.[13][14]
Joly Herman ofCommon Sense Media gave the series 3 out of 5 stars; saying that, "Jimmy Neutron has all the trappings of a Nickelodeon show: the preteen peer pressure, the gadgets, the spacey parents. But it's clever enough and funny enough to have earned a devoted following. The script is generally well written and well executed – the adults behind this show approach the project with apparent zeal. [...] Kids will enjoy this program, while parents might get a kick out of some of the gags as well. And though the computer animation may seem a bit freaky for old-school animation fans, it does allow for quality special effects."[15]
A spin-off series,Planet Sheen, aired from 2010 to 2013. The show focuses onSheen Estevez, who accidentally crash-lands on the planet Zeenu in the pilot episode.
^Erickson, Hal (2005).Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 63–65.ISBN978-1476665993.
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