I was a kid in the late 90s and I remember the first thing I did when I got home from school was put down my backpack, grab the remote, and turn the TV on.

In our living room, there was a coffee table between the sofa and the television, I would sit there on the floor with paper sheets and colored pencils, trying to copy the characters. I think these were my first observation drawings.

Among them was a superhero created by Steven Spielberg called Freakazoid! A teenager who spent his afternoons in front of the computer until one day he was sucked into cyberspace and then turned into a lunatic superhero. He fought for justice and freedom with his super strength and super speed, but he also had a “super attention deficit”. He had all the knowledge on the internet and the constant updates made him distracted by extremely random scenes, all while trying to save the world.

During my painting sessions, the Freakazoid theme song kept coming to my mind, I think it was my subconscious making the connections between the 90’s drawing and the current times. Nowadays I feel increasingly more connected and informed, but also more distracted and alienated…

The day has barely started and I have already picked up my cell phone, I check the time, a message, a like, scroll the feed: the news of a possible nuclear war…

Oh, who will save us now?

Look, a meme! LOL

Super teen extraordinaire.

Freakazoid! Freakazoid!

Runs around in underwear.

Freakazoid! Freakazoid!

Rescues Washington, D.C.

Freakazoid! Freakazoid!

Unless something betters on TV.

Freakazoid! Freakazoid!

His brain is overloading,

It has a chocolate coating.

Textbook case for Sigmund Freud.

Freakazoid! Freakazoid!

Check out Dexter Douglas,

Nerd computer ace.

Was surfing on the internet

and was zapped to cyberspace.

He turned into the Freakazoid,

He’s strong and super quick.

He drives the villains crazy

‘Cause he’s a lunatic!’

His home base is the Freakalair.

Freakazoid! Fricassee.

Floyd the barber cuts his hair.

Freakazoid! Chimpanzee.

Rides around in the Freakmobile.

Freakazoid! Freakazoo.

Hopes to make a movie deal.

Freaka me, Freaka you!

He’s here to save the nation.

So stay tuned to this station.

If not we’ll be unemployed.

Freakazoid! Freakazoid!

FREAKAZOID!!!

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(The lyrics to the theme song are by Tom Ruegger, and the music is by Richard Stone. The song won the 1996 Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Original song.)