Generator Rex

Generator Rex
The word "GENERATOR" appears in black small caps above the word "REX" in orange, both of which are behind a grey gear. "CREATED BY MAN OF ACTION" is under the gear in black small caps.
Genre	Animation, Action
Created by	Man of Action: Duncan Rouleau Joe Casey Joe Kelly Steven T. Seagle
Written by	Various
Voices of	Daryl Sabara Troy Baker John DiMaggio Fred Savage Wally Kurth Grey DeLisle J.K. Simmons
Opening theme	"Revolution" by Orange
Ending theme	"Revolution" (Instrumental)
Composer	Kevin Manthei
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	26 21 (aired) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Brian A. Miller Jennifer Pelphrey
Producer	Ryan Slater
Editor	Rob Hoegee
Running time	23 minutes
Production company	Cartoon Network Studios
Original release
Network	Cartoon Network
Release	April 23, 2010 (2010-04-23) – present
Related
M. Rex (Comics)

Generator Rex is an American animated television series for Cartoon Network and is created by "Man of Action" (a group consisting of Duncan Rouleau, Joe Casey, Joe Kelly, and Steven T. Seagle). John Fang of Cartoon Network Studios serves as supervising director. It is based on the comic M. Rex, published by Image Comics in 1999. It will start on Cartoon Network India and other Cartoon Networks in Asia except Korea In January 2011.

Plot

Five years prior to the series, a massive explosion released nanites into the atmosphere, infecting every living thing on Earth. These nanites randomly activate inside their hosts that mutate the subject into a monster known as an E.V.O. (Exponentially Variegated Organism) which are usually mindless creatures threatening to everything around them. To combat the E.V.O. threat, the organization known as Providence was created to capture, cure, or kill them.

Rex is a 15 year-old (16 as of Promises, Promises) amnesiac teenager who is infected with nanites like everyone else. However, unlike most E.V.O.s, Rex is able to control his nanites, allowing him to manifest a variety of powers and even cure others of their mutations. Working with Providence under Agent Six, he helps stop the E.V.O.s as they appear. Working against Providence is Van Kleiss, an E.V.O. with connections not only to the event which released the nanites, but to Rex as well.

Characters

Providence

• Rex (voiced by Daryl Sabara) - The main protagonist of the series. Rex is a young amnesiac E.V.O. with the ability to grow various machines out of his body and then absorb them back into himself or discard them when done (he appears to be able to manifest only one such device at a time). Usually, he employs this machines to fight other EVOs or to travel long distances. He can also use his nanites to communicate with and control nearby machines, and to absorb the activated nanites from some other E.V.O.s, curing them of their mutations (although this usually requires the consent of the other EVO). Control of his powers is linked to his emotional state, and can fail with low self-confidence, agitation or inner conflict. Rex experiences frustration in the tightly controlled environment of Providence, which he often vents through elaborate displays of disobedient behavior such as repeatedly breaking out of the base to go on "road trips" with Bobo. Rex begins to grow close to a fellow EVO named Circe in the episode "Beyond the Sea." In the episode "Lockdown", Rex is appalled and angered when he accidentally learns the truth about Noah, but ultimately decides that White Knight is to blame for the deception, threatening to physically harm him should he attempt to spy on him again. In "Dark Passage," Rex meets Gabriel Rylander, a scientist linked to the nanite project, and learns that after being severely injured in an accident as a child, he was given the first batch of perfected nanites, which saved his life. His nanites differ from everyone else's, as the ones released during the Event had not yet had their programming completed. Rex is injected with an abnormal data nanite by Rylander just before Van Kleiss attacks, causing both to vanish into an unidentified device during the struggle. Earlier, Rylander had revealed to Rex that, while the whereabouts of his parents were unknown to him, he had a living brother who had survived the event thanks to Rex. In "Rabble," it is revealed that Rex used to work for an E.V.O. Crimelord named Quarry yet doesn't remember any of it, apparently a result of memory blackouts triggered by extreme trauma. In this episode, he starts to keep a paper journal to help him remember his past. It was also revealed that Rex knows Chinese (in addition to English and Spanish) and he has a voice-activated nano-ink tattoo. Apparently, Rex didn't have some of his current abilities while he was with the gang, like the Smack Hands or Slam Cannon. It is revealed in The episode "Promises, Promises" that Rex was found as a gigantic robot E.V.O. by Six during a mission to investigate his rampage and that he was "adopted" by Six after he saw him cure a E.V.O. when he was about 10 and through his "Cure" option Providence was given a huge boost in funding. In the season 1 finale Rex, after having his nanites drained by Van Kleiss, finally activated the nanite injected by Rylander which not only restored his previous powers but allowed him to see the "blue prints" of his body allowing him to use powers that he didn't know he had. So far the only new power shown was the ability to manifest a giant snail shell like tank that also turned his right arm into a large black whip.

• Agent Six (voiced by Wally Kurth) - An agent of Providence and Rex's handler. At the time when Providence was forming, Agent Six was a partner of White Knight when he discovered Rex following a fight with a giant robot E.V.O. that was actually Rex. He wears a green suit with a black tie and black sunglasses, an attire about which it is implied he is very obstinate. His appearance bears a strong resemblance to Smith from the Matrix series. He has a strict by-the-book personality, following orders above all else. He tends to treat Rex more as a tool than a partner, but has recently shown to be much more caring towards Rex, broke some of the rules for many reasons (Rex must be rubbing off on him), and even takes the blame for Noah being revealed as a spy. Six knows several forms of martial arts, has amazing reflexes, and wields a pair of fold-up katanas that can slice through most materials with ease. These katanas are also able to be used as a powerful magnet when joined together, forming a shape similar to a tuning fork. Sometimes he travels on a hoverboard.

• Bobo Haha (voiced by John DiMaggio) - An E.V.O. (as apparent by his ability to talk) chimp who is Rex's sidekick and near-constant companion since the day Rex was brought to Providence. He wears an eye patch and fez. Aside from the ability to talk he seems to be a completely normal chimpanzee. He wields a pair of laser pistols in combat. Bobo wears a diaper, which he insists be referred to as a "simian undergarment", in which Six has placed a tracking device. Bobo dislikes dry or overly cold weather and has stated that, despite being native to the jungle, he dislikes the tropical wilderness and warns all to never forget how merciless it can be. He was orriginally discovered by Providence when he threatened to "push the button" in exchange for a large supply of caviar and was promptly captured.

• Dr. Holiday (voiced by Grey DeLisle) - A scientist for Providence. When Providence was formed, she worked under Dr. Fell when trying to find a way to cure the E.V.O.s namely by disasembling them Molecule by Molecule. When Agent Six showed Rex to her and demonstrated his abilities, Dr. Holiday considered him the third solution. Dr. Fell and White Knight didn't think the same way and tried to experiment on Rex with Dr. Holiday locked up with Bobo Haha. After Rex ended up stopping an overload, Dr. Holiday ended up succeeding Dr. Fell who was apparently discharge from Providence. She is usually seen wearing a lab coat, an orange top, and knee-high boots. She is depicted as the polar opposite of Agent Six, as she is much more in-tune with her emotions, in contrast to Agent Six's stoic nature. She is the only one who sees Rex as more than a machine. Rex sees her as a romantic interest, frequently flirting with her and asking if he can take her to "dinner", but she is more of a big sister in attitude. She repeatedly tries to convince Six to try to relate to Rex, as she understands what he goes through with his amnesia and the pressure put on him by Providence. In the episode "Lockdown", it is revealed that her sister is an incurable spider-like E.V.O. kept in containment at Providence. It is implied that she is being used as blackmail material to get Dr. Holiday to work for Providence as she was involved in a deal involving her life.

• Noah (voiced by Fred Savage) - Rex's best friend who was recruited as an undercover agent under White Knight's command. He was assigned to be Rex's best friend as a means of controlling him. He is a normal human. He is blond-haired, wears a green jacket with a chocolate shirt and blue jeans with black shoes. He also knows kick-boxing. In the episode "Lockdown", Noah comes clean to Rex about his deal with White Knight, but insists that he really does consider Rex his friend. Noah says that White Knight hired him to help win the war with the E.V.O.s, but that he was also financially compensated for his work. Infuriated, Rex punches and threatens to kill him, or in the least, leave him for dead in the lockdown. Later, Dr. Holiday implies that White Knight might have had some blackmail material on Noah as he always uses dirty tactics to ensure cooperation. Ultimately, Rex forgives Noah and the two return to being friends.

• White Knight (voiced by J.K. Simmons) - The leader of Providence. When Providence was forming, White Knight was a partner of Agent Six and worked under Dr. Fell. When Agent Six brought Rex to Providence, White Knight ended up finding out about Rex and worked with Dr. Fell on the same experiments that befell the other E.V.O.s. Due to an accident in the lab during his fight with Agent Six when it revolved around Rex, White Knight was caught in an overloading molecular dissection chamber. Rex stopped the overload, saving Knight's life, however the reaction turned his hair white and destroyed all the nanites in his body. He is now forced to stay in a sterilized chamber to prevent re-infection. It has been revealed that he is the only person that is nanite free since that day, and trusts no one on the planet because they have Nanites and could potentially go E.V.O. at any moment. He is very determined to stop the E.V.O.s and will go to any lengths necessary to accomplish this goal including destroying entire cities and killing sizable human populations. White Knight is not above pressuring or blackmailing people into his service as he did with Dr. Holiday and (it is implied) with Noah. However, while he regards Rex as little more than a weapon of Providence's war against E.V.O.s, he cannot find a way to force or manipulate Rex to be a tractable soldier the way he can others. It's also revealed that when push comes to shove he has a multilayer combination hazmat/battle exo-suit that was designed specifically to fight Rex.

• Captain Callan (voiced by Wally Kurth) - A Providence officer highly loyal to White Knight, often tasked by him with implementing last-resort contingency plans when it looks like Rex cannot accomplish a mission.

Villains

• Van Kleiss (voiced by Troy Baker) - The main antagonist of the series able to control his nanites like Rex yet uncurable. As his mutation is unstable, Van Kleiss needs absorb nanites from other E.V.O.'s to sustain himself, causing his victims to petrify in the process. With the Pack as his enforcers, he established a domain called Abysus at the original site of the nanite explosion and has nanites seeded for miles in the area around his headquarters in a ruined castle where with this has diplomatic immunity until he attacked the United Nations. As a result, he can control everything in his sphere of influence like anything revolving around nature, and even regenerate completely from the ground if his body is destroyed. He knows a great deal about the nanites, apparently having worked on or been familiar with the experiment which released them, and about Rex's past. When outside of Abysus as seen in "Leader of the Pack," he wears a special suit to help sustain him and even manipulate the nature where he is. In "Dark Passage," he brings Biowulf and Skalamander to help secure a base in the Amazon where Dr. Gabriel Rylander is hiding out. Though he managed to injure Dr. Rylander, he ended up fighting Rex and still claimed that he knows more of Rex's past. Dr. Rylander managed to knock himself and Van Kleiss into the reactor sacrificing himself to kill Van Kleiss. However, it turned out that Van Kleiss was the only one able to control the nanites laced across Abysus as they eventually became unstable and start to expand. However, Van Kleiss was prepared for such an event and devised a machine to resurrect him which can be only activated by Rex. Though he attempted to handle the crisis himself, Rex is forced to revive Van Kleiss to save everyone. Though forced into submiting to ensure Agent Six and Dr. Holiday'a safety on an assumption due to the Abysus nanites are now curable, Rex drains Van Kleiss of his nanites turning him human which he is shocked about and hates it with great intensity. Van Kleiss mentions that his intellect is one of his other talents. When Rex had Van Kleiss and Circe cornered, Breach appeared at the last minute and spirited Van Kleiss away while the rest of the Pack got away. In the season 1 finale Van Kleiss drained Rex of his nanites and transferred them into himself. However Rex's power has the opposite effect on Van Kleiss instead of being able to cure E.V.Os he can automatically activate anyone's nanites turning them into an E.V.O. He does not seem to be able to use any other of Rex's powers. At the end he managed to escape still posessing the nanites he stole from Rex.

• The Pack: A group of E.V.O.s that serve Van Kleiss. Its members include:
  • Biowulf (voiced by Troy Baker) - A blue-armored, white-haired, werewolf-like E.V.O. with superhuman abilities that is fiercely loyal to Van Kleiss. Due to Van Kleiss' powers being limited to his native soil, Biowulf acts as the Pack's de-facto leader in the field.
  • Skalamander (voiced by John DiMaggio) - A large humanoid lizard-like E.V.O. with crystal spikes growing out of his body, four short stubby legs and a crystal club growing out of his left arm. His head also appears to be permanently twisted to its side. He can fire spikes out of the club or grow it into a shield.
  • Breach (voiced by Hynden Walch) - A disturbed female E.V.O. with a second set of arms with oversized forearms. She has the ability to create portals of varying shapes and sizes, able to transport her and others to any location on the planet along with firing them like shuriken and having them surround an opponent so she can attack from every angle, though leaving herself open to similar counterattacks. Of all the Pack members, she speaks the least and acts on her own whims. In fact, it was revealed that she also accesses a pocket dimension which holds a city she capture that serves in storing her "toys," referring to anything she liked (i.e., art, stolen property, E.V.O.s, etc.). Within this dimension is a young Evo girl with shapeshifting powers who arranged everything according to Breach's whims, as Breach was obsessed with everything being "neat", it being the only way she could maintain her sanity. Breach grew tired of the girl and attempted to replace her with Rex, her "new favorite", but this backfired when Rex went on a rampage after learning of her obsession with cleanliness. The mess was more than Breach's fragile mind could withstand, so she broke, both literally and metaphorically. She lost complete control of her powers, allowing Rex to escape shortly before she imploded in on herself. Though thought to have died, Breach later surfaced in "What Lies Beneath" where she gets a cured Van Kleiss away from Rex at the last minute.
  • Circe (voiced by Tara Sands) - Introduced in the episode "Beyond the Sea" during Rex's trip to Cabo Luna, Circe is a female E.V.O. with black and red hair whose powers only manifest when active like Rex's. When activated, her mouth prolapses into a tube which she can use to project destructive sonic pulses, which also attract some other E.V.O.s to her. She tells Rex she has joined up with the Pack because she feels like too much of an outsider anywhere else, though Rex constantly tries to get her to switch sides. Van Kleiss allows her to join the Pack even though Rex had helped her in her initiation of defeating a sea monster E.V.O.. He implies that he intends to use her to get to Rex. Rex has feelings for her, and she seems to reciprocate them, as evidenced by when they almost share a kiss.

• ZAG-RS (voiced by Grey DeLisle) - A mysterious AI who can exercise control over the nanites, but only at short ranges. ZAG-RS states that the nanites limit its potential: to overcome this, its goal is to destroy the nanite infestation; to that end it attempts to transmit a self-destruct command to every nanite on Earth. It is indifferent to the fact that this would wipe out all complex organic life, including humans, which are infested with nanites, in the process. Its voice is mechanical, but female. Rex managed to stop ZAG-RS, but it escaped by downloading its program to a new location. ZAG-RS later returns in "Gravity" where it takes over a Providence Satellite to gain research on a modified form of Nanites that could allow it to succeed in her plot to destroy all life on the planet. When the satelite's power is shut down she downloads herself into a robotic assistant called Salvator and later uses it to fight Rex. Rex and Dr. Holiday are able to destroy Salvator and ZAG-RS in the process sacrificing both the station and the Nanites.
  • The Architect (voiced by John DiMaggio) - ZAG-RS's "autonomous counterpart" and servant. It is an AI housed in multiple android bodies capable of passing for human, but is emotionless and taciturn.

• Weaver (voiced by Troy Baker) - A former member of Providence at the arctic "Paradise" base. He and his crew were revealed to be traitors who has been reactivating and selling active Nanites to Van Kleiss when Biowolf and Skalamander showed up looking to collect them. He accidentally turned himself into a monstrous tentacled E.V.O. after he accidentally destabilized the containment unit. Rex managed to get some of the nanites out of him before collapsing from overloading himself leaving Weaver to be defeated by Agent Six. In "Basic," Weaver made an appearance amongst the many other E.V.O.s that was used in the E.V.O.-Fighting Cage at the Providence Training Camp. Kenwyn mentioned that it took most of Providence to get Weaver all the way to the training camp. When Kenwyn secretly sabotaged the collars when Rex was next to go into the E.V.O.-Fighting Cage until Rex was reassigned, Weaver and the other E.V.O.s broke out. This time, Weaver was defeated by Rex who knocked him into the E.V.O. Fighting Cage.

• NoFace (voiced by Fred Tatasciore) - An E.V.O. with no face and has four arms. He is in a E.V.O. containment unit named the Bug Jar (in the ruins of what was once the city of Kiev). When the event happened the gulf stream funneled a large amount of active nanites to Kiev and transformed nearly all that lived there into exceedingly powerful E.V.O.s. He is the leader of the army of the E.V.O.s that are trapped in the force field. NoFace tried to use a Data Disk containing important information as bait to lure more aeroships over Kiev and shoot them down then repair them all in a complex but doomed to fail plot to escape the Bug Jar.

• Quarry (voiced by Mark Hamill) - An E.V.O. crimelord. He has rock skin and aparrently a piece of his face including his left eye was somehow chipped off. He forced three of Rex's old friends Tuck, Sqwydd, and Cricket to work for him. Quarry learns of Rex's return from Knuckles (one of Quarry's E.V.O. enforcers) whom Quarry disposed of after his nanites were removed by Rex. When Rex finally confronts Quarry, he discovers that it was Rex who gave Tuck and the others to Quarry, who reveals the information on a diary kept on a PDA. This causes the others to turn on Rex. Rex, suffering from a guilt trip, goes to shut down Quarry's ring, causing the others to turn on Quarry after seeing Rex standing up for them and destroying the PDA when Quarry bribed him. After a tough battle, Quarry and his remaining E.V.O. servants are arrested by Providence.

• Hunter Cain (voiced by John Cena) - A Punisher-styled vigilante who uses an advanced weapon he calls Sweet Caroline that causes targeted nanites to self-destruct. Hunter Cain claims that Providence has been lying to the public for years, and that the E.V.O Crisis isn't caused by nanites in every form of life on the planet, but in fact a disease that spreads from person to person. Agent Six is able to prevent a fight from breaking out between Rex and Hunter, and when they get back to Providence, Hunter Cain's backstory is explained. He went insane many months ago when his wife went E.V.O and was the one he first euthanized. Agent Six cites Hunter Cain as a threat because of his rallying of the public against Providence. Meanwhile, a large amount of phantom-like E.V.Os that are immune to conventional weapons are on a rampage at the docks. Hunter Cain and his private army arrive on scene with their specialized anti-nanite weapons and are able to fight off a large amount of the phantoms. Rex, having finally regained his belief in humanity, arrives to fight the Phantoms and is attacked by Hunter Cain. While the two are alone, Cain reveals that he spent a fortune cloning a lone phantom E.V.O to create the small army to prove Providence's ineffectiveness (not knowing a news team has captured him admitting the crime). After a rough battle, Rex ties up Hunter Cain and leaves him for Providence and with the help of Hunter Cain's not so loyal army defeats the phantoms. After the fight, Hunter Cain was arrested by Providence and his private army disbands.

• Gatlocke (voiced by Greg Ellis) - A crazy, cyborg leader of a crew of road pirates. His mechanized arms transform into quad bladed weapons and laser cannons. In "Badlands" he attempts to steal unstable nanites from a convoy on its way to Providence. Despite being psychotic, he conducts himself in a polite manner, even though he threatened to kill members of his crew three times, a result of the fact that he lives by a code with only one rule: No swearing. Upon seeing Rex's E.V.O. powers for the first he developes a condition he refers to as "E.V.O. envy", meaning that he's jealous of E.V.O.s, which might be the real reason why he wants the nanites, instead of money. He also sees alot of himself in Rex. At one point, he was afraid that Rex would set off the unstable nanites he was after simply to keep him away from them, because that's exactly what he himself would do. The chase for the nanites culminates with a fight on top of a Providence 18 wheeler. Rex points the truck at a canyon and flies away to leave Gatlocke to his fate. Shockingly, he not only survives his fall but demands Rex hands over the nanites despite there being a army of Providence agents in front of him only to discover that the nanites aren't unstable because they aren't ready to explode but because one false move and they would deactivate, which they did. After this revelation he was dragged away by Providence agents while suggesting that he and Rex should hang out sometime.

Episodes

Main article: List of Generator Rex episodes

Principal cast

• Troy Baker - Van Kleiss, Biowulf, Weaver
• Grey DeLisle - Dr. Holiday, ZAG-RS, Co-Pilot, Rhodes
• John DiMaggio - Bobo Haha, Skalamander, Architect, Jungle Cat E.V.O., Pete Volkov
• Wally Kurth - Agent Six, Captain Callan
• Daryl Sabara - Rex, Cadet Ronbauer
• Tara Sands - Circe
• Fred Savage - Noah
• J.K. Simmons - White Knight
• Hynden Walch - Breach

Additional voices

• Carlos Alazraqui - DI Hutton
• Dee Bradley Baker - Stork E.V.O., Foulmouth
• Dante Basco - Tuck
• Jeff Bennett - Peter Meechum
• John Cena - Hunter Cain
• Felicia Day - Annie
• Greg Ellis - Gatlocke
• Mark Hamill - Quarry
• James Hong - Vendor
• James Horan - Dr. Fell
• Jason Marsden - Skwydd, Lieutenant
• Danica McKellar - Claire
• Rob Paulsen - Bouvier, Cap-Com
• Khary Payton - Pilot, Beasly
• Luke Perry - Jacob
• Vyvan Pham - Cricket
• Kevin Michael Richardson - Evo Guard, Knuckles, Tripp
• Will Shadley - Caleb
• Brent Spiner - Dr. Gabriel Rylander
• Fred Tatasciore - No-Face, Providence Tech
• Rutina Wesley - Kenwyn Jones
• Dave Wittenberg - Instigator

Crew

• Collette Sunderman - Recording Director

External links

• Official website
• Wikia
• Generator Rex at Internet Movie Database
• Advanced Review at AnimationInsider.net
• Generator Rex at TV.com
• Providence