Brak (character)

Brak
File:Brak (character).png
First appearance	"The Lure" (Space Ghost segment)
Created by	Alex Toth William Hanna Joseph Barbera
Voiced by	Keye Luke (1966-1968) Andy Merrill (1994–present)
In-universe information
Full name	Brakley
Gender	Male
Occupation	Student (in The Brak Show)
Family	Dad (father) Mom (mother) Sisto (deceased brother)
Relatives	Poppy (deceased grandfather)

Brak is a fictional character and supervillain on the 1966 Hanna-Barbera animated series Space Ghost, portrayed as a catlike alien space pirate trying to conquer the galaxy. Brak appeared alongside his twin brother Sisto in such episodes as "The Lure" and "The Looters", and was also a member of the Council of Doom (an organization of Space Ghost villains which originally consisted of Zorak, Moltar, Metallus, Creature King, Black Widow, and himself). In the 1990s the Brak character re-appeared on Cartoon Network's animated talk show Space Ghost Coast to Coast, and then became the main character in its spin-off The Brak Show also on Cartoon Network. The last two incarnations of Brak's character changed from an evil genius supervillain into a childlike simpleton. It was confirmed in Cartoon Planet that Brak is a dunce because he suffered brain damage after being thrown into a swarm of Pirranamyte in the Space Ghost episode "The Lure".

Voice actors

Brak's voice was provided by Keye Luke in the original 1966 animated series and Sisto's voice was provided by Don Messick. In the premiere episode of Space Ghost Coast to Coast (in the Beavis and Butt-head parody) Brak and Sisto were both voiced by C. Martin Croker. In all appearances after that episode, Brak has been voiced by Andy Merrill.

Space Ghost (1966)

Brak first appeared along with his brother Sisto as villains on the 1966 Hanna-Barbera cartoon Space Ghost. The two were portrayed as cat-like alien space pirates trying to conquer the galaxy. Brak and Sisto were the main adversaries in the episodes "The Lure" and "The Looters", and the duo were also featured during the six-part Council of Doom storyline (primarily in the episode "The Two Faces of Doom"). Brak was voiced by Keye Luke for all of his original Space Ghost appearances. In the episode "The Lure", Brak and Sisto had cat-like whiskers.

Space Ghost Coast to Coast and Cartoon Planet

Brak and his brother Sisto returned in the premiere episode of Space Ghost Coast to Coast in 1994, appearing as a parody of Beavis and Butt-Head. Brak would continue to make frequent appearances on Space Ghost Coast to Coast, often just yelling short phrases like "All hail Brak!!!" or "Hi, my name is Brak!!". His character would develop more of a personality (as well as an expanded vocabulary) on the spin-off program Cartoon Planet, which premiered on TBS in 1995. Brak was voiced by C. Martin Croker in the first episode of Space Ghost Coast to Coast, but Andy Merrill took over the role for the series, as well as all of Brak's subsequent Cartoon Network/Adult Swim appearances.

In response to a viewer's letter read on an episode of Cartoon Planet, Brak revealed that his current level of stupidity was the after-effect of being thrown into a space dust cloud by Space Ghost at the end of "The Lure". Cartoon Network's write-up for Brak explained: "This toothy, mask-wearing former pirate made his first TV appearance on Space Ghost. It was during this adventure that Brak was irradiated by Pirranamyte, releasing him from the burden of intelligence. Now armed only with his meager wits and the love of a peppy tune, Brak happily entertains fans and annoys his co-stars with equal aplomb. He will continue to do so as long as he receives a steady diet of pineapple and processed meats."

The Brak Show

In 2000, Brak hosted two hour-long Sonny & Cher-style variety specials entitled Brak Presents The Brak Show Starring Brak. These specials were intended to test the waters for a Brak spin-off show, but they received only a lukewarm reception from viewers and fans.

A pilot for The Brak Show premiered unannounced at a very early hour on December 21, 2000. In this new program, a parody of traditional sitcoms such as Leave It to Beaver, Brak plays a suburban teen living with his parents and brother and hanging out with his friend Zorak. This version of Brak is even more childlike and friendly than any previous depiction of him. The Brak Show was added to the regular Adult Swim line-up on September 2, 2001. In addition to Brak's family and Zorak, new characters such as Brak's robot neighbor Thundercleese were added. The Brak Show would run for two seasons on Adult Swim and a third, shorter season of webisodes on the Adult Swim website.

Cartoon Planet 2012

On March 30, 2012, Cartoon Network launched a new version of Cartoon Planet which focused on showing the network's cartoons from the 1990s and 2000s. Brak and Zorak were brought back as hosts. Throughout the characters' dialogue, it is revealed that the original Space Ghost show is considered canon, preceding the events of the show.

Other appearances

A crudely drawn version of Brak can be seen at the end of the Sealab 2021 episode "ASHDTV".

On January 15, 2000, Cartoon Network had an election known as "Cartoon Campaign", where viewers could vote online for a character to be president. Brak was one of the contenders to be nominated. On Sunday March 19, 2000 the winner of the election was announced to be Scooby-Doo who received 17.4% of the more than three quarters of a million votes received, followed by The Powerpuff Girls with 11.1% and Bugs Bunny with 8.6%. A mini-marathon of Scooby-Doo cartoons celebrated the election winner on Sunday, March 19, 2000.

Around 2000, Cartoon Network aired a parody of Survivor called "Staylongers", where Brak and other cartoon characters were on an island and they had to decide who would get to be voted off. Brak ended up not getting voted off the island and won the event. A Staylongers segment was included as a bonus feature on The Powerpuff Girls complete series DVD set, on disc 2, side B.

In 2001, Space Ghost, Moltar, Zorak, Mojo Jojo and Brak interviewed professional soccer player Hugo Sánchez on the Latin America Cartoon Network channel, and again in 2003 interviewing Óscar Pérez Rojas, this time by Moltar and Eustace (Courage the Cowardly Dog). This was in the style of Space Ghost Coast to Coast. In the summer of 2002, Brak made appearances advertising The Powerpuff Girls Movie and Austin Powers in Goldmember.

On New Year's Eve, 2002, Adult Swim celebrated the holiday by having Brak and Carl Brutananadilewski (Aqua Teen Hunger Force) host a New Year's Eve special from 11:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m.

In 2003, Brak started to appear on Adult Swim bumps titled " Adult Swim News", where Brak updated viewers on the Adult Swim schedule. On February 9, 2003, after the NBA all star game, Adult Swim aired on the TNT Network a block called "Adult Swim All Star Extravaganza" as a one-time special from 11:00 p.m. to 12:15 a.m. ET. It had bumps featuring Carl and Brak.

On New Year's Eve 2003, Adult Swim had another New Year's Eve special, this time featuring some of the Adult Swim characters celebrating at Brak's house. It was on this night where The Brak Show was officially cancelled. Adult Swim aired a bump showing Brak and Meatwad reenacting scenes from Pulp Fiction.

In 2018 Brak was featured on the Dr. Demento album "Dr. Demento Covered in Punk" covering songs such as Institutionalized (song) by the band Suicidal Tendencies.

In 1999 The comedic singer Luke Ski released "Baby got Brak" on his album Carpe Dementia parodying Baby Got Back by Sir Mix-a-lot. It was a song about the cast of Space Ghost Coast to Coast

See also

• List of Space Ghost Coast to Coast characters
• The Brak Show