This Time With Feeling is the second half of the eleventh episode of season 1 of My Life as a Teenage Robot.
The episode was produced in 2002 and premiered worldwide on February 16, 2003 in the United Kingdom and in the United States on November 21, 2003.
Summary[]
Jenny's desire to know the feeling of physical contact (which she naturally lacks, being a robot) leads her to steal a set of prototype artificial nerves from Dr. Wakeman. The nerves, however, have only two settings: tickle and pain. Jenny must manage these while fighting Himcules, a villain whose strength increases when he sees others in pain and diminishes at the sound of laughter.
Plot[]
Robots Have Feelings Too[]
This Time With Feeling (2002) begins with Brad and Tuck engaging in an tickle fight, to which Jenny walks in looking confused at what they are doing. Feeling sorry for Jenny's loss, Brad explains that humans have a nervous system, which enables them to feel sensations such as ticklishness and pain. Jenny however, still feels left out and returns home. Jenny learns from her mother that she was originally intended to be given an artifical nervous system that contains feelings of ticklishness and pain, but wasn't given them due to potential issues they could cause in fighting crime. After Dr. Wakeman refuses to install them for her, Jenny steals the robotic nerve endings and against her mother's wishes, installs them herself.
Nerves of Steel and Feel[]
The next day in school, after installing the robotic nerve endings and setting the dial to "tickle," Jenny goes about the day, thoroughly enjoying the feeling of being tickled for the first time ever (much to Brad's and everyone else's annoyance). However, Jenny's fun is abruptly cut short when she must turn off her ticklish feelings during an important test in class. After asking Sheldon for some help, he accidentally switches her dial to "pain," which causes even more problems. She experiences intense pain even from the slightest touch. Jenny realizes her mistake for adding the artificial nerves now that even the slightest feeling causes her excruciating pain, and ultimately causes her to fail her important test because she disturbed the class by shouting out in pain.
Himcules[]
Later that day, a super powerful villain known as "Himcules" begins attacking town, humiliating people and stealing money. Jenny arrives to battle him, but is still set to her "pain" setting on her nerves and thus is beaten sensless by Himcules. To make matters worse, Himcules feeds on both the physical and emotional pain that other people suffer from which makes him even stronger, making the fight turn to his favor. His pride continues to feed him, even offering Jenny to hit him, which backfires and hurts Jenny even more. Finally with the help of a little girl, Jenny's dial is set back to "tickle" and the battle turns to her favor. Whenever Himcules hurts Jenny, it only tickles her more than ever (to her enjoyment) making her laugh. Along with this, the entire city starts laughing at Himcules for appearing weak, as his attacks are merely ticking Jenny. The humiliation and insecurity he feels reverses his powers, making him weaker and causing his body to reduce into a "90-pound weakling," allowing Jenny to punch him into a nearby jail — and at the same time causing her to feel more ticklishness.
Back to Normal-ish[]
The next day, Jenny's nerve endings are gone, as they have been removed by her mother, but Brad informs her that it was probably for the best. Unknown to everyone though, Jenny has saved one nerve ending under her armpit, so she can still enjoy being tickled when she pleases.
Quotes[]
- Jenny: (looks at the nerve settings) They're beautiful...
Trivia[]
- This episode and its partner episode, Daydream Believer (2002), are both about Jenny wanting to experience human things, experiencing them, and end with Dr. Wakeman removing them.
- Like most episodes of the series, this episode premiered in a handful of countries before the United States.
- This episode premiered in the United Kingdom on February 16, 2003.
- This episode premiered in Australia on May 23, 2003.
- This episode premiered in Mexico on July 11, 2003.
- This episode premiered worldwide after Saved by the Shell (2002) and Tradeshow Showdown (2002), although is chronologically before them.
- During the scene where Brad is "tickling" Jenny, a few animation errors occurs. A subtle one appears when Jenny is being "tickled," the nerve endings on her skirt disappear. Another one appears shortly after in which Brad has a third eyebrow.
- In the gym where Himcules first attacks, there are three weightlifters who bare a striking resemblance to the Three Stooges.
Production Notes[]
- Although this episode premiered in the United States on November 21, 2003, it was actually produced in 2002 according to the credits, as with every other season 1 episode.
- This episode was finished in October of 2002.[1]
- This episode (and every episode before it) was added to the United States Copyright Office on December 13, 2002.
- This episode was finished in October of 2002.[1]
- This episode's production code is 102-023.
- This episode's original title was "Touched" during its early production stages.
- The first draft of this episode's script is dated July 19, 2002.
- The second draft is dated July 22, 2002.
- The script was finalized on July 24, 2002.
- The second draft is dated July 22, 2002.
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