The Head is an American science-fiction adult animated television series created by Eric Fogel for MTV. It originated as a science-fiction mini-series that aired under the MTV's Oddities label between 1994 and 1996, and was followed by The Maxx. The series was released on DVD on December 15, 2009.

Plot

Created by Celebrity Deathmatch creator Eric Fogel, The Head is the story of Jim, a trade-school student in New York City who awakens one morning to find that his cranium has enlarged to mammoth proportions. A week later, out bursts Roy, a little purple alien with an odd sense of humor who has taken up residence in Jim's head. Roy needed a place to stay to adapt to the Earth's environment while on a mission to save the world from a power-hungry alien named Gork. Roy explains that there are two races of symbiotic aliens: his own, which is mutualistic; and Gork's, which is parasitic. Aiding Jim and Roy are Jim's girlfriend, Madeline; his personal physician, Dr. Richard Axel; and a group of "human anomalies." The group consists of Ray, a landscaper who has a lawnmower blade lodged in his skull; Mona, a beautiful young woman with a short tail; Ivan, a Russian who has a mouth in his chest; Raquel, who has an enormous nose and buckteeth which give her a slightly ratlike appearance; Earl, who has a fishbowl in his mouth; Chin, a long-limbed former freak show performer from China; and the annoyingly normal head of the group, Shane Blackman. A notable aspect was that it was the first ever voice acting role for John DiMaggio.

Characters

Broadcast

After the initial 13 fifteen-minute installments had aired, MTV's Oddities began airing another serial, entitled The Maxx. When The Maxx had finished airing, The Head returned with a fifteen-minute recap of season 1 (The Pasquale Mendoza Show) and a new season of thirty-minute episodes, but the focus often shifted from Jim and Roy to the other "human anomalies" they had befriended. The second season lacked the serialized story structure and each episode began with a secondary opening sequence (following the Oddities credits) which introduced the characters/premise. Shortly after the second season finished airing, The Head (along with "MTV's Oddities") vanished from the airwaves. Reruns of the series were seen briefly on MTV2 in August 2009.

Episodes

The first season follows Jim's and Roy's efforts to stop Gork's race from infecting the people of Earth. The second season focuses on the further adventures of the Human Anomaly support group.

Series overview

Season 1 (1994–95)

The first season consisted of 13 serialized chapters packed into 7 half-hour episodes. The season finale originally concluded with an extended preview of the next "Oddities" serial, The Maxx.

Season 2 (1996)

Home media

The first 13 episodes were released on VHS under the title The Head Saves the Earth. Snippets from the original airings were left off the video version to keep the running time under two hours. The second season was never released on VHS. The "complete series" was released on DVD on December 15, 2009, via Amazon.com through their CreateSpace manufacture-on-demand program. There are no extras. This release omits the MTV's Oddities opening credits sequence, "Inside The Head," and the extended preview of The Maxx that followed "The Invasion." The series was subsequently made available for sale on Prime Video and the DVD was discontinued.

Other media

Graphic novel

In 1996, Pocket Books released a 96-page graphic novel entitled The Head: A Legend Is Born, which was based on an unproduced episode. The cover shows a picture of Jim, and a rectangular panel folds out to reveal a large pop-up of Roy inside of his head. The story takes place after the events in season 2. Roy and Jim have parted ways but reunite to save Mark, Roy's younger brother, who has sent out a distress call from a ship in outer space. Meanwhile, Madeline is abducted by Gork, and Dr. Elliot makes his triumphant return to wreak havoc upon the Earth with the help of his "children". Jim and Madeline's child is born—and they name it "Mark".

Trading Cards

The show was featured in Fleer's 1995 trading card set "MTV Animation" alongside Beavis and Butt-Head, The Brothers Grunt, and The Maxx. The cards included summaries of the first season episodes, character bios (with information that's not revealed in the show), and characters also appeared on the special hologram cards, foil puzzle, and packaging.

Cancelled video game

A video game version of the show was planned and was going to be released both for Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Genesis in February 1995, but was cancelled very early into development. However, the source code for the Genesis version was discovered in May 2014.