Fanboy & Chum Chum is an American 3D CGI animated television series created by Eric Robles for Nickelodeon. It is based on Fanboy, an animated short created by Robles for Nicktoons and Frederator Studios, which was broadcast August 14, 2009 to July 12, 2014 on Random! Cartoons. The series was first broadcast October 12, 2009 on Nickelodeon as a preview, then officially premiered November 6, 2009. The series centers around Fanboy and Chum Chum, a pair of hyperactive, odd, energetic, and slow-witted best friends enthusiastically obsessed with superhero comics, particularly those featuring their favorite superhero Man-Arctica, who also apparently seems to double as a holiday figurehead parodying Santa Claus within the series. Many episodes are based around comical parodies of famous films or contain countless references to popular culture, chronicling Fanboy and Chum Chum's exaggerated, surreal daily experiences and misadventures relating to dilemmas in which they have entangled themselves or the surrounding characters' utter infuriation with their irritating antics.