Pretty Smart on Small Screen Too

What’s a junior science whiz with a robot dog, a space rocket and gravity-defying hair to do after he’s saved the Earth from aliens? Go to school, do homework, be in bed by 9 ... invent a time machine, mix up a youth serum, turn a teacher into a 50-foot monster....

In “The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius,” launching at 8:30 tonight on Nickelodeon, the pint-sized hero from last year’s Oscar-nominated, 3D-animated film applies his industrial-strength brain power--and his wacky inventions--to problem-solving in small town Retroville.

Tonight, Jimmy decides he’d rather be a “normal boy” and dumbs himself down to fit in, until he and his pals find that smart is better, especially when a plan is needed to keep Retroville from being flattened by a giant meteor.

In the second half of the show, Jimmy tries to best annoying rival Cindy in the school’s fund-raising candy drive with a door-to-door salesman robot that turns out to have a mind of its own.

In the next week’s episodes (there are two per show) things go typically awry when Jimmy builds a little brother robot who turns out to be more popular than he is, and when he brings Thomas Edison to class to prove a point--and Edison falls for his teacher, Miss Fowl.

(Each Friday show repeats on Saturday and Sunday at 10:30 a.m.)

The spot-on voice cast includes Debi Derryberry as Jimmy, Rob Paulsen as Jimmy’s wonderfully nerdy pal, Carl, and Andrea Martin as the strange but sweet Miss Fowl.

The show’s vividly crafted computer animation is as impressive as it was on the big screen, and Jimmy and his lavishly detailed world, created by John A. Davis, are a quirky treat for family viewing.