text: 12 oz . mouse 12 oz . mouse is an american animated television series created by matt maiellaro for adult swim . the series revolves around mouse fitzgerald , nicknamed " fitz " ( voiced by maiellaro ) , an alcoholic mouse who performs odd jobs so he can buy more beer . together with his chinchilla companion skillet , fitz begins to recover suppressed memories that he once had a wife and a child who have now vanished . this leads him to seek answers about his past and the shadowy forces that seem to be manipulating his world . in producing the series , maiellaro crudely designed the characters as a cost - cutting measure ; the series is animated by radical axis . he intended for the series to lack continuity starting from the pilot , but established a serial format after starting the second episode . he had constructed an ending for the series as well as a detailed map of characters ; however , the series finale concluded differently from planned . maiellaro cast people around his office for the characters , starring himself as the protagonist and nine pound hammer vocalist scott luallen as the voice of roostre ; the band also performs the opening theme . the pilot episode for 12 oz . mouse , " hired " , premiered on june 19 , 2005 . the series became a regular staple of adult swim 's lineup on october 23 , 2005 and ended on december 17 , 2006 . critical reception was mixed ; some praised the series ' experimental nature , while others felt confounded by it . premise the show revolves around a mouse named mouse fitzgerald ( voiced by matt maiellaro ) , nicknamed " fitz " , who is fond of beer and caught in a world of espionage , love and the delights of odd jobs . the show employs a serial format , and its ongoing storyline developed from absurdist comedy to include mystery and thriller elements . fitz begins to recover suppressed memories that he once had a wife and a child who have now vanished . this leads him to seek answers about his past and the shadowy forces that seem to be manipulating his world . fitz suspects there is a sinister conspiracy which appears to revolve around fields of " [ sic ] " pills beneath the city , and shark ( adam reed ) , clock , and rectangular businessman 's ( kurt ) attempts to control the nature of time and reality . fitz and skillet receive help from liquor ( matt harrigan ) , roostre ( scott luallen ) , stoned peanut cop ( nick weidenfeld ) and others as they engage in gun battles , blow things up , and try to understand cryptic hints . the show also sometimes contains surreal " subliminal " images that flash across the screen during key plot moments , including skulls , mustached snake beasts and people screaming . the series concludes the revelation that fitz has been kidnapped and placed into a simulation by the figure . he is about to be killed by shark and the rectangular businessman , in their true forms outside the simulation , when he is rescued by the true form of peanut cop and a nurse who works in the simulation chamber . they kill shark and rectangle businessman , but it is unknown if they are truly dead because the simulation in which most of the show takes place is probably taking place in another simulation . one of the purposes of the simulation seen in most of the show was to extract information from fitz . the conclusion to episode 20 is ambiguous as to whether or not it is actually the end of the series , as some aspects of the plot remain unresolved – golden joe says " i thought this was done , " to which fitz replies , " i thought so too . i guess we 're not . " development production according to maiellaro , the series was pitched as a table read to the network . he jokingly stated that they accepted it after claiming that production costs would total " five dollars and will take some of the paper sitting in the copier . " maiellaro borrowed inspiration from surrealism and the films of david lynch . he intended for the series to lack continuity starting from the pilot , but established a serial format after starting to work on the second episode . he had constructed an ending for the series as well as a detailed map of characters ; however , the series finale concluded differently from planned . radical axis provided animation for the series using final cut pro . described as " lo - fi animation " , maiellaro crudely designed the characters as a cost - cutting measure , with the exception of , a many - armed monster summoned in the season two episode " chronicles " , which was drawn and animated by todd at the studio , and shark , which was borrowed from the space ghost coast to coast episode " kentucky nightmare " . in a behind - the - scenes clip of the show , maiellaro explained that to animate the series , he would first grab a nearby sheet of copy paper , draw something , and then scan it , followed by him sending the file to an animator . rhoda , a character from the series , was drawn on the back of a script page for perfect hair forever . a scan of the paper revealed the textual contents behind it , which maiellaro decided to leave in . cast maiellaro cast people around his office to voice the characters . he provides the voice of the protagonist , mouse fitzgerald . he originally only gave the scratch dialogue for the character during production of the pilot episode , but chose himself to voice mouse regularly after hearing his lines assembled in the final cut . kurt was chosen by maiellaro to voice rectangular businessman , who " already had that sort of smooth arrogance in his voice " , making him a " perfect " fit for him . matt harrigan was selected to voice liquor , who is " always looking to make light of a situation " , according to maiellaro . nick weidenfeld provides the voice of peanut cop ; melissa portrays an annoying woman in a green sweater , who maiellaro dubs " " . bonnie voices man / woman , picked for what maiellaro stated is a " pouty , stand - quality " in her delivery . nick voices the eye and adam reed plays shark . vocalist of nine pound hammer scott luallen voices roostre ; the band also composed the opening theme song for the series . golden joe is voiced by vishal roney ; after hearing his first take on the character , maiellaro explained that he was left unable to write any of his lines . he proceeded to only provide the basic structure of his lines in the script , instructing him to the rest . title sequence and music maiellaro spent three weeks working with on putting together the set for the opening title sequence . the set was filmed with a motion control camera , and was inserted with miniature explosives and smoke bombs for special effect . nine pound hammer composed the opening theme song ; maiellaro sought for a song representing the " carefree " lifestyle of mouse who " does things like drive drunk , film porno and shoot guns . " maiellaro , who plays the electric guitar in his free time , also composed the song " f - off " , featured in the first episode , which he wrote while working on space ghost coast to coast . episodes the pilot episode for 12 oz . mouse , " hired " , premiered on june 19 , 2005 and became a regular series in the adult swim lineup in october 2005 . an adult swim bumper shown with the sixth installment claimed that twenty additional episodes were being produced and taunted viewers who had complained they couldn 't understand the absurdist presentation . on december 31 , 2005 , a marathon of the series aired , replaying all six episodes followed by the premiere of the then - unfinished seventh episode " adventure mouse " . the second season aired on adult swim on monday mornings at 12 : 45 a.m. est from september 24 , 2006 to december 17 , 2006 . on may 16 , 2007 , the 21st episode , entitled " enter the " , premiered as a webisode . reception ratings the season two episodes , " " and " meat warrior " , were respectively seen by 460 , 000 and 431 , 000 viewers upon broadcast . in addition , the episodes ranked as the thirteenth and twelfth most watched episodes aired by the network for the week of october 23 , 2006 , also respectively . critical reception the series has received mixed critical reception ; about.com 's nancy basile gave the series four out of five stars , opining that the series is " what adult swim should be ... experimental , but in a cheap , simple , not - trying - to - be - cool way . " she found the crude animation " refreshing " but joked that the series " can kill " viewers not used to the slow pace . writing for aol tv , adam finley regarded the show as " the most simplistically drawn of all the adult swim shows , and yet the most complex in terms of story . " he contrasted it with other williams street productions , finding it to " instead [ l ] slowly , revealing a little bit more of what 's underneath the surface while also piling on more and more questions . " rob mitchum of pitchfork media called it " the of the block 's crude style " . justin heckert of atlanta magazine opined that " the animation and art look like they were done by daycare students " , while lucy maher of common sense media rated it one star , criticizing fitz 's " anarchist " qualities and ultimately stated that " parents with teens who are interested in watching should preview an episode or two before letting them tune in on their own . " felix of impulse gamer gave the dvd release 8 . 3 out of 10 , stating he was " left confounded " after watching and noted the video transfer as " decidedly and deliberately rough , with weird unfocused [ sic ] cropping up frequently . " other appearances the hip hop duo danger doom have produced a song inspired by 12 oz . mouse entitled " korn " from their ep occult hymn . the song uses audio clips from the episode " rooster " , with the line " corn dogs for the ' " being recited by danger doom 's mc mf doom and mouse fitzgerald . a scene from the episode " " is visible in aqua teen hunger force colon movie film for theaters . home release a dvd release of the complete series was released february 29 , 2008 , exclusively on the williams street shop . the dvd cover depicts leonardo 's the last supper with the series ' characters replacing christ and the twelve apostles . however , under a black light , the cover depicts the skeletons of the characters , as well as letters and symbols which make out an email address . the series is presented as a single , continuous movie , with newly produced footage bridging the gaps between episodes . it also features production footage , new music , the episode " " in its entirety and collected fan art .