Totally Spies!

Totally Spies!
Spies, from left to right: Clover, Alex and Sam
Genre	Action, Comedy, Teen , Drama
Format	Animated series
Created by	Vincent Chalvon-Demersay David Michel
Voices of	(English version) Katie Leigh as Alex (Seasons 1 and 2), Caitlin and Carmen Katie Griffin as Alex (Seasons 3 to 5) Jennifer Hale as Sam, Mandy, Phoebe, and Gabby Andrea Baker as Clover, Dominique, Stella (Seasons 3 to 5), and Crimson Jess Harnell as Jerry Lewis (Season 1–2) Adrian Truss as Jerry Lewis (Season 3–5) (French version) Céline Mauge as Alex, Mandy and Carmen Claire Guyot as Sam and Gabby Fily Keita as Clover and Stella Jean-Claude Donda as Jerry Lewis and Terence
Country of origin	France Canada
No. of seasons	5
No. of episodes	130 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time	approximate 22 minutes
Distributor	Disney XD Europe Canal France International Marathon Media Zodiak Media
Broadcast
Original channel	TF1, Teletoon, ABC Family, Cartoon Network, Kabillion
Original airing	November 3, 2001 – March 31, 2008 (France)
Chronology
Followed by	Totally Spies! The Movie
External links
Website

Totally Spies! is an animated television series produced by the French company Marathon Production. Production began in 2001; in 2008 the show ran its fifth and final season. A movie based on the show aired in France on July 22, 2009.

Characters

Main article: List of Totally Spies! characters

Totally Spies! features the adventures and missions of three teenage spies (Sam, Alex and Clover) led by the founder and administrator of WOOHP, Jerry. The surnames of Clover and Alex are unknown.

Main

• Samantha "Sam" Simpson – (Seasons 1–5) (Including the movie): Sam has long, wavy orange hair which is part of the red head family, she has green eyes and she wears a green catsuit. She is the most intelligent, responsible, and practical of the girls, shes serious, worries a lot and isn't good at sports, especially rock climbing. During a brief period, she befriended Mandy. She likes reading a good book besides being an outdoors kind of girl. Her favorite color is purple according to episode "The Granny". Her mother's name is Gabby short for Gabrielle

• Alexandra "Alex" – (Seasons 1–5) (Including the movie): She has short black hair styled in a bob, she is half Caucasian from her father's side and half Hispanic from her mother's side. She wears a yellow Tardis on her head and has brown eyes. Despite her clumsiness, Alex excels in athletics—particularly in soccer. She is funny and always there for her friends. Though she is somewhat of a tomboy compared to Clover and Sam, Alex is just as eager when it comes to fashion and boys. She has a toy turtle named Ollie. Her favorite color is yellow as it said an episode "So totally not a spy". Her mother's name is Carmen and Alex is jealous of a new spy Britney in episode 44 "Alex quits" season 2

• Clover – (Seasons 1–5) (Including the movie): She has medium-short, blonde hair with pretty blue eyes. She wears a red catsuit. Clover is a boy-crazy shopaholic and fashion fanatic. She always knows the latest trends and always makes sure she looks good. Mandy is her rival. She goes through many boys in the show, and she cares deeply about fashion and designer paraphernalia. Her mother's name is Stella and they look very alike.

• Gerald "Jerry" Lewis – (Seasons 1–5) (Including the movie): He is the founder and administrator of W.O.O.H.P. (World Organization of Human Protection). He is a middle-aged, very serious British gentleman. He finds means of transporting the girls to their headquarters, briefs them on their missions, distributes their gadgets, and provides mission support with information or direct involvement. He often annoys the girls with his attitude and constant missions but when in danger the girls are there to help. It is also known that he has trouble keeping his spy identity a secret from his nosy mother, who has only been mentioned a few times in the season. Sam, Clover and Alex once noted that they don't listen to anyone but Jerry, and usually they don't even listen to him.

• G.L.A.D.I.S – (Seasons 3–4) Gadget Lending And Distribution Interactive System. She appears to be very proud of her title and will often refuse to carry out odd jobs, stating that they are '...beneath her...'. This is proved to be a constant source of irritation for both the girls and Jerry. Secret shown she was going out with Jerry's printer. She is later shown to develop her own personality, expressing her own opinions and deliberately disobeying Jerry's orders. She is even shown to be capable of taking up hobbies, such as magic. She takes up a motherly role for the girls, is shown to defy orders and add additions of her own, if she feels that it is best for the girls safety. G.L.A.D.I.S. is return of the series in Season 5 (sent to recycling facility), almost entirely due to fan complaints.

Supporting

• Mandy – (Seasons 1–5) (Including the movie): She is Sam, Clover and Alex's (and later Britney's) rival at school and has long black hair and purple eyes. Being the model of the "popular teenager" stereotype, she is shown to be stylish, popular and pretty (at least in her own opinion) but also bratty, materialistic, snobbish, egocentric, arrogant, cruel and downright maleficent – and apparently she may have inherited these negative traits from her mother- who is nearly identical. She also has a high and squeaky voice with a nasal laugh.

• David – (Seasons 2–3 (and one episode in Season 4):He is a desirable guy in whom all three of the girls (as well as their nemesis Mandy) are romantically interested. He was introduced in the episode "It's How You Play The Game". He loves the arts: guitar playing, poetry, painting, etc. He also has a love of nature and history and hates rejection. He mainly appeared in Season 2, and didn't appear in Season 3 but appeared in one episode in Season 4.

• Arnold Jackson – (Seasons 1–5): He is a classmate of the girls, and is apparently the stereotype of the school's geeks and nerds. Arnold is highly clever but socially inept, and tends to be a bit unpleasant. In some episodes, he acts as a sycophant and minion of Mandy's, yet in other episodes he gets teased by her. He mostly acts as an (unintentional) obstacle to the girls and their goals.

• Britney – (Seasons 2–3,5): In Seasons 2–3, Britney was a minor but important character. Britney was, at the time, the newest recruit to the team and was introduced in the episode "Alex Quits". She has bluish-black hair like Alex's hair with a hair style similar to a mixture of Sam's and Clover's hair and is of Asian descent. She has purple eyes and wears an azure-coloured catsuit.

• Dean – (Season 4–5): He is an agent from WOOHP like Sam, Clover, and Alex. He first appeared in "Evil Promotion Much?" as their trainer and he was later shown in "Deja Cruise" as Jerry's sidekick for Sam, Clover, and Alex's super spies test. The girls have shown some romantic interest in Dean and he is the only boy that can resist Clover, much to her disdain. He is also the only male agent of WOOHP other than Jerry (and later Blaine) to not have a minor role, such as numerous security guards. Dean returned in "WOOHP-tastic" and is put in charge of the WOOHP gadget lab. He is also present and takes part in the final battle in the series finale.

• Blaine – (Season 5): He is introduced in Season 5 Episode 108 "Evil Granny", as the captain of the Mali-U beach volleyball team. His interests are similar to Clover's which led to them dating within 5 minutes of his introduction. As season 5 has a more continuous story, Blaine's relationship with Clover is the first in the series to last for more than one episode (or any other girl for that matter). The next two episodes (#109 and #110) deal entirely with this relationship. It is revealed that he is actually a freelance assassin sent by Geraldine Husk to kill Clover, however he was under the belief that Clover was an evil spy. However, Geraldine later uses Blaine as a trap to capture Clover. At the conclusion of his initial story arc, Blaine joins WOOHP and is assigned to the Australia branch, and is later joined by Britney as his new partner (much to Clover's disdain).

Villains

For the first three seasons, the villains featured in the series were generally one-shot characters used for a single episode. Most of them intend to oppose the world because they have suffered some major disappointment (such as being constantly rejected by men or women) or trauma. Only a few villains ever made a second appearance, which always focused around them attempting to get revenge on the girls for foiling their original scheme.

In the season three finale, the show gave the Spies an actual arch-nemesis in the form of Terry Lewis, Jerry's evil twin brother. Terence was supposed to be the show's final villain, being the main antagonist of the three-part episode "Evil Promotion Much?", originally intended as the series finale. When the show was renewed for a 4th season, Terence was brought back and given a major role as the main enemy of the girls. He forms a Legion of Doom-style organization called LAMOS, composed of the show's recurring villains, in order to battle the spies. Also in Season 4 Mandy Luxe who is the team's school rival with her friends Caitlin and Dominique became Spy-sassins the evil versions of the spies.

Headquarters

The World Organization of Human Protection (or W.O.O.H.P.) is a fictional worldwide spy organization in the Totally Spies!. Founded and headed by Jerry James Lewis, WOOHP uses cutting-edge technology and highly skilled agents to fight crime and diffuse humanitarian crises all over the world. Its headquarters is located in Downtown Los Angeles.The building itself has been shown to be in the shape of a W.

Clover, Sam, and Alex are their top three superspies, frequently called in to solve the most difficult cases worldwide. When he needs them, Jerry can "WOOHP" them to his office at the press of a button from wherever they might be. This is usually done via vacuum tunnels that lead to the office, but they have also been blasted to their destination via rocket ship, teleported, picked right off the freeway via helicopter, and scooped up by a passing train. On missions, Jerry provides the spies with information, analyzes clues, and occasionally steps in to give them a hand.

In season three, Jerry added the computer system G.L.A.D.I.S. (Gadget Lending And Distributing Interactive System) to help him run his office but GLADIS tends to have a mind of her own. GLADIS has been met with a fair share of hostility from fans , which claim that because she now distributes the gadgets she tends to reduce Jerry to a subordinate role in WOOHP, even though he is the founder and administrator. After two seasons, GLADIS was written off the show in season five as having been deactivated due to its attitude.

W.O.O.H.P. is shown to actually have three branches, in America, Europe and Australia. In addition, it was revealed to have a sister organization: W.O.O.A.P., the World Organization of Animal Protection.^[1]

Media

Main article: List of Totally Spies! episodes

TV shows

Totally Spies! ran a total of 5 seasons with 130 episodes, though the United States showed the fifth season a year later than other countries.

On March 30, 2010, it was announced that Cartoon Network US re-licensed Marathon's Totally Spies!. They have also licensed its spin-off, The Amazing Spiez! which cost the channel €16 million (US$21.5 million). On top of that, they also picked up Totally Spies! The Movie, which cost them US$20 million. Firming up its role as one of Europe's leading toon providers to the U.S. TV market, Paris-based shingle Marathon Media has closed a raft of sales with Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon in the States.

In the United States, the show originally aired on ABC Family on Saturday mornings from 2001 to 2002, then on 2003, it premiered on Cartoon Network, it went on hiatus in 2008 but later finished its run during the summer of 2010. It is now currently available on Kabillion's Girls Rule On Demand.In the Netherlands,Totally Spies! aired in 2001 on Fox Kids. Now the show is still airing on Disney XD and Disney Channel. That means Totally Spies! is been aired over ten years in the Netherlands.

VHS/DVD releases

Marathon released Totally Spies! on VHS and DVD in three volumes, each containing four episodes from Season 1. Also, in Canada, Marathon signed a distribution agreement with DEP Distribution Exclusive for a season 2 box-set of DVDs for Totally Spies!.

Three VHS and DVD volumes were also briefly distributed in North America from Goodtimes Entertainment from 2003–2004, but they are now discontinued. Currently, no home videos for Totally Spies! are available in the US.

• Totally Spies Volume 1: First Secret Missions (contains episodes "A Thing for Musicians", "Queen for a Day", "The New Jerry" and "A Spy is Born Part 1")
• Totally Spies Volume 2: The Getaway (contains episodes "A Spy is Born Part 2", "The Getaway", "Stuck in the Middle Ages With You" and "The Eraser")
• Totally Spies Volume 3: Spies Attack (contains episodes "Abductions", "Child's Play", "The Fugitives" and "Model Citizens")
• Totally Spies Season 2 Box-set (contains all episodes from season 2 in 4 DVDs)

Video games

The Totally Spies series was initially followed up with two video games titled Totally Spies! and Totally Spies! 2: Undercover. Both were developed by Mistic Software and published by Atari for the Nintendo GBA and/or DS..^[2][3] IGN rates Totally Spies! 2: Undercover with a score of 4.0/10 citing poor overall game presentation. Totally Spies! 3: Secret Agents has been recently released in Europe and Australia for the Nintendo DS.^[4] Totally Spies! Totally Party was released in North America, Europe and Australia for the PlayStation 2, Wii and PC.^[5][6] There is also a game on Facebook called Totally Spies! Fashion Agents which receives over 300,000 users per month,^{[citation needed]} mostly from France.

Spin-off

A spin-off series on Cartoon Network called The Amazing Spiez! features new characters as spies, though Sam, Alex, and Clover make occasional cameos. Jerry is also seen saying his famous "Hello, Spies!" phrase. It focuses on 4 young teenage siblings, Lee, Megan, Marc, and Tony Clark, with more improvement on their gadgets.^[7] The show had its world premiere on March 15, 2009, on Disney Channel Asia; and it had its US premiere on April 26, 2010, on Cartoon Network.

Comics

A Totally Spies! comic book comes out 12 times a year in Sweden.^[8] A book with about 90 pages come out every month in Brazil as well. Each book represents an episode from the series. They have another comic called Totally Spies Unleashed, this opens with “I Hate the 80s!” in which a bad guy has invented a retro ray that also de-ages people- i.e. Boogie Gus. The second story, “Attack of the 50 Ft. Tall Mandy”, turns their nemesis into a giant in a plot that involves a beauty contest and an escaped evil scientist.^[9]

Opening Sequences

Seasons 1 & 2

The opening sequence for seasons 1 and 2 features random footage of Sam, Clover and Alex in the daily life and as undercover spies from several episodes. When Totally Spies! aired in the USA on Cartoon Network, an opening was composed using footage from season 2, used a silver metallic logo, and an instrumental version of "Here We Go" was used.

Seasons 3 & 4

The opening sequence for seasons 3 and 4 begins with the TS logo appearing, then the camera zooms in through the logo and we get a brief glimpse of the girls in their villa. Their X-powder rings and they go down through a vacuum tube into Jerry's office. Jerry snaps his fingers and the X-powder instantly exchanges their clothes for their spies uniforms. After that, footage from several episodes is shown. In the end, a still of the girls dressed in their spy uniforms appears, along with the purple Totally Spies! logo and the word "undercover" in digital writing below the logo.

Season 5

The opening sequence for season 5 is similar of that to the opening for seasons 3 & 4, but footage of the girls at Malibu University is shown. Even the opening animation of the TS logo has been redesigned.

Reception

The reception for Totally Spies! has been mostly positive. The show was elected as "Best performing cartoon" (Channel 4, UK), has the best ratings (Fox kids UK), and now going to be shown in UK Kids channel (Pop Girl). It is number 1 in its timeslot in France (TF1 and Jetix), Italy (Italia Uno), the Netherlands (Fox Kids, then Jetix, now Disney XD), Brazil (TV Globo) and the US (Cartoon Network), The Den in Ireland was the first TV station in Europe to show new series and episodes. The show has sold to more than 100 countries. In 2004, it was Cartoon Network's second highest rated show.^[10] The show is popular among girls and boys, with, according to David Michel (co-creator and co-producer of Totally Spies!) "a 50% boys 50% girls audience ratio, whereas everybody was predicting the show would score very low on boys". It is also so popular, that, in some parts of the world, a whole range of merchandising was put on the market, with Totally Spies! stationary, dolls, DVDs, computer games, quilt covers, and even costumes.^[11] McDonalds also had their own Totally Spies! merchandising, having Totally Spies! gadgets put with one McDonalds happy meal,^[12] and a performance of 'the spies' in the nearest restaurant if one would finish a colouring picture.^[13]

Most of the negative reactions and criticism claims that the show mimics anime. Anime Insider, a magazine formerly published by Wizard Entertainment, was especially harsh on the show. According to the Oban Star Racers Artbook, Savin Yeatman-Eiffel (creator of Oban Star Racers) was concerned when the script writers of Totally Spies! were hired for Oban Star Racers. He said that Totally Spies! has good qualities, but that their work didn't fit in with his own story and characters. Some of their lines in the script was rather stereotypical girlish, something Savin greatly opposes. Most of the scripts and lines did not make it into the show after Savin made a deal with the script writers.^[14]

Credits

Produced by: Vincent Chalvon Demersay and David Michel Directed by: Stephane Berry Storyboard Supervisor: Damien Tromel (seasons 3 – 5)

References

1. ^ WOOAP is mentioned in the resolution of episode #122
2. ^ "[1]" GameSpot. URL last accessed October 20, 2007
3. ^ "Totally Spies! 2: Undercover Review (DS)". IGN. January 18, 2007. http://ds.ign.com/articles/756/756613p1.html. Retrieved September 21, 2007. 
4. ^ "[2]" IGN. URL last accessed January 12, 2008
5. ^ "[3]" IGN. URL last accessed January 12, 2008
6. ^ Minds, Brighter. "Totally Spies! Totally Party!: Video Games". Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0012VJNFE. Retrieved September 11, 2011. 
7. ^ TV (September 22, 2008). "Marathon to Unveil Amazing Spiez at MIPCOM". Animationmagazine.net. http://www.animationmagazine.net/article/8942. Retrieved September 11, 2011. 
8. ^ "Totally Spies! Comic" (in Swedish). http://www.tidningsguide.se/tidningen-totally-spies/. Retrieved August 23, 2009. 
9. ^ "Totally Spies! Book" (in Brazilian Portuguese). http://loja.editorafundamento.com.br/lstSearch.aspx?sby=0&dsc=Espias. Retrieved August 23, 2009. 
10. ^ [4]^{[dead link]}
11. ^ Totally Spies.com (English)^{[dead link]}
12. ^ Livemagazine.org^{[dead link]}
13. ^ McDonalds colouring picture link^{[dead link]}
14. ^ "Answerman: Saturday Surprise". Answerman. Anime News Network. July 13, 2002. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/answerman/2002-07-13. Retrieved August 9, 2008. 

External links

	Animation portal
	France portal
	Television portal

• Official website
• Totally Spies! at the Internet Movie Database
• Totally Spies! Fashion Agents on Facebook