- Delta State (TV series)
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All the main characters (except the man on the left)
Delta State is a Canadian animated television series, based on a comic book by Douglas Gayeton (which was never released), featuring four amnesiac roommates with the ability to subconsciously enter an ethereal realm known as the Delta State. They face the dual tasks of piecing together their past lives and battling a group of Delta State denizens called Rifters, who seek to control the human mind. The main characters are Claire (Ilona Elkin), Martin (Dusan Dukic), Luna (Lizz Alexander), and Philip (Nicholas Wright).
The series debuted September 11, 2004 on Teletoon, the Canadian cartoon television network. It is the first animated television series to be entirely rotoscoped, taking over 27 months to complete.
Delta State is a French / Canadian co-production with designs, story-boards etc. done by Alphanim in Paris; shooting and recording were performed by Nelvana Canada. The project was conceived by Douglas Gayeton, who also directed the original pilot and wrote the bible for the show.
The show has won the Special Award for a TV program at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival and the Frames 2004 for best Asian Production.
The series aired in France from March 9, 2005 on Canal+.
Contents
Characters
- Martin Gold: 21 years old and the de facto leader of the group; he has the power of telepathy. Presently the boyfriend of Claire, though he was that of Luna's in his past life. He was a baseball player before a couple of thugs, hired by his own father, broke his arm, ending his career.
- Philip Graff: 20 years old, a perpetually unemployed slacker; he has the power of psychometry, the ability to see the past experiences of selected objects. His mother abandoned him on a bus when he was a baby and he grew up in an orphanage. He has an aversion to lockers, likely because he spent much of third grade being stuffed into them.
- Claire Donally: 21 years old; she has the power of remote viewing. Claire's previous boyfriend was David, who was murdered by a friend named Thomas, because Thomas wanted the full share of the treasure he and David had found while SCUBA diving.
- Luna Palacios: 22 years old and of Mexican descent; has the powers of precognition. She was a bank teller at the Bank of Mexico. There was a robbery at the bank and the getaway car hit and killed Carlita, Luna's little sister.
Rifters
- Sven Ragnar: Commonly guessed to be the "brother" of Maria and heading the acquisition of human minds by Rifters. He seeks to kill Brodie and bares a grudge towards Martin.
- Maria Ragnar: One of the "bad guys", she has deep feelings for Philip and has put herself in danger for him on more than one occasion.
- Professor Robert Brodie: The group's guardian and mentor. He was involved in a government project to stop the Rifters, but left because he did not want the Delta State to be used for military purposes. It is revealed he is a Rifter at the end of "The Orb."
- Karla Schneider: The featured Rifter of “First Contact”, who displeased Sven and was disintegrated for her transgression.
- Professor Stork: This Rifter was expelled by Luna and Philip in "A Case Study."
- Dr. Ludwig Von Hayek: A mad scientist Rifter who worked at Icharus, perfecting cold fusion, an unlimited power source for Rifters. Von Hayek was destroyed by Martin, Philip, Luna and Claire in "Fusion."
- Louisa Forterre: The girl Philip has fallen for. Philip expels the Rifter at the end of “The Girlfriend.”
- Aldous Brant: He was possessed by a Rifter 15 years ago. He has Enzio's Rachnosis, a neural degenerative disease, and has less than a year to live. The Rifter in Aldous Brant took advantage of a situation to jump into Raymond Woodly, leaving Aldous dying in a coma.
- Raymond Woodly: Aldous Brant’s best friend and campaign manager. Woodly became possessed when a Rifter jumped into him from Brant. The Rifter was NOT expelled at the end of “Vote Rifter.”
- Dr. Van Heusen: He was destroyed by Philip, Luna and Claire in “Cabin Fever.”
Other
- Dan: Luna's boyfriend. He also works with Martin at "Soundz", a music store.
- Chantal Thomas: She was a TV psychic. Brodie described her as “sensitive to the vibrations of the membrane of our reality”. She was found and killed by Sven in “The Reading.”
- Jack Staffer: A friend of Philip’s, they met when they both worked at Icharus, in “Fusion.”
Quotes
"Four young amnesiacs hold the fate of human-kind in their hands. Their mission is to protect you from the "Rifters" who want to control the human mind. They may appear to be harmless and self-absorbed but they have astonishing, paranormal powers and an invincible motivation: To retrieve the secrets to their past-lives, hidden deep in the parallel dimension of the Delta State." - Professor R. Brodie, opening credits
DVD release
Teletoon first began releasing Delta State on DVD three episodes at a time on one disc (in sequential order), with a delay of several months between the next batch of episodes. First with "Delta State First Contact" (episodes 1 - 3) released May 16, 2006 and then with "Delta State The Reading" (episodes 4 - 6) release October 10, 2006.
However after only two of these releases, and another delay of several months, "The Detour on Teletoon presents: The Complete First Season" was made available in a two-disc box set (a slightly thicker case then a regular DVD case) on February 13, 2007, with Teletoon's Detour banner at the top of the front artwork. This release however is not 'complete' as it only contains the first 13 episodes, not all 26. To date there has yet to be any corrections nor further releases; and have proven to be difficult to find for download as well.
There has been a re-release of this "first season" by Kaboom Entertainment on October 6, 2009, replacing Teletoon's banner at the top with their own. But according to the DVD menu listed by Amazon, this release only has the first 13 episodes on 2 discs as well. Oddly enough, Kaboom Entertainment's release is priced nearly $10 less than Teletoon's.
iTunes release
In the late summer/early fall of 2010, Delta State the TV series became available for download from the iTunes store. It is offered via iTunes as it was originally intended to be marketed, where episodes 1 - 13 are entitled as 'Season 1', and episodes 14 - 26 are entitled 'Season 2'.
The Comic
The comic book was created by Douglas Gayeton, with artwork by Matt Rockman, in 1996 while both worked at a New York interactive company called Sunshine Digital. Before the project ever hit the bookshelves it was bought by Alphanim, who hired Gayeton to develop the book as an animated series. He shot the pilot with live actors in Los Angeles on a shoestring budget and took a flash-based vector animation approach to completing the project, all this years before the making of "Waking Life". After writing the original show bible and directing the pilot for the series Gayeton moved on to other projects, though he remains a fan of the work. To this date the graphic novel has yet to be sold in stores.
External links
Categories:- Canadian animated television series
- 2004 Canadian television series debuts
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