Alienators: Evolution Continues
Alienators: Evolution Continues (Known as Evolution: the Animated Series in some regions including the United Kingdom) is a French/American animated comic science fiction television series based on the 2001 film Evolution.[3] The show is a continuation of the 2001 Ivan Reitman science fiction film, Evolution.[4]
| Alienators: Evolution Continues | |
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| Also known as | Evolution: The Animated Series |
| Genre |
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| Created by | Louis Gassin |
| Based on | Evolution, by Ivan Reitman |
| Directed by |
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| Voices of |
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| Theme music composer | L.A. Piccirillo |
| Opening theme | "Evolution (Creepy Crawly)" |
| Ending theme | "Evolution (Creepy Crawly)" (Instrumental) |
| Composer(s) | L.A. Piccirillo Jean-Michel Guirao |
| Country of origin | United States France |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of episodes | 26 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
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| Producer(s) |
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| Running time | 22 minutes |
| Production company(s) |
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| Distributor | DIC Entertainment (Worldwide) Dentsu Inc.[2] (Japan/Asia) |
| Release | |
| Original network | United States Fox (Fox Kids) France M6 |
| Picture format | 4:3 |
| Original release | September 15, 2001 – June 22, 2002 |
Created by Louis Gassin, the series is composed by 26 episodes of half an hour each; it is produced by DIC Entertainment, L.P. in association with The Montecito Picture Company, DreamWorks Pictures, Columbia TriStar Television and Dentsu Inc., the latter of which handled distribution of the series in Asian territories. Although the Evolution intellectual property was owned by DreamWorks (and is now the property of Paramount Pictures via its purchase of the studio's pre-2006 live action back catalog), the series itself is now owned by WildBrain, while Sony Pictures Television co-owns the series as well.
The series was the basis for a Game Boy Advance game, that was developed by Digital Eclipse and published by Activision.
Premise
As with the film, the premise of the series is that a meteor carrying organisms that evolve at a very quick rate crashes into the Arizona Desert; single-celled alien organisms on this meteor quickly evolve into monstrous creatures, dubbed the "Genus". A team of scientists, the Alienators, must eliminate all these creatures before they destroy all life on Earth. The characters, Ira Kane, Harry Block, Lucy Mai, and Wayne Green must study all these extraterrestrial lifeforms and find a way to defeat them all. The "Genus" is led by a "humanoid manifestation" named Scopes.
Characters
- Scientist Ira Kane – A biologist, physicist, astronomer, geoscientist, and chemist. His scientific knowledge, along with his excitement and passion about the theory of quick evolution, helps him lead the team in eliminating the Genus.
- Scientist Harry Block – A coach who always keeps up on game scores, etc., and loves coaching the women's team. His strategies help the team to victory.
- Lt. Lucy Mai – A tough and aggressive but benevolent lieutenant trained by a Special Forces team called The Blue Berets. She is very talented with martial arts. She is revealed to be a fan of Broadway.
- Teenage "wannabe fireman" Wayne Grey (who's been renamed Wayne Green) – A 17-year-old firefighter-in-training. Being the first human infected with alien DNA, he develops a "sympathetic mutation", causing him to mutate parallel to any Genus strains encountered.
- Scientist Allison Reed has no direct work with the alienators, but is mentioned a few times, no retaining a relationship with Ira like in the movie.
- General Russell Woodman is the pompous windbag in charge of giving the alienators missions.
- G.A.S.S.I.E.: Stands for "Genetically Altered Symbiotic Stasis in Evolution", and is the team's pet. It was an alien cell originally neutralized by Ira. It evolved into Gassie, a slime creature that yips and behaves just as a dog, who can detect and track other Genus creatures. When Gassie detects the Genus, he quivers and emits a foul odor. He is close with Wayne
- Scopes- the Genus's leader. Super intelligent, maniacal, arrogant, and intent on taking over the universe. His most common form is as a humanoid octopus... though he's also taken on the form of a humanoid wasp, a humanoid cockroach, a centaur with zebra stripes and eland horns, a humanoid tree, a humanoid fusion of a bull and a horse, an organic gargoyle, a humanoid spider, an octopus fused with a wendigo, and more. His name is a reference to the Scopes trial.
- General Granger- An arrogant and treacherous general who seeks to use the Genus to conquer Earth, eventually becoming Scopes's pawn.
Episodes
| No. | Title | Written by | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1–3 | "Survival" | Michael Ryan | September 15, 2001 (Part 1) September 22, 2001 (Part 2) September 29, 2001 (Part 3) | |
| Doctor Kane, Wayne, Lieutenant Lucy, and Harry Block must band together when the Genus return under the leadership of the humanoid Genus Scopes. | ||||
| 4 | "Don't Drink the Water" | Ben Townsend | October 6, 2001 | |
| The Alienators take down a target at The Glen Canyon dam. However, this results in its DNA mixing with the water supply, causing the populace to mutate into human-Genus creatures. | ||||
| 5 | "Slick" | Michael Ryan | October 13, 2001 | |
| 6 | "Swarm" | Ben Townsend | October 20, 2001 | |
| 7 | "Fire and Ice" | Kurt Weldon | October 27, 2001 | |
| 8 | "Meltdown" | Mark Seidenberg | November 3, 2001 | |
| The Alienators race against time when Scopes works to start a nuclear-meltdown to cause a widespread Genus-invasion. | ||||
| 9 | "Junkyard Dogs" | Dick Grunert | November 10, 2001 | |
| 10 | "French Underground" | Nick Dubois and Lance Falk | November 17, 2001 | |
| Split from the other Alienators, General Woodnburn and Doctor Kane must work together to escape Scopes. | ||||
| 11 | "Runaway Strain" | Michael Ryan | December 1, 2001 | |
| The work of two rookie scientists to destroy Genus result on monstrous Genus plants and the team being locking up, racing against time to stop a nuclear bomb. | ||||
| 12 | "Dead Wayne Cells" | Ben Townsend | December 8, 2001 | |
| 13 | "Roman Holiday" | Ben Townsend | February 9, 2002 | |
| The Alienators go to Rome where Scopes be leading an invasion of Genus who copied the genes of zoo animals. | ||||
| 14 | "To Carthage Then I Came" | Michael Ryan | February 16, 2002 | |
| 15 | "Year of the Genus" | Ben Townsend | February 23, 2002 | |
| 16 | "Hot Java" | Michael Ryan | March 2, 2002 | |
| The Alienators race against time to stop Scopes from using a volcano to cause a global Genus invasion. | ||||
| 17 | "Ira Knows Best" | Ben Townsend | March 9, 2002 | |
| The Alienator's rest with Doctor Kane's parents goes wild when Scopes leads an army of Genus copying the local farm stock. | ||||
| 18 | "Itching for the Genus" | Michael Ryan | March 16, 2002 | |
| 19 | "Genus in Your Tank" | Kurt Weldon | March 23, 2002 | |
| 20 | "Cradle Will Fall" | Ben Townsend | March 30, 2002 | |
| When Wayne goes to join the local firefighters, Doctor Kane's work to replace GASSIE backfires when Scopes pops up and forces Wayne back before things heat up. | ||||
| 21 | "Head Case" | Dick Grunert | May 4, 2002 | |
| A visit to Doctor Bradbury goes critical when Scopes works to use mind-control for conquest, using Doctor Kane as a guinea pig. | ||||
| 22 | "End Game" | Ben Townsend | May 11, 2002 | |
| 23 | "General Disorder" | Ben Townsend | May 18, 2002 | |
| On the Arctic, Scopes injects General Woodburn with venom to lure the Alienators to an ambush. | ||||
| 24 | "REAPER 1: Countdown" | Michael Ryan | June 8, 2002 | |
| The Alienators learn of Scopes and General Granger forming an alliance to conquer Earth. | ||||
| 25 | "REAPER 2: The Ark" | Ben Townsend | June 15, 2002 | |
| The Alienators board a space ark and clash some Genus as well as one of General Granger's robots. | ||||
| 26 | "REAPER 3: Alpha Omega" | Michael Ryan | June 22, 2002 | |
| The Alienators confront Scopes as he works to use General Granger to spread the Genus across the universe. | ||||
Home Media releases
In the United States, Lions Gate Home Entertainment and Trimark Home Video released Evolution: The Animated Movie on VHS and DVD on January 29, 2002. This release consisted of the 3-part episode "Survival" in a feature-length format. It was re-released by Sterling Entertainment on November 13, 2003 with the DVD version containing the fourth episode "Don't Drink the Water" as a bonus feature. The entire series is also available on Amazon Video.
In the United Kingdom, Anchor Bay UK released a single DVD/VHS set of the series on June 28, 2004 containing the first four episodes and later on released another DVD containing the next four. Avenue Entertainment would also release 2 DVDs containing 2 Episodes each.
References
- https://variety.com/2001/film/news/dic-teams-in-japan-1117852495/
- https://www.awn.com/news/dic-partners-dentsu-creates-time
- Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 21. ISBN 978-1538103739.
- Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 72–73. ISBN 978-1476665993.