Martin Mystery
Martin Mystery (French: Martin Mystère) is an animated television series based on the Italian comic book "Martin Mystère" by Alfredo Castelli. The show was produced by Marathon Media Group (French television production company based in Paris), and Image Entertainment Corporation (a Canadian production and animation company based in Montreal). It uses an art style similar to Japanese anime. The series premiered on YTV on 1 October 2003 in Canada (its originating country), on Canal J on 15 November 2003 in France and Jetix on 7 August 2004 in the United Kingdom. Premise. The series re-imagines the comic  books' main characters Martin Mystery and Diana Lombard as teenage stepsiblings attending Torrington Academy, a high school located in the city of Sherbrooke, Quebec. They work for a secret organization known as "The Center," which covertly protects the people of Earth from supernatural threats and investigates the unknown and the paranormal. Their allies at The Center include Billy, a small, green-skinned alien who is one of Martin's best friends, and Java, a caveman from 200,000 years ago, who works as a janitor at Torrington Academy and is the arm of the group. Martin's vast knowledge of the  supernatural and his remarkable intuition make him a valued agent of The Center, and compensate for his huge ego and his clumsy attitude. Diana resents these flaws at times, as Martin often does not seem to understand the seriousness of his missions, but generally respects him, and loves him and his way of being himself without compromises. Broadcast. "Martin Mystery" aired in Canada on YTV and Discovery Kids in English, and on Vrak in French, from 2003 until the series finale in 2006. In the United States, the first 7 episodes were originally shown on FoxBox in May and June  2004. Later, Nickelodeon showed "Martin Mystery" from May through July 2005. Nickelodeon's sister channel, Nicktoons Network (now shortened as Nicktoons), aired reruns of the show from 4 July 2005 until 27 April 2008. In other markets. Other channels that aired the show included M6 in France, Rai 2 in Italy, and Jetix throughout Europe (excluding Italy and Poland). Additional channels in Europe included SVT1 and SVT Barnkanalen in Sweden, NRK Super in Norway, Yle TV2 in Finland, GMA Network and Q (now known as GTV) in the Philippines, VT4 in Belgium and ZigZap in Poland. MBC 3, Ajyal TV , and ART 3 broadcast this show in Arabic throughout the Middle East, with the voice talents of Mo'awad Ismail as Martin and Mariam El Khesht as Diana. Crossovers in other series. Marathon and Image also produced "Team Galaxy", "Totally Spies!," and "The Amazing Spiez!". Male characters resembling Martin, Diana, and Martin's rival Marvin have appeared in "Totally Spies!", such as in the episode "Super Agent Much?", and many others. Martin's character guest-starred in the 2007 "Totally Spies!" episode "Totally Mystery Much?" which had him team up with the spies to investigate Yeti sightings. M.O.M. also appeared in  this episode and it was implied that she and Jerry (the spies' equivalent) had been an item in the past. None of the other "Martin Mystery" characters appeared in a "Totally Spies!" episode. Cancellation and future. In March 2006, the show ended production after 3 years on the air with 66 episodes being aired, presumably due to low ratings. The last episode was aired on 27 March 2006. In December 2013, a possible "new season project" was announced on the official Martin Mystery Facebook page. As of 2021, there has been no further announcement or plans for such. However, there  have been talks about a potential digital remaster and re-release of the series in widescreen. Home media. Home video of "Martin Mystery" was distributed in France by "PolyGram" and "MK2". In Italy, home video was distributed by 01 Distribution. Home video for the English version of season 1 was also released in Canada and the United States but has become a rarity in recent years. Reception. Common Sense Media a non-profit organization providing independent reviews, age ratings, and other information about all types of media wrote ""Scooby-Doo" meets "X-Files"; tweens OK."