Monster Buster Club

Monster Buster Club
File:Monster Buster Club Logo.PNG
Also known as	MBC- Chasseurs de monstres
Genre	Action Adventure Comic science fiction Police procedural Science fantasy Monster of the week
Created by	Vincent Chalvon-Demersay David Michel
Developed by	Marathon Media Jetix Europe TF1
Written by	John Derevlany (Eps. 1-26) Al Schwartz (Eps. 27-52)
Directed by	Jean-Louis Vandestoc
Voices of	Sonja Ball Anna Cummer Ian James Corlett Matt Hill Rick Jones Andrea Libman Kelly Sheridan Tabitha St. Germain Sam Vincent Michael Yarmush
Theme music composer	David Vadant Noam Kaniel
Composers	Jeff Fisher Paul-Étienne Côté
Country of origin	France Canada
Original languages	French English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	52 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Vincent Chalvon-Demersay Sylain Viau Co-Executive Producer: Charles Henri Moarbes
Producers	Sylvain Viau David Michel Vincent Chalvon-Demersay
Running time	22 minutes
Production companies	Marathon Media Image Entertainment Corporation
Original release
Network	TF1 Jetix
Release	June 2, 2008 (2008-06-02) – November 14, 2009 (2009-11-14)

Monster Buster Club is a science fiction computer-animation television series co-produced by the French-based company Marathon Media, Canadian animation studio Image Entertainment Corporation, Jetix Europe and TF1. The pilot first aired on October 29, 2007 on TF1's TFOU block. The show debuted on June 2, 2008 on Jetix in Europe, on June 9, 2008, in the United States, on May 3, 2008 in Asia and on May 31, 2008 on YTV in Canada. It was shortly featured on the Disney Channel. Most of the episodes were produced in India by Crest Animation Studios with Autodesk Maya. Fifty-two episodes were produced.

Premise

This show is about three human pre-teens and their alien pre-teen friend, who are all charged with saving their town from alien invasions. They reform a secret organization that was founded centuries ago, the "Monster Buster Club," often abbreviated as MBC. The MBC aims to locate alien criminals hiding in Single Town, capture them, and send them to galactic authorities.

Setting

The show takes place in a small, sleepy town named Single Town. Single Town is two hundred years old and was founded by a man named "Addison Single," who is an evil alien in disguise. Unbeknownst to its human inhabitants, Single Town is a meeting place for aliens from different parts of the galaxy.

Development and production

Mipcom Jr. 2006

Monster Buster Club was first introduced to the public during Mipcom Jr. in October 2006. Marathon (now Zodiak Kids), the production company behind the show, presented their latest animated television series. Having experienced success with 2D shows like "Totally Spies!", "Martin Mystery," and "Team Galaxy," Marathon aimed to venture into the realm of 3D animation. The show received significant attention at Mipcom Jr., becoming the most viewed French program and ranking as the sixth most-watched overall.

The (lost) Pilot

While exploring the director Jean-Louis Vandestoc's blog, intriguing information about the early development of Monster Buster Club came to light. It was revealed that a pilot episode of the show had been created by a different CGI animation studio in 2005, predating Marathon's involvement. Unfortunately, details about the studio responsible for the pilot remain unknown. Despite thorough web research, no concrete information or traces of the pilot could be found. However, Vandestoc mentioned that some images from the pilot were previously accessible on the official Monster Buster Club website before the show's premiere in France. Contacting the show's producers might be the only way to obtain screenshots or further details about the lost pilot.

Co-production and Budget

Monster Buster Club was a collaborative effort between Marathon Media, Mystery Animation, Jetix Europe, TF1, and YTV. The production of the show required a substantial budget, amounting to approximately 23 million dollars. This significant investment underscores the scale and ambition associated with bringing the series to life.

Animation Development

To initiate the production process and establish the show's distinctive artistic style, Max Maléo, the animation supervisor, traveled to India. His primary objectives included defining the visual direction of the series and refining the parameters for animation. Notably, the animators at Crest Animation, the Indian animation studio involved in the project, initially expressed a desire to incorporate "Matrix-like scenes" into the show. However, Marathon successfully persuaded Crest Animation to adopt a stylistic approach inspired by Disney and Japanese anime, aligning with their creative vision for Monster Buster Club. Determining a cohesive style proved challenging due to the differing cultural references between India and France, as exemplified by the contrasting popularity of Dragon Ball in the two countries.

Notable Production Details

Crest Animation showcased their expertise by successfully animating large crowds in two episodes of Monster Buster Club: the first and eighth episodes of the first season. It's worth mentioning that before Jean-Louis Vandestoc assumed the role of director, the previous director had already approved the scripts for the initial 16 episodes. Consequently, Vandestoc was unable to introduce new scripts due to his dissatisfaction with the existing ones.

Episodes

Main article: List of Monster Buster Club episodes

Season		Episodes	Originally aired
			First aired	Last aired
	1	26	October 29, 2007 (2007-10-29)	December 8, 2008 (2008-12-08)
	2	26	January 15, 2009 (2009-01-15)	November 14, 2009 (2009-11-14)

Characters

Main

• Cathy Smith (voiced by Andrea Libman) appears to be a bubbly, 12-year-old girl on Earth, but she is a 250-year-old (or 700 Rhapsodian-year-old teenager) alien from the planet Rhapsodia. She came to Earth with her grandfather, Mr. Smith, to start the Monster Buster Club (MBC). She is constantly surprised at how different Earth is from Rhapsodia. She has many alien abilities, like the ability to stretch, slight telekinesis, and others. She is the most Optimus of the MBC. Her suit color is pink. In her human form, she has blond hair and blue eyes. Her Rhapsodian form is shown to be a humanoid, white alien with scattered pink spots, with four tentacles for arms and two tentacles for legs, as well as tentacles on her head (like hair), and a long, furry-looking tail Compared to humans, Rhapsodians are incredibly long-lived.
• Chris (voiced by Samuel Vincent) is the 12-year-old tech guy of the group. He has indigo-blue hair and dark blue eyes. He is brilliant, with a knack for gadgets. He'll often stay back in the clubhouse and supply intelligence reports while the rest of the group is on a mission. His suit color is blue.
• Danny Jackson (voiced by Matt Hill) is a 12-year-old boy and a nice guy at heart. He's good at sports and has brown hair, green eyes, and a scar over his left eyebrow. He can get overconfident at times. He has an adamant crush on his schoolmate, Wendy. He has an erratic sense of humor and enjoys cracking jokes even in dangerous situations. He has his own self-proclaimed nickname: "The Danny," and refers to himself as such whenever he's performing a task. His suit color is red.
• Sam (voiced by Anna Cummer) – Samantha, known by her friends as Sam, is a 12-year-old girl and is the most level-headed of the group with an often serious disposition. She has dark hair tied in buns and hazel eyes. Officially the MBC has no official leader, she'll often be the member to construct battle strategies and procedures for the group. She, at times, can be bossy. She possesses natural leadership. She'll often put MBC first instead of having fun. She sometimes is the shoot first and asks questions later type. Her suit color is yellow.
• John (voiced by Tabitha St. Germain) is Chris' 10-year-old little brother. He sometimes takes over for Chris at the clubhouse when Chris is on a mission or busy. He really wants to be in the MBC but he is too young.
• Mr. Hugo Smith (voiced by Rick Jones) – Mr. Smith is Cathy's aloof grandfather and came with her to Earth. Like Cathy, he is a Rhapsodian but rarely displays any supernatural powers, and his alien form resembles a mollusk. He'll sometimes aid the MBC from the clubhouse, but often he won't be involved in their missions at all. Mr. Smith loves working in his garden and playing cards with his plants.

Other students

• Wendy (voiced by Tabitha St. Germain) is Danny's crush, a 13-year-old who is the snobby, popular valley girl at the school that the MBC attend. She is known for gossiping and tries anything to get a good scoop. (This is shown in the episode "Bubbleheads" when she follows Cathy to Mark's house because she thinks Cathy's working on another story.)
• Jeremy Flablotnick (voiced by Samuel Vincent) is a 12-year-old kid who is best friends with Chris. In "Flower King", he fell in love with Cathy and wanted to give her a flower, which was actually Petalia. However, Cathy does not appear to return Jeremy's interest.
• Mark (voiced by Ian James Corlett) is a 13-year-old who is the richest boy in town and Danny's nemesis.

Faculty

• Mr. Fusster (voiced by Ian James Corlett) is the MBC's science teacher who thinks aliens don't exist. This upsets extraterrestrial Cathy and she often argues with him on the subject, which gets her in trouble. Later events, though, show that he may know more about aliens than he lets on, and may even be one.
• Principal Rollins (voiced by Sonja Ball) is the gang's principal who thinks the students are soldiers and often uses terms like "Company halt!" and "About face!". She sometimes gets in the way of the MBC's missions. She has shown in various episodes an affection for Mr. Smith. It is also suggested she used to be a spy and believes Cathy is one too.

Others

• Matisse is Wendy's dog.
• Mr. Beatty (voiced by John Stocker) runs the Happy Mart.

Broadcast

Besides Jetix internationally, the series has also been broadcast on several other networks.

• In France, the show was first aired on TF1and later on Disney XD and Gulli.
• In the United Kingdom, as well as Jetix, the series was aired on the GMTV-owned (Which Disney held a 25% stake in at the time) Toonattik strand, which itself aired on ITV1 and the CITV channel.
• In the Arab World, the show was aired on MBC 3 and Al Jazeera Children's Channel (JCC)/Jeem TV, who aired other Jetix programming.
• In Israel, the show was aired on Arutz HaYeladim.
• In the rest of Asia (including the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and Greater China), the show was aired on Disney Channel, who aired other Jetix programming.
• In the Philippines, the show was aired on Q (now known as GTV).
• In Indonesia, the show was aired on RTV.
• In Hong Kong, the show was aired on the country's English speaking television network TVB Pearl.
• In Singapore, the show as aired on the subscription video on demand service Toggle (now known as meWATCH).
• In Malaysia, the show was aired on TV3 as part of their Bananana! programming block.
• In Ireland, the show was aired on RTÉ2 as part of the long running children's strand The Den.

External links

• Official Site
• Marathon Brings Monster to MIPCOM from animationmagazine.net
• Disney XD Official site
• Monster Buster Club at The Big Cartoon DataBase