Totally Spies!

Totally Spies!
Spies, From Left to Right: Clover, Alex, Sam
Created by	Vincent Chalvon-Demersay David Michel
Starring	Andrea Taylor Jennifer Hale Katie Griffin Adrian Truss
Country of origin	USA France
No. of episodes	76
Production
Running time	approx. 0:22 Minutes
Original release
Network	See Overview
Release	November, 2001 – Present

Totally Spies is a French-Italian animated series. It stars three teenaged superspies from Beverly Hills: Sam Simpson, Clover Ewing, and Alex Vazquez, who fight international crime with their special gadgets supplied by their boss, Jerry Lewis, a member of the secret World Organization of Human Protection (WOOHP) agency (it has often been incorrectly claimed that the girls work for the CIA). Among their enemies are Tim Scam and Simon Tucker. They must carry out their missions while still being concerned about tests, boys (like David), and their school rival, Mandy, an extreme prima donna.

Overview

Totally Spies has been on the air since November 2001, Totally Spies is shown in the United States by the Cartoon Network (originally on ABC Family). In Canada it's shown on Teletoon. In Southeast Asia, and Taiwan, it's shown on the Disney Channel (Also in the Philippines it is shown on ABS-CBN). In many areas of Europe the show is broadcasted by children's channel JETIX. On July 6, 2002, Totally Spies premiered on TV Tokyo. According to Marathon, the show's producer, having a show in Japan is extremely rare for a Western series (another example is the Nickelodeon animated series, Invader Zim, created by comic book artist Jhonen Vasquez).

Totally Spies is sometimes described as "American anime" (despite being produced in Europe) due to its strong shojo art style influence and use of well-known anime visual gags and cues. Thematically, it is a little reminiscent of the 1970s TV show Charlie's Angels, only in anime style and directed towards a female, teen-aged audience, with Jerry serving as a kind of amalgamation of "Bosley" and "Charlie." The show displays a retro aesthetic that pays homage to 60s design/fashion, especially "flower power" and the like.

Many, however, consider the show to lack many of the qualities that make the better anime series stand out. For example, many think that the plotlines of Totally Spies are contrived, and that many of the characters lack depth. For example, every time the spies are caught and about to be eliminated, the enemies leave suddenly, often without reason, in a deus ex machina, allowing the spies to make their exit easily with a few gadgets, almost always disguised as makeup. In addition, some of the characters can be considered stereotypes, such as the emperor of Japan, and the fact that the girls demonstrate the female stereotype of absolute materialism and shrewishness, and may fit as a example of pop feminism. Despite the series' criticisms, nevertheless it is popular enough to earn several seasons.

Characters

Main characters

Sam

Samantha "Sam" Simpson is considered to be the smartest member of the trio of girls. She has long red hair and green eyes. She comes up with plans to solve mysteries, is an experienced spy, and has made many of the "world's enemies" pay for their doings with her smarts and ability to fight combat sports, although she has a tendency to get brainwashed fairly regularly. Her spy suit is bright green. In some ways she is the personification of the "tomboy" stereotype.
She also bears more than a striking resemblance to Disney Channel's Kim Possible, except that their uniforms are different.
Jennifer Hale voiced both Sam and Mandy, her rival and the meanest girl in the school.

Clover

Clover Ewing pretty much personifies the "dumb blonde" stereotype (although she will rise to the occasion when needed). Her speech and vocal intonations are very typical of valley girls, and she is deeply worried about her fashion; even when she is on a mission, she will more often than not worry about the way she looks. She has medium length blonde hair, blue eyes, and is rather ditzy, but loveable. Her spy suit is a bright red color.
Clover is also the most romantically interested of the three girls. Her interest for wearing fashionable clothes can sometimes be matched only by her interest in boys.
Clover is accident prone, though Alex gives her a run for her money in this department. Some of her "accidents" are caused on purpose, as she enjoys skating into guys so that she can introduce herself to them. Other times, she gets involved in real accidents: she has had to hang on to the wing of a flying airplane, broken various historic items worth billions of dollars, etcetera.
In later episodes, it is made evident that Clover's social life is beginning to interfere with her work as a spy (In one episode, she is talking on her cell phone while Sam and Alex are chasing a bad guy; as a result the bad guy was able to escape).
Andrea Taylor voices Clover.

Alex

Alexandra Vazquez, usually reffered to as Alex, is the brown-skinned, dark-haired member of the group. She wears her hair short, while Clover has shoulder-length blonde hair, and Sam has long, red hair. Alex's spy suit is bright yellow.

Despite being an athlete and fitness junkie, Alex is fairly uncoordinated, being the most clumsy and accident prone of the girls; many episodes state that she is a bad driver.

In the episode "Creepy Crawly Much?", Alex was placed in a machine by an evil insect-humanoid named Max Exterminus, who planned to find an "insect queen" in his evil scheme of ruling the Earth with his bugs.

Alex reacts on instinct, which many times leads the group into more trouble than necessary when dealing with "bad guys". Nevertheless, as part of the trio, she helps the trio give "bad guys" what they have coming, which is usually jail or other punishment.

For one episode in season 2 of the series (episode #45), Alex left the group for a short period, but she later reconsidered her decision and rejoined her friends.

Alex is voiced by Katie Leigh in season 1 and 2, and by Katie Griffin in season 3

Jerry Lewis

Jerry is the founder and administrator of WOOHP, the World Organization Of Human Protection. An elderly, very serious, British gentleman, he is responsible for briefing the girls on their missions, as well as for providing them with their gadgets at the start of each episode.
Although he has a mostly hands-off role, Jerry has participated in a couple of the girl's missions. Although he appears thin and unatheletic, he has in fact demonstrated highly impressive combat and piloting skills on a par with (and perhaps slightly better than) those displayed by the girls themselves.
In Season 3, Jerry has been paired up with GLADIS, a robotic system that runs WOOHP headquarters and produces the spy's gadgets for them. Jerry still gives them their mission briefings, however.
Jerry is voiced by Jess Harnell in season 1 and 2, and by Adrian Truss in season 3.

Supporting characters

Mandy

Mandy is Sam, Alex, and Clover's rival at school. She is pretty, popular, stylish, arrogant, and downright mean. She also has an incredibly high and squeaky voice (similar to Princess Morbucks from The Powerpuff Girls). Mandy usually dresses in purple outfits. The rivalry between her and Clover is most pronounced, as they often compete for boys, popularity, and bragging rights just for starters. Mandy will go out of her way to annoy the girls, and is often accompanied by a pair of nameless cronies. Mandy is also known to have an entire fan club dedicated to her at school.
Mandy generates mixed feelings among the fans of the show. Some dislike her as a shallow plot device and accuse her of being one-dimensional. Others defend her as a running gag who is necessary to keep the girls' lives at school and society as interesting as their lives at WOOHP.
In "Silicon Valley Girls" (tenth episode of season one), Mandy was elected student court judge by popular vote (complete with white judge's wig and usage of courtroom terminology), but was kicked out by the supervisor, Mrs. Brooks, after she notices Clover's vest is unbuttoned and had seen that Mandy had failed to enforce the school's dress code, among other abuses of the position.
In season three, Mandy accidentally discovers that Sam, Alex, and Clover are spies and is offered a chance to work with them by Jerry. After just one mission, it becomes painfully obvious that Mandy is completely incompatible with spy work and demands to be let go, but not before Jerry erases her memories of WOOHP. She may return again as a spy someday, however.
Jennifer Hale voiced Mandy

David

David is a desirable guy in whom all three of the girls (as well as their nemesis Mandy) are romantically interested. 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 works at the Groovy Smoothie Shack and he seems to be the jumping off point for many of the girls' (Clover, Alex, and Sam) personal predicaments while they try to get him to notice them. This seems to befall Clover the most as she and Mandy (the school's resident spoiled brat and all around mean girl) compete for David's affections. David is blissfully oblivious to the girls' attempts to garner his attention and leaves the girls' stunned with his smile as he leaves to go help at a soup kitchen or something.

Arnold

Arnold is a classmate of the girls, and is apparently the leader of the school's geeks. He's smart but socially inept, and just a wee bit unpleasant. In some episodes he acts as a sycophant and minion of Mandy's, yet in others he gets teased by her. He mostly acts as an obstacle to the girls and their goals.
In one episode Arnold accidentally acquired a magic ring that allowed him to steal the "coolness" from other people, becoming a cool guy himself. The power quickly got to his head, and he turned into a supervillain intent on draining the coolness from everyone else in Beverly Hills. He put up a good fight, but was eventually defeated by the girls (with some assistance from a villainous magician who also wanted the ring). Like Mandy, his memory was erased by WOOHP and he was back at school the next day as though nothing had happened.

Britney

Britney is the newest recruit to the team and was introduced in the episode "Alex Quits". Her hairstyle is somewhat a mixture of the 3 main girls' hairstyles, having Sam's length, Clover's bangs, and Alex's hair color (though slightly lighter). She has purple eyes and sports a baby blue spy suit. She also appears to be of Asian descent. Her main asset in the field is her intellegence as she appears to be smarter than Sam who is the team's resident genius. In fact, it was Britney's quick thinking skills and seeming perfection that incited Alex's jealousy which, in turn (along with feelings of being replaced), lead her to quit. (though she did return and save Sam, Clover, and Britney from certain destruction near the end of the episode) At the end of the episode however, it was revaled that Britney was only with the girls for field training and was assigned to her own team.
In her next appreance (Episode 64: Escape From WOOHP Island), Britney had somewhat more of a starring role, as her rescuing was the mission. Britney's plane was pulled down onto WHOOP Island (the organization's top secret holding facility) by the very same villain she originally put in jail. On its way down, the chopper took out the island's security system, enabling its residents to run free, but also setting the island to self destruct in a matter of hours. The girls came to her assistance but it appears she did most of the work. She defeated the alien monster by jamming its hearing (by means of an auditory device) and also led the attack on the island's bad guys. She used an instant plant growth spray to capture all of the villains except Willard, who was armed with the weapon that brought down her chopper. Although he managed to remove her spray, it was really of no use as she took care of him personally by being as quick of a fighter as she was a thinker (though this was hinted at in her first appearance).
Britney's two teammates, 2 boys named Javier and Dimitri were shown in her second appreance though they have yet to make an actual appearance in the show.
After 2 episodes, the only information given on Britney's personal life is that she enjoys chess and is the captain of her school's cheerleading squad. It has aslo been hinted at that she shops as much as the girls as well. Britney is seen by fans as the "perfect girl" stereotype.

Villains

Tim Scam

Tim Scam is one of the show's few recurring villains. Having appeared in a total of 3 episodes (and having a non-speaking role in one other), he is the one foe the girls have faced the most frequently. A former WOOHP agent, Scam and his projects were expelled from WOOHP due to budget cuts, and he has since sought revenge against the organization.

He first appeared in the show's second episode, The New Jerry, in which he had kidnapped Jerry and replaced him as director of WOOHP in order to use WOOHP's resources for his own ambitions. However, the spies figured out his real intentions and put a stop to his plans and rescued Jerry. Since then, he has been a perpetual thorn in WOOHP's side, always coming back with some new plan to destroy WOOHP or the girls.

Tim Scam is highly intelligent, most recently creating a substance that can mimick other people's appearances called Scamlar. He will likely remain a persistent nuisance to Jerry and the spies.

Unlike the show's other villains, whose personalities typically center around a single bizarre personality disorder or childhood trauma, Scam comes across as completely sane (albeit sociopathic). Also unlike the other villains, whose plans generally involve indulging in their twisted obsession (usually brainwashing the world to worship them), Scam just wants to kill everyone (and his first scheme involved destroying the world by dehydrating the oceans).

Max Exterimnus

Once a fully-[[human adult male, Max Exteriminus injected himself with cockroach DNA, thereby giving him the appearance og a humanoid insect. Scheming to rule the planet Earth with insects, he chose Alex as his "insect queen" and placed her in a machine he created that would have made her into an insect woman.

Episodes

Season One

1. A Thing for Musicians
2. Queen for A Day
3. The New Jerry
4. The Get Away
5. Eraser
6. Model Citizens
7. The Fugitives
8. Abductions
9. Child's Play
10. Silicon Valley Girls
11. Spy Gladiators
12. Shrinking
13. Aliens
14. Man or Machine
15. Wild Style
16. Black Widows
17. Passion Patties
18. Stuck In the Middle-Ages With You
19. Evil Boyfriend
20. Game Girls
21. Iceman Cometh
22. Spies Vs. Spies
23. Do You Believe In Magic?
24. Soul Collector
25. A Spy is Born (Part One)
26. Malled

Season two

27. A Spy is Born (Part Two)
28. Mummy
29. Evil Hair Salon
30. The Yuck Factor
31. It's How You Play the Game
32. Here Comes the Sun
33. Green with N.V.
34. Boy Bands Will Be Boy Bands
35. I, Dude
36. Mommies Dearest
37. Zooney World
38. First Brat
39. W.O.W.
40. Stark Raving Mad
41. Starstruck
42. S.P.I.
43. Animal World
44. Nature Nightmare
45. Alex Quits
46. Totally Switched
47. Ski Trip
48. The Elevator
49. Matchmaker
50. Brain Drain
51. Fashion Faux Pas
52. Toying Around

Season Three - Totally Spies! UNDERCOVER

53. Physics 101 Much?
54. Freaky Circus Much?
55. Computer Creep Much?
56. Space Much?
57. Morphing Is Soooo 1987
58. Evil Coffee Shop Much?
59. Forward to the Past
60. Planet of the Hunks
61. Super Nerd Much?
62. The Incredible Bulk
63. Dental? More Like Mental
64. Escape From WOOHP Island
65. Scam Camp Much?
66. Evil G.L.A.D.I.S. Much?
67. Superagent Much?
68. Evil Airlines Much?
69. Creepy Crawly Much?
70. Truth Or Scare
71. Feng Shui Is Like Sooo Passe
72. Evil Valentines Much?
73. Halloween Is, Like, So Pagan
74. Power Yoga Much?
75. Head Shrinker Much?
76, 77, & 78. TV Movie: Evil Promotion Much?

Season four

Still in development

Season five

Still in development

External links

• Totally Spies official website
• Totally Spies at IMDb
• Totally Spies at The Big Cartoon DataBase
• Totally Spies Picture Archive