Alienators: Evolution Continues

This article is about the television show. For the video game, see Alienators: Evolution Continues (video game).

Alienators: Evolution Continues
Also known as	Evolution: The Animated Series
Genre	Comic science fiction
Created by	Louis Gassin
Based on	Evolution by Don Jakoby
Directed by	Fabrice Beau Pascal Gaugry Camille Prinele Will Meugniot (supervising director)
Voices of	Mark Acheson Andrew Francis Fiona Hogan Cusse Mankuma Akiko Ann Morison Kirby Morrow John Payne Lee Tockar
Theme music composer	L.A. Piccirillo
Opening theme	"Evolution (Creepy Crawly)"
Ending theme	"Evolution (Creepy Crawly)" (Instrumental)
Composers	L.A. Piccirillo Jean-Michel Guirao
Country of origin	United States Japan France [1]
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	26
Production
Executive producers	Andy Heyward Michael Maliani Tom Pollock Ivan Reitman Dan Goldberg Joe Medjuck
Producers	Michael Ryan Kaaren Lee Brown (supervising producer)
Running time	22 minutes
Production companies	DIC Entertainment, L.P. The Montecito Picture Company DreamWorks Television Columbia TriStar Television Dentsu Inc. [1]
Original release
Network	United States Fox Kids France M6 [2] Japan Animax
Release	September 15, 2001 (2001-09-15) – June 22, 2002 (2002-06-22)

Alienators: Evolution Continues (also known as Evolution: The Animated Series in some regions and the UK) is an animated comic science fiction television series. It is a continuation of the 2001 Ivan Reitman-directed science fiction comedy film Evolution . ^{[3] [4]} 26 episodes were produced.

Created by Louis Gassin, the series is produced by DIC Entertainment, L.P. in association with The Montecito Picture Company, DreamWorks Television, 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 (which owns the studio's pre-2010 live-action back catalog), the series itself is now owned by WildBrain (formerly known as DHX Media).

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 – his expertise, along with his excitement and passion about science, 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 and acrobatic. Lucy uses many kinds of gymnastics (such as handsprings, cartwheels or rolls) in fighting to keep balance and defeat enemies with perfect agility and strength. 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 longer retaining a relationship with Ira like in the movie. She is shown to have no physical training. She can use her knowledge on the fight with Genuses.
• 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, described as 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' pawn.
• Deke and Derrick

Cast

• Mark Acheson as SCOPES
• Andrew Francis as Wayne Green
• Fiona Hogan as Dr. Allison Reed
• Cusse Mankuma as Harry Block
• Akiko Ann Morison as Lt. Lucy Mai
• Kirby Morrow as Ira Kane
• John Payne
• Lee Tockar

Additional

Tony Alcantar Kathleen Barr Jim Byrnes Joely Collins Bernard Cuffling Deborah Demille Maria Louisa Figura Colin Foo Mackenzie Gray Kim Hawthorne Mark Hildreth Adrian Holmes

Kristie Marsden Maxine Miller Richard Newman Manny Petruzzelli Taylor-Anne Reid Alvin Sanders Peter Shinkoda Chantal Strand Samuel Vincent Dale Wilson Lenore Zann

Episodes

No.	Title	Written by	Original air date
1	"Survival"	Michael Ryan	September 15, 2001 (2001-09-15)
2			September 22, 2001 (2001-09-22)
3			September 29, 2001 (2001-09-29)
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 (2001-10-06)
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 (2001-10-13)
When an oil tanker laden with Genus infested petroleum runs aground near the Galapagos Islands, a disaster of epic proportions threatens humanity.
6	"Swarm"	Ben Townsend	October 20, 2001 (2001-10-20)
When a swarm of Genus wasps overruns a rural farm, Ira and the team are sent in to deal with it.
7	"Fire and Ice"	Kurt Weldon	October 27, 2001 (2001-10-27)
An outbreak in the French Alps leads to the discovery of a new kind of Genus - an ice Genus.
8	"Meltdown"	Mark Seidenberg	November 3, 2001 (2001-11-03)
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 (2001-11-10)
10	"French Underground"	Nick Dubois and Lance Falk	November 17, 2001 (2001-11-17)
Split from the other Alienators, General Woodnburn and Doctor Kane must work together to escape Scopes.
11	"Runaway Strain"	Michael Ryan	December 1, 2001 (2001-12-01)
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 (2001-12-08)
After battling a horde of rapidly-replicating Genus creatures, Wayne's sympathetic mutation system kicks in and he starts to multiply.
13	"Roman Holiday"	Ben Townsend	February 9, 2002 (2002-02-09)
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 (2002-02-16)
A Genus outbreak in the deserts of Tunisia has Ira and his crew fighting Genus monsters that move through the sand as if it were water.
15	"Year of the Genus"	Ben Townsend	February 23, 2002 (2002-02-23)
When the Genus travels to Hong Kong in a crate of infected fireworks, the Alienators aren't far behind.
16	"Hot Java"	Michael Ryan	March 2, 2002 (2002-03-02)
The Alienators race against time to stop Scopes from using a volcano on the island of Java, Indonesia, to cause a global Genus invasion.
17	"Ira Knows Best"	Ben Townsend	March 9, 2002 (2002-03-09)
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 (2002-03-16)
When the Genus doesn't show up, it looks like the heroes have managed to devolve themselves right out of a job.
19	"Genus in Your Tank"	Kurt Weldon	March 23, 2002 (2002-03-23)
When Genus infested gas makes its way into the cars of New York City, vehicular mayhem rocks the Big Apple.
20	"Cradle Will Fall"	Ben Townsend	March 30, 2002 (2002-03-30)
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 (2002-05-04)
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 (2002-05-11)
Ira and the Alienators head off to merry ol' England to investigate a "purple worm" sighting in an old castle.
23	"General Disorder"	Ben Townsend	May 18, 2002 (2002-05-18)
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 (2002-06-08)
The Alienators learn of Scopes and General Granger forming an alliance to conquer Earth.
25	"REAPER 2: The Ark"	Ben Townsend	June 15, 2002 (2002-06-15)
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 (2002-06-22)
The Alienators confront Scopes as he works to use General Granger to spread the Genus across the universe.

Production

In 2001, DIC picked up the animation rights to produce an animated series based on the film. Fox Kids acquired the North American broadcast rights and ordered 26 episodes to be produced for the Fall of 2001. ^{[5] [6]} The series premiered in September. ^[7]

The same year in June, Lions Gate Home Entertainment signed a home media distribution deal DIC Entertainment which included Alienators. ^[8]

In September, DIC signed an alliance agreement with Dentsu, the latter of which would invest, partner and co-produce the series with DIC in exchange for Asian and Japanese distribution rights excluding India. ^[9]

Broadcast

In September 2001, YTV acquired Canadian broadcast rights to the series under a deal with DIC Entertainment. ^[10]

Home 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.

In Japan, six VHS/DVD releases, consisting of the entire series, was released in Japan by Happinet in January 2003. These sets were later released as part of two boxsets. ^[11]

References

1. "DIC teams in Japan". 11 September 2001.
2. "Cool New Shows".
3. Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 21. ISBN   978-1538103739.
4. Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 72–73. ISBN   978-1476665993.
5. "'Evolution' multiplies as Fox Kids toon". 18 January 2001.
6. Rick DeMott (January 17, 2001). "DIC To Transform Live-Action Evolution Into Toon". Animation World Network . Retrieved 2021-01-01.
7. "Alien, pranster, secret agents and Olsen twins for Fox".
8. "Distrib kids around". 8 June 2001.
9. "WildBrain". Archived from the original on 2004-04-17.
10. "Diginets heat up the race to hook Canuck kid viewers".
11. "エボリューション The Animated Series DVD-BOX1". 25 January 2003 – via Amazon.

External links

• Alienators: Evolution Continues at IMDb