Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Welcome to another edition of Animation Bang. The Men in Black. Released in 1997, this movie holds a special place in my heart. I was only nine years old when the movie came out and yet despite my young age, my parents took me and my brother to see it in the theaters and it was great. I loved the movie so much that I even dressed up as them for Halloween one year, did a dance sequence to the song for a talent show, and dressed up as them again during high school for movie day during spirit week. The movie focuses on this secret group of men and women who monitor and police aliens on Earth. This group was so secret that not even the government knew they existed. The movie starred Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones who worked off each other perfectly. Will Smith has always shown he’s a good actor who can work with just about anyone and Tommy Lee Jones might just be one of the best next to Martain Lawrence. Will the newest agent who has no idea what he’s getting into and Tommy the seasoned agent who has seen it all played the perfect straight man to Will’s antics. Suffice to say, the movie was a hit, winning and being nominated for a number of awards and would give us a forgetful sequel, a good third movie, and a bad fourth movie. However, between the first and second movie it would receive an animated series. Simply titled, MIB: The Series, this was a show that appeared on WB Kids Saturday morning from 1997-2001. It was one of the best shows to appear on WB Kids and if I’m being honest was better than all the sequels combined. Let’s take a look at the animated show. This is MIB: The Series.
Backstory
Okay, so first off, a little backstory about Men in Black. When the movie first came out some people thought it was an original idea created by Hollywood, but nope, it’s based off a comic book series written and created by Lowell Cunningham and illustrated by Sandy Carruthers from 1990-1991 for Aircel Comics who would get brought out by Malibu Comics who would get brought out by Marvel Comics who would get brought out by Disney (it’s like watching a fish get eaten by a bigger fish). Now, unlike the movies and show which were family-friendly, the comics were darker, grittier and more violent. Instead of wiping the minds of witnesses to maintain the secret of aliens, they would straight up murder them. The agents were allowed to use any means necessary to accomplish their mission and notable characters included Kay, Jay, and Zed. The comic ran for only 6 issues with a few one-shots here and there.
Plot
After the success of the first movie, Sony decided to cash-in and create an animated series that follows the adventures of Kay and Jay set in an alternate timeline. At the end of the first movie, Kay retires and gets his mind erased. In this timeline, he remains with MIB partnering up with Jay as the young hotshot rookie still learning the ropes.
Main Characters
Due to legal reasons, the show couldn’t use the actors’ images or likeness for the characters, thus the main human characters received new designs.
Agent Kay voiced by Ed O’Ross (Season 1) and Gregg Berger (Season 2-4)
The top agent at MIB. Just like in the movie, he was one of the original founders of MIB when he got lost in the back roads as a teenager and came across the first alien landing. He’s emotionless, never really panicking, and plays it cool. He’s a skilled fighter and despite his stand offish attitude does care for Jay.
Agent Jay voiced by Keith Diamond
Also referred to as Slick by Kay. The hotshot rookie and newest member of the MIB who tries to bring emotion back to the organization. While some of the other agents see him as screw-up at times which often lands him in trouble, Jay has shown himself to be a resilient agent who will do anything to complete the mission and keep the Earth or aliens safe from harm. In the comics, he was actually a white man with blonde hair.
Agent L voiced by Jennifer Lien (Season 1-3) and Jennifer Martin (Season 4)
An agent who works in the medical section of MIB and is hinted to be the head of that division. Despite working in the lab, she would occasionally take to the field to help Kay and Jay on their missions and kept us laughing with her dry wit.
Zed voiced by Charles Napier
The head of the MIB and the one character who is the most different from his movie and comic character. In the movie, Zed was a little more easy-going and laidback. He’s lived through so many instances of the Earth almost getting destroyed that it doesn’t even faze him anymore whenever a hostile threat appears. In the show, he’s like your 80’s police chief with some funny lines here and there. In the comics, we never see him so we have no idea what he looks like.
Minor Characters
Along with the main characters we also had some side characters who also appeared in the movie. Unlike the human characters, these characters didn’t need to be altered so they were allowed to use their images.
Jeebs voiced by Tony Shalhoub (Season 1) and Billy West (Season 2-4)
A humanoid alien who runs a pawn shop that carries illegal items for aliens to buy. One of the running gags in the show is that he always got his head blown off but it would always regenerate.
Frank the Pug voiced by Eddie Barth
An alien disguised as a pug who runs a newspaper stand. He often acts as an informant for the MIB helping Kay and Jay on cases.
The Worms voiced by Patrick Pinney and Pat Fraley
Four worm-like aliens with arms and legs who occasionally help Kay and Jay on missions and hangout in the MIB break room drinking coffee. In the movie, they were chainsmokers but they changed them to coffee addicts for the show as that wouldn’t fly with the censors. We find out that coffee is a sacred beverage on their planet and only royalty is allowed to drink it.
Villains
While the show was mostly your alien of the week scenario, some villains did make frequent appearances throughout the show.
Buzzard voiced by Sherman Howard
A Zombarian bounty hunter who often crossed paths with Kay and Jay in their missions.
Dak voiced by Billy West
The twin brother of Jeebs and space criminal.
Drekk voiced by Ron Perlman
An alien with a criminal record as long as Van Allen’s belt.
Alpha voiced by David Warner
The main antagonist of the series. An original founder of MIB who taught Kay everything he knows before he went AWOL after tempering with stolen alien technology. Originally a human, Alpha grafted stolen alien parts into his body to make himself stronger. Every time he was defeated he would always come back in a more monstrous form showing how he was losing his humanity each time the MIB faced him. Alpha is slightly based off Ecks an agent from the comics who also went AWOL after discovering that MIB was trying to control the world from the shadows.
Episodes
The show ran for four seasons from 1997-2001. Each season having 13 episodes or more for a grand total of 53 episodes. Supposedly, the series was only slated for three seasons but with the second movie around the corner, Sony greenlit a fourth season. It was alright. Not as good as the first three seasons but still good. They made a few questionable changes that fans didn’t like. For example, L becomes a field agent and her partner is X an alien who is a loose cannon despite his impeccable record. They rarely used these two in the fourth season which made no sense especially since they added him to the opening and everything. There were rumors that a fifth season was also greenlit but after the second movie didn’t do so well at theatres it was canceled and the series came to an end after the fourth season.
I had a number of episodes that I liked from each season. In the first season there’s “The Neuralyzer Syndrome” where Jay accidentally neuralizes Kay and we find out his dad is still alive. “The Head Trip Syndrome” was also a great episode. Jay accidentally tempers with some alien technology making him the smartest man on the planet, but his mind will keep expanding until his head explodes within 24 hours. On of that, there’s an alien-hating bigot who discovers MIB, manages to get his hands on a time-traveling device, and goes back in time erasing the founders of MIB one by one until only Kay is left and they have to stop him before all of MIB is erased.
For season 2 we have “The Big Bad Bug Syndrome” which serves as the true sequel to the first movie. The bug queen has put a bounty out on the MIB agent (L) who killed Edgar. Three bugs show up to collect the bounty including Edwin, the brother of Edgar and it becomes a four-way showdown between Kay, Jay and the bugs to get L. After this, we have the Christmas episode “The Black Christmas Syndrome” where Drekk has kidnapped Santa at the request of an alien race. This episode is great because it’s one of the few episodes where they reference the comics. They come out and say that Santa is neither human or alien, he’s something else entirely. Something supernatural. In the comics, along with tracking aliens, the MIB also contended with the supernatural and occult as well. The last episode for this season is “The Star System Syndrome”. Kay and Jay go to Hollywood to investigate the disappearance of alien actors who not surprisingly star in movies where they play the aliens (it’s the role they were born to play). The episode also ends on a laugh with the Worms pitching the idea of the MIB movie to Hollywood executives and getting the film made.
In the third season, we have “The Way Out West Syndrome”. In order to stop an alien from destroying Phoenix, Kay and Jay travel to the past to destroy it at its most vulnerable but another alien keeps getting in their way. “The “J” is for James Syndrome”. The final episode of the third season and the original series finale. After Jay gets caught joyriding he gets terminated and neurulized returning to his life before the MIB. However, when a bug queen is discovered in the city, Jay gets brought back in as he’s the only one who knows where she might be hiding. Despite getting neurulized, Jay slowly starts to remember his time in the MIB and regains his memories. They defeat the bug queen and Jay is given the option to stay or return to normal life and he chooses to stay.
The fourth season has “The Back to School Syndrome” where Jay poses as a high school student to protect an alien prince from terrorists. Finally “The Endgame Syndrome” the two-part series finale. Earth gets invaded by the Ixion, an alien race who wants to harvest Earth for its oil and have teamed up with Alpha. In order to fight off the invasion, Zed has no choice but to reveal MIB’s existence to the world and partner up with the world’s governments. We see MIB HQ get destroyed, the Worms enter the Senate, a massive space battle, and the end of Alpha as the MIB defeat him once and for all, stop the invasion, and neurulize the whole planet to keep their secret safe.
Themes
The show didn’t have too many themes during it’s run.
Does this count as Amerime
No. The same studio that animated Godzilla: The Series also animated this show.
Does it deserve another season
No. It ended on a good note with the MIB stopping a major threat and defeating the main antagonist.
Final Thoughts
The show was good. Next to the first movie, this is the best way to enjoy MIB. I think it might actually be better than all the movies. The show was funny, had great alien designs, cool gadgets, and expanded on the MIB universe. Not to mention it had one of the coolest openings and endings ever: https://youtu.be/Wd9pu3716D8?si=SAFNeNqomO2L9QpK. The writing was good as they managed to capture that chemistry Will and Tommy had in the movies with each other and Alpha was a great villain. Not only was he smart but he was ruthless and strong. His alien powers and human intellect made a continuous threat throughout the show. Like I said, the show was also funny. Between Jay, the Worms, and the cold openings there’s definitely something to get a laugh out of you each episode which could have easily been expanded on and turned into its own movie. Some fans have asked for a remake of the series to make it more like the comics, but I say no. This version is the best, for me at least.
Final Score
The final score for MIB: The Animated Series is a 7/10. Unfortunately, only the first season was released on DVD but you can watch all four seasons on the Crackle streaming app and can find a few of their episodes on Youtube. It’s one of the best shows to appear on WB Kids and still holds up to this day. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.