8 /10 1 Votes
7.3/10 TV Original language(s) English First episode date 2000 | 8.8/10 IMDb Country of origin United States No. of seasons 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Written by Michael GansRichard RegisterKevin Thomsen Directed by Elliot M. BourSaul Andrew Blinkoff Voices of Michael GansRichard Register Genres Animation, Comedy, Adventure Film, Action fiction, Action/Adventure Similar Undergrads, Downtown, Daria, DJ & the Fro, Mission Hill | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Spy Groove (also known as SG) is an American animated series that aired for one season on Teletoon in Canada and for six episodes on MTV in the United States. It premiered on June 26, 2000 and ended on July 13, 2002. Spy Groove was created by Michael Gans, Richard Register and Kevin Thomsen, who also wrote and did the voices for the show. The general plot is about two suave yet cocky secret agents, Agent Number One and Agent Number Two, their boss, Helena Troy, who assigned them their missions. Like the tone of MTV's animated programs, Spy Groove is consistently tongue-in-cheek and often employs fast-paced banter between the protagonists (which predates years before similar programs on Adult Swim). It also features a number of pop songs in some episodes at the time of its broadcast.
Contents
Background and artistic style
Co-creators Michael Gans and Richard Register were comedy duo performers before becoming writers and utilized their fast-paced rapport in the show based on their acts. The end credits sequence shows the protagonists (voiced by Gans and Register) chat and bicker together on topics irrelevant to the events of each episode, which was the only use of improvisation from the voice actors.
The "Spy Groove" aesthetic is based on artist Glen Hanson's style, who designed the characters and settings. It is basic and shiny, with brilliant colours and dark lines. Because of Hanson's caricature work, many characters are modelled after celebrities including Agent Number One and Agent Number Two, who were modelled after Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, respectively.
As a homage to classic cartoons, most of the animation is limited to lip-synching, facial expressions, some movements and action scenes, as characters are often still in most scenes of each episode.
Episodes
- Move Over Miami (Villain: Mr. Fish)
- Ski Cats (Villain: The Contessa)
- Virtual Vegas (Villains: Johnny Nevada/ Sierra Nevada)
- Queen of DeNile (Villain: Champagne DeJour)
- Greek Freaks (Villains: Xerxes twins)
- Spanish on the Fly (Villain: Julio Blanco)
- Malibooboo (Villain: Connie Lola Andrea LeTete)
- Cyberberian Sexpress (Villains: Napoleon Pushkin/Sierra Nevada)
- Sneaky Tiki Taboo (Villain: Nick Nack/The Big Bahoner)
- Tokyo Takedown (Villain: Grandmama San's grandson)
- Brazilian Brew-Ha-Ha (Villain: Leo Macho Grande)
- Snap, Crackle, Popillon (Villain: Marquis De Guy)
- Manhattan Glam Chowder (Villain: Mr. Fish)
Gadgets
The Agents were equipped with high-tech toys disguised as more mundane items. However, keeping with the tone of the series the gadgets often contained various features, functions, and stylish trademarks that often ranged from convenient to the ridiculously useless (at least until the story-line made the item useful). Some examples include:
Villains
The majority of the Spy Groove villains are of the sort found in most secret agent fare. However very few were interested in global domination, but instead obsessed with some little slice of modern culture. For example, a plan to get all top 10 of the most eligible Hollywood bachelors (as defined by Blather magazine) married so that poor #11 would finally get noticed. Or to get every coffee drinker in the world addicted to the villains' own special blend.
Some of the Spy Grove villains include: