Men in Black: The Series, also known as MIB: The Series and Men in Black: The Animated Series, is an American animated television series that originally aired on The WB's Kids' WB programming block from October 11, 1997 to June 30, 2001.^[1] The show features characters from 1997's science fiction film Men in Black,^[2] which was based on the comic book series The Men in Black by Lowell Cunningham,^[3] originally published by Aircel Comics. The series was produced by Adelaide Productions Inc., a unit of Sony Pictures Television, as a half-hour series originally airing on Saturday mornings originally, and later moving to weekdays during the final run.

Synopsis[link]

MIB: The Series was based on the 1997 blockbuster Men In Black and continued where the film left off, though with some minor changes. Agent K remained an agent^[2] and partner to Agent J, although a Marvel Comics one-shot revealed that K's memories were restored in an unseen case. Agent L was moved to the lab inside MiB Headquarters. The headquarters itself was no longer under the ventilator building of the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, but now at what looked like a disused area under LaGuardia airport. These differences are possibly addressed in the episode "The Star System Syndrome," where it is revealed that every so often some writer or Hollywood-type learns of the MIB and makes a movie about them, possibly hinting that the live-action movie was one of these incidents. There were some further differences in appearances in the characters in the cartoon. Agent L had blond hair, blue eyes and a different hairstyle, Agent J did not have a mustache, and Zed had white hair and no goatee. Zed's eyes were also dramatically shaded in to give an impression of a lack of sleep. After season one, Agent K also received a facial redesign that made him appear younger, with the lines in his face removed, his eye color changed from brown to blue, and his hair color changed from gray-brown to red-brown.

The show had varied writing in it's episodes. Several episodes were based on the plot of the film, and brought back characters like the Bug, and the Arquillians, though these are portrayed as peaceful and benevolent. The series itself had a long-running plot where the MIB fought Alpha, a former MIB chief who previously had been Agent K's friend and mentor. Eventually, Alpha had turned maverick with greed and sought to achieve immortality by assimilating rare alien body parts into his body. He became a prominent recurring character of the series. Ultimately, the basic plot formula was for the MIB to protect the Earth from harm, and this extended into keeping peace throughout the galaxy. Technology, as well as intergalactic politics and peacekeeping played a part, along with common criminal activity on a science fiction level. A cliche in the series was a scene where it seems like Agent K was killed in some terrible way, only to be proven alive later in the episode. Other running gags in the series included K frequently denying J's requests to drive his car, and the MIB agents using the cover-up "Division 6" when introducing themselves to civilians or other unaffiliated government agencies (i.e. "Fire Marshall, Division 6" or "United Nations Security, Division 6").

Cast[link]

• Agent K: Ed O'Ross (Season 1), Gregg Berger (Season 2-4)^[3]
• Agent J: Keith Diamond^[3]
• Agent L: Jennifer Lien (Season 1–3), Jennifer Martin (Season 4)
• Zed: Charles Napier
• Frank the Pug: Eddie Barth
• Jack Jeebs: Tony Shalhoub (first few episodes), Billy West (onwards)
• The Worm Guys: Pat Pinney and Pat Fraley as two worms each
• The Twins: Pat Pinney as Idikiukup and Pat Fraley as Bob
• Alpha: David Warner
• Aileen: Beth Broderick
• Buzzard: Sherman Howard
• Troy the Symbiote: Rino Romano
• Edgar Bug/Edwin Bug/Queen Of The Bugs/Bug Aliens: Vincent D'Onofrio
• Dr. Zeeltor: Steve Kehela
• Agent X: Adam Baldwin

Characters[link]

Home video releases[link]

In the United States, six episodes from the first half of the first season were issued on three two-episode VHS volumes, all made available on March 16, 1999. The United Kingdom received a similar release on August 19, 2002, however, all six episodes were released on one bumper VHS instead of three two-episode volumes. The release also included a bonus seventh episode, which was actually episode one, billed as the "pilot episode".^[4] It was then announced that the remainder of the show's first season, episodes 8-13, would be exclusively released in the region, being made available on VHS on January 24, 2003.^[5] On July 12, 2004, the first three episodes of the first season were issued on DVD for the first time by UCA Pictures. Further releases were planned, but sales were not strong enough to warrant any other DVD releases from UCA.^[6] The entire first season was issued on DVD for the first time on July 4, 2007 in Australia, via Sony Pictures Entertainment. The set contained two discs, one containing seven episodes and the other containing the remaining six. On July 16, 2007, the set was made available in the United Kingdom, however, was this time split up into two separate volumes instead of a whole box set.^[7][8] On May 11, 2012, the entire first season was released on DVD for the first time in the United States, being made available as an exclusive product for Target stores in the country. Thus far, no plans have been announced to issue any further seasons of the show on DVD. On April 2, 2012, all 53 episodes of the show were made available on the Canadian Netflix service.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Men in Black: The Series

• Men in Black: The Series at the Internet Movie Database
• Men in Black: The Series at TV.com