By Kate Bove
- Totally Spies! reboot with Will Ferrell as producer promises to stay true to the original show’s humor and empowering female characters.
- Series will focus on Alex, Clover, and Sam in college, skipping their high school years, maintaining the cartoon’s tone and spirit.
- Recent live-action adaptations of animated shows have been hit or miss, making fans cautious about the success of Totally Spies! reboot.
If you remember watching Cartoon Network’s blocks of anime and anime-inspired shows on weekday evenings in the 2000s, then you probably caught an episode or twelve of Totally Spies! Although I can’t recall what played after Totally Spies!, I distinctly remember falling in love with the spyfi series out of the blue. The French anime-influenced show amassed a cult following in France over the course of its 7-season run, and, despite some network-hopping, was pretty popular in the US too. A teenage Charlie’s Angels, Totally Spies! centers on three Beverly Hills teens: Sam, Clover, and Alex.
The three BFFs live double lives, acting as secret agents for the show’s World Organization of Human Protection (WOOHP), which is led by the enigmatic Jerry. As they travel the globe in colorful jumpsuits, the teenage spies wield James Bond-level gadgets and thwart vengeful criminals. To balance out the show’s espionage focus, each episode also tackles a very everyday issue, from the girls’ relationship drama to their run-ins with high-school nemesis Mandy. Totally Spies! blends its action-packed plots with tons of humor and heart — which makes the prospect of a live-action adaptation both exciting and worrying to me.
Prime Video’s Totally Spies! Live-Action Show Sounds Very Promising
The Adaptation Of The Anime-Influenced Spyfi Show Is Backed By Will Ferrell
The recent announcement of a live-action remake of Totally Spies! could be cause for concern, but it actually sounds incredibly promising — at least based on the very few details that have been revealed. While no writers or actors are attached to the project, the live-action adaptation is being developed by Amazon and executive produced by comedian and actor Will Ferrell, who has had a string of successful projects under his producing belt. The original Banijay Kids animated show’s spirit doesn’t seem to be lost on the project’s creatives either, as Totally Spies! is described as a young adult (YA) series.
The series will still follow Alex, Clover, and Sam, but it’s skipping the spies’ high school years and landing them in college…
Instead of taking The CW’s Riverdale route, it seems Amazon is committed to keeping the cartoon’s tone intact. While gritty might have been fun for the Archie Comics adaptation, I’m relieved at the Totally Spies! adaptation’s more true-to-canon direction. The series will still follow Alex, Clover, and Sam, but it’s skipping the spies’ high school years and landing them in college — much like later seasons of the original show. Gloria Sanchez, the show’s production company, is intent on empowering women voices and characters, noting that an IP like Totally Spies! “feels ripe to revisit now“ (via Variety).
Live-Action Remakes Of Beloved Animated Shows Have Been Hit Or Miss
For Every One Piece There’s An Unreleased Powerpuff Girls TV Show
Although the show’s foundation seems solid, it’s also true that live-action adaptations of beloved animated series have been incredibly hit-or-miss — and when they miss, it’s a massive strike out, like the live-action Powerpuff Girls reboot that never even made it to air. Series like Avatar: The Last Airbender have performed well numbers-wise, but don’t sit well with all fans. The same can be said of Netflix’s off-putting Cowboy Bebop, which undermines the intent of the original series, despite a great cast and fun production design. Even the best of intentions can mar a property.
“One Piece leans into its source material’s weird elements, but it also takes its time with the narrative…“
Still, for every unaired Powerpuff Girls disaster, there’s Netflix’s live-action One Piece. Not only did One Piece break streaming records and receive pretty universal rave reviews from critics and audiences alike, but it proved that a faithful live-action adaptation of an anime is possible. One Piece leans into its source material’s weird elements, but it also takes its time with the narrative — even though it has hundreds of episodes to pull from. I know Totally Spies! is a different beast, but I think streamers can also learn a lot from each other’s successes.
Powerpuff Girls creator Craig McCracken reveals how he predicted the failure of the live-action CW show and tried to warn the network beforehand.
What Prime Video’s Totally Spies! Reboot Needs To Get Right About The Cartoon
Totally Spies! Has A Distinct Humor & Tone That Needs To Translate To Live-Action
A true product of the 2000s, Totally Spies! is “girl power” with a flair. It’s more light-hearted, comedic approach allowed the spyfi series to put its charming, unique self on display. That only augmented its empowering, feminist point of view; instead of tokenizing its women characters or turning them into stereotypes, Totally Spies! respected its protagonists and took their high school drama just as seriously as their world-saving adventures. More than anything, the live-action adaptation must nail that.