Let's Watch This: An Episode of "Martin Mystery"

This is another one of those shows I recall hearing about but at no point ever actually watched. I don't even know if I saw ads for it, I just remember the name. "Martin Mystery"? That's a pretty cool name for a cartoon.

Martin Mystery is a French/Canadian cartoon based on an Italian comic book... with an art style that mimics Japanese anime, because I guess there are a lot of anime fans in France and Canada? It was created by Vincent Chalvon-Demersay and David Michel, premiering on the Canadian channel YTV on the first of October 2003. In America, the first seven episodes aired on FoxBox in 2004, then Nickelodeon picked up the series and aired it for a while before banishing it to Nicktoons Network.

The show focuses on your typical teens Martin Mystery and his step-sister Diana Lombard. Their best friends are a caveman named Java and an alien named Billy, and they're sent on various missions by a secret organization known as "The Center" to investigate the unknown and the paranormal. Okay, maybe they're not your typical teens after all. Your typical CARTOON teens, maybe... there are a surprising amount of cartoons starring teenagers who are also spies or superheroes or working with the government or whatever. Remember Totally Spies? That was even made by the same studio.

So, is Martin Mystery any good? I don't know, like I said I've never watched a single episode of it. But what luck, you can find episodes on YouTube! And as I've probably said before on this blog, have obscure cartoon, will review. Let us watch the fifth episode, "Mark of the Shapeshifter", and see if the real mystery is why this show isn't more popular. Or if the reason why it isn't more popular is because it's not very good. Could go either way.

Oddly enough, even though the episode was uploaded to YouTube in English, the title card
is in French.

The episode begins... take it away, SpongeBob:

Specifically, on a dark night just outside the city of Toronto. The moon is full, which should give you a pretty good idea as to what sort of paranormal creature Martin and his team are going to be facing off THIS time. I'll give you a hint: what iconic movie monster howls at the moon, is part-canine, and hates Jacob Black jokes?

Actually, considering that this episode focuses on werewolves, I suppose I probably should've waited until around Halloween to do a review of it, but eh...

I've never been to Toronto, but I'm sure it's a very nice city. I don't know if it's ever had
a werewolf problem, though...

Suddenly, the sky turns red for some reason... according to Google, a red sky means that dust and small particles are trapped in the atmosphere by high pressure, scattering the blue light and leaving only the red. Hey, if I can't be funny, I feel like I should at least be educational...

I believe this type of phenomenon is called a "Kool-Aid Sky".

It starts to rain, and this woman walking her dog (at night?) is unaware that something is watching her... at least until it jumps out of the bushes and abducts her. The episode cleverly doesn't reveal just what it is that's attacking her yet. Although I wonder if the presence of a dog is supposed to be some sort of clue. Y'know, since werewolves are part-dog.

After the theme song, we cut to Torrington Academy boarding school, where Diana (voiced by Kelly Sheridan) and her gal-pal Jenni are talking about how much it stinks that there aren't any boys they totally have the hots for around. Because that's what all teenage girls have on their minds 24/7, isn't it? Finding a nice boyfriend. As if on cue, Martin (voiced by Sam Vincent) shows up dressed as a magician and starts making the moves on Jenni. I guess he thinks girls go for magicians? Maybe he's hoping he can captivate her with his magic tricks?

And no, that wasn't meant to be an innuendo. You have a dirty mind.

"Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaadies..."

Unfortunately, even after he uses a bunch of cliched pick-up lines, Jenni makes it clear to Martin that she doesn't go for David Copperfield wannabes by dumping her drink all over him.

He didn't even get to pull a rabbit out of his hat.

Diana dares Martin that he shall never make a girl fall madly in love with him with the stupid book of pick-up lines he got. One scene of Martin trying and failing to pick up chicks later, he gets a call from The Center on his watch. Here's a question, why do watches in cartoons always double as means of communication? Do watches that double as communication actually exist?

Apologies if you'll be seeing Diana's face in your nightmares tonight...

So Martin and Diana head to what I'm guessing is The Center's headquarters, where a bunch of people and creatures are typing away at computers. Billy (also Sam Vincent) and Java (Dale Wilson) are already there... relaxing in Hawaiian shirts and surrounded by hot girls of various skin colors. Apparently Billy is using a projector to make it seem like he and Java are in Hawaii. Makes sense, since I hear Hawaii is full of aliens already...

"Great news, guys! We've finally found the fabled land of Kokomo! The Beach Boys
DIDN'T make it up after all!"

The four of them go to another room where some guys are working on a spaceship... I assume they found this spaceship in an earlier episode, and my not knowing how is the price I pay for not watching the show in order. After Martin is subjected to WHACKY SHENANIGANS, the director of "The Center", M.O.M. (Teryl Rothery), fills them in as to what's going on - there's a missing persons report in Toronto. A woman named Kristi Johnson disappeared during an unusual electric storm. Wouldn't a missing persons report be a job more suited to the police? Is this just one of those cartoons where the police are incredibly incompetent and it's up to the main characters to save the day all the time?

Then Martin starts flirting with M.O.M., which is kind of creepy considering he's a teenager and M.O.M. is presumably much older.

Plot twist - Martin is secretly the father of Johnny Test. Come on, just LOOK at that hairstyle
and tell me you don't see a resemblance.

After some more WHACKY SHENANIGANS involving Martin squirting green slime everywhere (no wonder this show wound up airing on Nickelodeon), it's off to Toronto. Martin, Diana and Java are filled in by some random guy with a dog (more subtle foreshadowing?) as to what happened that night Kristi Johnson vanished. Martin assumes that this is the work of Soul-Snatchers... again, I'm guessing that this makes more sense if you've seen the previous episodes...

And then the guy sees... THIS running across the screen, which I guess is supposed to represent him believing that Martin is crazy?

Or maybe he's just been taking hallucinogens or something...

...and he runs away screaming. Martin then spots some strange tracks on the ground, leading him and Java to believe that Bigfoot is behind the abducting. Diane is unconvinced, which makes Martin MAD!

"CALL ME 'CLOUD STRIFE' ONE MORE TIME! I DARE YOU!"

So after Martin beats Diana up (this show took a really violent turn all of a sudden!), they follow the tracks, which become more dog-like as they go on. Then they find a feather and a phone, presumably belonging to Kristi. Martin uses his watch to find who Kristi called just before she was abducted and where they live, which turns out to be a gigantic skyscraper. An ABANDONED skyscraper. Martin compares this situation to a horror movie he watched called Office Zombies... which for some reason really ticks off Diana, prompting her to slap Martin hard. Jeez, the characters on this show are aggressive...

"It was a GI Jane joke!"

As it turns out, the skyscraper isn't abandoned after all - there's at least ONE person in there. And also some sort of wolf monster with... feathers sticking out of its neck? Odd design choice... is this meant to imply that the werewolves are part bird?

"I'll bet those three little punks are members of Team Edward... I will not stand for that!"

The guy, as it turns out, is an architect, part of a construction crew building something on a reservation. Ever since they started, strange things have been a-going on. Before he can give them more information, guess who shows up?

"Let's just say there's a reason why they call me the Big Bad Wolf..."

The wolf monster abducts the architect, leaving a trail of drool (eugh) behind it. Martin, Diana, and Java follow it down the hall, but it manages to get away by JUMPING THROUGH A WALL. The Kool-Aid Man would be proud.

Martin uses his watch to identify the drool, informing him that it is indeed wolf spit. Disgusting.

Finding wolf spit is always a good time to strike a heroic pose.

And in addition to the drool, the wolf monster also left behind a claw. So it couldn't even be bothered to clean up its toenail clippings? This wolf monster is a slob.

Billy shows up to analyze the claw. He deduces that the claw is 500 years old and from an ancient headdress from the aboriginal people of Canada... and hey, didn't that architect say they were building on a reservation? The plot, much like corn starch, thickens...

Did they intentionally choose the spookiest-looking part of Toronto to build in?

They go to the construction site, where a bunch of aboriginal Canadians are protesting the construction of... actually, I don't think it's been mentioned yet what they're building. A hotel, maybe? Martin spots one protester wearing a necklace with feathers very much like the one they found with the footprints. When he tries to get the protestor's attention, he dashes off into the woods. Very suspicious, is it not?

Martin and his crew follow him into the woods, where they discover that he was apparently abducted by the wolf monster. Apparently the watch also doubles as a search engine, because Martin uses it to find information about the wolf monster. Who designed that watch, Steve Jobs?

Can he check is email on that thing, too?

Okay, so legend has it that the Massi tribe called the spirit of a wolf from a mystical portal to merge with a human being and protect the land, creating some sort of werewolf that banishes wrong-doers to the Netherworld. "Netherworld? I don't like the sound of that!" Diana says, just before their legs are devoured by a sea of fog.

For a second, I thought that purple stuff was more drool. How disgusting would THAT have been?

You can probably figure out where this is going, right? That protestor guy is the werewolf (which explains the feathers on its neck), who just so happens to show up and corner the good guys. Java actually does something for the first time in this episode and attacks the wolf monster, only for it to bite him. Uh oh...

Actually, the wolf monster's bite DOESN'T turn Java into a werewolf. It just banishes Java to the Netherworld. Then ANOTHER wolf monster shows up and abducts Diana too. And then Martin gets abducted, so it's off to the Netherworld he goes!

"Welcome to the Netherworld! Bathrooms are down the hall to your left, right across
from the totem pole."

In the Netherworld, Martin finds Diana, Java, and all the other people who the werewolf abducted, including Kristi - who Martin starts flirting with. Nice to see his priorities are in check.

"Are you the full moon? 'Cause when I see you, I wanna howl."

"That's not politically correct!"

To get out of the Netherworld, they must find the portal, preferably without getting mauled by the wolves. Fortunately, it turns out that the wolves are repelled by silver. So, for example, Martin can just throw coins he has in his pocket at a wolf and it vanishes.

...well, that's kind of a letdown. These big, scary wolves can be defeated with pens and nail files? That's like having a villain be defeated by SNEEZING...

Nice boxers you've got there, Java.

Eventually, Java finds the portal back to the real world. Unfortunately, out of the portal emerges one of the Langoliers. See, Chris Rock? I can make references to random stuff nobody remembers from the 1990s too, but at least I don't make them just to put people down.

"Is that really the only way out?"

"Well, there's also the Hallway of Fire and Pointy Knives..."

They all jump into the Langolier's mouth and are transported back to the real world... where the wolf monster is waiting for them. "Sorry, pal, but I've got your number right here!" Martin declares, throwing a coin at the wolf monster. Unlike with the wolves in the Netherworld, it has no effect.

"In hindsight, that was probably a stupid idea!"

And so Martin is devoured by the wolf monster. The end.

Okay, obviously that's not the end. Martin and Diana deduce that the only way to stop the wolf monster is by tearing down the construction site. So Diana and the guy in charge of construction jump inside a nearby bulldozer and destroy the hotel or office building or whatever it is that they were building. It works, the wolf stops trying to maul Martin.

"Wait, so all I had to do was find a bulldozer and raze the construction site? Gosh, now I kind of
feel bad about all the biting and the banishing to the Netherworld..."

The wolf monster turns back into a real boy, and the necklace he was wearing is put in a sacred Massi tribal ground where no one can find it. Now Java can go on vacation!

Saving Toronto: so easy even a caveman can do it.

The episode ends with Martin telling Diana that his life would mean nothing without her... which turns out to be a pick-up line from that book he was using. Wait, he used a pick-up line on his step-sister? That's kind of disturbing...

I love the falling pigs with Martin's hair behind her.

Diana's response to Martin basically suggesting they partake in incest is to slap him in the face and storm off. You go, girl.

What's the Verdict?

I usually don't go for cartoon shows that take themselves seriously (they're not bad shows, I just prefer more comedic stuff), but I actually thought this was pretty good. The animation's good, the voice actors all do a good job, and I give them credit for actually pulling off the suspense and intensity needed for a story about werewolves. If I do have one complaint, it's that Martin himself can get a bit annoying, but I can stomach him for the most part. Would I watch more episodes of this show? I don't know, probably not, but I think Martin Mystery is worth watching at least once, even if you haven't read the original comic books.

Speaking of the comics, apparently its creator, Giancarlo Alessandrini, admitted in a 2011 interview that he didn't care for the series, calling it something "very ugly and that nobody liked". Maybe he hated the anime-inspired art style?

Oh, and one more thing - thanks to Google Image Search, I've found out that they recently announced plans for a reboot of the show. This is what it'll look like:

...not a huge fan of those redesigns. For one thing, did they HAVE TO whitewash Java?