Martin Mystery (French: Martin Mystère) is an animated television series based on the Italian comic book Martin Mystère by Alfredo Castelli. The show was produced by Marathon Animation (French television production company based in Neuilly-sur-Seine), Rai Fiction (Italian company) and Image Entertainment Corporation (a Canadian production and animation company based in Montreal). Like its sister show Totally Spies!, it uses an art style similar to Japanese anime. The series premiered on YTV on 1 October 2003 in its originating country of Canada.

Premise

The series re-imagines the comic books' main characters Martin Mystery and Diana Lombard as teenage stepsiblings attending Torrington Academy, and Q (now known as GTV) in the Philippines, VT4 in Belgium and ZigZap in Poland. In Sri Lanka, the series was aired by Channel Eye of the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation.

MBC 3, Ajyal TV, and ART 3 broadcast this show in Arabic throughout the Middle East, with the voice talents of Mo'awad Ismail as Martin and Mariam El Khesht as Diana.

Home media

Home video of Martin Mystery was distributed in France by PolyGram and MK2. In Italy, home video was distributed by 01 Distribution. Home video for the English version of season 1 was also released in Canada and the United States, but has become a rarity in recent years.

Crossovers with other series

Background characters resembling Martin, Diana, and Marvin have appeared on other series produced by Marathon and Image, such as Team Galaxy, Totally Spies!, and The Amazing Spiez!.

In 2007, a year after the series ended, the characters of Martin and M.O.M appeared on a fifth season episode of Totally Spies!. In the episode "Totally Mystery Much?", Martin helps the team investigate a series of Yeti sightings in Antarctica. None of the other Martin Mystery characters appeared in the episode, although Diana was mentioned.

Future

The series ended production after its third season, with 66 episodes being aired. As of 2025, there has been no further announcement or plans for such. However, there have been talks about a potential digital remaster and re-release of the series in 16:9 widescreen. No further announcement for such has been made since.

Reception

Common Sense Media wrote of the series, "Scooby-Doo meets X-Files; tweens OK."

References

Bibliography

  • The Official Martin Mystery Site (BROKEN)