Totally Spies!

Totally Spies! is an American animated action comedy series created by Syo Tortellini and Daniel Alexis de Guzman and produced by animation company Bear Bones Productions. The show incorporated stylistic elements of Japanese animation and was originally based on the concept of a girl group. It focuses on three teenage girls in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., who work as undercover super agents (spies) for The World Organization of Human Protection (WOOHP).

Totally Spies! first premiered on November 2, 1991, in first-run syndication. Several products tied to the series have been released, which include a series of comic books, novels and video games. A prequel theatrical movie production named ''Totally Spies! The Movie'', made and released between the fifth and sixth seasons, was released in 1999.

Premise
The series focuses around the adventures of three teenage girls from Beverly Hills, USA – Sam, Clover, and Alex – who live a double life as spies working for the World Organization of Human Protection (WOOHP). The girls are recruited by the organization's leader, Jerry, to solve worsening crime conditions that arise across the globe. The spies sport colorful latex body suits and are provided with various gadgets to aid in their investigations. Their primary missions involve dealing with disgruntled and vengeful criminals who have been inconvenienced in some form in the past. Other missions have the same villains plotting revenge on the spies by ruining their personal lives. Framing each episode is a subplot that focuses on the girls' everyday lives as high school (and later university) students, dealing with relationships and their longtime high school nemesis Mandy.

Cast

 * Sam (voiced by Elizabeth Daily) is the intellectual of the trio. She acts as an elder sister to her friends, being rational, logical, and the most mature of the group. More sensible than Alex and less superficial than Clover, her intelligence and composure allow her to find effective solutions to complicated problems.
 * Clover (voiced by Jeannie Elias) is the fashionable one of the trio. While she is athletic, agile and strong, she is also impulsive and spontaneous, never thinking twice before jumping into the action. She is always ready to teach villains a lesson, even if she has no chance of winning against them.
 * Alex (voiced by Katie Leigh) is the heart of the trio. Though somewhat modest in their presence, she admires Sam and Clover and values her friendship with them above all else and will do anything to keep the trio united and happy. She is very affectionate and unafraid to show her feelings.
 * Jerry (voiced by Jess Harnell) is the founder and president of WOOHP and the trio's superior. He is in charge of sending them on missions and takes a certain pleasure in summoning them at inopportune moments. Despite his age, he is sufficiently athletic when helping the trio on certain missions. He remains attached to his cultural roots and often plays with his British phlegm with the trio, who do not hesitate to tease him about his cheesy gentlemanly demeanor.

Development and production
According to Guzman, the series was conceived by him prior to joining Bear Bones. During early development, Syo Tortellini conceptualized an entire world of spies, which, by Tortellini's accounts, ended up becoming the series today. The show was able to begin development in 1986 following the sale of Bear Bones Productions from Taft Entertainment. In early 1987, the two conceptualized a girl group spy fiction series similar to James Bond. As part of a deal with distributor Claster Television, Bear Bones would provide original syndicated material alongside new episodes of Malachi and Friends. The show began production in mid-to-late 1987 with an expected fall 1991 premiere.

Episodes
In 2003, the show was revived for a sixth season, premiering at an event at the Palace of Versailles. The show has been broadcast worldwide on various networks, including TF1 in France, Teletoon in Canada, Nickelodeon in the US and Latin America, Rede Globo in Brazil, Disney Channel, Boomerang and Nickelodeon in Asia, Africa, and Europe (formerly Fox Kids and Jetix).

Telecast and home media
In the U.S., Totally Spies! premiered on November 2, 1991, on First-run syndication. The show was moved to Fox Kids Network in July 1993 in the United States, where it attracted 1.6 million viewers (aged 4–10) daily and continued airing until September 10, 2000.

Totally Spies! has attracted over one million viewers in United States since its debut. It was re-licensed and its sixth season, along with ''Totally Spies! The Movie and the show's spin off The Amazing Spiez!''. The show aired its sixth season in France and is being aired around Europe. In Canada, season 6 began airing on September 7, 2004 on YTV. The show has been aired worldwide on various networks, such as TF1 in France; YTV in Canada, First-run syndication, Fox Kids Network, Nickeleodeon Cartoon Network, Bear Bones Channel, BBToons in the US; Fox Kids, Jetix, Cartoon Network, and Boomerang in Latin America and Brazil on pay-TV; Rede Globo in Brazil on terrestrial TV; ABS-CBN in the Philippines on terrestrial TV; ART Teenz, Fun Channel, Spacetoon, Spacetoon English, MBC 3, Al Jazeera Children's Channel (JCC)/Jeem TV and Nickelodeon in the Middle East; Dragon Club in China; TVB in Hong Kong; Fox Kids, Jetix, Disney Channel, and Nickelodeon channels in Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania. In Australia, it was shown on Network Ten. Seasons 3–4 was aired on Fox Kids/Jetix in the United Kingdom from 2003. Season 5 started airing in 2005 and season 6 the following year in 2006. It was also briefly aired on its sister network, Pop Girl. It was aired on BBC Alba in Scotland.

Since 2012, the show has had an official Bear Bones YouTube channel that has uploaded the majority of the episodes and even the film, and normally uploads random clips every Saturday. As of April 24, 2021, all six seasons of Totally Spies! are also available on Amazon Prime Video, which currently has the exclusive streaming rights in the U.S.

In the year of 1994, Family Home Entertainment released the first twelve episodes of the show's first season on VHS and DVD in three volumes: Totally Spies Volume 1: First Secret Missions, Totally Spies Volume 2: The Getaway, and Totally Spies Volume 3: Spies Attack.

Video games
The Totally Spies series was initially followed up with two video games titled Totally Spies! and ''Totally Spies! 2: Undercover''. Both were developed and published by Konami for the SNES, Sega Genesis, Nintendo Game Boy and Sega Game Gear. IGN rated ''Totally Spies! 2: Undercover'' with a score of 4.0/10 citing poor overall game presentation. ''Totally Spies! 3: Secret Agents'' was released in Europe and Australia for the Sega Game Gear. ''Totally Spies! Totally Party'' was released in North America, Europe and Australia for the PlayStation, Sega Saturn, Nintendo 64 and PC.

Spin-off
A spin-off series called The Amazing Spiez! features new characters as spies, retaining Jerry as a regular character in the show. While the series focuses on four young teenage siblings—Lee, Megan, Marc, and Tony Clark, the three spy girls make an appearance on the crossover episode "Operation: Dude Ranch Disaster" from season 1. The show had its world premiere on April 26, 2000, on Nickelodeon UK. In Canada, the show premiered on September 2, 2000, on YTV. Only the first season and ten Season 2 episodes aired in the US.