The Troop

''The Troop'' is an action-comedy television series about a trio of teenagers who fight and capture monsters and other supernatural phenomena that invade the fictional town of Lakewood. Created and executive produced by Max Burnett, Greg Coolidge and Chris Morgan, the series premiered on Nickelodeon on September 12, 2009.

The second season premiered on June 25, 2011, and Nickelodeon cancelled the series midway through its second season. The remaining episodes of season 2 were aired on TeenNick with the series finale episode airing on May 8, 2013.

Premise

The show revolves around Jake, an average teenager who wants to create his own comic book series and is enlisted by his school counselor Mr. Stockley to join "The Troop," a secret society that protects the world from monsters and creatures. Additional squad members include his fellow students, Hayley, the most popular girl in school and Felix, the school's main nerd. Teenagers are chosen for the troop because their minds are more accepting of the strange things in the world, but they are old enough to understand the responsibilities that are entailed. It is shown that once you grow too old monsters become more frightening. For some it is a small fear, for others it becomes completely terrifying to even look at a monster's picture. The pilot was shot in 2008 and the show itself has been described as "''Men in Black'' at a suburban high school".

The second season was turned in a different direction. Felix was phased out in the first two episodes, while Matt Shively was introduced as Kirby in the third episode, and Malese Jow was also introduced as Cadence. The season introduced a new theme song and new environments.

Episodes

Characters

Main

*Jake Collins played by Nicholas Purcell - Due to his recent joining of the Troop, Jake is often naïve and reckless. Hayley and Felix often have to watch his back, because his instinct for danger often gets him into trouble. Hayley thinks he is a goofy slacker who doesn't take his job seriously. His worst fear is that he would not be able to help Felix and Hayley if they were in trouble. He is shown to be quite a good artist who reads comic books obsessively, draws his own comic strips, and sells them at his school. Jake appears to have a crush on Hayley, though it is unknown if he's been able to admit this to himself, or if Hayley feels the same (in season 1). However, the sparks the two occasionally share were enough to draw the Eris Fairy, a mythical creature that breaks up loving couples. It is hinted in a trailer that he and Hayley may become a couple, when they are seen kissing. Jake's character is named after one of the creator's son (Max Burnett's son, Jake). Jake and Cadence were dating in episode 31 but it ended after he finds out he was dating a monster and sent her to the monster world. He tells Hayley he has a crush on her later in season 2.
*Hayley Steele played by Gage Golightly - The most popular and often considered the friendliest, girl at school. She is the classic overachiever - she does cheerleading, lacrosse, ballet, is in the student council and does numerous other extracurricular activities. She wants to go to Yale after high school, and is so into this vision that her favorite color is Yale Blue. She is very headstrong and determined, at one point being ordered to take the weekend off of monster hunting to relax. Another sign of her workaholic nature is that, when faced with a monster that showed her her worst fear, she saw a room full of late homework assignments. Jake thinks she is extremely bossy and overbearing. She and Jake are good friends, but there have been several hints of something more. In the episode "Speed", she was hurt when he told her he would never leave her if "he ever got the chance" to be her boyfriend, then claims that he was just doing his job. In season 2 it is seen that she has a slight crush on Jake because she was spying on him and Cadence while they were on a date.
*Felix Garcia played by David Del Rio (season 1 through early-season 2)- The nerd of the school, Felix is complex. He is just dying to tell someone about his involvement in the group so that he can be the "cool" guy, but is bound by oath to say nothing. He sees himself as a type of James Bond within the Troop who Jake and Hayley look up to, but in reality, they both think he is just the stereotypical nerd. Felix is an off-the-charts genius. An expert on mysterious creatures and paranormal activity, he is completely prepared to take on any monster, though he is scared of ghosts and clowns. Felix doesn't fit in at school, so the Troop are his closest friends. He fell for the Eris Fairy and was very disappointed when he found out she had a boyfriend back in her own dimension. However, she did kiss him on the cheek, hints that a cute girl in chemistry has a crush on him (he doesn't know which girl and will probably never find out) he eventually leaves the Lakewood Troop to go to the Troop International early in season 2.
*Mr. Stockley played by John Marshall Jones - Mr. Stockley is the Troop's adult adviser, a job he takes very seriously. He keeps Jake, Hayley and Felix up to date on recent monster activities, and makes sure they have the latest monster-fighting technology. However, when faced with a monster he panics (as you age, you become less able to fight monsters because of this) unlike all of the main characters, Stockley's first name hasn't been revealed. Mr. Stockley is named after one of the creator's (Max Burnett's) favorite teachers from Jr. High in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Stephen Stockley. In season 2, it is seen that he's happy when Jake finally tells Hayley of his crush on her. He confirms this loudly in the episode "Eris Returns".
*Kirby Bancroft-Cadworth III played by Matt Shively (late-season 2) - He joins the team in the second season to replace Felix (when Felix joins Troop International) Kirby transferred to the Lakewood Troop from Oklahoma, where he was a part of the Tulsa Troop. He is from a very rich family including his father who is extremely rich. He is a science genius, but he is no Felix Garcia. His inventions backfire on him most of the time. Even though this sometimes hurts the Troop, he is a loyal, honest kid who would do anything for his friends.
*Cadence Nash played by Malese Jow - She joins the team near the end of the second season. She is a bad girl who likes to cause trouble and has been in detention many times. She enjoys skateboarding and has a crush on Jake. She is a human-monster hybrid. She is completely aware of the Troop and the Troop is completely aware that she is a human-monster hybrid, although Hayley kept it a secret to keep her safe and to keep Jake from knowing. She was sent to the monster world in episode 31 by Jake after she freaked out when she saw her brother out cold. In episode 32, she is set free after she helps Jake through the monster world and saves him more than once. She may still be in a relationship with Jake after this. She eats a lot of standard food to stop her monster cravings.

Recurring

*Gus (Chad Krowchuk) – A nerdy teenage boy who is one of the Troop's worst enemies and a recurring villain in the first season. Gus was constantly picked on by bullies and after learning about the existence of monsters, desires to use them to get revenge and conquer Lakewood. After his first appearance, he wants to be called "Augustus", but everyone calls him "Gus", which angers him as it reminds him of his old life of being helpless and bullied. In his first appearance, he had a crush on Haley because she was the first person who was ever nice to him, but he grew to hate her after she helped foil his first evil plan. He returns as the main antagonist for the series one finale when he attempts and succeeds at releasing every monster the Lakewood Troop has ever captured, but he ultimately fails when his "monster magnet" goes into overdrive and activates a portal to the monster world which he then enters rather than being captured and "snarked". It is unknown what happened to him, but sounds that came from the portal moments after he entered suggest he was mauled by monsters.
*Phoebe Collins (Matreya Fedor) – Jake's little sister, she has shown in some episodes that she is destined to be part of the Troop as she met a dragon and was not afraid of it, and also wasn't afraid in the Halloween special. She sometimes acts as if she doesn't care about Jake but really does care for him. In "I, Monster", she indirectly saved him. She called his cell phone, which rang inside the cocoon that Jake was held in and Hayley and Felix found out Jake was the monster.
*Etienne (Eduard Witzke) – A funny and rather odd student in school who finds himself in the middle of the action in several episodes. He was the school news cameraman. He had crushes on Hayley and possibly Angela. He joined the Lakewood Troop in episode 31 as Kirby's replacement until he came back from his time machine, but was snarked after Kirby came back.
*Cuddy (Dejan Loyola) – Jake's friend who has appeared in many episodes.
*Angela Crabtree (Brenna O'Brien) – A rather unpleasant girl who is both frenemy and rival to Hayley. She claims to have no sense of humor and was the school news reporter.
*Lance Donovan (Jean-Luc Bilodeau) – One of The Troop members that appears in "''Tentacle Face''" he is the most highly awarded member to date and spent years trying to capture a Behemoth to gain the ultimate Troop honor, but he soon became too old to fight monsters, (as they had begun to scare him) and Jake had to destroy the Behemoth instead. He then becomes a Troop leader so that he can still pass on his wisdom and stay active, even though he cannot fight monsters.
*Mr. Spezza (Mig Macario)- The crabby biology teacher that never ceases to give The Troop a hard time, as in the episodes "Welcome to the Jungle", "There is no "I" in Monster Hunter" and "A Sniff Too Far".
*Bianca Stonehouse (Kyra Zagorski) – A world-famous Troop leader that appears in "''The Substitute''". She was revealed to be a Locht in disguise after the kids discovered the real Bianca stuffed inside a crate with her mouth taped shut. After being freed, Bianca helped them track down the Lochts, but didn't help them fight as she is now terrified of monsters due to her age. She is the inventor of the famous Troop fighting move 'the Stonehouse Kick'. She is friends with Mr. Stockley.
*The J-Troop – A troop from Japan, the J-Troop is a Japanese Troop that includes Akira (Bernie Yao) the strict field leader who has a thing for Hayley, and the twins, Yuki (Josette Jorge) and Keiko (Diana Bang), who are in love with Felix due to him being popular in Japan. Their only appearance is in "''Lost in Translation''" where they were sent both to train The American Troop to reach a higher level, and to trick them into thinking that they came to see a demonstration of how good they were.
*Laurel (Jessica Parker Kennedy) – Jake's Dryad "girlfriend" who appeared in the episodes "Forest Grump" and "The Next Stop: Lakewood".
*Amy (Erin Kerr) – A member of Hayley's cheerleading squad, appeared in the episode "Speed".
*Dr. Brandenburg (John Prowse) – The head of Troop International in the first-season finale. He turns out to be a Locht in disguise.
*Critter – One of Jake's former best friends. He and Sanjay were the ones who dared Jake to sleep-over in the abandoned hospital.
*Sanjay – Jake's other former friend, who was shown to be scared of spiders when he runs out of the hospital before Jake and Critter enter.
*Dr. Cranius (voiced by Kelsey Grammer) – An extremely intelligent sponge who attended Harvard, he is considered a monster and had to be contained. At the end of episode 24 Cranius is shown being heavily locked up in a real monster cell.
*Eris Fairy (Victoria Justice, season 1), ( Daniella Monet, season 2) – Specified as one of the monsters, She can move around at the speed of light. Eris reveals to Felix that there is a girl in chemistry that has a huge crush on him. But, she disappeared into the dimensional opening before the girl's name was revealed. The Eris returned in season 2 in the episode "Eris Returns".
*Roxanne (Andrea Brooks) – The leader of Hayley's cheer squad, constantly puts Hayley down. In the episode "Pajama Game...of Death", Roxane was host to a Vespinox inside of her.
*Brian (Reilly Dolman) – Hayley's boyfriend from the episode "Speed". They break up later in the episode.
*The Snark – An adorable creature with the ability to erase anyone's memory of recent events with its song; often used by the Troop on anyone who has witnessed their activities. It can produce a baby Snark by biting its host. It is revealed that an individual can suffer a mental age regression if "snarked" too many times.

Production

The show premiered to 3.5 million viewers on September 12, 2009 (premiering as a "Special Preview") right after ''iCarlys "iThink They Kissed". The show officially premiered a week later. In March 2010, the series was picked up for a second season.

On October 15, 2010, it was announced that Malese Jow and Matt Shively would join the cast of ''The Troop'' when the show enters its second season. Both Jow and Shively previously co-starred on Nickelodeon series prior to ''The Troop'', Jow co-starred in ''Unfabulous'' and Shively co-starred in '' True Jackson, VP''. David Del Rio announced in January 2011 that he would not be renewing his contract for the second season due to other commitments and would become a recurring cast member after episode 28. His character, Felix, moves to the International Troop and is no longer a member of the Lakewood Troop.

Broadcast

''The Troop'' aired on Nickelodeon and premiered in the United States on September 12, 2009. On August 6, 2011, Nickelodeon put the series on permanent hiatus before officially cancelling the show in 2012. The second season ended with the remaining 7 episodes left unaired. On October 29, 2012, the series was moved to TeenNick to air the remaining episodes. The final episode aired on May 8, 2013.

U.S. syndication history

* Nickelodeon (2009–2011)
* TeenNick (2009–2013; 2015)

U.K. syndication history

* Nickelodeon (2010–2020)

Awards

Won

*2010 Leo Awards Winner: Music, Comedy or Variety Program or Series: Directing: J.B. Sugar for episode "Wrath of the Wraith"

Nominated

*2010 Writers Guild of America Awards 2009 Winner: Episodic Comedy: "Welcome to the Jungle" written by Max Burnett
*2012 Writers Guild of America Awards 2011 Nominee: Best Episodic Comedy: "Oh, Brother" written by Max Burnett

Reception

Common Sense Media compared the series to Men In Black, saying "the concept isn't exactly original, but the good news is that the likable cast and great special effects make up for any shortage of creativity."

References

External links

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