''Diabolik'' (also known as ''Saban's Diabolik'' and ''Diabolik: Track of the Panther''; French: ''Diabolik: Sur les Traces de la Panthère'', lit. "Diabolik: In the Footsteps of the Panther") is an animated television series based on the Italian comic book series of the same name by

Angela and Luciana Giussani Angela Giussani (10 June 1922, Milan – 10 February 1987, Milan) and Luciana Giussani (19 April 1928, Milan – 31 March 2001, Milan) were two Italian comic book writers. They are best known for their comic book anti-hero series ''Diabolik''. T ...

. Developed by Charles Corton and written by Jean Cheville and Florence Sandis, the series was an international co-production between

Saban Entertainment BVS Entertainment, Inc., previously known as Saban Productions, Saban Entertainment and Saban International, is a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company. Founded on April 24, 1980, as a music production company by Haim Saban and Shuki Levy, it ...

Saban International Paris SIP Animation (known as Saban International Paris until 2002) was a French animation studio, and a defunct subsidiary of BVS Entertainment (formerly Saban Entertainment). By 2009, the company had produced over 390 hours of animated content. Hist ...

, M6 Métropole Télévision and

Mediaset Mediaset S.p.A. is an Italian mass media and television production and distribution company that is the largest commercial broadcaster in the country. The company is controlled by the holding company MFE – MediaForEurope (the original ...

, with Asiatic animation services by

Ashi Productions is a Japanese anime studio, located in Suginami, Tokyo, Japan, known for its four magical-girl anime, especially '' Magical Princess Minky Momo''. It was established by Toshihiko Sato and other artists on December 20, 1975, as ''Ashi Productio ...

and

Saerom Animation Saerom Animation, Inc. () is an animation studio located in Seoul, South Korea founded in 1987 by Gilhwan Kim. While it mainly animates shows from American animation studios, the company started making its own cartoons in 2003. Productions TV se ...

. Production on the show began in 1997. In Europe, it premiered on

Fox Kids Fox Kids (originally known as Fox Children's Network and later as the Fox Kids Network; stylized in all caps) was an American children's programming block and branding for a slate of international children's television channels. Originally a j ...

on May 5, 1999, and lasted for 40 episodes before ending on January 1, 2001. Ownership of the series passed to

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

in 2001 when the company acquired

Fox Kids Worldwide ABC Family Worldwide is a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company that operates American basic cable channel Freeform (previously known as ''ABC Family'') and manages the programming libraries of BVS E ...

, which also includes

. Although it was co-produced in the U.S., it never aired in that country. The series that focuses on master thief

Diabolik ''Diabolik'' () is an Italian comic series created by sisters Angela and Luciana Giussani. One of the most popular series in the history of Italian comics, ''Diabolik'' was created in 1962 and consists of more than 900 volumes, and has led to ...

and his woman companion Eva, as they fight the criminal organisation Brotherhood and its leader Dane, while evading

Inspector Ginko ''Diabolik'' () is an Italian comic series created by sisters Angela and Luciana Giussani. One of the most popular series in the history of Italian comics, ''Diabolik'' was created in 1962 and consists of more than 900 volumes, and has led to ...

. The series differs considerably from the darker-toned comic, making it more suitable for a young audience; the main differences include the rejuvenation of Diabolik and Eva Kant, the introduction of new characters (such as the main antagonist Dane), the replacement of Diabolik's

Jaguar E-Type The Jaguar E-Type, or the Jaguar XK-E for the North American market, is a British FMR layout, front mid-engined sports car that was manufactured by Jaguar Cars, Jaguar Cars Ltd from 1961 to 1974. Its sleek appearance, advanced technologies, ...

with a fictional modern car, the absence of murders by the title character, and the setting in the real world rather than fictional locations.

Plot

is a master thief with a deep knowledge in many scientific fields, including

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

mechanics Mechanics () is the area of physics concerned with the relationships between force, matter, and motion among Physical object, physical objects. Forces applied to objects may result in Displacement (vector), displacements, which are changes of ...

, and

computing Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computer, computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and the development of both computer hardware, hardware and softw ...

. He has a set of lifelike masks which he uses to fool his opponents, assuming every identity at will. He was raised as an

orphan An orphan is a child whose parents have died, are unknown, or have permanently abandoned them. It can also refer to a child who has lost only one parent, as the Hebrew language, Hebrew translation, for example, is "fatherless". In some languages ...

on a secret island hideout of a criminal organisation known as the Brotherhood, where he learned all his criminal skills. As a

foundling Foundling or The Foundling may refer to: Places * Foundling hospital, an institution where abandoned children were cared for ** Foundling Hospital, Dublin, founded 1704 ** Foundling Hospital, Cork, founded 1737 ** Foundling Hospital, founded 17 ...

baby, Diabolik was discovered on a boat by King, the leader of the organisation, who welcomed him into his home like a son. Dane, King's legitimate son, never accepted Diabolik as a brother. Years later, Dane, jealous of Diabolik, framed him for a

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

which he didn't commit. The victim was the father of Diabolik's future partner

Eva Kant Eva Kant is an Italian comics character who originated in the series ''Diabolik'', issue #3 (3 March 1963). The character is extremely popular in Italy, where she reached the status of fashion icon. Fictional character biography Eva is the girlf ...

). Diabolik was imprisoned for the crime. Five years later, after King's death, Dane became the leader of the Brotherhood and organised the

prison escape A prison escape (also referred to as a bust out, breakout, jailbreak, jail escape or prison break) is the act of an Prisoner, inmate leaving prison through unofficial or illegal ways. Normally, when this occurs, an effort is made on the part o ...

of his adoptive brother. His actual goal was the

assassination Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

of Diabolik. Diabolik survived the assassination attempt and swore that he will destroy the Brotherhood and his brother. Together with his partner Eva Kant, who also got a personal

vendetta Vendetta may refer to: * Feud or vendetta, a long-running argument or fight Film * ''Vendetta'' (1919 film), a film featuring Harry Liedtke * ''Vendetta'' (1950 film), an American drama produced by Howard Hughes * ''Vendetta'' (1986 film), an ...

against Dane and the Brotherhood, Diabolik manages to make life miserable to Dane and his organisation, while being pursued by

Characters

Production

The series is based on the Italian comic book series of the same name by

, although it is significantly different from the source material, as it is more suitable for a young audience. It was developed by Charles Corton and written by Jean Cheville and Florence Sandis, and produced by the French studios

and M6 Métropole Télévision, the American

, and the Italian

, with Asiatic animation services by

and

. The production started in 1997. Mario Gomboli ( it), Italian script writer and editor of the original comics and artistic consultant of the series, stated: "In 1997, Saban International wanted to project cartoons, I proposed my children's books but they wanted something more adventurous, and so I told them about ''Diabolik''." Disney owns the rights of the series as an exclusive property through BVS Entertainment, (the series itself, copyrights, episodes, plot, merchandising/distribution rights, "''TRACK OF THE PANTHER''" trademark/label, recurring characters and other fictional/commercial elements or materials exclusively created for the animated TV show and not related with comics) while Astorina S.r.l holding the rights of the original ''Diabolik'' IP, franchise, trademark and its original characters like ''Diabolik, Eva, Ginko and King'' as an underlying property. According to an interview with a crew member, production of the series was particularly difficult due to the tension between American

Saturday-morning cartoon "Saturday-morning cartoon" is a colloquial term for the original animated series and live-action programming that was typically scheduled on Saturday and Sunday mornings in the United States on the "Big Three" television networks. The genre was a ...

expectations compared to the Italian origins of the character, with representatives from Italy mounting "staunch resistance" against attempts to move the series in that direction. This resulted in a much more extensive pre-production process, lasting for a year as opposed to two weeks for most animated series. In the end, a "workable format" seemed to be found, which balanced expounding on the character's darker backstory with his reformed nature in the present day of the series. The source of the information remained critical of the series, claiming it later "watered down" the concept making it less exciting, and added that Fox even considered cutting the series down to just 13 episodes in an effort to make it more action-oriented. Larry Brody, a

creative consultant Creative consultant is a credit that is given to people who have consulted on a film or television screenplay. They are involved in the writing process (proposing and editing story outlines/scripts). Sometimes they are given the credit of ''execu ...

on the series, revealed more details: About the series' development and broadcast, Mario Gomboli also said:

Release

Broadcast

The series premiered in Europe on

on May 5, 1999, and lasted for 40 episodes before ending on January 1, 2001; it also aired on M6 in France and on

Italia 1 Italia 1 (Italian pronunciation ) is an Italian free-to-air television channel on the Mediaset network, owned by MFE - MediaForEurope. It is aimed at both a young adult and adult audience. Italia 1 was launched on 3 January 1982 and, was or ...

in Italy. The English dub of the series was initially set to air on

Fox Family Channel American cable and satellite television network Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through four different owners and six different name changes during its history. This article details th ...

in the United States in 2000, but was cancelled before being aired, although the series was broadcast in Australia.

Home media

As with many other

series, the only major English-language

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

release is by Czech distributor North Video, featuring both Czech and English audio and original video (with English-language text) in the original production order. All 40 episodes were released on 12 volumes, from May 10 to August 2, 2010. In France,

TF1 TF1 (; standing for ''Télévision Française 1'') is a French commercial television network owned by TF1 Group, controlled by the Bouygues conglomerate. TF1's average market share of 24% makes it the most popular domestic network. TF1 is part ...

released exactly half of the series on DVD on February 22, 2007 exclusively in French, including on-screen text and a unique opening sequence. Despite the show's noted popularity in France, the second half has not been released. In Italy, the complete series was released on December 2, 2020, with Italian audio only.

Episodes

References

External links