Atomic Betty

''Atomic Betty'' (retitled ''Atomic Betty: Mission Earth'' for its third and final season) is an animated television series produced by Atomic Cartoons, Breakthrough Entertainment, and Tele Images Kids, along with the Marathon Group joining for the third season. Additional funding for production is provided by Teletoon in Canada, Phil Roman Entertainment (uncredited) in the U.S. and M6 (seasons 1–2) and Télétoon (season 3) in France.

In Canada, the show originally aired on Teletoon from August 29, 2004, to January 29, 2008, lasting for three years. In France, this series aired on M6 from 2004 until 2005 and then on Télétoon+ from 2006 until 2008. From the U.S., this series premiered on Cartoon Network on September 17, 2004, until January 1, 2006, and The Hub (now known as "Discovery Family") from 2010 until October 14, 2011, along with its third and final season.

Synopsis

Betty Barrett is a typical girl living in Moose Jaw Heights (a fictional suburb of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan) who enjoys school, daydreaming about living in outer space, sci-fi movies, and singing in her band. Unknown to all of her friends and family, however, she is also a member of the Galactic Guardians, an elite team dedicated to interstellar crime-fighting and law enforcement. As "Atomic Betty", assisted by her two allies, the alien pilot Sparky and a robot named X-5, she confronts the evil overlord Maximus I.Q. and his servant Minimus, as well as other intergalactic supervillains, criminals, terrorists, and gangsters. Despite being rather unassuming on Earth, Atomic Betty is a superstar throughout the galaxy and even has a crowd of people who consider her their role model.

In each episode, a crisis occurs somewhere in the galaxy, usually while Betty is spending time with her friends and family. Invariably, her bracelet starts beeping, and she runs off alone to save the galaxy in her superpowered Galactic Guardian battle suit, which allows her to use a wide variety of weapons and gadgets. Accompanied by her crew, Betty takes initiative to fight the villains before returning home and explaining her absence.

The show includes frequent references to other well-known works of pop culture, especially sci-fi, such as ''Star Wars'', ''The Matrix'', and ''Transformers''.

Characters

Main characters

* Betty Barrett (voiced by Tajja Isen), is the main title protagonist of the series. On Earth, to most of her friends and family, she is a typical preteen girl who enjoys visiting her grandmother, daydreaming about living in outer space, singing in her band, goofing off, and hanging out with her friends. She is not afraid to speak her mind, either, and dislikes any form of bullying, snobbery, and injustice. However, when there is trouble in deep space, she captains her own star-cruiser as Atomic Betty, a famously powerful and beautiful female Galactic Guardian and defender of the cosmos. In space, she investigates crimes and fights evil. Betty is very athletic; she is skilled at hand-to-hand combat, kickboxing, and karate, but is also equipped with a wide variety of Galactic Guardian-issued bracelet, housing a communications device and remote controls for her spaceship and its teleporter, as well as an array of gadgets and weapons. Her bracelet not only enables her to transform into her superpowered Galactic Guardian battle suit, but also has a holographic disguise function, and grants her basic telekinetic abilities as well. Betty had been the only one to object to Galactic Guardian Headquarters moving to Earth and her hometown, having preferred another planet (or even an isolated location on Earth's area). In ''Mission: Earth'', she has become more commanding in her Galactic Guardian duties, due to the stresses involved with Galactic Guardian Headquarters having moved to her hometown, the increased involvement of her spaceship crew in her daily life, her blooming romance with Penelope's older brother Chaz, and the fact that an increasing number of villains have targeted Earth and her school area. It is never revealed how and at what age Betty was recruited to join the Galactic Guardians. However, some episodes have shown Betty training with her martial arts master, Spindly Tam Kanushu when she was younger in the planet, Bane of Fragnog. Also, in the first season, Betty at first thought that she was the only human ever to be chosen to be a Galactic Guardian, until she discovered her grandmother Bea was one of the first Galactic Guardians, under the name Beatrixo. Betty has long red hair, usually worn in a ponytail, and emerald green eyes. In ''Mission: Earth'' onward, on Earth, her new usual outfit worn on her body consists of her yellow short-sleeve tee shirt with green highlights and a big green nuclear symbol on the center and her blue long-leg full-length slacks with light blue cuffs on the bottom, but the rest of her original usual outfit from the show itself can still be worn on her body. When on a mission for action, she wears her standard Galactic Guardian uniform, which consists of her white head-dress, pink dress, white gloves, pink bracelet, white belt with a nuclear symbol, and white thigh-high boots. She also always sports red lipstick while using her suit.

* Sparky (voiced by Rick Miller) is Betty's alien lieutenant and pilot, with a large nose, green skin, and blue hair. Although he is sometimes reckless, and often more interested in eating, surfing, or girls than the mission he is on, he is nevertheless very loyal to Betty and endeavors to do his best at all times. Also, despite his immaturity that he expresses in his quarreling with a fellow crew member, X-5, he is shown throughout the early series to be a very skilled pilot and combatant. With Galactic Guardian headquarters moved to Moose Jaw Heights following the events of "No Space Like Home", Sparky has an increased presence in Betty's personal life; he is a classmate of Betty purported to hail from Saskatoon. However, with more situations taking place on Earth, he has rarely seen piloting a ship and is often distracted when Betty needs his assistance. In "Girl Power", Sparky is accidentally transformed into a girl via a magic crystal during a battle with Pontifidora. Sparky reacts positively to the transformation and even befriends Betty's new friend, Regeena (while in girl form). Sparky is later returned to normal after the crystal is destroyed. Upon returning to normal Sparky admits he didn't mind being a girl and would have preferred to remain that way. Afterward Sparky manages to pass himself off to Regeena as his girl self's brother.

* X-5 (voiced by Bruce Hunter), the third member of Betty's crew, is a roughly rectangular, yellow, hovering robot. He tends to spout too much information at inopportune times and takes things exceptionally seriously, which usually grates on Sparky's nerves. The two of them have a grudgingly respectful working relationship. Though it is implied that he is an outdated robot model, newer model robots have tended to be less reliable. In the third season, he also becomes an inventor, inventing new gadgets that are used by Betty on her missions. When he visits Betty's home, he tries to "improve" upon the kitchen appliances in Betty's house, believing them to be primitive.

Episodes

Production

Atomic Cartoons, based in Vancouver, British Columbia, wrote the scripts and produced the animation for the show using Adobe Flash. Tele Images Kids produced animation and voice direction for the French-language version of the show. Breakthrough Films & Television, through its distribution subsidiary, handled worldwide distribution outside of Canada, except Spain and Portugal.

Three seasons of the show were produced, totaling 78 half-hour or 156 quarter-hour episodes, depending on the format shown in each market. There is also a one-hour Christmas special titled ''Atomic Betty: The No-L 9''.

Cancelled sequel

In 2010, Atomic Cartoons announced a sequel series was planned for a production titled ''Atomic Betty Redux''. The show would have featured the 17-year-old Atomic Betty, her teenage future self that was first introduced in the two-part finale "The Future Is Now!".

It was slated to be released either in late 2013 or mid-2014 but entered development hell shortly after. In early 2019, a Reddit user emailed Atomic Cartoons regarding the show, and the response was that the planned series had been cancelled due to the animation studio's desire to focus on their new projects.

Telecast and home media

''Atomic Betty'' premiered on Teletoon in Canada on August 29, 2004. The series was formerly aired on Cartoon Network from September 17, 2004, until January 1, 2006, in the U.S. and The Hub (now known as "Discovery Family") from October 10, 2010, until October 12, 2011. It first aired on CITV in the United Kingdom on November 1, 2004, the show continued to broadcast and then re-broadcast on CITV until it was effectively taken off schedule after 6–7 years sometime in 2011. Starz Kids and Family formerly picked up the series, but only for its first season because the last two were too expensive for the Starz brand to afford until it was later removed from its weekday morning lineup. Recently, Kartoon Channel, a web-based cartoon streaming channel, is now airing all three seasons of the show. It also aired repeats in Canada on Cartoon Network until 2015 and BBC Kids until the channel was closed in 2018.

Warner Home Video (sister company to the show's American broadcaster Cartoon Network) released two DVD volumes of the show on October 18, 2005, in Region 1 and February 6, 2006, in Japan. Each release contained eight segment-episodes from the first season. In the other two volumes, ''Betty Powers Up!'' and ''Betty Blasts Off!'' were planned but cancelled.

Reception

''Atomic Betty'' received positive-to-mixed reviews from critics and audiences but has since gained a cult following.

Emily Ashby of ''Common Sense Media'' gave the show a rate of four stars out of five, saying that the show is "equal opportunity exists" and " tups the ante on its TV peers by including some worthwhile messages as well." She also said that of the show's content is "nothing worrisome for its intended kid audience, aside from some mild potty humor and a smattering of brief scuffles between Betty's team and the bad guys. In the end, though, none of these minor blemishes tarnish the show's greatest asset -- its respectable heroine." Anita Gates of ''The New York Times'' says that "TBA".

Merchandise

Soundtrack

''Atomic Betty'' is the official soundtrack to the television series of the same name. It was released by Koch Records (now MNRK Music Group) on November 8, 2005, and contains some tracks performed by the title character of the show, Betty Barrett, voiced by actress/singer Tajja Isen. She wrote and recorded that album in 2004. As of 2017, the album is still available on iTunes and Amazon.

Video games

A video game based on the show developed by Big Blue Bubble was released for the Game Boy Advance in Europe on August 25, 2005, and in North America on October 25, 2005. A Java game for mobile phones, titled ''Atomic Betty - Part 1'', was developed by GlobalFun and Breakthrough New Media and published in 2010.

Dolls and action figures

Hong Kong-based toy company Playmates Toys was chosen during the initial run of the ''Atomic Betty'' TV show in Canada to produce a coinciding toy line. The toy line included a variety of Betty Barrett character dolls (made of rubber, cloth, nylon and silicone), which featured both her iconic pink-and-white dress, and her normal outfit, along with a yellow sweater and green skirt. The dolls featured nylon hair that could be brushed and styled, similar to popular fashion dolls at the time, such as Mattel's Barbie and Bratz. A "Talking Betty Doll" was released in 2004, which would say the character's catchphrase "Atomic Betty, reporting for duty!" when a button on its belly was pressed. The doll was powered by AAA batteries and featured the same nylon hair as the smaller versions of the doll had. Other toys by Playmates included small plastic figurines of major supporting characters, and a large plastic "Transforming Star Cruiser" that certain Betty dolls could fit into and ride in. Outside of Canada, UK-based toy company Character produced a line of Betty Barrett dolls for British audiences, releasing a television commercial on CITV to advertise the dolls in 2005. Character's doll line was very similar to the Playmates doll line, but Character only made dolls of Betty, not any supporting characters. Accessories included a plastic playhouse, which was styled similarly to the house that Betty lived in on the series.

References

External links

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{{Cartoon Network co-productions

2000s Canadian animated television series
2000s Canadian children's television series
2000s French animated television series
2004 animated television series debuts
2004 Canadian television series debuts
2004 French television series debuts
2008 Canadian television series endings
2008 French television series endings
Animated superheroine television shows
Animated television series about children
Animated television series about extraterrestrial life
Canadian anime-influenced animated television series
Canadian Screen Award–winning television shows
Canadian children's animated action television series
Canadian children's animated comic science fiction television series
Canadian children's animated science fantasy television series
Canadian children's animated space adventure television series
Canadian children's animated superhero television series
Canadian flash animated television series
Canadian English-language television shows
Fictional characters who use magic
French anime-influenced animated television series
French children's animated action television series
French children's animated comic science fiction television series
French children's animated science fantasy television series
French children's animated space adventure television series
French children's animated superhero television series
French flash animated television series
French-language television shows
M6 (TV channel) original programming
Teletoon original programming
Cartoon Network original programming
Discovery Family original programming
Television series by Banijay
Television shows set in Saskatchewan
Animated television series set on fictional planets
Middle school television series