Aliens exist and what’s more, they live right in amongst us. MIB is an elitist, shadowy organisation tasked with monitoring and controlling the alien population living here on Earth, stepping stealthy and without recognition throughout our everyday lives.
Veteran agent Kay (K) is probably MIB’s best soldier and most knowledgeable field operative alive today, and he now finds himself teamed up with the young and impulsive rookie, Jay (J), an impetuous young man with a seemingly endless ability to accidentally liven things up.
In other words, he goofs a lot.
Together these partners now man the front lines in MIB’s never-ending, unseen struggle to maintain the peace between human and non-human lifeforms here on our Earth.
Following the success of the 1997 science fiction comedy, Men in Black (starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones), the franchise was quickly capitalized upon by producing Men in Black: The Series, an animated series that ran from 1997 to 2001 for a total of 4 seasons and equaling 53 episodes.
The story for the series loosely follows on from the 1997 live-action film as well as taking concepts and pieces from the original comic book series (on which the franchise is actually based). Essentially though, for the most part the series sticks pretty much to its formulaic episodic approach that sees Jay and Kay rely on a variety of hi-tech gadgets to escape some or other sticky situation and save the day from one or other particular marauding alien lifeform. True, every now and then they do break out into the long-running backstory involving the traitorous former agent A, but for the most part you pretty much know what to expect from each and every episode.
That said, the writing on the series as a whole stays particularly fresh and fun and you’ll find yourself more often than not happily engrossed in each and every passing adventure, even if the scriptwriters do seem intent on rehashing the same humorous moments over and over again. I guess the motto is if it works, use it.
In addition, the humorous character interplay is helped greatly by some good voice acting for most of the main MIB characters and an enjoyable soundtrack melds in to create a finished, enjoyable aural package. Visually, Men in Black: The Series takes an interesting approach in utilizing a fairly linear, stylized look, which actually ends up working quite well and gives the show quite a distinctive look. Animation is pretty smooth for the most part and in general the show does avoid reusing animated bits as much as possible, the bane of many a produced-for-TV animation show the world over.
In summary, Men in Black: The Series is quite a fun, enjoyable romp that can appeal to both young and old and while not particularly at the top of the pile in terms of the best of today’s animated shows, it certainly is capable of holding its own and is a fine addition to your collection if you, like me, still act like a kid every now and then!
Related link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men_in_Black:_The_Series