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At Marathon he�s the Creative
Director of Animation. Along
with Vincent Chalvon-Demersay,
he�s the co-creator of both
Totally Spies and the new Martin
Mystery series. David�s
also a co-producer of Totally
Spies and Martin Mystery with
both series currently in production
for their third seasons. He�s
an extremely busy guy but he
was nice enough to answer a
few questions about Totally
Spies.
someguy959: When did the
idea for Totally Spies first
come about and how long was
it in development?
David Michel: Back
about 4 years ago, girl bands
& girl power was all the
rage. We knew this was the right
time for a show that would carry
these values, as most girl-skewing
shows were playing very young
at the time (princess stories
etc.). We went from development
to production in less than a
year.
I created & produced
Totally Spies along with Vincent
Chalvon-Demersay who is the
company's general manager. We
wrote the first script, bible
and ran the show creatively.
I was 26 when we started!
sg959: I've never seen the
pilot episode but looking at
some images from it, the "look"
of the show changed a lot to
what everybody recognises today.
Was the show supposed to have
an anime flavour to it or did
you have something else in mind?
If it was not originally planned
to have an anime "look",
when and why was it decided
to make the change?
DM: The trailer
of the show is anime-looking
but, from this to the first
episode, we agreed with the
show's director, Stephane Berry,
who wanted to blend in even
more anime.
sg959: The show seems to
be very popular all over the
world. Are you surprised by
the success of the show?
DM: The one thing
that surprised us the most is
the consistency in the male
/ female viewership split: from
Brazil to Italy, we have a 50%
boys 50% girls audience ratio,
whereas everybody was predicting
the show would score very low
on boys.
sg959: How many more seasons
of Totally Spies do you think
Marathon will produce? Do you
think it will have as long a
life as shows such as Pokemon,
Power Rangers, Batman (etc.)?
DM: Our goal as
a company is to produce a limited
number of long-running, high
production-value series. The
3rd season (ep 52 to 78) is
in production right now and
we are already discussing season
4 with our partners.
sg959: Are there any plans
to release a Totally Spies soundtrack
with the background music tracks
and theme song?
DM: This is being
discussed...
sg959: After Totally Spies
was dropped from ABC-Family,
it took a long time for the
show to return to the USA. Could
you talk about what Marathon
had to do to get Totally Spies
back onto US TV's?
DM: Unfortunately,
I'm not familiar with the business
side of the story, sorry about
this.
sg959: Many fans of the show
have noticed little "Easter
eggs" that the Marathon
animators insert into the show.
For example, in the Green With
N.V. episode, there is a street
sign that says Marathon and
there's also a Totally Spies
poster in the background in
another scene. Who decides to
put them into the show and why?
I think most fans find it fun
to look for these things during
the show.
DM: It usually
comes from the storyboard artists
or model designers. We love
these too!
sg959: Do you have any interesting
stories or inside jokes about
something that ended up being
put into an episode of the show?
DM: In season II,
guess what's the name of the
totally hunky, totally clever
boy that the 3 girls fall in
love with at the same time?
David!
sg959: What are some of the
favourite episodes of Totally
Spies among the Marathon staff?
DM: Usually, opinions
differ on everyone's favourite
episodes. I tend to like best
episodes with strong narrative
& dramatization elements,
where Stephane, the director,
is usually more interested in
animation quality. My favourites
are: Nature Nightmare (Season
2) & The New Jerry (season
1)
sg959: In Season 2 you brought
back some of the villains from
the first season. What are the
chances that we will be seeing
some more familiar faces in
season 3?
DM: Very high!
We love doing this!
sg959: What about seeing
some of the other spies from
WOOHP (Britney, Bob, Pam, Alice,
and Crimson) showing up in season
3? I'm also curious to know
if the show will devote any
episodes to exploring some of
the supporting characters such
as Mandy or Jerry?
DM: Britney makes
an impressive comeback in season
III and we have a few Mandy
/ Jerry specials.
sg959: Has season 3 come
far enough in its production
for you to make available the
episode list for the new season?
DM: Not really,
but I promise I'll keep you
posted.
sg959: Are you able to reveal
any tiny bits of information
about the upcoming third season?
Anything.....???
DM: OK- You're
really the first one we're disclosing
this info to: the girls move
into the same house together
and Jerry has completely revamped
WHOOP. He now has a new, very
invasive assistant!
sg959: I really appreciate
having you take some time out
of your busy schedule to answer
this email interview. Thank
You. Are there any closing comments
you would like to say to the
Totally Spies fans reading this
article?
DM: We just love
receiving fan mail and look
up bulletin boards often to
keep up with what the fans like
or not. So thank you for being
so supportive.
Go to the Totally Spies factoids
page
For more information about
Marathon and it's different
programs, visit their website.
Marathon's website can
be found at www.marathon.fr
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