Atomic Betty

Atomic Betty
From left to right: Sparky, Betty, and X-5.
Also known as	Atomic Betty: Mission Earth (season 3)
Genre	Science fiction Fantasy Comedy Superhero Action-adventure
Created by	Trevor Bentley Mauro Casalese Rob Davies Olaf Miller
Developed by	Kevin Gillis
Voices of	Tajja Isen Rick Miller Bruce Hunter Colin Fox Len Carlson (seasons 1–2) Adrian Truss
Theme music composer	Jack Lenz Kevin Gillis
Opening theme	"Atomic Betty Theme" by Tajja Isen
Ending theme	"Atomic Betty Theme Remix"
Composer	Lenz Entertainment
Country of origin	Canada France[1]
Original languages	English French
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	79 (156 segments) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Ira Levy Peter Williamson Kevin Gillis Trevor Bentley Philippe Alessandri Simone Halberstadt Harari Steven Hecht
Producers	Edward Peghin Kevin Gillis Bob Davies Virginie Jallot
Running time	22 minutes 11 minutes (segments) 60 minutes (The No L-9 special)
Production companies	Atomic Cartoons Breakthrough Entertainment Tele Images Kids Marathon Group (Season 3)
Original release
Network	Teletoon (Canada) M6 (France, seasons 1–2) Télétoon (France, season 3)
Release	August 29, 2004 (2004-08-29) – January 29, 2008 (2008-01-29)

Atomic Betty (retitled Atomic Betty: Mission Earth^[2] for its third and final season) is an animated television series^[3] 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.^[4]

In Canada, the show originally aired on Teletoon from August 29, 2004,^[5][6] to January 29, 2008,^[7] 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.^[8][9] 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

TBA

Episodes

Main article: List of Atomic Betty episodes

Season	Segments	Episodes		Originally aired
				First aired	Last aired
1	52	26		August 29, 2004 (2004-08-29)	January 22, 2005 (2005-01-22)
2	53	27		October 7, 2005 (2005-10-07)	June 23, 2006 (2006-06-23)
3	52	26		September 28, 2007 (2007-09-28)	January 29, 2008 (2008-01-29)

Production

Atomic Cartoons, based in Vancouver, British Columbia, wrote the scripts and produced the animation for the show using Adobe Flash.^[10] 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.^{[11][failed verification]}

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.^{[12][better source needed]}

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.^[13] 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.^[14] 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^[15][16][17] 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!^[18] were planned but cancelled.

DVD title	Season(s)	Episode count	Release date
Betty, Set, Go!	1	8	October 18, 2005
The season 1 compilation contained "Toxic Talent", "Spindly Tam Kanushu", "Atomic Roger", "Furball for the Sneeze", "The Really Big Game", "But the Cat Came Back", "The Doppelganger", and "The Incredible Shrinking Betty". Bonus features include: "Toughest Chick in the Alien World" Atomic Betty Theme music video.
Betty to the Rescue!	1	8	October 18, 2005
The season 1 compilation contained "Maximus Displeasure", "Cosmic Cake", "The Attack of the Evil Baby", "Crass Menagerie", "The Trouble with Triplets", "The Substitute", "Infantor Rules", and "Best (Mis)Laid Plans". Bonus features include: "I Remember When", an animated interview where Maximus and Minimus discuss Atomic Betty.

Reception

Atomic Betty received positive-to-mixed reviews from critics and audiences.

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 "[it] ups 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."^[19] Anita Gates of The New York Times says that "TBA".^[20]

Merchandise

Soundtrack

Atomic Betty
Soundtrack album by Tajja Isen
Released	November 8, 2005
Recorded	2004
Genre	Pop, electronica
Length	33:32
Label	Koch

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^[21] and Amazon.^[22]

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Atomic Betty Theme Song"	2:25
2.	"Supersonic Tronic Kinda Girl"	4:09
3.	"Alien Ball (Do The Betty!)"	3:22
4.	"Dog Star Sirius"	2:30
5.	"A Feeling Called Love"	4:47
6.	"Hold On"	3:53
7.	"Back In Space"	2:01
8.	"This Cat Is Coming After You"	3:19
9.	"That's What I Do"	4:12
10.	"Don't Surrender"	4:14

Video games

Main article: Atomic Betty (video game)

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.^[23]

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.^[24] 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.^[25][26]

References

1. "Atomic Betty". London: British Film Institute. Archived from the original on December 24, 2012. Retrieved November 21, 2012.
2. Clarke, Stewart (October 16, 2008). "ITV buys new Atomic Betty". TBI Vision. Retrieved August 5, 2014.
3. "Atomic Betty [TV Series]". Allmovie. Retrieved November 21, 2012. genres: Science Fiction
4. Crump, William D. (2019). Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film. McFarland & Co. pp. 18–19. ISBN 9781476672939.
5. "Breakthrough Animation Awards ATOMIC BETTY Worldwide Master Toy License to Playmates; Playmates Toys To Unveil ATOMIC BETTY Action Figures, Dolls and Accessories January '03". Business Wire. Berkshire Hathaway. June 7, 2002. Retrieved July 3, 2019.
6. "Teletoon: Tv". Archived from the original on August 6, 2002. Retrieved August 6, 2002.
7. "Atomic Betty (OAD: 08/04/2008)". Zap2it TV Listings. August 4, 2008. Retrieved October 7, 2013.
8. "Saskatchewan Home To New Superhero," Hollywood North Report
9. "Mad Maximus". Atomic Betty. Season 2.
10. "Atomic Betty Complete (8 DVDs Box Set), BackToThe80sDVDs". www.backtothe80sdvds.com. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
11. Breakthrough Entertainment: Atomic Betty Archived 2006-11-10 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2009-02-27
12. ExtensionEcho3 (February 10, 2019). "PSA: There will be no Atomic Betty Redux!!". Reddit. Retrieved August 26, 2019.
13. Thomas J. McLean (September 8, 2010). "Atomic Betty Coming to The Hub". Animation Magazine. Retrieved August 7, 2014.
14. "Distribution360 sends five kids series to Starz".
15. "Atomic Betty: Season 1, Volume 1 – Betty, Set, Go!". Warner Home Video. October 18, 2005. Retrieved October 18, 2005.
16. "Atomic Betty: Season 1, Volume 2 – Betty to the Rescue!". Warner Home Video. October 18, 2005. Retrieved October 18, 2005.
17. "And Blast Off! -- Warner Home Video and Breakthrough Entertainment Launch the Highly Anticipated Atomic Betty DVDs Throughout the Galaxy Including Planet Earth". Business Wire. Berkshire Hathaway. August 11, 2005. Retrieved July 3, 2019.
18. "Atomic Betty scrapped DVD volumes".
19. Ashby, Emily. "Atomic Betty TV Review". Common Sense Media. Retrieved December 28, 2024.
20. Gates, Anita (September 17, 2004). "A Heroine With Homework and a Galaxy to Rescue". The New York Times. Retrieved December 28, 2024.
21. "iTunes - Music - Atomic Betty by Atomic Betty". iTunes Store. November 8, 2005. Retrieved August 5, 2014.
22. "Atomic Betty: Music". Amazon. Retrieved August 5, 2014.
23. "Atomic Betty". GlobalFun. Archived from the original on December 3, 2010. Retrieved December 5, 2023.
24. "Atomic Betty". figure-archive.net. Figure Archive. Retrieved October 28, 2021.
25. "Character". www.character-online.com. Character.
26. "2005 Atomic Betty TV Commercial". www.youtube.com. Skylark24. Retrieved November 4, 2021.

External links

• Atomic Betty at IMDb