| Alt Name: | Evolution: The Animated Series |
| Creator: | Louis Gassin |
| Theme Music Composer: | L.A. Piccirillo |
| Open Theme: | "Evolution (Creepy Crawly)" |
| End Theme: | "Evolution (Creepy Crawly)" |
| Language: | English |
| Num Seasons: | 1 |
| Num Episodes: | 26 |
| Runtime: | 22 minutes |
Alienators: Evolution Continues (also known as Evolution: The Animated Series in some regions and the UK) is an animated comic science fiction television series. It is a continuation of the 2001 Ivan Reitman-directed science fiction comedy film Evolution.[1] [2] 26 episodes were produced.
Created by Louis Gassin, the series is produced by DIC Entertainment, L.P. in association with The Montecito Picture Company, DreamWorks Television, Columbia TriStar Television and Dentsu Inc., the latter of which handled distribution of the series in Asian territories. Although the Evolution intellectual property was owned by DreamWorks and is now the property of Paramount Pictures (which owns the studio's pre-2010 live-action back catalog), the series itself is now owned by WildBrain (formerly known as DHX Media).
The series was the basis for a Game Boy Advance game, that was developed by Digital Eclipse and published by Activision.
As with the film, the premise of the series is that a meteor carrying organisms that evolve at a very quick rate crashes into the Arizona Desert; single-celled alien organisms on this meteor quickly evolve into monstrous creatures, dubbed the "Genus". A team of scientists, the Alienators, must eliminate all these creatures before they destroy all life on Earth. The characters, Ira Kane, Harry Block, Lucy Mai, and Wayne Green must study all these extraterrestrial lifeforms and find a way to defeat them all. The "Genus" is led by a "humanoid manifestation" named Scopes.
In 2001, DIC picked up the animation rights to produce an animated series based on the film. Fox Kids acquired the North American broadcast rights and ordered 26 episodes to be produced for the Fall of 2001.[3] [4] The series premiered in September.[5]
The same year in June, Lions Gate Home Entertainment signed a home media distribution deal DIC Entertainment which included Alienators.[6]
In September, DIC signed an alliance agreement with Dentsu, the latter of which would invest, partner and co-produce the series with DIC in exchange for Asian and Japanese distribution rights excluding India.[7]
In September 2001, YTV acquired Canadian broadcast rights to the series under a deal with DIC Entertainment.[8]
In the United States, Lions Gate Home Entertainment and Trimark Home Video released Evolution: The Animated Movie on VHS and DVD on January 29, 2002. This release consisted of the 3-part episode "Survival" in a feature-length format. It was re-released by Sterling Entertainment on November 13, 2003 with the DVD version containing the fourth episode "Don't Drink the Water" as a bonus feature. The entire series is also available on Amazon Video.
In the United Kingdom, Anchor Bay UK released a single DVD/VHS set of the series on June 28, 2004 containing the first four episodes and later on released another DVD containing the next four. Avenue Entertainment would also release 2 DVDs containing 2 episodes each.
In Japan, six VHS/DVD releases, consisting of the entire series, was released in Japan by Happinet in January 2003. These sets were later released as part of two boxsets.[9]