Italian TV series
Huntik: Secrets & Seekers
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|
Genre
| |
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Created by
| Iginio Straffi
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Directed by
| Iginio Straffi
Simone Borselli (assistant director)
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Creative director
| Simone Borselli
|
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Voices of
| Yuri Lowenthal
Drew Aaron
Marc Thompson
Karen Strassman
Rebecca Soler
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Opening theme
| "Huntik Go"
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Ending theme
| "Heroes and Titans"
|
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Composers
|
- Michele Bettali
- Stefano Carrara
- Fabrizio Castania
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Country of origin
| Italy
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Original languages
| Italian
English
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No.
of seasons
| 2
|
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No.
of episodes
| 52
[1]
(
list of episodes
)
|
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Executive producer
| Joanne Lee
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Producer
| Iginio Straffi
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Production companies
| Rainbow S.p.A.
Rai Fiction
Big Bocca Productions (season 1)
[2]
m4e AG
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Network
| Rai Due
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Release
| 12 January 2009
(
2009-01-12
)
[3]
?
11 December 2011
(
2011-12-11
)
|
---|
Huntik: Secrets & Seekers
is an Italian
animated television series
created by
Iginio Straffi
, the creator of
Winx Club
. It was produced by
Rainbow
, a studio co-owned by Straffi and
Viacom
at the time of the show's conclusion. The series is about four adventurers who are part of a group called the Huntik Foundation, led by their top operative
Dante Vale
. Each episode takes place in a different historical city and features magical elements inspired by
European mythology
. The characters are designed in a style that combines Japanese
anime
with
Western animation
.
Iginio Straffi conceived
Huntik
in 2006. Its visual elements, artwork, and music were produced in Italy, while animation and some scriptwriting were done abroad. The first season premiered on
Rai Due
in Italy on 12 January 2009, and set a record number of viewers when it was rerun on
Rai Gulp
.
[4]
Production on a second season began shortly after the premiere of the first.
The second season debuted in Italy in 2011. That same year,
Viacom
gained 30% ownership of the Rainbow studio, and
Huntik
'
s second season premiered on Viacom's
Nickelodeon
networks internationally. Season two premiered on
Nicktoons
on April 21, 2013 in the United States.
[5]
Series overview
[
edit
]
The series follows Lok Lambert as he uncovers the secret legacy of his missing father Eathon, who was a member of the Huntik Foundation and a part of a secret world of magic users known as Seekers and creatures known as Titans. On his mission to uncover what happened to his father, Lok is joined by Dante Vale, Sophie Casterwill, Zhalia Moon, and the talking Titan Cherit.
[6]
The first season focuses on the fight against the evil Organization, led by a powerful Seeker known as the Professor, real name Simon Judeau.
[7]
Along the way, the team discovers the Amulet of Will and the powerful Legendary Titans. Although the Professor eventually acquires the three Legendary Titans of Mind, Body, and Spirit in a bid for immortality, the Huntik team defeats him.
In the second season, an ancient and evil group known as the Blood Spiral reveals itself and seeks to summon the Nullifiers, evil and destructive beings. They are linked to the destruction of Sophie's remaining family, the descendants of the powerful Lord Casterwill. A new hero, Den Fears, joins the Huntik team as Zhalia goes undercover within the Blood Spiral. A new set of Legendary Titans are uncovered, but their discovery heralds the resurrection of the Blood Spiral's founder, the Betrayer.
Cast and characters
[
edit
]
- Lok Lambert
(voiced by
Yuri Lowenthal
in the first season and
Matt Caplan
in the second season): The son of the legendary Seeker, Eathon Lambert. Though bored by textbooks, he excels at solving puzzles. Lok grew up knowing nothing about Seekers until he discovers his father's Amulet, and now aspires to be a top Seeker like him. During the first season, Lok is a key member of the team that takes down the Professor, Simon Judeau. During the second season, Lok becomes the new Champion of Casterwill to fight against the Blood Spiral. Over the course of the series, he develops romantic feelings for Sophie. His Titan is Kipperin, a green flying moth.
- Dante Vale
(voiced by
Marc Thompson
): The Huntik Foundation's top Seeker, who leads a team consisting of Lok Lambert, Sophie Casterwill, and Zhalia Moon. He uses his skills as a Seeker, a martial artist, and a detective to lead the team on a mission to find Eathon. His Titan is Caliban, a powerful Aztec warrior.
- Zhalia Moon
(voiced by
Karen Strassman
): A lone wolf who uses her abilities for espionage and creating illusions. At a young age, Klaus, a member of the Organization, adopted her, and she struggles between her upbringing in the Organization and her new friends within the Huntik Foundation. During the second season, she infiltrates the Blood Spiral for the Foundation and serves as a bodyguard for Harrison Fears. Her Titan is Gareon, a gecko-like creature who can turn invisible.
- Sophie Casterwill
(voiced by
Rebecca Soler
): A book-smart girl from the Casterwill family's House of Nobles. Her family was lost due to arson, leaving her to believe herself to be the last of the Casterwill nobility. Her bodyguard, Santiago, and her tutor/butler, LeBlanche, raised her. Because of her training, she is able to sense magical energy and easily learn new spells. During the first season, she has a rivalry with Zhalia. During the second season, she assumes the position of the head of the Casterwill family. As the story progresses, she develops romantic feelings for Lok. Her Titan is Sabriel, an elegant swordswoman.
- Cherit
(voiced by
Marc Thompson
): An ancient, bat-like Titan who was once Lord Casterwill's friend. He is among the only Titans who are able to speak audibly. Through unknown causes, he lost his memories of the past and his Amulet. His adventures with the Huntik Foundation help him to rediscover his past as he assists them by powering up allied Titans.
- Den Fears
(voiced by
Grant George
): He and his brother, Harrison, grew up as outcasts and orphans. Like Lok, he dislikes having to study from books. Due to having been marked by the Spiral, Den is able to sense when the Spiral is performing evil. During the second season, the Blood Spiral attempts to recruit him, but Den sees them as evil and instead joins the Huntik Foundation, fighting against the Blood Spiral to save Harrison from their influence. His Titan is Vigilante, a dark cloaked assassin.
- The Professor/Simon Judeau
(voiced by
Mike Pollock
): A former member of the Huntik Foundation and the founder of the Organization. After a mission with Eathon, he was cursed and his body was mangled. He is the only one who knows the truth of what happened to Eathon. Because of his time as a team with Eathon, he named his dog after him. During the first season, the Professor is the leader of the Organization until the Huntik team defeats him. His Titan is Araknos, a spider-like Legendary Titan who can control minds.
- Grier
(voiced by
Richard Epcar
): The rightful ruler of Sutos, who believes that discipline will lead to peace. In the first season, he is part of the Organization to bring peace from civil war to the people of Sutos. In the second season, he fights alongside Dante against the Blood Spirals and takes control of the Organization from Wilder. His Titan is Breaker, a huge four-armed bear.
- Rassimov
(voiced by
Maddie Blaustein
and
Marc Diraison
): The former leader of the Blood Spiral under the Betrayer. During the first season, Rassimov infiltrates the Organization and orchestrates the Professor's downfall, planting Demigorgan as a Holotome within his lair. During the second season, Rassimov reveals his true allegiance. His Titan is Thornment, an Egyptian mummy who uses sharp vines to ensnare her enemies.
- Mr. Wilder
(voiced by Christopher Kromer): The second leader of the Organization. His Titan is Incubane, a mischievous demon who can fire lasers from his hands.
- Kiel
(voiced by Matt Bernhard): A Blood Spiral fanatic and a pyromaniac who was part of Sophie's past. His Titan is Vulcana, a robed lava woman with power over fire.
- The Betrayer
: One of the original Seekers under Lord Casterwill, who betrayed the early Casterwill family to summon the Nullifiers to Earth. Though the children of Lord Casterwill defeated him, he used the power of the Blood Spiral to remain alive. During the second season, he deceives the Huntik team into breaking the seal on the Spiral Mark, resurrecting him and signaling the arrival of the Nullifiers. Although he is defeated, his succeeds in activating the Spiral Mark to signal the Nullifiers. His Titan is Demigorgan, the Legendary Titan of Betrayal.
Production
[
edit
]
Iginio Straffi conceived
Huntik
in 2006
[8]
as a
spiritual successor
to his previous show,
Winx Club
. Just as the
Winx
characters were modelled on popular singers, Straffi looked to movie stars when designing the
Huntik
characters:
Johnny Depp
served as the basis for Dante Vale,
Demi Moore
for Zhalia Moon, and
Gwyneth Paltrow
for Sophie Casterwill.
[9]
In developing the show, Iginio Straffi wanted to create a "cultured alternative to Japanese
manga
and American cartoons, giving viewers the opportunity to learn about Italian and European culture."
[10]
A first season of 26 episodes was announced in October 2006, along with a reported budget of approximately US$8.62 million.
[8]
After drawing his initial concept art for
Huntik
, Straffi "hammered out the kernel of the show" with the help of an international creative team at his animation studio, Rainbow SpA.
[11]
During these meetings, Sean Molyneaux was tasked with creating the
Huntik
series bible
, a "master document" that covered the show's character descriptions, backstories, and episode synopses.
[11]
Molyneaux, who was co-writing
Winx Club: The Secret of the Lost Kingdom
with Iginio Straffi at the time, stated that he "was given a decent amount of freedom to flesh out the details of the plot, the main characters, their story arcs and their pasts, and was responsible for the secondary characters pretty much top to bottom."
[11]
The designers of
Huntik
used e-mail to correspond with each other. All of the design ideas began from the descriptions in either the series bible or an episode script, from which the artists either went "off in their own direction" or wrote to Sean Molyneaux for guidance.
[11]
When writing new characters in scripts, Molyneaux tried to keep his "descriptions minimalist at first, maybe mentioning a single important fact (a personality trait, or a physical trait in the case of a Titan), hoping that maybe this will inspire the designer."
[11]
To illustrate the backgrounds of the series, the artists studied photos and visual maps online.
[9]
After the backgrounds and character animations were put together, art director Simone Borselli reviewed every individual scene three times over (for the first season, there were 11,700 scenes to review).
[9]
Once the audio effects were added, Borselli repeated the process again, this time reviewing each scene twice.
[9]
When drafting the show's action sequences, the
Huntik
staff avoided violence that could be emulated by viewers. They preferred monster fights over human combat scenes, and instead of punches, the writers called for "spheres of energy" to be shown onscreen.
[9]
Maurizio De Angelis, the show's story editor, supervised all scripts from Rainbow's studio in Italy. In 2009, he explained that "each screenplay is subject to countless changes, the time ranging from two or three weeks to five or six months."
[9]
The first season of
Huntik
involved around three years of writing and revisions,
[12]
while the second season took almost a year and a half.
[9]
Broadcast
[
edit
]
In Italy,
Rai Due
first broadcast
Huntik: Secrets & Seekers
on 12 January 2009 at 7:25 a.m.
[3]
In the United States, the first season premiered on
The CW
on 3 January 2009, nine days ahead of the Italian debut.
[13]
Rainbow first released a trailer for the second season in July 2011.
[14]
In Italy, the new season premiered on Rai Due on 17 September 2011.
[14]
Rai Gulp
replayed the episodes beginning on 22 September.
[14]
In the UK, the programme aired on
CITV
.
Following a 2011 purchase in which
Viacom
gained 30% ownership of Rainbow,
Huntik
was broadcast on Viacom's
Nickelodeon
channels worldwide,
[15]
including
Nicktoons
in the United States.
[16]
The second season made its American premiere on Nicktoons,
[5]
and the full episodes were uploaded on Nicktoons' website.
[17]
Reception
[
edit
]
In 2009, Will Wade of
Common Sense Media
wrote that the series "is fun to watch ... if you don't ask too many questions. The action sequences are exciting, the Titans are fearsome, the story is interesting, and the animation is lush and beautiful."
[18]
Reviewing the show's first DVD release, Mark Beresford of
Impulse Gamer
positively compared the show's adventure-focused story to the
Tintin
animations. He commented that the episodes "are pretty addictive and will leave you wanting to get your hands on the rest of the series."
[19]
Other media
[
edit
]
A tie-in
Huntik
trading card game was developed by Upper Deck and released in February 2009, along with starter packs and
booster packs
.
[20]
A line of 5 inch action figures has also been released,
[21]
along with a collection of miniature Titan figures.
[22]
A
Nintendo DS
game based on
Huntik
was announced in mid-2009 for release later that year.
[23]
The game was ultimately unreleased, but it was planned to feature a 20-hour single-player mission as well as a multiplayer mode.
[23]
In 2010, an IOS app named "Huntik: Titan Defence" was developed by Celestial Digital Entertainment Ltd. and was released on September 26.
[24]
In 2011, two
Huntik
-themed attractions opened at the MagicLand theme park in Rome. One is a
shooting dark ride
called "Huntik 5D," which incorporates a
CGI-animated
Huntik
short produced by Rainbow CGI.
[25]
Each of the ride's guided cars cost 120,000 euros to make.
[26]
The other is a
log flume
called "Huntik Spillwater"
[27]
(later renamed "Yucatan").
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Huntik (52 episodes) is a new animated action adventure property"
. Cynopsis Media. 9 December 2008.
- ^
"
"Huntik" Signs to Jetix and CITV | License Global"
.
- ^
a
b
Camera, Maddalena (9 January 2009).
"Il papa delle Winx lancia
Huntik
, il cartone d'altri tempi"
.
Il Giornale
(in Italian). Societa Europea di Edizioni
. Retrieved
14 October
2019
.
Dal 12 gennaio debuttera sulla seconda rete Rai alle 7.25 del mattino
- ^
"
Huntik: Secrets & Seekers
: il piu visto su Raisat Gulp"
.
Duesse Communication
(in Italian). 30 April 2009.
- ^
a
b
"Shows A-Z ? Huntik on Nicktoons"
.
The Futon Critic
. Retrieved
14 October
2019
.
- ^
"Huntik: Secrets & Seekers"
. Metacritic
. Retrieved
August 14,
2015
.
- ^
"Huntik: Secrets & Seekers"
.
www.metacritic.com
. Retrieved
2024-01-17
.
- ^
a
b
Stewart, Lianne (1 October 2006).
"Cool New Shows!"
.
Kidscreen
.
Brunico Communications
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
Bombino, Silvia (14 October 2009).
"Laggiu dove pettinano le bambole"
(PDF)
.
Vanity Fair
(in Italian). Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 14 December 2020
. Retrieved
30 October
2019
.
- ^
"Huntik: 12% di share per Rai Due"
.
Duesse Communication
(in Italian). 11 March 2009.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
"An interview with the folks behind
Huntik
"
. DVD Planet. Archived from
the original
on July 23, 2012.
- ^
"
Huntik
Artbook"
.
Rainbow
. 2009.
- ^
Afan, Emily Claire (15 December 2008).
"Huntik finds new home online"
.
Kidscreen
.
Brunico Communications
. Retrieved
14 October
2019
.
- ^
a
b
c
Alfano, Laura (19 August 2011).
"Huntik - Secrets & Seekers, la seconda stagione dal 17 settembre su Rai Due"
.
Televisionando
(in Italian). Deva Connection S.r.l
. Retrieved
14 October
2019
.
- ^
Minardi, Sabina (24 February 2011).
"Winx, le fatine fanno il botto"
.
L'espresso
(in Italian).
GEDI Gruppo Editoriale
. Archived from
the original
on 8 July 2017.
- ^
"
'Huntik: Secrets & Seekers' to Make Nicktoons Premiere in August"
(Press release).
Nicktoons
. 30 July 2012.
- ^
"Huntik Full Episodes - Nicktoons"
. 31 October 2013. Archived from
the original
on 31 October 2013
. Retrieved
14 October
2019
.
- ^
"Huntik - TV Review"
.
Common Sense Media
. 6 January 2009.
- ^
Beresford, Mark.
"Impulse Gamer: Huntik: Secrets & Seekers"
.
- ^
"Huntik Trading Card Game Makes an Action-Packed Debut"
.
Animation World Network
. Retrieved
2018-03-10
.
- ^
"Huntik action figures"
. The Upper Deck E-Newsletter.
- ^
"Huntik Miniatures"
. Panini.
- ^
a
b
Claire Afan, Emily (26 May 2009).
"Big Bocca signs new licensees for Huntik"
.
- ^
"Huntik IOS app"
. Appspy.com.
- ^
"Rainbow CGI Animation Studio Corporate Reel"
. Archived from
the original
on 2019-04-10 – via www.youtube.com.
- ^
"Mr Winx: My dream in 3D"
.
Panorama
. 26 May 2011.
- ^
"Huntik Spillwater - Magicland"
. 26 December 2010. Archived from
the original
on 26 December 2010.
External links
[
edit
]
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