If you were growing up in the late ‘90s glued to Kids’ WB on Saturday mornings, you probably remember Men in Black: The Animated Series. With its sleek black suits, intergalactic gadgets, and genuinely weird alien designs, the show extended the world of the 1997 blockbuster in a way that actually felt like a natural continuation.
The show was actually a ton of fun! It was really well done, and I thought it was more entertaining the movies. Now, for the first time in ages, some of it is finally streaming on Tubi.
The series ran for four seasons from 1997 to 2001, stacking up 53 episodes that followed rookie Agent J (Keith Diamond) and the deadpan veteran Agent K (Ed O’Ross and later Gregg Berger) as they took on all manner of galactic threats from shape-shifting Inanimates to the parasitic Vermax.
They were joined by animated versions of movie favorites like the Worm Guys (Patrick Pinney and Pat Fraley), Frank the Pug (Eddie Barth), and even Vincent D’Onofrio, who returned to voice Edgar’s equally unsettling brother, Edwin the Bug.
But despite being one of the cooler and more stylish TV spinoffs of the ‘90s, Men in Black: The Series has mostly vanished into the ether. Only Season 1 ever made it to DVD, long out of print, and its brief stint on Sony’s Crackle came and went. It’s been, for all intents and purposes, missing in action.
Now, Tubi, the free ad-supported streaming service, has brought the show back… sort of. They’ve uploaded 15 episodes: the full first season and two from Season 2. It’s not the whole thing, but considering there’s no digital version anywhere else, it’s better than nothing.
And if you’ve been iinterested in revisiting this series or introducing it to someone who only knows the movies, this is currently your best shot.
It’s worth remembering how much love went into crafting this animated take. Unlike the film’s ending, where Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) retires and gets neuralyzed, the show rewrote that piece of canon to keep the dynamic duo intact.
“In proceeding with this series, we decided to make a few adjustments and ignored the end of the movie in which Kay was neuralized and returned to his previous life,” series co-creator and showrunner Duane Capizzi explained in a 1997 interview with Mania Magazine.
“This way we could keep him in the series because we felt [Men in Black‘s] main dynamic was between the Will Smith and the Tommy Lee Jones characters.”
“So, rather than coming up with the true sequel, which Amblin and Columbia will probably do anyway, we decided to ignore the ending and continue the adventures,” Capizzi added.
The show is worth revisiting or watching for the first time.
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