January 09, 2021

ZAK STORM

 

ZAK STORM

(Canal J, December 2, 2016-September 24, 2018 FR
ThisTV, September 30, 2017-January 7, 2018
Discovery Family, October 14, 2017-December 15, 2018
Netflix, November 1, 2017-September 13, 2018)

 

Zagtoon, Method Animation, SAMG Animation, MNC Animation, SK Broadband, De Agostini Editore, ON Kids & Family, Man of Action Studios, DQ Entertainment

 

 

MAIN CAST:

Marc Duquenoy (French) & Chris Smith (English) – Crogar
Olivier Podesta (French) & Max Mittelman (English) – Caramba
Elodie Menant (French) & Reba Buhr (English) – Clovis
Jérôme Wiggins (French) & Kyle Hebert (English) – Calabrass
Julien Chatelet (French) – Skullivar
Keith Silverstein (as David Roach, English) – Skullivar, Anubis, Zak’s father

 

 

            13-year-old competitive surfer Zak Storm (Hervé Grull & Michael Johnston) decided to go out and catch the perfect wave while “borrowing” his father’s lucky necklace. Unknown to him, the necklace actually contained the mystical Eye of Beru which caused him to be sucked by a giant wave into the Bermuda Triangle where a strange world awaited comprised of everything and everyone ever lost within. He was picked up by a sentient pirate ship called the Chaos, which came complete with a magical talking sword name Calabrass (Jérôme Wiggins & Kyle Hebert, using a traditional pirate accent). The only way for Zak to get home was to unite the seven magical seas within the Triangle.

Zak with Calabrass and the seven Eyes.

            Calabrass was actually the key to doing this, as he was able to activate the waypoint in each of the seas. He also possessed the eye of each sea (originally planned to be only four Eyes to represent the sides of a triangle), embedded in the gear around his face. Those allowed him to access powers and give his wielder armor when selected, as well as allowed him to transform into other kinds of weapons. The Eye of Blazz from the Sea of Fire turned him into a flaming sword with fire abilities or a shield of black stone; the Eye of Sino from the Sea of Ice turned him into a frozen sword with ice abilities; the Eye of Dezer from the Sea of Sands turned him into a hammer or club that could raise stone pillars from the ground, or stone shield; the Eye of Aeria from the Sea of Storms turned him into an axe or a shield made of lightning and gave him electrical powers; the Eye of Beru from the Sea of Water turned him into a water cannon or a shield with four nozzles that fired water jets; the Eye of Vapir from the Sea of Shadows turned him into a staff or a double-edged blade made of smoke and gained smoke abilities; and the Eye of Zite from the Sea of Stars turned into an axe or a shuriken attached to a flail and gave him spirit powers, which allowed him to project himself and others into astral forms. Zak summoned the powers by requesting a particular Eye, which was followed by a stock transformation sequence. The only limitation was that Calabrass often needed a rest after utilizing each Eye.


            With a ship and a sword, of course Zak also needed a crew. His first recruit was a ghost who took up residence on the Chaos before Zak’s arrival named Clovis (Elodie Menant & Reba Buhr, using a cockney accent). Clovis was a carefree spirit who loved to play pranks on people, and was born sometime in 19th Century England. He had lost his body somewhere and hoped to one day find it. CeCe (who had purple skin in early promotional material, voiced by Marie Nonnenmacher & Christine Marie Cabanos) was an Atlantean princess who could breathe underwater, was a proficient fighter, and had great leadership skills. She became Zak’s first mate, and he also developed a crush on her. Crogar (Marc Duquenoy & Chris Smith) was a 15-year-old Viking pirate and the muscle of the crew, always shouting “Ragnarok!” when charging into battle. Caramba (Olivier Podesta & Max Mittelman) was a small, green alien known as a Wahoolian. He got around in a round, yellow exoskeleton and was technologically proficient, making him the mechanic of the Chaos. He was also an incredible coward. Since every member of the crew’s name began with a “C” (Zak’s real first name was Conrad), they decided to call themselves the Seven C’s.

Skullivar, Golden Bones and their skeleton army.

            Standing in their way was the evil Skullivar (Julien Chatelet & David Roach), an undead despot who sought to conquer the Triangle by claiming the Eyes and Calabrass for himself. To that end, he had his own Eye made: the Eye of Netherwhere, which gave Calabrass Skullivar’s abilities and turned him evil when applied. Serving Skullivar was Golden Bones (Benjamin Van Meggelen & Matthew Mercer), a golden mechanical skeleton with a hooked hand. Bones commanded Skullivar’s mechanical skeleton army as well as The Demoniac, a haunted World War II frigate. Other foes include the various waypoint guardians: powerful mystical beings who could move the waypoints at will and control the environments they’re located in, such as Anubis (Silverstein) in Dezer; and the Lemurians, another underwater race at war with the Atlanteans. The character designs were handled by Kamel Tazit, Nicholas Vulajaj and Philippe Guyenne.

The Seven C's on the Chaos.

            Zak Storm was created by Man of Action—a collective of comic book writers Duncan Rouleau, Joe Casey, Joe Kelly and Steven T. Seagle—and developed by Zagtoon with Method Animation, SAMG Animation, MNC Animation, SK Broadband, De Agostini Editore, and DQ Entertainment. It made its debut on France’s Canal J on December 2, 2016 and gradually made its way to other countries and markets over the next two years. It was slated to make its English-dubbed debut on Discovery Family on September 16, 2017, but was delayed until October 14th. Instead, the English dub originally premiered on ThisTV’s KidsClick programming block on September 30th. Beginning November 1st, episodes would become available for viewing in groups on Netflix; sometimes predating their televised broadcasts towards the later episodes.

Zak using the Eye of Sino power.

            Writers included Man of Action, Sébastien Thibaudeau, Julien Magnat, Pierre-Alain Chartier, Emmanuel Leduc, Romain van Liemt, Nicolas Verpilleux, Damian Smith, Dominique Latil, François Déon, Marie Eynard, Armand Robin, Augustin Mas, Stephanie Tallon, Valérie Chappellet, Oliver Croset, Cyril Tysz, Guillaume Enard, Guillaume Mautalent, Sébastien Oursel, Anne Ricaud, Matthieu Choquet, and Pascal Stervinou. Thibaudeau, Choquet, Liemt and Tysz served as the story editors. The theme was composed by Jeremy Zag with Andy Zag and Amanda Williams and performed by Noam Kaniel. Jeremy and Williams also handled the series’ score.

The Demoniac.

New episodes ran their course by the end of 2018; however, producer Jeremy Zag has stated that they were given a greenlight for a second season. Despite release dates of early 2019 and late 2020, the second season had yet to reach broadcast and Zak Storm merchandise was no longer available through Zag’s official store as of this writing. Zagtoon partnered with Bandai to handle the show’s merchandising. Bandai subsequently released a series of 3” action figures, playsets and two of Calabrass’ forms. Each toy came with a token that could be utilized with the mobile game also made by Bandai. The game could be played along with episodes of the series in order to unlock special in-game awards or mini-games. In 2018, Dragon d’Or published five books adapting an episode each, all credited to On Entertainment. Additional merchandise included a Halloween costume of Zak by Palamon, various styles of backpacks, and an embroidered cap.

One of the United Kingdom DVDs.


Shout! Factory released four volumes with 8 episodes each between 2018 and 2020. A fifth volume was released in international markets, with Dazzler Media handling the United Kingdom releases, Koch Media in Italy and Eden Germany GmbH in Germany. Clips and segments from the series are available to view on its official YouTube channel and in full on Netflix.

              

EPISODE GUIDE (TTV=ThisTV, DF=Discovery Family, N=Netflix, FR=France):

“Origins, Part 1” (12/2/16 FR, 9/30/17 TTV) – Zak’s father’s necklace sends him into the Bermuda Triangle where he’s tasked with uniting and commanding the Seven Seas in order to return home.

 

“Origins, Part 2” (12/3/16 FR, 10/14/17 DF) – Cece steals Calabrass from Zak in order to get out of the Triangle, but ends up joining his crew when she faces down Golden Bones with him.

 

“Morlock the Unstoppable” (12/4/16 FR, 10/21/17 DF) – Zak goes on a treasure hunt to prove he’s a worth captain, but Golden Bones beats him to it and assembles a dangerous new foe from it.

 

“Witch Overboard” (12/5/16 FR, 11/1/17 N) – Carama is knocked overboard and finds an ancient locket that allows the powerful shadow queen held inside to take over his form.

 

“Freezing Point” (12/6/16 FR, 11/1/17 N) – The Seven C’s rescue an ice wyvern egg from Golden Bones just as it hatches and bonds with Crogar.

 

“The Voice of Chaos” (12/7/16 FR, 11/1/17 N) – Evading Demoniac puts the Chaos right into a tornado field with a damaged engine.

 

“Troll Driving” (12/8/16 FR, 11/1/17 N) – Mistaking his exoskeleton for a golden ball, Caramba gets kidnapped by some sea trolls while repairing the Chaos.

 

“The Seas Seven” (12/9/16 FR, 11/1/17 N) – The Seven C’s must reclaim a powerful Atlantean weapon from Skullivar.

 

“Spirited Away” (12/11/16 FR, 11/1/17 N) – When Clovis is kidnapped by two ghosts, Zak, Calabrass and CeCe have seven hours to rescue him before becoming stuck in the ghost forms they had to adopt.

 

“The Swap” (12/11/16 FR, 11/1/17 N) – Clovis’ clumsiness while infiltrating Golden Bones’ ship allows him to take the Chaos and Calabrass.

 

“A Jellyfish of Legend” (12/12/16 FR, 11/1/17 N) – The Seven C’s vow to protect a mythical jellyfish from all the sailors that seek to take advantage of it.

 

“Lemuria Attacks” (12/13/16 FR, 11/1/17 N) – CeCe is targeted for capture as a prize in the war between Lemuria and Atlantis.

 

“Mutiny on the Demoniac” (12/14/16 FR, 11/1/17 N) – Clovis becomes human again and leads an insurrection on the Demoniac after he’s captured.

 

“Forged in Fire” (12/30/17 FR, 5/12/18 DF) – Calabrass gets damaged when Zak accidentally springs a trap, and Golden Bones attacks them when they take him to the primordial flame to fix him.

 

“The Shipwrecked in the Sand” (1/6/18 FR, 5/19/18 DF) – The Seven C’s head to the Sea of Dezer to look for the lock and end up confronted by its guardian.

 

“Prison Break” (1/13/18 FR, 5/26/18 DF) – The Seven C’s attempt to free legendary pirate Alan Gamble from prison.

 

“The Bermuda Apocalypse” (1/20/18 FR, 6/2/18 DF) – The Seven C’s set out to find a spaceship that crashed in order to make use of its technology.

 

“The Last Flight of Icarus” (1/27/18 FR, 6/9/18 DF) – The Seven C’s try to acquire a flying machine so that Zak can investigate the Lock of Beru.

 

“The Labyrinth of Minotaur” (2/3/18 FR, 6/16/18 DF) – The Seven C’s venture into a labyrinth to get a rare crystal to fix Caramba’s exoskeleton.

 

“Lighthouse of the Soul” (2/10/18 FR) – Golden Bones tries to take advantage of the Lighthouse of Marituga’s fading out while The Seven C’s venture inside it.

 

“Crogar the Terrible” (2/17/18 FR, 9/13/18 N) – Crogar is captured and hypnotized into servitude by a sinister mermaid.

 

“Eye of the Cyclone” (2/24/18 FR, 9/13/18 N) – The Seven C’s help an aerian open the waypoint of Aeria, but something seems off about their new ally.

 

“Escape from Netherwhere” (3/3/18 FR, 9/13/18 N) – The Seven C’s team-up with Alan to save Caramba and stop a Netherwhere energy bomb from exploding.

 

“Thermal Shock” (3/10/18 FR, 9/13/18 N) – Golden Bones delivers a thermal shock to the Seven C’s as they try to open the Sino waypoint.

 

“Trial by Fire” (3/17/18 FR) – Being trapped in a volcano forces Zak to team up with Golden Bones to open the Blazz waypoint and defeat its guardian.

 

“Calabrass’ Old Friend” (3/24/18 FR) – Calabrass is reunited with an old pirate friend who tries to destroy the Seven C’s.

 

“Call to Adventure” (3/31/18 FR) – Caramba manages to repair Zak’s phone, but before he can use it he needs to rush off and help Alan.

 

“The Wiseman” (4/7/18 FR) – A wiseman tells the Seven C’s about a waypoint that will allow them to bypass all the others, but CeCe has her doubts.

 

“Burn Out” (4/14/18 FR, 9/1/18 N) – Despite their exhaustion, the Seven C’s agree to help Sassafrass find a Chronos stone that could control time.

 

“Wrath of Blix” (4/21/18 FR, 9/1/18 N) – Zak tries to encourage the jellyfish to rebel against Golden Bones, who’s been using them as a power source.

 

“Calabrass’ Body” (4/2818 FR, 9/1/18 N) – Anubis captures Calabrass and tries to tempt him with the offer of a body of his very own.

 

“Island of the Lost Children” (5/8/18 FR, 9/1/18 N) – The Seven C’s land on an island where they believe children are being terrorized by monsters.

 

“Tanah Lost” (5/12/18 FR, 9/1/18 N) – The Seven C’s have to find a cure after CeCe ends up poisoned in battle.

 

“Between Stars” (3/18/18 FR, 9/1/18 N) – Zak has to join up with Sassafras and her daughter to open the Waypoint of Zite.

 

“Viking Connexion” (3/24/18 FR, 9/1/18 N) – Crogar puts the crew in danger while attempting to reunite his old Viking crew.

 

“The Stowaway” (3/24/18 FR, 9/1/18 N) – While stuck in the Sea of Sino, the Seven C’s have to contend with sinister duplicates.

 

“Zak’s Choice” (4/1/18 FR, 9/1/18 N) – Zak grows increasingly frustrated that they still have two Waypoints to open before he can go home.

 

“The Lost Orb” (4/13/18 FR, 9/1/18 N) – Tied of Golden Bones’ failures, Skullivar puts Carver in charge and he manages to snatch Calabrass away from Zak.

 

“The Last Guardian” (9/24/18 FR, 9/1/18N) – The Seven C’s must battle Skullivar, who now possesses an evil Calabrass.

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