"Once upon a time, there were two orphans, a boy and a girl left to fend off the world all on their own... Until I took them in. I'm Al. I run the Academy, a training ground for boys and girls of, um... unique talents. So now they have me, and each other, and it's cool. They're growin' up fast, real fast. He's a prize-winning surfer, a poet, and an expert safecracker. She knows fencing, etiquette, and explosives. They're masters of disguise, martial arts experts, and fluent in 20 languages. They're Delilah and Julius, and they're saving the world — one crime at a time, baby."
Delilah & Julius is a Canadian Animated Series about two young orphaned spies who fight international crime while training at the Academy, a secret Spy School. Trained by the mysterious 'Al' who is the director of the academy, they fight an assorted network of supervillains who have various plots to take over the world. Delilah Devonshire (voice of Marieve Herington) and her partner Julius Chevalier (voice of Fab Filippo) are polar opposites; she is very goal-oriented and Women Are Wiser while he is laidback, Hot-Blooded and more spontaneous. However, they are also the best operatives in the academy.
Created by Suzanne Chapman and Steven JP Comeau and produced by Decode Entertainment (now part of WildBrain), the series originally aired on Teletoon from 2005 to 2008 for a total of 52 episodes spread out over 2 seasons. The show proved to be among the network's highest-rated series of the time, with its spy-themed action and intrigue appealing to kids and adults alike.
This series provides examples of:
- Alliterative Name and Punny Name: Delilah Devonshire, Dr. Dismay and Ms. Deeds are some of the more obvious ones.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Al may seem like he's channeling The Dude but every so often he shows why he's qualified to teach a school for spies.
- Cannot Spit It Out: How Delilah and Julius really feel about each other.
- Julius keeps telling Delilah "I love you" throughout "Simple Minds"-and keeps losing his memory as well.
- Casual Danger Dialogue: D and J do this constantly, in one episode they calmly discuss their case while beating the pollen out of a man-eating plant.
- CatchphraseJulius: You have an appointment with justice!Delilah: Stellar...
- Chick Magnet: Julius attracts women like flies, including their female foes, Scarlett flirts with him on occasion and even a a ''Bride of Frankenstein-esque creature wanted him for a "man-friend". And Delilah of course, who is a bit of a Dude Magnet herself.
- Dumb Blonde: Julius has his moments though he does pull off a few gambits now and then
- Everything Sounds Sexier in French: Delilah speaks fluent French.
- Fanservice: A fair amount. Julius seems to end up shirtless on occasion, "Saving Scarlett" opens with them chasing down a criminal in a bikini among other examples.
- Fictional Counterpart: The World Federation to the United Nations.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Tibor, the main villain of Season 2 who is after the Zero List, is revealed to be Julius Chevalier's older brother, whose parents gave him up to a secret special operatives training program to raise spartan mega-strong agents; the program was cancelled when some of the agents became unstable. When he reveals to Julius that he's his older brother and explains that their parents gave him up to the program while having Julius to replace him, Julius is disgusted and mockingly asks if this is about avenging his lost childhood. Tibor admits it was about vengeance, but the Zero List had a way of changing things. It's implied that Tibor wanted to use the Zero List to change the past so he does not get put in the program. Even still, Julius has no sympathy for Tibor and plans to stop him because using the Zero List could damage or destroy the world.
- Groin Attack: With a dropped sandbag.
- Hippie Teacher: Al speaks in Seventies style.
- Magic Brakes: Brought up and Played for Laughs in "Pressure Drop", as Delilah and Zoe end up buying a car that has these (and a slew of other issues, like a detachable steering wheel) from a questionable car dealership to chase after some of the villains' hench-Geisha.
- Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Is there nothing that Scarlett can't do?
- Orphan's Ordeal: Julius' parents were killed in front of him when he was four and he is determined to find the ones responsible. Delilah's parents disappeared after defecting from the academy leading to suspicion that they and by extension Delilah were double agents.
- Parental Abandonment: for the titular agents and their motivations behind fighting crime.
- The Pig-Pen: Nosey has a Running Gag for ending up with a rank smell.
- Team Rivals: Team Ursula and Emmett for the titular partners.
- Rogues Gallery: Part of the package with this show.
- Romantic False Lead: Zoe in season two, an unusual example that will happily get out of the way if Delilah and Julius would just spit it out.
- School for Scheming: The Academy is a high school for spies, though they are heroic spies that fight super villains.
- Shout-Out: To Star Wars of all things! [1]
◊- In "A New Ice Age" Julius is flirting with Ice as a ploy to free himself and Delilah.
Julius: Ice, Ice, baby...- A party-goer in "Terror By Tarot" is dressed as the Green Goblin.
- Teen Super Spy: The students of the Academy, especially the title characters.
- Time Travel: The plot of the second season is figuring out how to do this.
- But the past can't be changed, literally, as everything that's destroyed will repair itself after a few seconds. Delilah exploits this to escape back to the present.
- That Came Out Wrong: Frequently with Delilah and Julius. Or right, if you think about it.Julius: Today is Delilah and mine's third anniversary.Scarlett: Mm-hmm...Julius: As professional partners, I mean.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Delilah talks about pizza a lot.
- Unlimited Wardrobe: Both characters are supposed to be really fashion conscious and are rarely seen in the same casual outfit twice. The show rivals Totally Spies! for the sheer number of outfits showcased in-series.
