"It began in Ancient Egypt with an evil High Priest named Imhotep who possessed the Scrolls of Thebes and sought to steal the Manacle of Osiris. They would give him the power to make the world his own. Fortunately, he failed.
3000 years later, the Manacle was rediscovered. But something went terribly wrong, and the mummy rose again...
Now, the race is on to find the ancient Scrolls. And in the balance hang a young boy's fate... and mankind's future."
3000 years later, the Manacle was rediscovered. But something went terribly wrong, and the mummy rose again...
Now, the race is on to find the ancient Scrolls. And in the balance hang a young boy's fate... and mankind's future."
The Mummy: The Animated Series is an animated television series produced by Universal Animation Studios to capitalize on the success of The Mummy Trilogy. It premiered on Kids' WB on September 29, 2001.
Set sometime between 1920 and 1934, the characters and plot were derived from the film, but the series could not replicate its success; efforts to make it consistent with real-world features were almost non-existent as, for example, Lake Titicaca being described as both puma-head shaped and as being found below the ruins of Macchu Picchu. Also, the poor quality of the animation disappointed fans of the special effects-laden films.
It was retooled and rechristened The Mummy: Secrets of the Medjai for its second season, which began on February 15, 2003. Although the quality is considered to have improved between the first and second seasons, the show failed to find an audience and was cancelled on June 7, 2003. It eventually aired reruns on Toon Disney up until the network's rebranding to Disney XD.
Based loosely on hit films The Mummy and The Mummy Returns, the O'Connells find themselves being chased around the world by the undead corrupt High Priest Imhotep (now voiced by Jim Cummings), and his lackey, Colin Weasler, while trying to get the Manacle of Osiris off of Alex's wrist. This takes their trip across the world, trying to locate the lost Scrolls of Thebes, the only things that can remove the Manacle. However, the Scrolls had to be destroyed to prevent Imhotep from possessing the Manacle. Now in the second season, Alex is trained as a Medjai to combat the mummy as well as facing new threats along the way.
Tropes:
- Action Dad: Rick O'Connell, treasure hunter, ex-Legionnaire and father of Alex O'Connell.
- Action Mom: Evie O'Connell, famous Adventurer Archaeologist and mother of Alex O'Connell.
- Adaptation Dye-Job:
- Evie and Jonathan - Dark hair in the films, red hair here.
- Rick - Brown hair in the films, blond here.
- Alex - Blond hair in the films, orange-ish here.
- Adaptational Villainy: While Imhotep and Anck-Su weren't saints in the films, here they're reimagined as wholly malevolent (and not especially loyal to each other) Evil Sorcerors who want to Take Over the World.
- Adventurer Archaeologist: The O'Connells are this to a T. It seems that every time they go looking for an artifact, they're always either attacked by mummies or giant sand creatures or some kind of monster!
- Alternate Continuity: On the surface, the show is more or less about what would have happened had Evie not read aloud from the Book of the Dead in the 1999 film. But it goes a bit deeper than that, as the looks, personalities and backstories of characters are also altered.
- Analogy Backfire: In A Candle in the Darkness, Alex, who has been forced to stay in the Zephyr, says that when Tutankhamun was his age, he was ruling Egypt and didn't have to listen to his parents. While the date of death of the Younger Lady, Tutankhamun's mother is not known, Akhenaten, the most likely candidate for Tutankhamun's father as the gender of the other candidate Smenkhkare is unknown, had long since passed on by the time Tutankhamun would have been Alex's age.
- And I Must Scream: The show ends with Imhotep, Weasler and Anck-Su trapped in the Netherworld, though Ardeth indicates that they could always pull an Escaped from Hell (like Anck-Su previously did).
- Animated Adaptation: Of the The Mummy Trilogy.
- Arbitrary Skepticism: "Fear Itself."Evie: There's no such thing as a haunted house.
Jonathan: Just like there's no such thing as a mummy? - Back from the Dead: Imhotep and Anck-Su. Evie is also revived by water taken from the Lake of Eternity after being crushed to death in the "A New Beginning" two-parter.
- Bad Boss: Colin was annoying, so Imhotep demeaned and threw him around a lot; in "The Black Forest" he goes as far as using him as a Human Shield, and in "Just Another Piece of Jewelry" he makes no real effort to avoid hitting him while blasting the Minotaur. The closest he ever came to expressing any level of appreciation for his toady's coerced assistance was when he offhandedly said "Perhaps you are not totally useless" in the aforementioned "Just Another Piece of Jewelry."
- Badass in Distress: Each of the protagonists has a BID moment or two to varying degrees in certain episodes. To name just a few examples...
- Alex is kidnapped by Imhotep in “The Summoning” shortly after putting on the Manacle of Osiris. Rick, Evy, Jonathan, and Ardeth arrive in short order to rescue him, but when Imhotep is about to crush Rick with a large statue, Alex unwittingly triggers the Manacle’s power, singlehandedly disintegrating the statue and all of Imhotep’s Mooks.
- Rick, Evy, and Jonathan are all briefly captured in “The Black Forest” via trees enchanted by Imhotep, but Rick tricks Weasler into helping them escape.
- In a Bad Future created when Imhotep goes back in time to steal the Manacle, Imhotep takes over the world and has Rick and Evy (who serve Imhotep in this timeline) taken away to be sacrificed for failing to defeat The Sphinx. Alex and this timeline’s Jonathan team up to save them by going back in time to restore the original timeline (including preventing Rick and Evy’s imprisonment/sacrifice from ever happening).
- In “The Dark Medjai”, Ardeth is kidnapped by Nizam Toth (the titular Dark Medjai) and tortured for information on the Medallion of the Medjai. In addition to resisting the torture without telling Toth anything, Ardeth still manages to get a solid hit in during Toth’s battle with Alex and Yanit, kicking Toth away from Alex while still chained to the wall. To cap it all off, after Alex frees Ardeth, Ardeth performs an interrogation of his own on Toth using the latter’s own scarab talisman, thereby gaining the information needed to save a separate group of Medjai trainees who were trapped in a chamber filling with sand.
- Battle Couple: Evie and Rick are a heroic example, while Imhotep and Anck-Su are a villainous one.
- Big Bad: Imhotep, though Season Two saw the introduction of other recurring villains like Anck-Su-Namun, Nizam Toth and Scarab.
- Bird People: The Aglaophones. They have the powers of Sirens, but look like Harpies.
- Body Horror: Imhotep was fully resurrected by the Book of the Dead, but was turned into a half-powered quasi-undead thing when an incantation that was supposed to send him back to the Netherworld was interrupted. Anck-Su looks even worse as a similar entity in "Old Friends."
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Alex becomes this after he is exposed to the Dark Energy in "Spring of Evil".
- Card-Carrying Villain: The villains are always going on about how wicked they are, especially Toth, who went as far as naming the source of his power "the Wellspring of Evil."
- Clingy MacGuffin: The Manacle of Osiris, which latches onto the wearer's wrist and can only be removed by either cutting it off or by using the Scrolls of Thebes.
- Enemy Mine: "The Enemy of My Enemy." Weasler and the male O'Connells are enthralled by the Aglaophones, who use them as slave labor in their search for the Cloak of Isis. Evie (who memorized the map) and Imhotep (whose power Evie needs to traverse the terrain) reluctantly work together to try and beat the Aglaophones to the Cloak. Imhotep remains a Jerkass throughout the truce, and proves to be an Ungrateful Bastard; his response to Evie saving him from being crushed is to scream at her for daring to lay her "filthy hands" on him, and he immediately tries to kill her once they reach their destination.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
- Imhotep fancied Anck-Su, but that evaporated after she betrayed him, and in the finale he leaves her to rot in the Netherworld.
Anck-Su: Imhotep!Imhotep: Anck-Su-Namun.Anck-Su: Now that you have come for me, my suffering will finally be over!Imhotep: I have come, but not for you. We all make our own destiny. Enjoy yours.Anck-Su: Imhotep, do not leave me like this!- Upon reuniting with his undead hounds, Toth affectionately declares, "I missed you too."
- Evil Is Not a Toy:
- Weasler used the Book of the Dead to bring Imhotep back, falsely assuming that the mummy would serve him either out of gratitude or because the spell would force him to. He was instead enslaved by the very evil that he unleashed, something which happens to him again when he frees the Aglaophones in "The Enemy of My Enemy."
- Imhotep and Toth use the Wellspring of Evil to corrupt Alex in "Spring of Evil." The pair lose control of it near the end of the episode, though; it attacks Imhotep and sucks in Toth.
- Fantasy Kitchen Sink: The show mostly dealt with wholly fictional demons and spirits, though mythological and folkloric creatures like werewolves, trolls and Sphinxes popped up now and then.
- Generic Doomsday Villain: The human villains (Imhotep, Colin Weasler, Anck-Su-Namun and Nizam Toth) were motivated by greed, lust for power and revenge; the sapient monsters (Scarab, the Rakshasa and the Aglaophones) never received backstories or discernible motives beyond Kill All Humans.
- He-Man Woman Hater: Anck-Su was the only woman who Imhotep treated with any degree of legitimate respect, and even then she still betrayed him because she felt that he saw her as more of a consort than an equal partner.Imhotep: Which way!?Evie: I need to remember the map.Imhotep: A woman should never be trusted with information like this!
- Historical Domain Character: Babe Ruth in "Orb of Aten" and Albert Einstein in "The Black Forest."
- How Do I Shot Web?: The Scrolls of Thebes are required to properly use the Manacle of Osiris, but they're lost, so Alex does a lot of fumbling with the trinket, activating New Powers as the Plot Demands.
- Hydro-Electro Combo: In "Trio", Imhotep uses the power of water and lightning to fuse with a spider monster called the Nihansan. Alex, Yanit and Fadil undo the fusion using a hydroelectric dam transformer.
- It Will Never Catch On: Alex's opinion of surfing and Rick's of TV.
- Lovable Coward: Jonathan Carnahan, Alex's uncle (Evie's brother and Rick's brother-in-law). Overlaps with The So-Called Coward quite often, as even though he is obviously terrified he never abandons his family, and does a lot of astonishingly brave things to help or defend them.
- MacGuffin: Innumerable examples, with every second or third episode being centered around the search for one that could potentially shift the tide in the battle between good and evil.
- Magma Man: The Monster of the Week, an angered South Pacific volcano spirit, in "Eruption."
- Mama Bear and Papa Wolf: Don't mess with Alex if you know what's good for you—even if you're an (almost) all-powerful mega-mummy that's able to summon armies of the undead.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: The premise of "The Cold."Colin: I brought you back from the dead, and what do I get in return? Polar bear fur in my face and insults. No respect, no recognition. Well, that's all about to change. Soon, the Trident of Voth will be mine, and with it, Colin Weasler will be the unstoppable one!Imhotep: YOU WILL ALWAYS BE NOTHING!
- Monster of the Week: Imhotep was in almost every episode, but he usually summoned some kind of monstrosity to do his bidding. An independent entity with no ties to him showed up every so often, though.
- Mummy: Imhotep and Anck-Su, though they spend only a few minutes (Imhotep when he's first resurrected, and Anck-Su at the beginning and end of "Old Friends") as Bandage Mummies.
- Naked Freak-Out: Weasler's worst nightmare is... being nude in public.
- Nerd Glasses: Weasler is an archaeologist with big round spectacles, and since he's a villain he's also an example of Four Eyes, Zero Soul.
- No Man of Woman Born: One of the obstacles in Toth's lair was a bridge that boys and men were unable to cross without triggering an array of booby traps. It probably would have worked (the Medjai are all-male organization) but Yanit (a girl disguised as a boy) proved to be a Spanner in the Works.
- The Quisling: Colin Weasler.Evie: You've sold out all of mankind, you worm!Weasler: What's your point?
- Rapid Aging: In the episode "Old Friends" Anck-Su escapes from the Netherworld and steals the Ring of Sukothai, which she uses to steal the youth of others, causing herself to regenerate and her victims to age rapidly.
- The Renfield: The website for the show called Weasler Imhotep's "Renfield-like servant." Given Imhotep's origins as a Dracula expy in the 1932 film, it is quite appropriate.
- Riddling Sphinx: It's the Monster of the Week (sort of) in "Time After Time" and it of course asks the Riddle of the Sphinx, exploding after Evie (with a little help from a time travelling Alex) gives the correct answer ("Man").
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: Tut, Alex's pet mongoose.
- Samus Is a Girl: Yanit, a Medjai trainee, turns out to be a girl who disguised herself as a boy to be accepted into the all-male order.
- Sand Worm: Imhotep conjures up one in "The Puzzle." It leads to a case of Hoist by His Own Petard when it crushes him and Weasler.
- Shiny New Australia: "The Cold:"Colin: Say, I was wondering, Master, considering my crackerjack research put us on the trail of the trident, perhaps we could discuss some small reward once you use it to Take Over the World?Imhotep: Reward?Colin: More like a token, really. I'd settle for New Zealand, Madagascar, perhaps Borneo...Imhotep: You will settle for just being alive!
- Shown Their Work:
- The episode "Against the Elements" correctly identifies Merneptah's capital as having been Memphis.
- The Orb of Aten has Babe Ruth make mention of St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys, which Ruth was sent to at age seven. In the scene itself, it has Ruth establish that he and Rick first met at this reformatory.
- The Sons and the Spears: Ardeth teaches the Medjai trainees this lesson, albeit with arrows instead of sticks. It doesn't stick, and the other Medjai continue to bully Alex until they become Fire-Forged Friends.
- Spider People: Imhotep becomes one after doing a Fusion Dance with a Giant Spider in "Trio."
- The Starscream: Anck-Su turns on Imhotep in "A New Beginning Part II" and Weasler does the same in "The Cold" (though unlike Anck-Su, he goes right back to serving Imhotep when things don't work out).
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Weasler is clearly based on Beni Gabor from the 1999 film.
- Sweet Polly Oliver: Yanit. Her being a girl is revealed when she crosses a bridge with a sign that says that no man can cross.
- This Is Reality: Simon, Alex's neighbor, mentions that he thought that mummies would be slow and mindless like they are in most books, comics, etc. Alex replies, "This one [Imhotep] isn't!"
- Title: The Adaptation: The Mummy: The Animated Series.
- Unholy Matrimony: Imhotep and Anck-Su, though their relationship falls apart when Anck-Su makes it clear that she'd prefer to rule alone.
- Was Once a Man: The Minotaur was originally a Medjai until he decided to be transformed into what he is now in order to protect the Scrolls of Thebes.
- "What Do They Fear?" Episode: "Fear Itself." The O'Connells, Imhotep and Weasler venture to an abandoned Russian mansion which turns out to be inhabited by a malevolent spirit that brings people's fears to life.
- Would Hurt a Child: None of the villains have any reservations about attacking or trying to kill children, including Alex.
- You Can Talk?: This is Evie's reaction when the Minotaur tells her to be quiet.
- You Don't Look Like You: Probably done because it would’ve been expensive to pay to use the actors’ likenesses, even in a stylized cartoon artstyle, but the characters’ redesigns range from being fairly recognizable Note to being entirely unrecognizable. Note
