Martin Mystery: A Kids Show I'll Actually Watch

There are a lot of kids shows on TV these days and most have the same slapstick humor and sight gags we have all come accustomed to over the years. My younger siblings watch some really dumb shows on TV, but one that I was introduced to actually caught my attention, Martin Mystery. Martin Mystery is show on Nickelodeons channel and sirs on Nick Toons network, with some very inventive and interesting stories.

Martin Mystery follows a group of two teenagers Martin Mystery, and his sister Diana Lumbar. Together they attend Torington Academy and like most teens struggle with life, but they have a very unique part time job. Martin and Diana work for a secret government agency investigating the paranormal.

In essence Martin Mystery is like the X Files for kids. Martin and Diana, and sometimes their caveman sidekick Java, investigate UFO sightings, ghosts, specters, demons, witches, and much much more. Each episode has the team traveling the globe on missions and various assignments. The team may be in China one day, New York the next, and Paris France during the next week, it all just depends on where the story is going.

What really caught my attention was the fact that much of the information that Martin and Diana gather along their way is completely accurate, in a historical aspect. Knowing the history of a location actually has a major impact on the show, and has saved the lives of the main characters on more then one occasion. Even the history of the occult and paranormal that is handed out through the episodes is fairly accurate. Druids being in tune with nature, the importance of pentagrams and where they originated and the historical accounts of hauntings all play an intricate part of the story.

Character development is weak, but I suppose it's good for a cartoon, I mean we are talking about an animated show here. Martin is really a goofball and can get annoying at times, whereas Diana is a know it all, but not so much that she's annoying. Java has to be my favorite character because he's a caveman, and that's just cool! The inventions the characters use, like the U watch are actually pretty innovative and clever.

The U watch has a multitude of gadgets like a slime analyzer, grappling hook, various cutting tools, among other things, like a Swiss army knife on steroids, I really wish I had one. Also the way in which the character think through situations aside from relying of their technology is a very nice touch, it actually shows a bit of thought was put into the story.

If you can get passed the fact that Martin Mystery is an animated show then it is really a good program. There are not really adult themes like with most shows dealing with the subject of ghosts, UFO, and demons, but are they really needed? Aside from Martins goofy attitude and some strange animation at times Martin Mystery is a children's show that I could actually bare to sit and watch with my younger brothers. I'll admit, I found Martin Mystery to be very entertaining.