The Zeta Project – 02makersname

Zeta and Ro travel to meet Dr. Arroyo, one of the scientists who helped build him. But Agent Bennet gets to Arroyo first, and uses him to lure
Zeta into an ambush.

Media by Bird Boy
Review by Bird Boy

Early 21st Century Artifacts
Ro: Another object from the past?
Zee: This was a writing tool called the "pen." They said it was mightier than the sword.
Ro: Uh huh. Except a sword’s bigger and sharper.
Zee: I noticed that too.

Voices:
Diedrich Bader as Zeta / Zee
Julie Nathanson as Ro
Kurtwood Smith as Agent Bennet
Michael Rosenbaum as Agent West
Lauren Tom as Agent Lee
Miguel Sandoval as Dr. Aroyu
Ethan Embry as Bodhi
Tara Strong as Vega
David Faustino as Scruffy
Tim Dang Captain
 

“Futuristic hippies,” I say to myself, “great. The first episode was boring enough, but now I have to listen to hippies who want discounted rides into space.”

And so the episode goes, with Ro and Zeta attempting to find Zeta’s creator through his various public convention appearances (however, there are few) and in the progress, they find that one of the scientists involved in The Zeta Project, Dr. Aroyu, works nearby. We don’t even see
Zeta and Dr. Aroyu alone until near the end of the episode, where Zeta is tricked into trap that Aroyu sets up with the NSA, in fear for his life. After Zeta saves Dr. Aroyu from an explosion, it becomes apparent that he’s no longer the destroying synthoid they thought they released.

Animation was still pretty run of the mill, as with the majority of first-season episodes. The colors are still the same bright, cheery shades that the show had, again, in its first season. There’s nothing positive to say, in these departments, for me, so I’m going to move on in an effort to not repeat myself endlessly.

Voice acting did start to pick up in this episode; Diedrich Bader and
Julie Nathanson began to slip into their rolls a bit more smoothly, not sounding as stiff and unsure as in the first episode.

In terms of story, it set up future plots for Dr. Selig, but as a episode in itself, it felt pretty flat. A lot of the early episodes were just stepping stones to get to the meat of the series, which I suppose is better than just randomly having stuff happen. Still, even gradual progression can be fun and the tiny bit of action in this episode was fun to watch.

You know…looking back now, futuristic hippies are pretty damn funny.