A new Men in Black animated series is the best way forward for the struggling sci-fi franchise

The Men in Black sequels should have been a slam-dunk. After all, the first movie, despite its sci-fi premise, operates like a buddy cop film where two very different guys get paired together and bond while in pursuit of some bad guy. Historically, these kinds of movies — like Lethal Weapon, Rush Hour and Will Smith’s other franchise, Bad Boys — are ripe for sequels because all you have to do is put those two guys together on a new case and let their already-established chemistry take over. Men in Black II and Men in Black 3, however, each fumbled the ball in several ways.Men in Black II made the mistake of recycling the first plot of an alien coming to Earth in search of yet another cosmic artifact, except Lara Flynn Boyle’s lingerie-wearing shapeshifter Serleena wasn’t nearly as strange or monstrous as Vincent D’Onofrio’s giant roach creature. There was nothing new or exciting about this new villain, who bore more than a passing resemblance to Natasha Henstridge’s alien from Species and Mystique from X-Men. Returning director Barry Sonnenfeld also gave her a really annoying two-headed sidekick in Scrad and Charlie (with both heads being played by Johnny Knoxville).

The only thing Men in Black II did right was find an effective way to get Tommy Lee Jones’ Agent K back into the Men in Black organization after his memory was wiped at the end of the first film.

Image: Sony Pictures/Columbia Pictures

As for Men in Black 3, its time-travel story sees Smith’s Agent J go back to 1969 to pair with a younger Agent K (Josh Brolin). And while that’s at least a new plot, it ditches the best thing about the first film: Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones’ chemistry. Brolin does a fantastic Tommy Lee Jones impression in the film, but the magic simply isn’t there. At the time, it was clear the substitution only happened because Tommy Lee Jones was already getting a bit old for action movies by 2012 (he was then in his late 60s).

(I won’t even get into Men in Black: International which is also bad, but is really it’s own thing with all new characters.)

But while Men in Black’s sequels failed to recapture the magic, the 1997 cartoon adaptation Men in Black: The Series actually came fairly close. The show followed the events of the first film and followed the adventures of Agent J and Agent K, who deal with some new alien-oriented assignment each week (K’s retirement at the end of the first film was simply ignored). While the movies involved big, world-threatening events, much of the series felt like what a Men in Black field agent might experience on a day-to-day basis. In one episode, an alien dignitary arrives on Earth so J and K have to babysit his daughter. In another, Agent J has to go undercover as an alien for an important alien conference.

Unsurprisingly, Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones did not reprise their respective roles for this Saturday morning Kids’ WB cartoon series, but J and K’s buddy cop dynamic was still carried out very faithfully. Keith Diamond makes for a fun, energetic, over-confident Agent J, while Agent K’s cool, dead-pan demeanor was captured by Ed O’Ross in season 1 and then Gregg Berger for seasons 2 through 4. The character animations also don’t quite look like Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, presumably because Kids’ WB didn’t have the rights to their likenesses, but they do feel like the duo.

Similarly, Rip Torn’s Men in Black character, Agent Zed; and Linda Fiorentino’s Agent L found new actors and new looks. Only two actors reprised their film roles. The first was Tony Shaloub as Jack Jeebs, the alien informant Agent K liked to shoot the head off of in the first film. He came back for two episodes before the prolific voice actor Billy West took over the role. Even more impressively, Vincent D’Onofrio, who played Edgar the bug in the first movie, guest starred on the series four times. Once he even played the brother of his character from the first movie, now bent on revenge against the Men in Black

The series wasn’t afraid to expand on its premise and have a little fun, like an episode where Agent J is pregnant with an alien baby, or another where he gets merged with a symbiote, turning him into a two-headed freak. A particularly funny episode saw Agent J shrink down to the size of an Arquillian (the little alien in the head of a robotic human body in the first movie), but then they struggled to return him to normal size. As a result, the Men in Black organization builds him his own full-sized Agent J robot for little J to drive around.

Despite leaving space for sillier premises like those, the show was actually a good deal edgier than most of what was on Saturday mornings at the time. Many episodes dealt with alien assassins and deadly alien monsters. Plus, because aliens don’t have red blood — which was taboo to show on Saturday morning cartoons at that time — the Men in Black could kill their enemies, which was especially rare for a kids’ show.

This edgy tone was further enhanced by the art style, which looked like nothing else in childrens’ cartoons at the time. Designed by comic book artist Miguelanxo Prado, Men in Black: The Series offered more visual detail than the minimalist cartoons inspired by the success of Batman: The Animated Series, while still capturing some of that same shadowy moodiness. Prado also chose some truly wild designs for the aliens, which made it feel like they were coming from all over the universe. This look was shown off particularly well in the cool, catchy opening theme music, which reuses some elements from Will Smith’s “Men in Black” song.

Debuting in October of 1997 and wrapping up in June of 2001, the series was developed by three animation veterans with extensive cartoon credits: Duane Capizzi, Jeff Kline and Richard Raynis, with Capizzi playing the biggest part and writing many episodes. Men in Black: The Series ran for 53 episodes across four seasons, a respectable run, though still falling short of the “magic number” of 65 episodes needed to run a show in syndication long-term.

Why there isn’t more nostalgia out there for this series is a real mystery, as its contemporaries like Batman: The Animated Series and X-Men: The Animated Series remain popular. I can only guess that Men in Black’s overall faltering as a brand is to blame. Out of four big-budget movies, only the first one is any good. After that, the franchise has fallen flat three times, nearly a decade apart each time.

Now, a fifth Men in Black film is in development with rumors of Will Smith’s return. However, there seems to be little chance the now 79-year-old Tommy Lee Jones will suit up again, especially after his reduced role in the third movie. While Smith is a proven star, Agent J isn’t that much fun to watch without Agent K. Plus, Agent J’s whole thing was that he’s youthful and energetic, but y the time this movie comes out, Smith could be about 60 (even if he doesn’t look it). Does J’s character still J work as a 30-year veteran of the Men in Black?

The franchise would be much better off rebooting the cartoon instead (or maybe even make an animated film). Bring J back to being a rookie and have Agent K as his stone-faced partner. Yes, we’ve seen it before, but that formula works, and the original cartoon proved that while you don’t need Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones to make those characters click, they do need each other.

Men in Black: The Series is streaming for free on Tubi.