Diana (animated TV series)

Diana is an animated television series created by Australian filmmaker and musician Alex Harshegyi and developed by Harshegyi and American artist Jason Bellows. The series is a spin off of the French cartoon Martin Mystery, which was loosely based upon the Italian comic book Martin Mystère by Alfredo Castelli. It is set in an alternate universe where the title character, Diana Lombard, never met Martin Mystery.

Plot
The series re-imagines one of Martin Mystery’s main characters, Diana Lombard, as the main protagonist. The show is set in an alternate universe where Diana never met Martin Mystery, and they never became step-siblings. Diana is one of the smartest students and biggest overachievers in school, and her best friend, Jenni Anderson, is one of the prettiest and most popular girls. They are assisted by Kevin Gould, who is smart and an overachiever like Diana and was initially her penpal.

Characters
Diana Alexandra Lombard is a 16-year-old girl, usually seen with her two signature hair clips (one with a pink flower and one with a yellow star) and her small purple shoulder bag. She is highly intelligent, a bit of a perfectionist, and overachiever. She is very cynical and sarcastic but also quite naive and gullible. Diana possesses a fiery temper, is very easily annoyed and cannot take a joke, and will generally make logical yet snide remarks. She can also have a hard time dealing with noise and will isolate herself from such situations. Despite all of this, she is kind-hearted and a loyal friend. She has green eyes and long brown hair, and is usually seen wearing a pink shirt with dark pink sleeves, light blue jeans that stop after her knees and white and pink sneakers.

Jenni Anderson is Diana’s best friend, and one of the prettiest and most popular girls attending Torrington. She has red lips, blue eyes and flared auburn-colored hair. Jenni is obsessed with glamour, fashion, and her looks, much to Diana’s chagrin. However, she is also very nice and mature, and tends to reason with Diana’s obsessive behavior. Jenni has a tendency to check herself out and compliment herself (usually) in the mirror in her locker, and a running gag is for her to make kissing noises when she does, both of which annoy Diana. Jenni is usually seen wearing a black blouse and black skirt with a purple belt and burgundy knee high boots.

Kevin Gould is Diana’s former penpal and friend. He is very shy, most likely due to the fact that no one wanted to be friends with him in elementary school. However, he is an overachiever like Diana, and wants to be rich when he gets older. Like Jenni, Kevin is more mature and calm compared to the sarcastic and abrasive Diana. He has brown hair like Diana, and usually wears a blue and white top, black pants and red sneakers.

Tyler is one of Diana’s classmates. He is an African-American immigrant with a love of sports. He also likes to listen to hip hop and R&B music and watch comedy shows. He is often seen wearing sports outfits or casual clothing, the latter sometimes with chains. His catchphrase is “Boi”, except when he talks to a girl, in which case he says “Gurl” instead.

Mike is a mischievous 13-year-old boy who likes to prank others, including Diana. When Diana is pranked by him, she usually responds to his pranks by chasing him, much to Jenni’s annoyance. Mike also has feelings for Jenni, but her view of Mike is not at all flattering. Diana and Jenni often call him a “brat” or a “little runt”. Despite his trouble-making personality, he has a good heart. Mike’s usual outfit is a bright green shirt, grey pants and red sneakers.

Jason Bartlett is Diana’s self-proclaimed romantic admirer. His appearance is based on that of co-developer Jason Bellows. He has short black hair, an average build, wears glasses, a dinosaur shirt, and dark blue jeans. Jason is an artist and avid dinosaur/action movie fan. His major character trait is his obsessive crush on Diana, although she never returns any affection, seeing him as a “creep” and occasional annoyance.

Billy is Jason’s younger stepbrother. He can be very annoying to Jason, especially when he teases him about his crush on Diana. Jason sometimes gets so annoyed that he throws Billy in a nearby trash can (Billy manages to get himself out anyway). Billy’s main outfit is an orange shirt with a blue jacket, black pants and orange boots.

Stephanie is the leader of a clique of the most popular girls in Diana’s school. Stephanie and Diana do not get along very well, as the former always puts the latter down due to the latter’s intelligence and “lack of tolerance”, which at times annoys Diana. Stephanie is also the tallest girl in the school due to her long legs which make guys swoon over her.

Gregory is a jock, football quarterback, self-proclaimed ruler of the school, and Tyler’s rival. He is a bit sarcastic and can be cruel at times, but he is more gentle with the girls. Diana is seen to have a crush on Gregory (much to Jason’s jealousy and Tyler’s chagrin) due to his blond hair, good looks, and buff and athletic figure. While he doesn’t feel the same way, there have been times where he does seem interested in pursuing a relationship with her.

Maddie and Taylor are Stephanie’s two crony friends who accompany her at school and other events. In the trio, Stephanie is the leader, Taylor serves as the brains, and Maddie is the ditzy yet reliable friend. Maddie has short reddish brown hair, and Taylor has long dark brown hair.

Darla and Darlene Simmons are a pair of twin sisters. Darla is a smart, shy, stereotypical nerd girl. Darla has green eyes and long red-brown hair. As a stereotypical nerd girl, she wears pink glasses, pink long-sleeved jacket with medium pink, white and gray borders on her V-neck and short sleeves and a white collared long sleeved shirt, raspberry skirt with a light pink border and primrose Mary Jane shoes with white socks. Darlene is the prettier, more outgoing twin sister. Darlene always picks on her nerdy yet more mature sister, and is often seen hanging with Jenni. Darlene wears a robin's egg blue and pink bordered (with a ribbon) half-sleeved strapless shirt with her belly showing, a robin's egg blue skirt that wears a pink belt with a white heart symbol in it and long and short robin's egg blue socks with pink boots, and she carries a primrose plum-purple school bag.

Steve Jung is a Korean-born musician and singer-songwriter. His parents originally wanted him to be a doctor, but he was interested in music from a very early age. He plays acoustic guitar, keyboards and percussion. He has black hair and is usually seen wearing a plain white T-shirt, dark jeans and sneakers.

Emily Jung is Steve’s younger sister. She is a musician and singer-songwriter just like Steve, and plays keyboards in her brother’s band.

Johnny B. Goode is a rock-loving guitarist. Despite his passion for rock music, he is often seen playing lead guitar for Steve Jung. He has a black Billie Joe Armstrong-esque haircut (only shorter) and wears black or grey T-shirts. His name is obviously a reference to the 1958 Chuck Berry song of the same name.

Megan is a tomboy. She loves anything that is “rough and tough”, and detests anything “girly”. She also plays bass guitar for Steve Jung, alongside Johnny B. Goode, who is her boyfriend. She has a short black bob haircut, a purple T-shirt with a skull and crossbones, black short shorts, and black army boots.

Kyle Livingston is the drummer in Steve Jung’s band. He has blonde hair, and usually wears a white T-shirt.

Antonio is Diana’s arch-rival. He claims to be the smartest person in the school, but Diana sees him as an “egotistical snob”.

Alex Hayward is an Australian-born filmmaker. His appearance is based on that of creator Alex Harshegyi.

Sammy is an autistic, mentally disabled 13-year-old boy. He tends to spend his free time wandering around, making strange noises, playing with toys, playing games, or watching videos. His usual outfit is a light blue shirt and light brown pants.

Voice Cast

 * Kelly Sheridan as Diana
 * Tabitha St. Germain as Jenni, Darla and Darlene
 * Keenan Christensen as Kevin
 * Shawn Singleton as Tyler
 * Kathleen Barr as Mike, Stephanie and Megan
 * Vincent Tong as Jason and Steve
 * Sam Vincent as Billy and Gregory
 * Ashleigh Ball as Taylor and Sammy
 * Andrea Libman as Maddie and Emily
 * Andrew Sabiston as Johnny
 * Matt Hill as Kyle and Antonio
 * Peter Kelamis as Alex