The Secret Saturdays is an American animated television series created by Canadian cartoonist Jay Stephens and produced by PorchLight Entertainment for Cartoon Network. The series ran from October 3, 2008, to January 30, 2010. It follows the adventures of the eponymous family of cryptozoologists that work to keep the truth about cryptids from getting out, to protect both the human race and the creatures themselves. The Saturdays travel the Earth searching for cryptids to study and battling twisted villains like the megalomaniac V. V. Argost. The series is influenced by 1960s-era Hanna-Barbera action series and Jay Stephens's interest in cryptozoology.
Plot
The Secret Saturdays revolves around the eponymous Saturdays, a family of cryptozoologists consisting of parents Doc and Drew Saturday and their 11-year-old son, Zak Saturday. The Saturdays are members of the Secret Scientists, a global organization with the goal of studying and safeguarding sciences considered too dangerous to be general public knowledge. As the foremost experts in cryptids, the Saturdays are responsible for studying and protecting cryptids around the world, while also keeping their existence a secret from the rest of humanity and averting cryptid-related threats. The Saturdays travel in their airship with their cryptid companions Fiskerton, Komodo, and Zon, while the young Zak Saturday strives to help his parents with their missions and to master his mysterious innate ability to influence and control the actions of cryptids.
At the beginning of the series, the Secret Scientists are attacked en masse by V. V. Argost, the masked host of the cryptid-centric television series V. V. Argost's Weird World and a longtime enemy of the Secret Scientists. Argost and his henchmen steal the pieces of the Kur Stone, a Sumerian artifact which can lead its wielder to the location of Kur, an allegedly all-powerful cryptid. In the first season of the show, the Saturdays are also pitted against bounty hunter Leonidas Van Rook and his apprentice, who is later revealed to be Drew's long-lost brother Doyle Blackwell, who was separated from her after their parents died in an accident in the Himalayas. The Saturdays also discover an ancient mirror which leads to a dimension made of antimatter, and encounter their evil counterparts, whom Zak dubs the "Mondays." At the end of the first season, the Saturdays and Argost race to Kur's supposed resting place in Antarctica, only to discover that Kur is actually Zak; when the Kur stone was shattered years ago, Kur's soul entered Zak's unborn body, giving him the ability to influence cryptids.
In the second season, Argost, taking an interest in Zak as the true Kur, bargains with Zak to teach him how to use his powers. Meanwhile, the Secret Scientists have turned against the Saturdays, wishing to capture Zak and place him into cryogenic sleep to prevent him from becoming a serious threat. As Doyle and a reformed Van Rook investigate the origins of V. V. Argost, they discover that Argost is actually a cryptid, the yeti, and was responsible for the murder of Drew and Doyle's parents decades ago. Argost captures Zak and reveals himself as the yeti, then uses the mirror artifact to summon Zak Monday, whose powers he steals, giving him the same powers as Zak and killing Zak Monday in the process. Argost and Zak wage a global cryptid war against each other using their Kur abilities, but Zak ultimately overpowers Argost, forcing him to retreat. After killing Van Rook, Argost captures Zak and tries to absorb his powers in addition to Zak Monday's, but the combination of matter and antimatter destroys Argost and the power of Kur.
Characters Main Zak Saturday (voiced by Sam Lerner): The son of Doc and Drew Saturday, Zak seeks adventure at every turn, which is easily satisfied by his cryptid-researching family. He has an unorthodox upbringing that has taken him around the planet and placed him in the face of danger since the day he was born. Zak was imbued with Kur's essence prior to his birth, which gives the ability to mentally connect with cryptids. Doc Saturday (voiced by Phil Morris): Solomon "Doc" Saturday is the patriarch of the Saturday family and an "Indiana Jones"-like character who has spent his whole life studying cryptids. Doc Saturday naturally had black hair but after a fight with Tsul 'Kalu, Doc was shocked by the claw that originally belonged to Kalu, giving him a streak of white hair and blinding him in his right eye. A man who takes science very seriously, Doc is one of the Earth's leading experts in the field of cryptozoology. Drew Saturday (voiced by Nicole Sullivan): Drew Saturday is the matriarch and the one who "believes in magic," being more prone to accepting things on faith rather than empirical evidence. Drew was born to a family of adventurer-scientists. After her family was scattered during a severe blizzard in the Himalaya, she was raised by monks who may have taught her to believe not everything needs a reasonable/scientific explanation. Years later, she was reunited with her long lost brother, Doyle. Doyle Blackwell (voiced by Will Friedle): Doyle is Zak's biological uncle, Doc's brother-in-law, and Drew's long-lost younger brother. He first appears as Van Rook's apprentice in "The Kur Stone". In "Van Rook's Apprentice", he changes sides and joins the Saturdays after learning he is Drew's brother and about V.V. Argost's true motives. Fiskerton (vocal effects provided by Diedrich Bader): Fiskerton is a seven-foot-tall creature resembling a cross between a gorilla and a cat, based on the Fiskerton Phantom. He was adopted by the Saturday family when his home was burned down in Nottinghamshire, England, with him and Zak developing a sibling-like relationship. He is later be revealed to be a Lemurian. Komodo (vocal effects provided by Fred Tatasciore): Komodo is a 250-pound, genetically altered Komodo dragon with a voracious appetite. He can become invisible and make other objects invisible. Though for the most part he is very obedient, Komodo's actions are often dictated by his stomach and he will ignore the family for a good meal. Extending from this, Komodo will often pick fights with others to get food. Zon (vocal effects provided by Fred Tatasciore): Zon, named after the Amazon rainforest where she was found, is an Ornithocheirus who lives in a nest near the Saturdays' headquarters. The Saturdays anger her by crashing into her nest during the second episode, but she comes to appreciate them after Zak saves her life. She uses the cliffs where the Saturdays live as her hunting grounds.
Supporting The Secret Scientists: A group of Earth's greatest minds who specialize in various fields. Dr. Arthur Beemman (voiced by Jeff Bennett): A Secret Scientist who studies aliens and UFOs. Dr. Henry Cheveyo (voiced by Diedrich Bader): A Secret Scientist who works at the Mesa Observatory in Arizona. Dr. Miranda Grey (voiced by Susanne Blakeslee): A Secret Scientist who specializes in quantum physics and wields a gun which can create miniature wormholes, allowing her to physically attack opponents from a distance. Deadbolt: A robot who is the sidekick of Dr. Miranda Grey. A running gag is that whenever Deadbolt is destroyed, he is repaired good as new and improved. Dr. Paul Cheechoo (voiced by Danny Cooksey): A Secret Scientist from Canada who specializes in cold-climate research. He is shown to be more friendly to Zak and has a sense of humor. Professor Talu Mizuki (voiced by Jerry Tondo): A scientist who invented a mind-swapping device for crime lord and philanthropist Shoji Fuzen, intending to use the device to give certain people a new body. When Mizuki was asked to use it to implant the mind of one of Fuzen's men into a Hibagon, he took the Hibagon's body himself to prevent Fuzen from obtaining and weaponizing it. In the ensuing confrontation, Mizuki's original body was lost in a fire and the mind-swapping device was destroyed. He attempts to take revenge against Fuzen, but is convinced by Doc to let it go. He now lives in a cave lab alongside his white tiger working on rebuilding the device and joined the Secret Scientists. White Tiger: The unnamed pet of Talu Mizuki, who was implanted with the consciousness of his dog. Dr. Patchecutec (voiced by Candi Milo): A Secret Scientist. Dr. David Bara (voiced by Clancy Brown): A Secret Scientist who owned the Dream-Time Totem. Dr. Odele (voiced by Phil Morris): A Secret Scientist who specializes in anomalous weather. Ulraj (voiced by Adam Wylie): The young fish-like prince of Kumari Kandam, whose father was killed in an assault orchestrated by V.V. Argost. With help from the Saturdays, Ulraj reclaims his kingdom. Agent Epsilon (voiced by Brian Stepanek): A member of a secret organization that is loosely allied with the Secret Scientists. He and his "son" Francis are clones of a "perfect agent" who their organization found 100 years ago. Francis (voiced by Scott Menville): The "son" of Agent Epsilon. The Hassi: A tribe in the Middle East that are allied with the Secret Scientists. They guard the Methuselah Tree, the source of all water on Earth. Maboul (voiced by Diedrich Bader): The chieftain of the Hassi. Wadi (voiced by Liliana Mumy): The kleptomaniac daughter of Maboul. Tsul 'Kalu: A skilled cryptid warrior. It was responsible for the scar over Doc Saturday's left eye.
Villains V. V. Argost (voiced by Corey Burton): V. V. Argost is the series' main antagonist and the archenemy of the Saturdays, who seeks to acquire the power of Kur. He is the host of V.V. Argost's Weirdworld, a series that made him "the modern master of the bizarre". Argost is actually a Yeti who previously attacked humans out of enjoyment in the Himalayas and often took items from their camp as souvenirs. One of the 'souvenirs' Argost had taken from a camp he had attacked was a television, from which he learned to speak English. Argost resolved to live among humans by influencing them with a television show of his own. Munya (vocal effects provided by Fred Tatasciore): Argost's butler. He was injected with the DNA of a Papuan giant spider, giving him the ability to transform into a humanoid spider monster. Leonidas Van Rook (voiced by Corey Burton): Leonidas Van Rook is a ruthless cryptozoologist who is an ally of V.V. Argost and a rival of Doc Saturday. Van Rook is interested in proving the existence of cryptids for money. He is very thrifty, almost to a fault. Similar to Doc, he is an inventor and has many high-tech gadgets. During the final season, Van Rook assists the Saturday family. During the family's final battle against Argost, Van Rook is killed taking an attack that was meant for Drew. Shoji Fuzen (voiced by James Sie): Shoji Fuzen is a Japanese philanthropist and crime lord. Pietro "Piecemeal" Maltese (voiced by Jess Harnell): A criminally-insane chef with an appetite for rare animals. Piecemeal has a surgically modified jaw made of four metal flaps which can bite through almost anything. He has above-average strength and durability. Baron Finster: Baron Finster is a cyborg with a mechanical scorpion body and tail for legs and an enemy of Doyle. Eterno (voiced by Fred Tatasciore): Eterno was once an ancient warrior king with an unquenchable thirst for conquest. His attempt to find the Methuselah Tree, the source of all water on Earth, led to him being entombed in salt by the tree's protectors and transformed into a humanoid salt monster with the ability to turn anything he touches into salt and regenerate his body. In the present day, Eterno resurfaces in the Middle East, turning major water sources into salt. After Zak and Wadi recover sap from the Methuselah Tree, Eterno takes some of it for himself to end his thirst, disintegrating his body.