The Zeta Project
Series, 2001, The early 2000s, Set in On the run
The Zeta Project is #13 of 24 in release order and #13 of 24 in chronological order in the Kids' WB Classics.
The story
Follow the futuristic adventures of Zeta, a renegade government-designed robot, and Ro, his 15-year-old streetwise companion.
The Zeta Project recap
The Zeta Project (2001) follows a government assassin robot who refuses to kill and goes on the run with a teenage runaway. Robert Goodman created it as a spin-off of Batman Beyond, where Zeta first appeared, and it ran on Kids' WB for two seasons and 26 episodes from January 27, 2001, to August 10, 2002. Infiltration Unit Zeta (Diedrich Bader) is a synthoid built to gather information and kill targets for the NSA, using hologram emitters to disguise himself. When he learns that one of his targets is innocent, he abandons his mission. Rosalie "Ro" Rowan (Julie Nathanson), a 15-year-old who ran away from the foster care system, joins him, and the two cross the country searching for his creator, Dr. Eli Selig, who can prove Zeta is harmless, while Ro hopes to find the older brother she was separated from. Special Agent James Bennet (Kurtwood Smith) leads the NSA pursuit, convinced that the terrorist group Brother's Day has reprogrammed Zeta, with agents Orin West (Michael Rosenbaum) and Marcia Lee (Lauren Tom) beside him and the heavily armed Infiltration Unit 7 sent after the pair. Goodman pitched a darker show, and Kids' WB, which still found it too dark, nearly cancelled it after the September 11 attacks because of its terrorism plots; Goodman left after the second season.
The Zeta Project ending explained
The Zeta Project ends with "The Hologram Man," aired August 10, 2002, the last episode broadcast in the United States. Zeta and Ro slip into a top-secret NSA building and reach the Gnosis, the lab where Zeta was made, and Dr. Selig reveals that the mysterious module he built into Zeta works as a conscience, which Agent Bennet overhears. The Gnosis is destroyed, Zeta and Ro escape, and Selig and his assistant Andrea Donoso are presumed dead, though Donoso secretly emerges from the sea. A remaining episode, "The Wrong Morph," never aired in the US, and the series was not renewed.
Where to watch The Zeta Project
The Zeta Project isn't on a US streaming service right now. You can rent or buy it on Amazon, Apple TV, and Google Play.
Ratings
IMDb 6.9/10
Where it fits
- Release order: after Static Shock, before Yu-Gi-Oh!.
- Chronological order: after Static Shock, before Yu-Gi-Oh!.
Cast
- Diedrich Bader as Zeta / Zee (voice)
- Julie Nathanson as Ro (voice)
- Kurtwood Smith as Agent Bennet (voice)
- Lauren Tom as Agent Lee (voice)
- Michael Rosenbaum as Agent West (voice)
- Grey DeLisle
- Eli Marienthal as Kid Zee (voice)
- Kevin Michael Richardson
- Clancy Brown as Sheriff Morgan (voice)
- Amy Danles
- Larry Cedar
- Stuart Pankin as Dr. Tanner (voice)
Created by Bob Goodman.