Disney Channel has created a lot of franchises in its rather short lifespan. Hannah Montana, Wizards of Waverly Place and Lizzie McGuire all had rather large fan bases and expansive franchise work, and those are just the shows. If you count the films, you include High School Musical, Camp Rock and The Cheetah Girls, among others. While those are all well and good, there is one Disney Channel franchise that is above and beyond all of them…and that is Zenon.
Today is Zenon’s 15th anniversary and Vega Omega, that’s crazy! Many might not know or have even heard of “The Original DCOM Franchise,” so let me explain. Zenon Kar is a girl living in a space station floating above the world, and has been since Kindergarten. In the first film, after she gets in trouble MAJOR by Commander Plank, her parents ground her, literally, on Earth with her Aunt Judy. All while there, she tries to combat the evil Wyndham Corporation who is trying to blow up her space station home, which includes her family and best friend Nebula, played by Raven (recast in the second film, then returning in a smaller role in Z3).
The success of the film led to two sequels…ahem, Zequels…and much fanfare. I remember the craziness surrounding the third film’s premiere on Disney Channel back in 2004. It was the first DCOM to have its own website, so that was cool by itself. However, the most fun was the counting “Z”s contest, as they hid a certain number of the letter in the film, and entering the correct number would unlock special content on the site. I remember going to my daycare the following Monday and trying to decide the correct number of “Z”s.
The stories were all fun, interesting and empowering as Zenon kicked butt and expectations from her fellow space station dwellers. Yet, probably the best part of the films was the music from Protozoa and Cosmic Blush. Protozoa was featured in all 3 Zenon films, eventually becoming friends with Z, as his hit singles “Supernova Girl” and “The Galaxy is Ours” rocked the universe. The third film introduced the band Cosmic Blush, and while they had some great tunes, their duet with Protozoa on “Out of this World,” which was TOTALLY graphic (beautiful) and fun.
Now, D23 tweeted today about the anniversary, stating it will be including in their upcoming Fanniversay shows across the country, but I want more. Disney Channel celebrated an “Out of this World” weekend this past week, where all the sitcoms had space related episodes, while Lego Star Wars and Phineas and Ferb Star Wars premiered, but at 2:30am each day, they re-aired Zenon, which is inky to the tenth power EXTREME. No successful Disney franchise deserves that kind of awful programming decision.
Zenon’s 15th deserves a celebratory weekend! This year is also the 10th anniversary of Zenon: Z3 (the best of the trilogy), so why not celebrate the totally stellar Zenon in the proper way? All 3 films should be released on a Blu-Ray combo pack, which could include a 1 day, 3 movie marathon on Disney Channel. Also, the films’ original music should be released on iTunes for purchase. The fact that I can’t jam to my favorite Microbe tunes is inky major.
Frankly, I think a 4th film should happen, too. In a “reboot/sequel” sort of way, where Kirsten Storms would return to her role as Zenon, maybe as a college student, who takes another girl under her wing to train the next Zenon. Heck, a plain reboot would be fine with me, as the Zenon films are just THAT fun.
If you haven’t seen them before, be sure to check out these stellunarious films and if you agree with any of this, let’s all tweet @DisneyChannelPR with the plan to get Zenon on Blu-ray, TV and iTunes using #Zenon15! Let me know your thoughts in the comments below, or just send something to me on my zap-pad. Until next time…have a stellar day!