Thrillseekers: Spring Break
Thrillseekers: Spring Break is a spinoff title in the Thrillseekers series. It's a sidestory/prequel game, and it's the first multiplatform game in the series as well, releasing not only for the Wave but also for the Katana, Xbox, Supernova, and iPod Play. It takes place during the spring break a few months before the events of Thrillseekers, and features a narrative framing device of Alex telling Stacy about what she did on spring break when she went back to San Francisco for the week to visit Elissa, Marina, Kirsten, and Vivian. The game features similar gameplay to the original Thrillseekers, with skateboarding, surfing, wingsuiting, BMX biking, and snowboarding all included as playable sports, but eschews a "storyline" mode in favor of more straight-up extreme sports gameplay. The game does include animated cutscenes, but only about 30 minutes' worth, showing the girls joking around on spring break or showing Alex and Stacy hanging out at the skatepark in Eureka, with Alex giving Stacy skateboarding lessons. In terms of gameplay, Spring Break adds dozens of new tricks in each sport, and also features a substantial improvement to the last game's affinity/encouragement system, in which your character can perform certain tricks easier after being encouraged by a friend. In Spring Break, each character has their own favorite tricks, and if you do a combo utilizing that trick you'll gain an immediate affinity boost from that character, allowing combos and chains into more difficult tricks. It's possible to build up some truly insane combos this way while performing some physics-defying stunts that were impossible in the original Thrillseekers. The game's freeplay mode is very similar to the original Thrillseekers' freeplay mode, and it's even possible to have Stacy participate in sports like wingsuiting and surfing, even though she didn't learn those sports until later in the actual storyline. Like the original Thrillseekers, Spring Break includes multiplayer and online play, and an expanded collection of costumes and and equipment from the original game. It does feature less playable characters in freeplay mode (12, as opposed to the original game's 21). The voice cast of the original game, including Avril Lavigne herself, all return to reprise their roles in Spring Break, though Spring Break has much less voice acting than the original game, being more gameplay heavy than storyline heavy. It also features a slightly smaller soundtrack (32 songs total), but does have mostly new songs (such as "I'm Just A Girl" by No Doubt and "Break You" by Marion Raven), along with a couple of remixes of songs from the previous game (in particular, the Paul Oakenfold remix of "If You're Gonna Jump" by Natasha Bedingfield, which plays over the game's opening cutscene). The graphics in this game are actually slightly downgraded from the original game, which is largely to accommodate the ports to other systems. In fact, Neversoft does state that the entire reason for the existence of Spring Break is to push a version of Thrillseekers to consoles that didn't get the original version and that the best way to do that was to eliminate the storyline segments, which necessitated detailed animations that only the Wave was capable of. Reviews are still largely positive, it's still a really fun extreme sports game even without most of the storyline stuff, with what little storyline material there is still allowing the characters to shine through. The game sells well even on the Nintendo Wave, but it performs best on the Xbox, with the handheld versions also selling nicely.
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From the moment when Avril Lavigne first signed on to help Activision create an extreme sports game, Thrillseekers was destined for success, but the positive reaction to the game surprised even the series' optimistic creators, and a multimedia franchise was born. Activision had always planned to sign off on an animated series based on the property, but once the first sales figures came in, they couldn't greenlight it fast enough, and it immediately went into production. Amy Wolfram, who had previously written for the Wonder Woman animated series, was signed on as showrunner, and the series would be animated by the same company who animated the 2003 Teen Titans cartoon IOTL. The show would be picked up by Cartoon Network's Toonami, and would air on Saturday nights for the duration of its run. Thrillseekers would concentrate on the six main characters: Alex, Stacy, Vivian, Marina, Elissa, and Kirsten, but would also introduce numerous other characters to the show, both from previously written material (such as the book series, which was already in print), and created originally for the show, many of whom would cultivate their own devoted fanbases and would graduate to future games, books, and comics. It would focus heavily on extreme sports, but would also include a lot of slice-of-life moments from the girls' college experience, and would also include action and adventure taking place outside of the girls' athletic activity. The show would have a Y10 rating, allowing it to feature more serious and edgy material, including some fairly dramatic and violent scenes, and would also allow for a few incidents of mild swearing (notably two uses of "dammit" over the course of the series, once by Vivian and another by Alex, a few uses of "hell", and plenty of uses of "sucks" and "crap" littered throughout). Among the most prominent characters portrayed in the series are:
Laura: A girl introduced in a season 1 episode featuring Alex participating in an extreme sports beauty pageant, Laura would start out as Alex's rival but would become a close friend to her, though not quite as close as the other girls. Laura has a tough exterior, and frequently pulls a lot of stuff with Alex that Stacy would frown at. Laura is voiced by Paget Brewster.
Marceline: The oldest of Vivian's younger siblings, Marceline is a 14-year-old girl who idolizes her big sister and desperately wants to be like her, to the point of trying out really dangerous extreme stunts. Fortunately, Marceline is a quick learner, but she sometimes bites off more than she can chew. Marceline is voiced by Gina Rodriguez, though eventually after Gina Rodriguez becomes more of a star, other actresses would come in to play the role.
Stephen: Introduced as Elissa's love interest, Stephen is a somewhat shy, timid boy who sees Elissa as someone who's too good for him, but is encouraged by his friends to ask her out, and she accepts. Of all the love interests that the main six girls have during this phase of the franchise (2004-2009), Stephen is the most prominent and permanent, staying on as Elissa's boyfriend through at least Thrillseekers 2 and beyond. He's voiced by Justin Shenkarow.
Carly: Introduced during season two as the member of a rival group of extreme sports enthusiasts, Carly is sort of Stacy's Laura: a rival girl who shares a lot in common with her counterpart. She's actually one of the main "antagonists" of season two, but she's more friendly toward Stacy than any of the other rivals are toward the other girls (in a way, their relationship parallels Kimber and Stormer's relationship in Jem And The Holograms). Intelligent but also a bit arrogant (unlike Stacy who's more humble), the two still find they have a lot in common. Carly's relationship with Stacy is badly strained during the season two finale in which Carly's group kidnaps Kirsten, but it's Carly who keeps anything seriously bad from happening to her and ultimately Carly is the reason that Stacy is able to convince the other girls not to press charges against them for kidnapping. Ultimately, the girls' friendship is repaired during season three and Carly and some of the other rivals continue to pop up occasionally throughout the series. Carly is voiced by Mandy Moore in the animated series, but doesn't always reprise the role in other things.
Mr. Steele: Mr. Steele is a busybody city councilman determined to stamp out skateboarding in San Francisco, and looks to use the power of his office to ruin the girls' favorite extreme sports hangouts, ultimately attempting to get them framed for a crime to get rid of them for good. He's the main "antagonist" of season one, and is voiced by Peter MacNicol.
One of the big hurdles of producing the Thrillseekers animated series was voice acting. While Brittany Saldita (Vivian), Lacey Chabert (Stacy), Francesca Marie Smith (Elissa), and Jennifer Tung (Marina) all eagerly reprised their roles, Avril Lavigne, the face of the series itself and the voice of Alex, was unfortunately not able to voice Alex in the animated series. It was not by choice: Avril desperately wanted to reprise her role for the series, but the time of the series' production (2005-2008) was the zenith of Avril's skating career, and she was just too busy to perform all the recording sessions necessary for the character. The series would've had to have been delayed to 2007 to accommodate Avril's schedule, but it wasn't possible to do that. Instead, Alex would be voiced by young actress Johanna Braddy, who was selected both for her acting ability and for her ability to voice match Avril almost perfectly. Though fan reaction was initially furious toward the recasting of Avril, Braddy's performance received accolades all around, and there are in fact fans of the series who consider her to be the superior Alex voice, simply because, being a professional actress, she brought more emotion and skill to the role. It's a debate that rages within the fandom to this day, though it's a fairly moot debate because Avril would voice Alex for every major Thrillseekers project going forward, including all sequel games and all subsequent animated material as well. As for Erica Luttrell, the voice of Kirsten, Luttrell's residence in Toronto at the time of production precluded her participation in the animated series, and instead, Kimberly Brooks took over as the voice of Kirsten. Her performance, like that of Braddy's, was well received, and Luttrell re-assumed her role as Kirsten for subsequent games and supplemental material.
The series premiered in the fall of 2006 to strong ratings and critical reception, becoming one of the most popular shows on the Toonami block and leading to season 2 being greenlit almost immediately. Ratings declined for season 2, but were still strong enough for the show to get a third season. By the time the third season rolled around, the show's creators and writers knew it would probably be the last. They wrote every season finale like a possible series finale, though the open-ended nature of the franchise made it easy for them to leave things open, as they knew that questions unable to be answered in the show could be answered later on in future games or other material such as books and comics. However, the season 3 finale, which turned out to be the series' finale, segued almost perfectly into Thrillseekers 2, which was released just a few short months after the animated series' last episode aired. The animated series is considered, for the most part, canon to the events of the games, and is considered by fans of the franchise to be some of the best written material in the franchise's history.
Brief summaries for the series' 60 episodes are listed here:
San Andreas Sisters (Season 1, Episode 1) (September 23, 2006)
The girls head to a secret park where there are plenty of awesome extreme stunts to do, but when their fun is broken up by a small earthquake, Kirsten makes a troubling discovery: are the girls having so much fun that it's setting off the San Andreas Fault?
Class Act (Season 1, Episode 2) (September 30, 2006)
Stacy and Alex find a killer new skating spot, but Stacy gets into it so much that she starts to blow off her classes! Can Alex be the mature one for once and convince Stacy that school really is cool?
Cloudy Skies (Season 1, Episode 3) (October 7, 2006)
Elissa witnesses a young girl being disciplined by her father and goes off on him, leading to a confrontation that brings up memories of her troubled past.
Everywhere Signs (Season 1, Episode 4) (October 14, 2006)
As part of a new beautification initiative, a city councilman has designated much of the Thrillseekers' favorite skating hangouts off limits! Can they convince him to chance his mind?
Ghosts Of Halloweens Past (Season 1, Episode 5) (October 28, 2006)
When the girls find out that Stacy stopped trick-or-treating at a young age due to bullying, they all resolve to give her one last Halloween night she'll never forget. While the girls all have fun reliving their Halloween glory days, Stacy comes across a young girl being bullied like she was, and decides to give her the amazing Halloween she never had.
Lifted (Season 1, Episode 6) (November 4, 2006)
Marina is accused of shoplifting from her favorite boutique, after having never committed a crime in her life. Alex goes to bat for her, but when the real truth comes out, a friendship could be tested forever.
Waste Not, Want Not (Season 1, Episode 7) (November 11, 2006)
When a new startup company making eco skateboards out of recycled materials is announced, the Thrillseekers want in on the ground floor! But after they sign up to help sponsor the skateboards, they discover that not everything about this new company is on the level.
People Who Need Skateboards (Season 1, Episode 8) (November 18, 2006)
Alex loses her prized skateboard, and the girls go on an epic mission to try and find it, learning a lot about Alex's past in the process.
Miss Extreme (Season 1, Episode 9) (December 2, 2006)
The girls push Alex into entering a beauty pageant for skater girls. Alex hates the idea at first, but after getting a rude reception from a rival contestant, becomes fiercely determined to win.
Brain Freeze (Season 1, Episode 10) (December 9, 2006)
While on an “extreme study session” together in the Sierra Nevadas, Stacy, Marina, and Kirsten are stranded together and need to figure out a way back to civilization before they freeze to death.
The BMX Babysitter (Season 1, Episode 11) (January 6, 2007)
Stuck babysitting her younger siblings and unable to go to a big race, Vivian finds a creative way to blow off her obligations, but it might be more trouble than it's worth.
The Wyrmwood Initiative (Season 1, Episode 12) (January 27, 2007)
While adventuring in a remote area, the Thrillseekers stumble across a strange campsite filled with people who believe they can live forever. Stacy is skeptical, but one by one her friends are suckered in, and it's up to her to save them all!
Taken For Granite (Season 1, Episode 13) (February 3, 2007)
The girls participate in an extreme rock climbing challenge, but the steepness of the cliffs may not be the biggest hazard they face...
Heart Stopper (Season 1, Episode 14) (February 10, 2007)
When Marina gets a crush on Stacy's handsome lab partner, it ends up rekindling the girls' old animosities, forcing Alex to play referee.
The Right Notes (Season 1, Episode 15) (February 24, 2007)
The Thrillseekers form a band and enter a competition. When they turn out to be the surprise hits of the show, they find out that one of their rival bands might do anything to win.
Scavengers (Season 1, Episode 16) (March 3, 2007)
Alex steals Vivian's bike, but it's really part of a playful scavenger hunt. At first it's fun, but after an accident causes Vivian to get hurt, Alex has to confront what happens when her usual antics stop being quite so fun.
At The Finish Line (Season 1, Episode 17) (March 10, 2007)
Elissa and Kirsten find trouble when the pilot of the plane they commissioned to take them on a skydiving adventure turns out to have a checkered past.
The Marina District (Season 1, Episode 18) (March 17, 2007)
It's Marina-mania in San Francisco after the Thrillseekers' surfing champion becomes the spokesmodel for a line of designer surfboards. Marina's ego gets way out of control, and her friends have to try and bring her down a peg without hurting her feelings.
Sing To Me Of Roasted Marshmallows (Season 1, Episode 19) (March 24, 2007)
During a camping trip in which the girls reminisce about their good times together, Stacy feels isolated due to not knowing the girls for nearly as long, and when she takes a walk in the woods, she runs into trouble.
You Can't Fight City Hall (Season 1, Episode 20) (March 31, 2007)
The Thrillseekers' least favorite city councilman is back, looking to frame the girls for a crime that could derail their adventures forever.
Rolling Thunder (Part 1) (Season 2, Episode 1) (August 11, 2007)
The Thrillseekers take part in the exciting sport of roller derby, meeting new friends and new enemies along the way. Stacy might be new to the sport, but she shocks all of her friends when she reveals herself to be the best roller skater of all of them.
Rolling Thunder (Part 2) (Season 2, Episode 2) (August 11, 2007)
It's the San Francisco Bay Roller Derby Championships, and the girls have made the final rounds. Will they come out on top, or get slammed on their faces?
This Old House (Season 2, Episode 3) (August 18, 2007)
Alex and Laura explore an old ruined mansion, thinking it'd be the perfect place for a skating session. Instead, they run into the house's old owner, and decide to help an old woman realize her last dream.
Last Resort (Season 2, Episode 4) (August 25, 2007)
The Thrillseekers go exploring around the old Salton Sea, hoping the deserted landscape will let them have an extreme adventure in peace. Instead, they run into a rival group of extreme sports lovers who had the same idea as them, and challenge them to a battle for turf.
Better Than You (Season 2, Episode 5) (September 1, 2007)
Kirsten finally stands up to her sister Marie, only to learn that Marie has some amazing tricks up her sleeve. Can a discouraged Kirsten find the confidence to prove herself to her sister?
Boy Trouble (Season 2, Episode 6) (September 8, 2007)
Elissa's boyfriend Stephen thinks he isn't brave enough for her, so he enlists Alex to help give him a pep talk and gets way more than he bargained for: a trip to Alex's extreme sports boot camp, a real school of hard knocks!
North By Northwest (Season 2, Episode 7) (October 27, 2007)
The girls head up to Vancouver, Canada, to check out the killer waves and the Canadian wilderness. What they don't count on is an encounter with a furious creature lurking in the woods...
Prank Wars: Attack Of The Bros (Season 2, Episode 8) (January 19, 2008)
The girls find themselves in the midst of a prank war after a group of naughty frat bros start messing with them. Alex wants to go all out, but the others try a more diplomatic approach... will the girls be able to outprank the guys?
Cabin Of Memories (Season 2, Episode 9) (January 26, 2008)
Vivian takes the girls up to a cabin where she and her grandparents spent a lot of time together. They spend the weekend fixing it up, but don't always see eye to eye along the way...
The Buddy System (Season 2, Episode 10) (February 2, 2008)
The girls and their new rivals are paired up together in a competition, and tempers will surely be flaring! The Thrillseekers each have a rival, but Elissa forms a surprising bond.
Cleanup On Aisle Three (Season 2, Episode 11) (February 9, 2008)
Alex's skateboarding business begins to dry up, and she gets a job at a local supermarket so she can keep making her rent payments to Stacy. Alex doesn't take very well to the job but is afraid to tell Stacy what's troubling her.
Runaways (Season 2, Episode 12) (February 16, 2008)
Marina and Elissa want to get away from it all, so they take a long trip out onto the ocean, leaving their friends worried, especially Stacy, who had an argument with both of them beforehand and is worried she drove them away.
Winds Of Change (Season 2, Episode 13) (February 23, 2008)
The Thrillseekers win a windsurfing competition, and now their schedule is packed. Is victory really sweet, or will it take the fun out of what they love to do?
Catch Me If You Can (Season 2, Episode 14) (March 1, 2008)
Alex gives skating lessons to a young and brilliant computer student who takes a liking to her, and Alex seems to like him back, but she has trouble expressing her feelings in any way except extreme sports.
Cram (Season 2, Episode 15) (March 8, 2008)
Stacy is going into overdrive to prepare for a big exam, but when she tries to blow off steam after a series of all-nighters, it puts her life at major risk.
Joyride (Season 2, Episode 16) (April 26, 2008)
Alex rents a sports car to experience the thrill of high speed racing, but after she wrecks it trying a dangerous stunt, her friends have to bail her out of serious trouble.
Friend Or Foe (Season 2, Episode 17) (May 3, 2008)
Alex and Marina have one of their most vicious arguments yet, and refuse to speak to each other until a dangerous situation forces them to work together.
Street Smarts (Season 2, Episode 18) (May 10, 2008)
Stacy and Carly find themselves stranded in San Francisco after both their groups of friends leave them behind. The two might be “rivals”, but now they'll need to put their heads together to find their way home.
Race To The Finish (Part 1) (Season 2, Episode 19) (May 17, 2008)
The Thrillseekers enter an extreme sports competition, but the rivals they've been dualing it out enter the race too, with a big contract at stake! Both teams desperately want to win, but will things go too far?
Race To The Finish (Part 2) (Season 2, Episode 20) (May 17, 2008)
Things heat up when Kirsten is kidnapped by the rival team and her friends have to pull out all the stops to save her. Can they win the race AND save their friend?
Once In A Lifetime (Season 3, Episode 1) (October 11, 2008)
Stacy is shocked to get the biggest opportunity of her life when she wins the chance to study at Oxford, but it would require her to leave her best friends behind...
Dolphin Days (Season 3, Episode 2) (October 18, 2008)
Marceline makes a new friend: an injured dolphin washed up in the bay. While Vivian helps her nurse the dolphin back to health, Marina investigates how the dolphin got there in the first place.
Strictly Experimental (Season 3, Episode 3) (November 1, 2008)
Stacy meets one of her scientific idols, a brilliant chemist who asks her to be his research assistant. Stacy is thrilled, but her friends think something's not right...
Nightmare At Battle Canyon (Part 1) (Season 3, Episode 4) (November 8, 2008)
The Thrillseekers and some of their friends head to central California's Battle Canyon to participate in an extreme sports competition, but when the biggest flood in a century strikes, they find themselves in more danger than they've ever been before...
Nightmare At Battle Canyon (Part 2) (Season 3, Episode 5) (November 15, 2008)
The girls' skills help them become expert rescuers, but when some of them start to get overwhelmed by the stress, they'll have to band together to survive.
Sky City Hearts (Season 3, Episode 6) (November 22, 2008)
Elissa and her boyfriend Stephen become rivals in a thrilling aerial acrobatics competition. Stephen pushes himself to his limits to beat Elissa, who finds herself terrified for his safety.
Midnight Madness (Season 3, Episode 7) (December 6, 2008)
Stacy and Alex find themselves unable to sleep and decide to wander the campus at night, looking for extreme thrills and seeing things they've never seen before.
Sunshine State (Season 3, Episode 8) (December 13, 2008)
The Thrillseekers head down to Florida for a thrilling vacation, but wind up in the middle of another action-packed mystery.
No Laughing Matter (Season 3, Episode 9) (January 10, 2009)
Attempting some gallows humor while commiserating with a friend who's suffered a bad snowboarding injury, Kirsten says something she immediately regrets, and must risk it all to save her friendship and her friend.
Divebomber (Season 3, Episode 10) (January 17, 2009)
Alex and Marina team up to corral a gross prankster, and decide to beat them at their own game in extreme fashion.
Stacy's School For Seekers (Season 3, Episode 11) (January 24, 2009)
Stuck babysitting Vivian's siblings during a visit to San Francisco, Stacy winds up teaching them about extreme sports, but as it turns out, they may end up teaching her a lot more.
The Denali Adventure (Part 1) (Season 3, Episode 12) (March 7, 2009)
The Thrillseekers embark on the adventure of a lifetime: a journey to the summit of North America's tallest mountain.
The Denali Adventure (Part 2) (Season 3, Episode 13) (March 7, 2009)
Disaster strikes when an avalanche separates the team. Kirsten takes charge of Vivian and Stacy, while Alex and Marina clash as Elissa tries to keep the peace. Will the friends reunite, or will they perish on the mountain?
The Denali Adventure (Part 3) (Season 3, Episode 14) (March 7, 2009)
The Thrillseekers push for the summit. Can they conquer the mountain or will the mountain break them?
Sponsors Are The Pits (Season 3, Episode 15) (March 14, 2009)
To keep a key sponsor, the Thrillseekers have to participate in and win an unfamiliar competition, and their fiercest rivals are a group of old enemies...
Where Nobody Knows Your Name (Season 3, Episode 16) (March 21, 2009)
Marina finds herself in a strange and terrifying situation when her familiar friends no longer recognize her. Can she get to the bottom of this frightening mystery?
Keeping Up Is Hard To Do (Season 3, Episode 17) (March 28, 2009)
Stacy struggles in a crucial competition preliminary, and Alex has to take her friend back to basics to help her keep up with the group.
Moms And Things (Season 3, Episode 18) (April 4, 2009)
Alex is having a rough go of things with her estranged mom, who wants to get to know the rest of Alex's friends and their moms. Alex struggles with jealousy when she realizes how close all of her friends and their mothers are.
Undeclared (Season 3, Episode 19) (April 11, 2009)
Alex struggles to find a college major that really suits her, and her friends all have their own ideas about what course her future should take...
Operation: Extreme (Season 3, Episode 20) (April 18, 2009)
The Thrillseekers are in their toughest competition yet, and many old friends and rivals make their return as they skate, surf, ride, and dive for all the marbles, with the prize being worldwide recognition...
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The success of the Thrillseekers media franchise wasn't just limited to the United States. The series was popular all over the world, but being America's neighbor to the north, Canada definitely had the biggest fanbase for Thrillseekers outside the country of its birth. Canadians loved the game, and they were also thrilled about the animated series, which aired on Teletoon almost simultaneously with its Cartoon Network airing. One of the companies that noticed the trend was Fresh TV, creator of the popular animated sitcom 6teen. The company was looking to follow up 6teen's success with another animated hit, and they were in the process of creating a spoof of reality television when they instead decided to put that idea on the backburner in favor of fast-tracking a surfing-based cartoon called Stoked. Its premise was basically "6teen at a surf resort", chronicling the lives of six teenagers who decided to spend their summer working at a resort on Canada's western coast, where they planned to enjoy the killer waves on their days off. The series was heavily influenced by Thrillseekers, and Fresh TV briefly considered having all six main characters be female before deciding to stick to the 6teen format of "three guys, three girls". Despite this, the series would focus heavily on the three female characters: Fin (voiced by Katie Crown), a surf champion and prankster who was modeled after Alex, Morgan (voiced by Stephanie Broschart), a dorky new girl who Fin takes under her wing and teaches to surf, clearly modeled after Stacy, and Heather (voiced by Rachel Wilson), a rich queen bee type character who serves as a rival to Fin and who bullies Morgan relentlessly. Heather is based off of Marina, but Thrillseekers fans claim that she's "Marina with absolutely no redeeming qualities, basically what would've happened had Marina had doubled down on being a bitch to Stacy rather than having a heart-to-heart with her and apologizing halfway through the game". It's later revealed by one of the show's writers that Heather was initially written as the villain of Fresh TV's reality spoof before being re-modeled for Stoked.
Teletoon, looking to push a Canadian cartoon over an American one, gives Stoked heavily favorable treatment once it begins airing in 2007. The network delays airing Thrillseekers' second season in the hopes of promoting Stoked, which simply leads to Canadian Thrillseekers fans pirating the show once it airs in the States. It doesn't help that Stoked is seen as inferior to both Thrillseekers and 6teen. It's a critical and ratings failure, canceled after one season, and would ultimately lead to the bankruptcy of Fresh TV and its later acquisition by Nelvana. As for Fresh TV's reality show spoof, some of its ideas would be adapted into a later Nelvana cartoon, but ultimately it remains one of the more intriguing "what ifs" in the history of Canadian animation.
-excerpted from "Canadian Animation Of The 2000s", an article on Tubehound.com, posted on October 29, 2012
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In addition to the Thrillseekers video games and animated series, the franchise also spawned several fictional book series based on the main characters. A total of 33 fictional books were released between 2004 and 2010, divided into three different series, each with a different aim.
Series One: The initial series of Thrillseekers books, these were released in 2004 and 2005, and are a series of six hardcover books, each based around a different character. These books serve as introductions to each character, re-telling the events of the original game from that character's point of view while also giving some background story on that character and then giving a small segment telling readers what that character is doing following the events of the game. These books were somewhat popular with readers, but were underprinted, making them (especially "Alex's Story" and "Stacy's Story") fairly rare until reprints were done later on.
#1: Alex's Story
What's up? I'm Alex Levesque, and I love skateboarding! The only thing I love more than skateboarding is hanging out with my awesome friends. But things haven't always been awesome for me. This is the story of how I met my friends, including my newest friend Stacy, and how we all had the best summer ever!
#2: Stacy's Story
I'm Stacy Summers, and I've always been really shy... I've been picked on a lot, and it wasn't easy for me to meet people. But then I met Alex, and she changed my world forever. This is how I went from being the most unpopular girl in school to being a total thrillseeker!
#3: Vivian's Story
Living in a big family can be tough, even for a tough girl like me. I'm Vivian Martinez, and I'm the oldest of five siblings... but when life gets me totally stressed, I can always relax by crushing big hills on my awesome bike! With my friends and family to support me, I can take on any challenge, even the most thrilling summer of my life!
#4: Kirsten's Story
My name is Kirsten, and I love spending time with my friends, even more than I love riding my snowboard down a steep mountain! When my friend Alex introduced me to the new girl Stacy, I knew it might be tough for her to fit in, but I also knew I could get her to smile if I showed her just how fun extreme sports could be!
#5: Marina's Story
Okay, so I'm not the easiest girl to get to know. My name's Marina Hirano, and before I met Alex, I was harsh with pretty much everybody....and let's face it, I was harsh even after I met her. But the person I was toughest on was me. When the new girl Stacy showed up, I didn't want anything to do with her! This is the story of how I learned to truly accept others...and myself.
#6: Elissa's Story
I'm Elissa Settergren, and nothing scares me. Even jumping out of a plane without a parachute! I try to have a positive outlook about everything... but it's been pretty hard, since I've had kind of a rough life. Honestly, without my friends I don't know what I'd do. This is the story of how I met the people who saved my life...literally!
Series Two: Series Two consisted of a series of hardcover novellas released between 2006 and 2009. The release of these books ran parallel to the airing of the animated series, and these are considered the closest in tone and content to the series itself. Penned by several different authors, they're written for slightly more grown-up readers, closer in some cases to young adult novels than elementary school novels, with a recommended age range between 10-14. While these books were slightly overprinted, they still sold enough to be considered successful, and some of them are among the most popular supplementary material in the franchise.
#1: Stacy's New Trick
Alex taught Stacy pretty much everything she knows about skateboarding. So when Stacy shows up one day with a new trick that even Alex can't pull off, it shocks pretty much everyone...but no one more than Alex, who is desperate to learn Stacy's new trick. Will the new trick drive a wedge between two inseparable friends?
#2: The Big Wave
When a huge storm causes the biggest waves in decades, the girls know they have to try and ride them...especially Alex and Marina, who are determined to push themselves to the limit. But as the storm gets more and more dangerous, will the girls' quest to ride the ultimate wave end up being a thrill that kills?
#3: Urban Renewal
The girls volunteer to fix up an abandoned construction site and decide to turn it into an extreme sports park! But there's opposition all along the way, including a stubborn city official and a gang who insists that the site is their turf. Can the girls convince everyone to get along and make their thrilling dream a reality?
#4: Surfing The Mojave
The girls go on a trip to Nevada, where they discover an awesome new sport: desert surfing! Even better, they befriend a kindly old woman who lets them explore her property. But trouble's afoot when they stumble on a scheme to rob their new friend of everything she's got... will they be able to stop the thieves' plans in time?
#5: Big Sister Vivian
Vivian is always trying to spend as much time as she can with her younger siblings, even while she's studying for law school! When her 14-year-old sister Marceline wants to learn how to ride a bike like Vivian, it's the perfect opportunity for bonding... but Marceline starts to bite off way more than she can chew, and Vivian struggles between being the “cool” big sis and keeping her little sister safe.
#6: The Sky's The Limit
Elissa takes to new heights when she introduces the girls to the world of high altitude skydiving... one of the most dangerous sports in the world. When Elissa's risktaking gets out of control, the girls are deeply worried about her safety, and it's up to Stacy and her unique new science experiment to save the day...
#7: Alex Goes Hollywood
Alex's awesome skateboarding tricks earn her a spot in a national commercial, and suddenly everyone in Hollywood wants to talk to her! Alex does her best to stay grounded, but the increasing demands on her time begin to pull her further and further from her friends...
#8: A Not So Nice Trip
Alex has pulled off death defying skateboard stunts without a single broken bone... but a careless walk down a small flight of stairs has left her with a broken arm, and now the girls have to take turns taking care of her, leaving nerves frayed and Alex feeling guilty. Can they make the most of Alex's bad luck?
#9: Marina Meets Her Match
Marina has a new surfing rival: a beautiful and talented surfer girl named Hiroko. Despite the fierce competition between them, the two becomes friends, but Hiroko is harboring a secret that could put both girls in danger. Can Marina save her new friend?
#10: Home On The Range
The girls decide to get away from it all, heading out to a dude ranch where they can relax and enjoy the sights and sounds of nature. Even in these rusty environs, there are plenty of opportunities to chase thrills... and the girls soon find themselves in the middle of another exciting adventure!
#11: A Cold Wind
The girls head up to the mountains for some winter sports action, and Kirsten wants to snowboard down one of the biggest mountains in the country! But not everyone on the mountain is there for good, clean fun, and Kirsten soon stumbles on some dangerous troublemakers who might be putting everyone's lives at risk.
#12: Showdown
Alex, Marina, and Vivian enter an extreme sports triathlon, where they'll have to skate, surf, and bike their way into the hearts of some of the toughest judges around. The competition is fierce, and emotions are bound to spill over...will the girls' friendship survive?
#13: Band Of Bullies
The girls volunteer for a Young Role Models program, and end up confronting a group of bullies who are viciously picking on a young girl. The girls must confront their own pasts, particularly Stacy, who has her own experiences with being cruelly bullied.
#14: Escape To Sunlight Cove
Marina takes Stacy up to Sunlight Cove, her favorite snorkeling spot where she's gone with each of the other girls before. The water is perfect and the cove is beautiful, but there's danger lurking near, and after they run into a dangerous criminal operation, the two friends will have to depend on each other to survive.
#15: Friends Forever
While Alex and Marina train for a surfing competition, Stacy, Vivian, Elissa, and Kirsten enjoy a relaxing getaway together. After a storm strands the four friends, getting back may prove to be an impossible goal...without the power of friendship!
#16: United We Fall
Elissa volunteers to host a skydiving party for her college, and her friends are there to help out! Everything's going wonderfully until one of the students lands in the middle of a huge forest with no help in sight...it's up to Elissa and the girls to save the day.
#17: A Pirate's Life
The girls fix up an old shipwreck, and start playing pirates out on the open seas. It's all fun and games at first, until Alex starts taking things a bit too seriously and ends up getting the girls into serious trouble! Now they'll have to set sail and set things right in this swashbuckling adventure!
Series Three: Series three consists of ten softcover books released between 2008 and 2010. Intended for younger readers than the previous book series, these are somewhat lower quality and focus a lot more on adventure and fantastic occurrences than extreme sports and realism, and unlike the Series Two books, their canonicity is heavily disputed. They too were overprinted, and didn't sell as well as the Series Two books, and can frequently be found clogging up rummage sales and Goodwill shelves for 25 cents.
#1: Zapped
Alex finds a nifty experimental remote that can take control over just about anything mechanical! She thinks about giving it up until she realizes that it can help her win skateboarding competitions...now her friends have to convince her that cheaters don't prosper!
#2: Alex's Big Party
Alex tries to get more popular by throwing a huge party for some of the coolest people at Stacy's college. It works out great at first....maybe a little too great after Alex begins neglecting her friends!
#3: Stacy Gets Dangerous
Stacy's admiration of Alex might be going too far after Stacy takes on a rebel lifestyle to make herself more like her best friend. Is she throwing away everything she's worked so hard for?
#4: Kirsten And The Yeti
A routine snowboarding session turns super weird after Kirsten stumbles upon evidence of the legendary Yeti! Is the monster for real, and if it is, will anyone believe her?
#5: Washed Up
Marina's always been an amazing surfer, but after she loses her edge, will she ever be a champion again?
#6: Leaping Into Adventure!
Join the six awesome Thrillseekers as they experience the backwoods biking adventure of a lifetime! Thrills, chills, and lots of spills await in this exciting story!
#7: Reunion
Stacy's not digging her boring family reunion. Alex's arrival gives her a chance to make an escape, and Stacy takes it... but ends up inadvertently taking some of her little cousins along for the ride. Can Alex and Stacy get the kids back safely before Stacy gets in huge trouble?
#8: Shark Attack!
The girls head to the beach to enjoy some surfing and jet skiing, but a huge shark immediately ruins the fun. Will they send the shark out to sea or be forced to stay beached for the rest of the weekend?
#9: Watch Out!
It's a fun filled weekend when a local resort challenges extreme thrillseekers to break all their course records! The girls immediately set about to break them all, but their fun might be cut short by the arrival of some untimely guests...
#10: Blastoff
The girls get to experience a shuttle launch when one of Stacy's professors is offered a chance to go up into space, but an unexpected problem crops up, threatening to scuttle the launch...can the Thrillseekers get to the bottom of things?
Overall, the Thrillseekers books have turned out to be one of the most popular and profitable aspects of the franchise, and as of 2017, Thrillseekers is currently on its fifth book series. The books have ranged in quality from outstanding to trash, but one thing remains the same: as long as it remains a popular media franchise, you can count on seeing Thrillseekers books on sale at your local stores for many years to come.
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Activision clearly has a massive hit on its hands in the form of its extreme sports franchise Thrillseekers, which stars six teenage girls who participate in all manner of extreme sports. The series began as a game released for the Nintendo Wave in the summer of 2004. The game sold millions and spawned a number of multimedia spinoffs, including junior novels, a comic book series (published by Dark Horse), toys, and coming in the fall of 2006, a brand new animated series. The game was largely hyped before its release by the presence of Avril Lavigne, the world's #1 female extreme sports superstar, who served as both the voice and likeness of the series' main character, Alex Levesque. However, once Thrillseekers was released, its mix of addictively fun sports action and its likeable characters and emotional storyline made fans of even the most skeptical critics and gamers, who showered the original game with numerous year-end awards and accolades.
The toy line has been a surprising success of its own. Marketed toward girls, it features both Barbie-like dolls and hard plastic action figures with their own extreme sports props. Even the dolls are different from your typical Barbie: they can be posed on a variety of action props, including toy skateboards and BMX bikes, and their clothing differs from the normal high fashion in favor of more practical clothing and gear (though it is possible to put Alex in an evening gown, as much as she might hate it). The toy line also includes custom skate park building tools that can be paired with chips planted in some of the dolls that cause them to react to certain obstacles and locales: Alex will compliment a dingy warehouse setting, while Marina might scoff at it and ask to skate somewhere a bit classier. The Thrillseekers line of toys is being produced by Sega, which can be confusing to some longtime gamers: Sega was at one time a video game company, and was the initial producer of the Katana, which the original Thrillseekers doesn't appear on. It can lead some to believe that the game was made by Sega and not Activision, though both company's logos appear prominently on all Thrillseekers toy packaging. Sega is a growing titan in the toy business, and last year finished slightly ahead of Mattel in overall revenue, bolstered heavily by the success of the Thrillseekers toys.
Of course, the center of the Thrillseekers franchise is its games, of which three have been released thus far: the 2004 original, the 2005 Game Boy Nova title Thrillseekers: Alex's Ride, and the newest game released just last week, Thrillseekers: Spring Break, which brings the game to the other major consoles (including, yes, the Katana) for the very first time. Spring Break won't be the last game in the series: three more games have already been announced, including Thrillseekers: Winter Challenge, which focuses on winter-based sports and will be the first game in the series to see release for a next generation console (it's planned as a launch title for the upcoming Xbox 2, along with a Wave release). A Thrillseekers platformer is coming to the Game Boy Supernova this summer, while a game based on aquatic sports is scheduled for release next year. As for a proper sequel to the 2004 game, developer Neversoft has said that they'd "like to wait until all the next generation consoles are released before doing an actual sequel", which means that fans may have to make do with spinoffs for the time being. However, any decision on Thrillseekers 2 is ultimately up to Activision, and the company has already promised a "major Thrillseekers announcement" at next month's E3. Whether that's the announcement of Thrillseekers 2 or something entirely different still isn't known, but what is for certain is that Thrillseekers fans have a lot to look forward to on both the video game front and the merch front over the next several years.
-from an article on Games Over Matter, posted on April 25, 2006
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(Authors' Note: Just for fun, here is a list of the 15 possible pairings between the main six Thrillseekers girls, in order of how many fanfics have been published about that pairing on fanfiction.net as of December 2017 ITTL. These aren't the only popular pairings, there are obviously dozens more pairings that have had fanfics written about them, though only seven other pairings in the series have had more than 100 stories written about them. These also include ALL fanfics that include the pairing, not just fics officially listed under the actual character shipping category system.)
Alex/Stacy- 3,971 stories
Alex/Marina- 1,705 stories
Stacy/Marina- 1,133 stories
Stacy/Elissa- 620 stories
Alex/Elissa- 551 stories
Stacy/Kirsten- 501 stories
Alex/Vivian- 480 stories
Stacy/Vivian- 464 stories
Marina/Vivian- 407 stories
Alex/Kirsten- 386 stories
Vivian/Kirsten- 250 stories
Marina/Elissa- 218 stories
Elissa/Kirsten- 217 stories
Vivian/Elissa- 184 stories
Marina/Kirsten- 136 stories