| Agent Ali | |
|---|---|
|
| |
| Genre | Action Adventure Spy-fi |
| Created by | Usamah Zaid Yasin |
| Screenplay by | Waheed Sattar Nurul Nabillah |
| Story by | Usamah Zaid Yasin Ahmad Izham Omar |
| Directed by | Usamah Zaid Yasin |
| Creative directors | Nazmi Yatim Shafiq Isa |
| Voices of | Ida Rahayu Yusof Noorhayati Maslini Omar |
| Opening theme | Ejen Ali Intro |
| Ending theme | Ejen Ali Ending |
| Composers | Azri Yunus Hakim Kamal |
| Country of origin | Malaysia |
| Original language | Malay |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 39 (list of episodes) |
| Runtime | 21 minutes |
| Production company | WAU Animation |
| Executive producers | Usamah Zaid Yasin Ahmad Izham Omar |
| Producers | Faiz Hanafiah Azman Azman |
| Editors | Usamah Zaid Yasin Nazmi Yatim |
| Original network | TV3 (2016–2018, 2023–2024) Disney Hotstar (2022–2023) |
| Release | 8 April 2016 – 28 January 2023 (Season 1: 8 April 2016 — 3 March 2017 Season 2: 27 September 2017 — 30 March 2018 Season 3: 25 June 2022 — 28 January 2023) |
Agent Ali is a Malaysian television series set in the fictional city of Cyberaya[1] and made its debut on television on the 8th of April, 2016. The series is a byword for "Computer and Technology Usage Awareness and Common Sense".
The Agent Ali series airs its main episodes on Fridays, 5:30 P.M. and receives an encore airing on Saturdays, 10:30 A.M. These episodes are free to watch on the TonTon series and film streaming platform provided users are connected to Malaysian networks. Agent Ali won the Best Short Animated Film in the Festival Filem Malaysia 28.
Agent Ali Season 2 was released in 22 September 2017, while Season 3 was released on 25th June, 2022.
"Ejen Ali The Movie" is a sequel to Season 2 , released on 28 November, 2019. The follow up was Season 3 and thereafter the Ejen Ali: The Movie 2 was released on 22nd May, 2025.[2] There has been plans to make more than two Ejen Ali films, each revealing new details about the backstory of the hero and his employers, the secret espionage organisation MATA.[3]
The series has been sold to 28 countries, including India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, as well as those in the Middle East and South Africa.[4]
In 2018, WAU Animation and AirAsia collaborated to launch a Ejen Ali-themed AirAsia flight for the next quarter.[5]
Agent Ali is also the first establish direct IP of Media Prima Berhad under the production of Primeworks Studios, led by WAU Animation.
Synopsis[]
Agent Ali tells the story about a young schoolboy named Ali, who was terrible in studies, a victim of bullying, and lack of parental love (his Mother Died By Being Deceased and his father is too busy to spend time with him), stumbles upon a prototype spy tech gadget called the I.R.I.S. (high tech goggles which calculates the optimum performance for the user when he decides a move) which was stolen by two evil spies. Since then, he has unwillingly been recruited as a secret agent in M.A.T.A. (an institute for secret agents) and he slowly discovers his true potential.
Progression[]
The former employees of Les' Copaque formed WAU Animation Sdn. Bhd. on the 18th of March 2013. These founders are a group of creative talents possessing up to 7 years of experience in producing multiple award-winning CG animated series and feature films. They have a huge talent, even for a very young company.
The thumbnail for the early days of Agent Ali.
During the timeline of development of the Agent Ali Franchise, the founders and employees were set to develop an animated film and released their first teaser. The trailer was set late at night in Urban Malaysia, the early rendition of Cyberaya whose designs never made the cut. The teaser was released on the 27th of December, 2013.
This was part of the movie concept, in which the details were supposed to be as followed:
- Format: 90 Minutes Feature Film
- Medium: 3D Animation
- Genre: Comedy/Action/Adventure
- Target: 6-12 y/o kids and Family
- Availability: Q4 2015
The synopsis was very different from the current Agent Ali series:
"In the bustling capital of urban Malaysia, a wimpy boy sets out to save his father who has been abducted by a cyber-terrorist for his creation; the most advanced artificial intelligence program, with the help of a reject spy and his own pet cat."
The plot was different from all the current Agent Ali series episodes currently airing on TV3 Malaysia and TonTon.MY.
In Urban Malaysia’s M.A.T.A. Control Room, Ali was being tracked by a Surveillance Tracking Operating System (stOS) known as MATA-OS. In MATA-OS’s case, it was scanning across each and every area to track Ali's location, and in Ali's case, “EJEN DIKESAN” [translated: "Agent Detected"] was the result. “Ejen Ali - Status: Dalam Bahaya” “Ancaman - Identiti: Tidak diketahui” [translated: "Agent Ali - Status: In Danger // Enemy - Identity: Unknown] On screen, viewers will notice that Ali is marked by the colour orange, whereas the enemies will be highlighted by the colour red. Ali was being chased by three bad looking bouncers, all in black, on an auxiliary roof of a very tall building. Ali, with his Ejen suit glowing red noting the presence of enemies, ran as fast as he could to get away from them, panting and panting about, breath after breath, move after move. Being smart, Ali saw a fence blocking the way with boxes, so he leapt on the boxes and barrels, glided onto the wall, leapt over the fence and stuck a weapon known as the Electric Sticker. Knowing that the bouncers would find a way, Ali fired his shockwave blaster pistol at the barrel, denying the bouncers the chance to grab hold of him. The Electric Sticker took revenge onto one of the bouncers, electrocuting him once he tried to climb over the fence. However, naturally the other bouncer climbed over the fence without any issue and saw a bomb, known as the Sticker Bomb, unbeknownst to whoever implemented it. The bouncer took the bomb and attempted to fling the bomb at Ali, but failed because it was difficult to remove, and it already began to detonate. Soon, the bomb exploded, killing a total of 2 out of 3 bouncers. Ali was determined that he would get away from the bouncers in no time. Ali's Ejen suit’s lights changed to blue, noting Cooldown mode.
Moving along to the WAREHOUSE area, the “Unintelligent Spy”, Ejen Bakar was munching a burger when a bouncer immediately and repeatedly wanted to use his fist to take Ejen Bakar down. Immediately, Ejen Bakar dodged every single one of the bouncer’s fist punches and this made the bouncer very angry. The bouncer sought revenge by attempting to take Ejen Bakar down but Ejen Bakar managed to foil that attempt, using his muscular hands to break the bouncer’s arm, then stuck his burger to the bouncer’s mouth. On the right, another bouncer wanted to take Ejen Bakar down, but Ejen Bakar, feeling determined, grabbed hold of the “Burger Mouth” bouncer and flung that bouncer aiming to the bouncer waiting to take Ejen Bakar down. And THUD! Two bouncers collided against each other, leading to severe bone fractures and casualties.
Moving along to the BACK ALLEY. Three bouncers tried to shoot down Ali's own pet cat, Ejen Comot as it ran swiftly, dodging every bullet fired, failing any attempt at shooting it down. With the bouncers already chasing down Ejen Comot and a garbage laden alley at the right, Ejen Comot decided it was the perfect time to use its own ability - the skill to camouflage any colour. Camouflaging mode activated, the bouncers searched high and low to find Ejen Comot, with their shiny .45cal pistols under their possession. But they failed and ultimately gave up. The reason behind this failure was Ejen Comot was standing on a sewer drainage pipe next to a dirty wall and Ejen Comot needed to use this skill to trick the bouncers into thinking there were no traces of evidence to find. So Ejen Comot disabled camouflaging mode and left.
Moving back to ALI's side. It was becoming a two-force chase between Ali and the bouncers, originally 8 but now 3 due to 4 bouncers being defeated and an additional one giving up. This time, Ali's Ejen suit was now glowing red again, noting the presence of deadly enemies. Risking his life after realising that the building was exactly as tall as any enterprise building could be, probably 50 floors or less, the bouncers annoyingly could keep up. Ali was running as fast as he could. But soon, the bouncers knew they were behind as Ali increased his running speed to activate his glasses, known as Detector Glasses that enabled his to jump 46.7 metres from the tall building to a lower building. The Detector Glasses then sent information to the MATA-OS Control Room and programmed activation of Ali's Pogo Shoes, which could lead to the springs expanding from Ali's soles and allowing Ali to escape at dangerous ground levels. And Ali managed to jump from the affected building to the next, making the chase end and the bouncers losing track.
The teaser trailer gained very high levels of praise from YouTube and all over the Internet, including multiple sources from entertainment portal Amanz, despite it being a concept. However, WAU Animation never put the movie into production because WAU had trouble finding suitable sponsors from smartphones, automobiles and radio stations to food, newspapers and magazines, as well as snacks and vice versa. So, the people at WAU Animation had to change their plans and start a series from scratch.
The second teaser.
Two years later, WAU Animation came up with the second teaser. This teaser is a proof of concept mock-up of what the Agent Ali franchise is currently envisioned to be. This is the second teaser in the lineup, after the very benevolent success of the previous teaser. The teaser was uploaded to commemorate the Malaysia Day which happens annually on the 16th of September. Malaysia broke free from the British rule as Tanah Melayu on the 31st of August 1957 but finally became an independent nation part of Singapore leaving and Sabah and Sarawak joining Malaysia on 16th September 1963.
The teaser begins in SRT Cyberaya where Ali is seen falling asleep in Puan Munah's class. Suddenly, his phone rings with an "Emergency" alarm, causing Ali to snap to attention and blurt out: "Kecemasan! Selamatkan diri!" [translated: "Emergency! Save yourselves!"]. The whole class stares at him inconfusion and Puan Munah snaps her cane in half.
The school bell rings and Ali is seen running while picking up a call on his phone. The caller turns out to be a panicked Bakar, who warns Ali that the M.A.T.A. Security Hallway is "in danger of being intruded". Ali accepts the mission and proceeds to call Comot who is disguised as white soil in a flower pot.
Ali and Comot both run into the library. Ali then finds a book which contains a palm print scanner and proceeds to use it. The book identifies Ali as a member of M.A.T.A. and opens up the hidden pod that transports them to the aforementioned Security Hallway. In the tunnel, both Ali and Comot gain their powers and suits.
Both Ali and Comot leap out of the tunnel door. Ali then rolls out a smokebomb which reveals anti-intruder laserbeams across the hallway after it had been activated. Ali then uses his glasses to analyze his surroundings and find a solution to get through the lasers, while Comot makes her way through the laser beams. However, just as he reached the other side of the laser beams, Ali accidentally steps on Comot's tail, who meows in pain. Startled, he stumbles backwards only to sting his butt on a laser beam, tripping the alarm.
The hallway gets bathed in red light as the Sentry Guns aim at Ali and Comot. Ali shoots at them with his (prototype) slingshot, destroying them, but leaves himself exposed to the still active laser beams. Comot tries, under Ali's instructions, to disable the beams by pulling out wire after wire in the hallway's powerbox, but each severed wire triggers a new defense machinism in the security hallway. Running out of time, Comot gives up and scratches out every wire, shutting down the machines. Ali sighs in relief before catching up to Comot, who had strolled ahead into M.A.T.A.'s commandroom.
Unlike the previous teaser, the second teaser had gained a lot of positive feedback.
Overview[]
- Main article: List of Agent Ali episodes
| Series | Episodes | Originally released | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | |||
| 1 | 13 | 8 April 2016 | 3 March 2017 | |
| 2 | 13 | 22 September 2017 | 30 March 2018 | |
| Film | November 28, 2019 | |||
| 3 | 13 | 7 | 25 June 2022 | 6 August 2022 |
| 6 | 24 December 2022 | 28 January 2023 | ||
| Film | May 22, 2025 | |||
Characters[]
- Main article: List of Agent Ali characters
The characters involved in this series are:
- Main Characters:
- M.A.T.A. Agents:
- M.A.T.A. Academy:
- M.A.T.A. Arena:
- Numeros:
- Other Antagonists/Villain:
- S.R.T. Cyberaya:
- Puan Munah
- Cikgu Bidin
- Viktor
- Mia
- Sasidaran
- Boy
- Melur
- Mawar
- The Duo of Bullies (Shaun and Syed)
- Developer of Cyberaya:
- Other characters:
Soundtracks[]
Broadcast[]
On TV netwroks the series was broadcasted on TV3. Initial streaming on services were Iflix (Season 1) and Netflix (for all seasons) in both English languaged dub and subtitles.
Outside Malaysia, Ejen Ali was broadcasted in 50 countries. Primeworks Studios announced broadcasting Ejen Ali along with other 5-6 production companies in top 6 English speaking countries via Amazon Prime Video.
In May 2021, Primeworks Studios and WAU Animations approached with The Walt Disney Company in dealing to stream the said series on Disney+ Hotstar. In October 2021, they confirmed its co-production, revealing that the series would launch by around late 2021 to early 2022. Season 3 was the resulted segment that was co-produced.
The Making of Agent Ali[]
The Making of Agent Ali was released on April 2nd 2016 10:30 AM on TV3 Malaysia and as an encore on April 3rd 2016 7:00 PM on TV9. The Making of Agent Ali covered the people behind the release of the series.
Gallery[]
Videos[]
References[]
- ↑ The city is based from the real life Cyberjaya located between Kuala Lumpur and it's international airport.
- ↑ http://www.mstar.com.my/hiburan/berita-hiburan/2017/09/22/ejen-ali-musim-baru/
- ↑ https://www.nst.com.my/lifestyle/groove/2017/09/285757/ejen-ali-flies-airasia
- ↑ http://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/cover-story-primeworks-looks-abroad-broaden-earnings
- ↑ http://www.theborneopost.com/2017/09/30/ejen-ali-themed-airasia-flight-to-be-launched-next-year/
Ejen Ali on Wikipedia