THE SITE

When I first heard about The Zeta Project, I rolled my eyes and scoffed at the very idea. A killer robot looking for 'freedom' and his only hope is a fifteen year-old street kid? And they're going to outwit the government... how? Sure. That'll be a long-lasting series...

I didn't plan on watching the show at all but woke up way too early and had an hour before anything 'good' came on. I went into the show with a bad attitude but quickly forgot my negative rants after five minutes. By the time I heard Ro's line, "Oh, forgot! I'm insane!", I was hooked.

After watching the first episode I cleared a space on my personal website for a TZP section. And then I let it collect dust for eight months... I had no idea what to do with it until I came across an online Zeta community. Fanart, fanfic, a message board... finally, kindred spirits!

Besides meeting a lot of great TZP fans, I also found inspiration. Seeing how wonderfully these people had built up their community, I wanted to be a part of it. I grabbed one of my TZP tapes and pushed play- the first dialogue I heard was: "Ground Wire. One in every town." Fate, I tell 'ya! I registered a new account with Yahoo and got to work, greatly encouraged by everyone at the TZP board. Although hampered by a sickly scanner and dying computer I was able to meet my self-set deadline -December 20, 2001- and opened Ground Wire: 2040.

In late 2005, I registered the Random Fandom domain and began rebuilding GW:2040. Whoo, finally rid of the pop-ups! :D

THE SHOW

The Zeta Project was created as a spin-off of Batman Beyond. It debuted on Kids' WB on January 27, 2001 and lasted for two seasons, the final episode airing on August 10, 2002.

The story centered around two characters, Zeta and Ro. Zeta, a synthoid capable of diguising himself as practically anything through the use of holographic technology, decided to abandon his role as a government-funded assassin after learning that some of his targets may have been innocent.

However, the NSA (National Security Agency) felt that Zeta's ability to make such a decision was not a part of his original programming; their conclusion was that he had been reprogrammed by terrorists. Under Agent Bennet's command, an NSA squadron was assembled to capture the robot and return it to the lab.

Zeta had managed to evade the authorities for quite some time before they caught up with him in Spring City, Maryland. There he met Rosalie 'Ro' Rowen, a fifteen year old runaway who was having problems disassembling herself from a street gang. Zeta rescued her from the situation and, with a little persuasion by means of an unlimited cred card, Ro agreed to distract the NSA while he made use of their computer system.

The plan went bad and Zeta was only able to download a partial file but it was enough to start him on the path to possible emancipation. He was certain that his free will was not the product of terrorism and decided to track down his creator, Dr. Eli Selig, hoping the man would be able to confirm this.

Ro, having no place else to go and hoping to find her long-missing family, decided to tag along. With more street sense than Zeta, she began the long process of trying to teach him how to act 'normal'. The first step in this process was to give him a more fitting name, Zee Smith, and tone down his severe and somewhat aged appearance.

Throughout the next two seasons the pair encountered numerous obstacles on their way to finding Selig and Ro's family- but they also made several major breakthroughs. Ro, for instance, found her older brother Casey and Zee had several close encounters with Selig.

Along the way they also made quite a few enemies, IU7 and Roden Krick being two of the most dangerous. But to even it out they had several allies, as well; Bucky Buenaventura, a twelve year old genius, featured most prominently.

As the second season came to a close, Zeta had to deal with an anti-synthoid terrorist group called Brothers' Day and also his own fears that perhaps he was under the influence of bad programming. In the last episode, Zeta was finally able to make contact with his creator and learned that he had indeed given the robot free will. Even more importantly, Agent Bennet overheard this piece of news- though we never really found out his reaction to it.

The show closed with a very cryptic ending. While trying to escape an explosion in a small airship, Dr. Selig and his android assistant, Andrea Donoso, were shot down over the ocean. The only proof that Zee had of his own innocense was Dr. Selig's word- with that gone, there is little to assure Zee his freedom.

However, right before the credits rolled, we were treated to the sight of a synthoid hand breaking the surface of the water. It's been confirmed by the production team that this was Andrea's hand and that she saved Dr. Selig. Without further episodes, though, we'll never know what was supposed to happen past that point.

It's been several years since the last episode aired and fans still have hope that it could come back- the production staff seems willing and the ratings were always good. Though not a continuation of the cartoon, there is also some talk of a possible live-action Zeta series. It's still in the planning stages at this time but the fact that series creator Robert Goodman is still interested in telling the story is a good sign.