Detentionaire

Plot

The story revolves around high school student Lee Ping, a teenager who on his first day of 10th grade is framed for a major prank and punished with a full year of detention. Every day with the help of his friends, Lee sneaks out of detention to try to find who was really behind the prank, all while trying to avoid being caught by the school's principal, Barrage. In his quest to clear his name, Lee uncovers a conspiracy within the school that is tied to his family.

Characters

Main

Lee Ping (voiced by Jonathan Tan) is the main protagonist of the series. He was born in Korea and raised in Canada and is a straight-A student, except for a C in gym class. On his first day of school, he is framed for a mind-blowing prank and receives detention for one full year and grounded for the same length of time by his mother. Every day since he sneaks out of detention to collect evidence to clear his name. It turns out that he has a crush on Tina Kwee since the Fifth Grade. His first name is common in the West and his surname is an actual Korean family name under the McCune-Reischauer romanization; his full name is mistaken for the word "leaping" in the first few episodes by Brandy Silver.

Camillio "Cam" Martinez (voiced by Fabrizio "Fab" Filippo) is Lee's childhood best friend. Though he is loyal to Lee and helps with his endeavors when he can, he'd just as soon ride Lee's newfound wave of popularity as long as it lasts (as being blamed for the prank had made Lee the most popular student in school). Cam shows a rather strong interest in finding a girlfriend, which drives his motivation to try to keep Lee from openly denying his status as the prank perpetrator, as Lee's fame helps Cam score attention with girls. It is hinted he has a crush on Lee's girlfriend Brandy; they went to a concert together with Holger and his date. In "The Curse of Earl Nigma", Cam buys a finished book report from a genius and ends up getting blackmailed by an unknown person.

Holger Holgaart (voiced by Ryan Belleville) is Lee's overly loyal friend and A. Nigma High's Scandinavian exchange student. Though he appears and acts incompetent in all things, on occasion having to be bailed out of trouble by his friends, the value of his few skills has proven to exceed his incompetence. He has proven to be stealthy, easily running circles around Barrage, and his knowledge of spa and cooking gets him the position of waterboy, which he used to find out whose hand was in a picture of someone messing with Lee's bag. He has a crush on the uni-browed mathlete Greta, who likes him back.

Bifford "Biffy" T. Goldstein (voiced by Zachary Bennett) is a gentle giant with a soft spot for his "Rumple Kitty Cat". Biffy helps Lee for his own reasons, using his technological savvy, ingenuity, and intimate knowledge about the school to guide Lee and track people of interest throughout the school. Despite Biffy helping him on numerous occasions, Lee remains afraid of him throughout much of the first season. His favourite band is the Dudes of Darkness, and he loves a good rock tune. Later on, it is hinted that he and Kimmie knew each other, and (in the present) might have a "thing" for each other. In later episodes, he often shows compassion to Holger, who is riddled with misfortune.

Villains

Lynch Webber (voice by Brian Froud) is the main antagonist of the first two seasons, Lynch runs the school server system. At the beginning of the series, he seems to worship Lee and tries to be cool like him. He loves peanuts and leaves a trail of them behind him. Lee initially thought his dad owned Green Apple Splat, but it was revealed that Lynch is an adult who has had surgery to make him look younger, and actually owns the company. His alias is Radcircles, the person who framed Lee for the prank.

Vice Principal Veronica Victoria (voiced by Hélène Joy) is an attractive young woman who seems mysterious, Victoria is the Vice-Principal of A. Nigma High and is much more understanding and calm than Principal Barrage. She was fired at the end of Season 2/Series 1, though she was shown at Coral Grove in the last couple of episodes.

Cassandra Mann McAdams (voiced by Julie Lemieux) is the co-main antagonist of seasons 3 and 4. She is the head of the evil parent's council, a business magnate of great power, and Kimmie's mother. After Victoria is fired, Barrage was sent to 'Coral Grove' where Cassandra hacked into Barrage's cybernetics so she could control him.

Li "The Serpent" Ping (voiced by Karl Ang) is the co-main antagonist of the first half of season 4. The Serpent is a mysterious man of seemingly Asian descent who has a striking resemblance to Lee Ping. In earlier seasons he is often seen secretly watching or photographing other characters. He owns a pet snake named Priscilla. He has clashed with Lee and his friends on numerous occasions, and enjoys tormenting others, such as tying Holger in a chair and threatening to cut his hair. He often threatens to feed people to Priscilla. Lee views him as his nemesis, while the Serpent views Lee as an inferior copy of him. He also sees his battles with Lee as a game of "cat-and-mouse", going so far as to call Lee "Mr. Lee-Mouse-Ping". During early appearances, Lee calls him the "Stink Ninja" because of his ninja-like ability to disappear, and his pungent odor of rotten eggs (revealed to be from the necklace he wears). He has also seduced Jenny Jerkins and posed as her boyfriend to exploit her. It was initially implied that he is Dr. Ping and Sue's secret son, explaining his resemblance to Lee, the birthmark (covered up by a tattoo they both have), and being allergic to fish just as Dr. Ping is. This was later confirmed, along with the revelation that he was kidnapped by Cassandra and raised to be a vengeful assassin. He later reforms, rebelling against his previous masters and aiding Lee and his friends.

Supporting

Hazmats - Nicknamed Psycho Cleaner Freaks, the Hazmats act as Barrage's minions and maintain order around the school. Their speech resembles an electronic speech synthesis and the sound of swarming bees. They are later revealed to be robots, and have a much greater role than just being school cleaners, taking orders from a greater evil. They are sometimes used to make a person "disappear", clearing every belonging out of their house and moving it away.

There are also different types of Hazmats:

Steam Mats: 'Good' Hazmats which serve Finnwich

Green Hazmats: Gigantic green Hazmats that carry scythes. They are more potent than standard white Hazmats and are typically used to guard important things.

Fancy Bots: Blue, hovering Hazmats that can emit an energy pulse that knocks people out, as well as firing an energy field that can suspend people in the air. They also guard Coral Grove.

Sue Ping (Marjorie Chan) is Lee's strict mother who is also a math teacher at his school, and the one who grounds him. She does not always abide by the rules and will rebel against regulations if she feels it isn't right, as shown when she stands up to insane Principal Blompkins and engages in a clog-cannon battle with him. Despite her harsh exterior and her menacing accent, deep down she cares for Lee. It is revealed that she, along with every other teacher, is a clone. While all other teachers are clones of intelligent figures in history, such as Benjamin Franklin and Albert Einstein, she is a clone of the actual Mrs. Ping, whose birth name is Shi-hoo Kim. Lee is later reunited with his original non-clone mother.

Dr. Alfred Ping is Lee's father and Sue's husband, who unlike his wife is more liberal with Lee. He has a secret past involving being hunted and constantly on the run. He is somehow tied with the Council who were his former allies, but were revealed to be evil.

Irwin Dexter - (voiced by Lyon Smith) is Lee's self-proclaimed arch-rival and former Mathlete teammate. He feels that Lee betrayed them and is jealous of how Lee has all their smarts, but still gets popularity. He makes constant attempts to thwart Lee's reputation to no avail, and Lee mostly views him as a nuisance.

Cliques

Detentionaires is a term coined by Barrage to refer to students who are regulars in the detention room. They mainly consist of Lee Ping, Biffy Goldstein, and later on Jenny Jerkins and Tina Kwee.

The Jocks are a group of big strong guys with small brains. They are popular and go out with the cheerleaders and Glamazons. Their leader is Steve, who originally hated Lee as he considered him a rival for team captain, but after Lee found his beloved towel he became Lee's ally. Ed was formerly the Waterboy for the team, who suffered from kleptomania and was unmasked as the school thief. Holger auditioned for his position of Waterboy and won so he was fired. He is a member of the Down With Lee Club and harbors a deep hatred for Holger.

The Glamazons are a group of four girls that are popular, pretty, and glamorous. Their leader is a rich girl named Kimmie who looks down on everyone. Brandy is the newest member of this group and Kimmie doesn't always think she belongs in her group. They are mean and snooty to less popular students and tease people about their appearances e.g. Tina's hair. Kimmie seems to have had a childhood friendship with Biffy.

The Skaters have short attention spans and no patience. They don't care about learning and love to cause trouble, setting up the paint part of the prank. Their leader is Zed.

The Emos write poetry and don't talk much. Joseph ( a.k.a. Emo Joe) is the only member that speaks and is in the "Down With Lee Club" due to getting blamed for the food fight Lee started. The girls wear heavy makeup and the guys wear guyliner. Joseph works at a store in the mall, where a bag identical to Lee's was bought for the prank. They do not like Holger or Lee.

The Mathletes are four math whizzes who all wear sweaters with math operations on them (− × ÷ and π symbols). They are led by Irwin, Lee's arch-enemy, although Lee seems to be better at math than him. Greta, a member of this group, is in a relationship with Holger.

The Dudes of Darkness are a rock band with four members. Their whole life is music, although they hate techno music. Cyrus the leader of the band gave Lee the prank song that has strange hypnotizing powers.

Episodes

The show consists of 4 seasons of 13 episodes each, except for the first one which contains 14 due to including the pilot episode. Both Canadian and Australian airdates are provided; all seasons except the first one aired in Australia prior to airing in Canada.

Production

The development of the pilot episode was announced on September 21, 2009. As of October that year, 26 episodes were scheduled to be produced with a budget of US$275,000–325,000 per episode; production of the pilot was set to begin in spring 2010.

The series was inspired by the school experiences of the creators, particularly in depicting various cultural backgrounds and dealing with school rules and restrictions. A major focus of the show was the defiance of stereotypes, especially those regarding cliquishness.

For season 4, a very different concept for the plot was initially created than that which was eventually produced, with a prominent role for the character of Niles Peg and a special title for Lee.

Reception

The series has been reviewed by Strange Kids Club and Toon Zone, with the former also conducting interviews with both of the co-creators.

Broadcast

In Canada, the series was first shown during the week of September 12, 2011 on Teletoon with a preview of the first 5 episodes, and began airing regularly on January 5, 2012. On the French-language Télétoon, the show was aired as La Retenue.

The show first aired in Australia on ABC3 (now ABC Entertains) on May 12, 2012. The fourth-season finale premiered in Australia on January 31, 2014.

The series premiered on the "Always On" digital platform of Cartoon Network in the United States as part of the platform's 2014–2015 lineup. Some, but not all, episodes of the show were made available on Cartoon Network's website on September 29, 2014, spanning most of seasons 1 and 2.

In September 2019, the Nelvana-owned YouTube channel Retro Rerun began uploading episodes. The series has also aired in the United Kingdom on Kix.

The show currently airs reruns on Télétoon, Boomerang, and Disney XD in Canada.

Home video releases

Episodes have been made available in standard definition (seasons 2 and 3 also in high definition) on the Canadian iTunes Store as they aired on Teletoon, currently spanning seasons 1, 2, and 3.

All four seasons are available for purchase on Amazon Prime Video in the United States, both in high and standard definition.

The entire series has also been released on Ameba TV, Tubi TV, and on YouTube.