About the graphic novels[]
Cleopatra in Space is targeting children, drawn and written since 2014 by Mike Maihack, and published by Graphix, a division of Scholastic.
The premise of the series is that a teenaged Queen Cleopatra is brought to the far future to attend school and fight a space tyrant together with her friends Akila and Brian. So far, five comic books have been published: Target Practice (2014), ISBN 978-0545528436, The Thief and the Sword (2015), ISBN 978-0545528450, Secret of the Time Tablets (2016), ISBN 978-0545838672, The Golden Lion (2017), ISBN 978-0545838726, and Fallen Empires (2019), ISBN 978-1338204124, with a sixth one, Queen of the Nile to be published in August 2020.
It was adapted into an eponymous animated television series by DreamWorks Animation; the series was first broadcast in Southeast Asia on DreamWorks Channel beginning on November 25, 2019, and was released in the United States on Peacock, which launched on April 15, 2020, to certain customers. Maihack would also serve as the creator of the TV series.
Reviews of Maihack's comics have been generally positive. J. Caleb Mozzocco, in School Library Journal, described Target Practice as having an art style with a "touch of anime/manga influence" along with other cartoonist styles, resulting in a clean, simple, and inviting looking to pages, which is well suited for various characters, settings, and technologies, while adding that Cleopatra is a likable character in these comics as a "kick-butt, teen girl heroine." Rich Clabaugh, a staff writer for The Christian Science Monitor built on this, reviewing the same book, writing that they were pleased to see a "strong, spunky female main comic character that will appeal to both girls and boys" and called Maihack a skilled artist who can breath a "vibrant life into his characters, human, alien, and cat." Robert Greenberger was more critical but still admitted that Maihack is a talented and "clever storyteller" who uses an "expressive and a restrained color palette." Maihack's other comics were also reviewed positively, some calling Secret of the Time Tablets an all ages "sci-fi series full of pizzazz, high energy, and lots of questions to answer" and The Golden Lion as having beautiful illustrations, complete with a "terrific cast of characters that continue to evolve."
Apart from this, others called Maihack's comics "a rollicking all-ages adventure," and involving a "series of Star Trek–style space adventures punctuated with far-future high school drama."
The above is reprinted from Wikipedia page for the book series.
About the TV show[]
Cleopatra in Space is an American animated television series produced by DreamWorks Animation, based on the graphic novel series of the same name by Mike Maihack. The showrunners are Doug Langdale and Fitzy Fitzmaurice.
In the United States, the first five episodes were released on NBCUniversal's streaming service Peacock[2] on April 15, 2020, for Xfinity customers. The show will launch for July 15, 2020, or sooner, for those without Xfinity.[4] Prior to the scheduled release in the United States, the series was first broadcast in Southeast Asia on DreamWorks Channel beginning on November 25, 2019.
In January 2018, DreamWorks Animation filed trademark applications for the show to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Mike Maihack said that the series is in retroactive continuity to his comics because Cleo is a teenager and there is time travel. This differs from his comic book series which is "rooted from stories and research of the actual Cleopatra." He also may have been influenced by Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, and Legends of Tomorrow.
The music of the series is composed by Jay Vincent and Ryan Lofty. It was described by Courtney Lofty, the score production manager, as "an epic cocktail of electronic beats, Egyptian melodies, and orchestral dramatics," with other melodies, with "an extreme amount of time" researching for the music, which references Paramore, M.I.A., and the score of The Prince of Egypt The music was attuned to the specific scenes in each episode.
The series opening theme song was sung by Lilimar Hernandez, the voice actor for Cleopatra. Additionally, Matt Barrios worked on the main title.
In the United States, NBCUniversal's advertisement sales website previously suggested that Cleopatra in Space would be broadcast in the country on Universal Kids. Later, it was emerged in January 2020 that the series would be instead included in the launch line-up of Peacock, NBCUniversal's streaming service on April 15, 2020 to Xfinity customers in the United States, and July 15 to all customers nationwide. DreamWorks Animation has been a subsidiary of NBCUniversal since 2016.
Prior to the scheduled release in the United States, the series was premiered on November 25, 2019, on DreamWorks Channel, which is available in Southeast Asia and select other areas of Asia Pacific (specifically, Hong Kong, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, the Philippines, Pakistan, Singapore and Taiwan). 19 episodes have since aired on the channel. The series was also shown in Poland on Teletoon+ from February 15, 2020 onward. complete with a cast of Polish actors and actresses as people who will dub the voices of characters. The series was also available in South Africa on Showmax[45], including all the season one episodes, by February 23, 2020, and to those in the Nordic region in late December 2019 because of an agreement between NBCUniversal and the Nordic Entertainment Group (NENT Group). On May 1st, the entire first season of Cleopatra in Space, titled "Cleópatra no Espaço" began airing on Globoplay, a Brazilian channel and subsidiary of Grupo Globo.
Although there has not been any official confirmation, storyboard artist Scooter Tidwell's resume lists the show as having two seasons in total.
The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction contributor Steven Pearce gave a short positive review of the show, though was critical about the show's writing and Cleopatra's personality, saying it is "very much your feisty American teen." The entry praises the "nice background details" and calls the series fun, amusing, "brightly animated and engaging." Courtney Lofty described the series as being about "badass women, talking cats, [and] space," noting that the overall vibe is a "classic Saturday morning cartoon, with extremely quotable moments" which is like Invader Zim. Cheryl Eddy on Gizmodo described the show as one aimed at children, but "looks like a fun ride for geeky grown-ups", while Karen Han and Petrana Radulovic in Polygon and Sam Stone on CBR reviewed it positively. Additionally, others described the show as "a fun take on the original Cleopatra story" and a "comedic adventure" which focuses on Cleopatra's teenage years, where she is transported into the future "to an Egyptian-themed planet...ruled by talking cats" while dealing with the pressures of being "a teenager in high school" as she tries to fit in even as Octavian tries to kill her.
The above is reprinted from the Wikipedia page for the TV series, excluding the section on the characters and episode titles/descriptions.