The Daltons (2010 TV series)

The Daltons (known as Les Dalton in French) is a French comedy animated television series based on the works by artist Morris and writer René Goscinny, focusing on the four main villains of the comic book series Lucky Luke who try to escape the prison as they get locked up in every time Lucky Luke captures them. The show is being adapted by Olivier Jean-Marie and Jean-François Henry while the series is directed by Charles Vaucelle.

Plot
Prisoners of a penitentiary in the Nevada desert, the Dalton brothers try to escape from the penitentiary but without achieving their ends.

Main

 * Joe Dalton - Joe is the oldest, shortest, angriest and evilest of the Dalton brothers who is always planning a way to escape prison, but his plans usually fail. His tremendous anger stems from his hatred of Lucky Luke due to him putting them in prison multiple times.
 * Jack Dalton - Jack is the first middle of the Dalton brothers. He is quite withdrawn, attentive and calm; we discover him as a mechanical genius.
 * William Dalton - William is the most intelligent and cultured of the Dalton brothers. He is quite thoughtful and calm, he is also the one who solves even the most complex problems, he is even able to translate ancient texts like Nahuatl (the language of the Aztecs) and he is close to Jack.
 * Averell Dalton - Averell is the tallest, youngest, and dumbest of the Dalton brothers (which is a common cause of escape failures). He is sensitive and honest in spite of himself. He is very often in the moon. He is also a great foodie, however he sometimes has strokes of genius or shows himself to be very talented in certain fields (especially art), such as making trompe-l'oeil, making origami or sculptures. with just about anything: stones, soap, food.
 * Melvin Peabody - Melvin is the warden of the penitentiary (although most of the decisions are made by Miss Betty). He closely monitors the actions of the Dalton brothers. He is also fairly self-assured, greedy, impulsive, and he panics quite easily when the Daltons try to escape. He also has a soft spot for Miss Betty. He dreams of his penitentiary becoming famous and holding onto its reputation. It sometimes receives famous people like Thomas Edison, the Wright Brothers, Queen Victoria, Ulysses S. Grant, the Dr. Jekyll (renamed Dr. Jeffkyll), Jesse James, Charles Darwin, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Antonio López de Santa Anna, etc. It also has a language twitch and replaces most suffixes with "tude", in the English dub, he has a language twitch and replaces most suffixes with an "-ism". In the episode "Lady Bandit", he tells the new prisoner to call him George while in actuality his name is Melvin.
 * Miss Betty - Betty is the prison host. The majority of inmates have a soft spot for her, as do Mr. Peabody and True Falcon. She has her character and at the same time gentle and caring. She has a crush on Averell Dalton as admitted by her in the episode "Feris Wheel Daltons". She turns out to be very skilled with anything: firearm, bow and arrow, driving, etc.
 * Rantanplan - Rantanplan is the penitentiary's dimwitted watchdog. He is the only animal in the show who can talk (to us at least). He seems to have a surge of affection for the Daltons and in particular Joe, whom he sees as a master at some times. He is primarily responsible for the failures in the Daltons' escapes. It is shown in the episode "The Contrary of an Indian" that he understands the opposite of what he is told, and in the episode "Inside Rantanplan" that his stupidity is due to the inactivity of his brain capacities.

Recurring

 * Pete and Emett - They are the two guards at the penitentiary. They are close and not very smart. They often make bets on whether the Daltons are able to escape or not and spend more time chatting than watching them.
 * Crazy Wolf - He is the chief of the Bras-Cassés tribe. He is the one who most often brings the Dalton back to the penitentiary, often with arrows in the back. Despite his appearance and calm voice, he is very touchy and impulsive.
 * Fabulous Falcon - a born manipulator and crook who is often fooled by the Daltons who steal personal and even magical objects from him, which can help them escape, even if he maintains a certain collaboration with them. Like Miss Betty, he educates and sells his Native products at the penitentiary where he presents Native American customs and culture. He is also a sorcerer and doctor.
 * Ma Dalton - Ma Dalton is the Dalton's mother. She is similar in height to Joe's (whereas in the comics she is a little taller than him). Despite her dishonesty, she attaches great importance to the politeness and good education of her children, whom she loves, especially Averell.
 * Ming Lee Fu - He is the Chinese penitentiary launderer. He is gifted in acupuncture, hypnosis, kung fu, etc. He lives in a pagoda which also serves as a laundry. He also has boxes of explosives that he uses to unclog the washing machine, or fireworks for Chinese New Year.
 * Lucky Luke - Lucky Luke is a lone cowboy who shoots faster than his shadow and the hero of the series of the same name, who kept stopping the Daltons to Joe's dismay. Although he is absent from this series, he appears in the blink of an eye in some episodes. According to Mr. Peabody in the episode "The Escape For Dummies", he would have retired but note that in this same episode, Joe was furious to see him (it was Peabody disguised as Lucky Luke) because it would seem let him be responsible for their incarceration in the penitentiary.

Cast
The series was produced in French with the addition of 3 different English dubs being made; one for Paris, one for United States, and one for The Philippines (the latter dub currently being used for streaming platforms).

Broadcast
The series was released on May 31, 2010. It aired on France 3 and Canal+ Family, and then on Télétoon+, France 4 and Boomerang. In United States, The show briefly airs on Cartoon Network. In India, the show is broadcast on Hungama TV and Super Hungama in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu languages. In United Kingdom, The show got US Dub on Channel 4.