When Spies and Secret Agents Ruled Pop Culture 

Oh my goodness, I remember when the book fairs at my school ALWAYS had spy-related stuff for sale. I always avoided them because it just didn't seem like something I'd like. That and also the insanely overpriced Guinness World Records books.

i would like to mention one character left out of this 2000s spy phenomenon discussion: Perry the Platypus! he has a cool hat and spy gadgets and an evil nemesis and everything on a related note, most people have already heard of this, but if you haven't watched it i HIGHLY recommend Spy x Family. it's a really fun, comedic, heartfelt show with a really cool premise of a spy having to play a family man.

It's so crazy that I never realized just how abundant this genre was as a kid and how little presence it has now. I LOVED Totally Spies when I was a kid and also loved that the girls still remained girly despite their super cool and dangerous jobs. Kim Possible was cool too, but I found her a little less relatable at the time despite growing up as more of a tomboy. Kids Next Door will forever remain a classic due to their convoluted naming systems, impossible and impractical gadgets, and the story line. Definitely miss this era

I remember those damn invisible ink pens. They were the most popular thing at the fair, and classmates would draw on ANYTHING with them. Shine a light on any surface and you were sure to find a drawing of the male/female anatomy or an insult. Good times.

Let’s not forget the iconic international SUPER SPYYYYYY!!!! Episodes of The Backyardigans. Literally the best tv I watched as a kid

As a young boy, spy fantasies went hand in hand with ninja fantasies

The EPF DS game soundtrack is full of absolute bangers

honestly with the whole spy theme, i was kind of surprised how you didnt bring up codename kids next door! it honestly made me fall in love with the whole spy idea, even though they weren't the stereotypical spyish show, it still had a similar feel with its own crazy spin about kids fighting against adults trying to rain on their parade of fun and to a lesser extent teenagers. it really even stuck with me because of how much the show emphasized about clinging onto your childhood and the fear of growing up which im cureently going through rn while being a highschooler :,) not to mention the awesome female leads in the show that were fully fleshed out and weren't depicted as being "dumb girls" the show was for everyone to enjoy and love! ^^

This reminds me so much of the 60s spy pop culture phenomenon. The same sorts of media with gimmicky gadgets in it existed too, which also lent itself to toys. There was so much Man From U.N.C.L.E. merchandise! I’m wondering if a part of its early 2000s resurgence is that the children of those who experienced the 60s spy fad as children would be about the same age as when the parents experienced the 60s fad

My god this trend really DID have a hold over us, my memories are really fuzzy but I remember being obsessed with some sort of james bond themed 2000s super spy book series for girls as a kid and being really into stuff like invisible ink that was always advertised as a super cool spy item Nowadays other than spy family I can't say I've given the whole thing any thought since 😭 PS. congratulations on blowing up lately! I only discovered you recently but you're clearly doing an excellent job! lovely to see someone's hard work pay off

Oh man, Spy Kids were some of my favorite movies as a kid. Not only were spies cool, but seeing a Latino family in Hollywood get to be the stars of a franchise was amazing to little kid me

i actually loved those electronic password journals. i still do to this day because i think it teaches kids that their privacy DOES MATTER and YES it's WEIRD AND WRONG for parents to go through their kids journals where they write their **private & personal thoughts**. that's what i got out of it when i was a kid and now at least.

My dad took us to the spy museum in DC when I was a kid and I still remember the wall of firearms disguised as things like flashlights, lipstick or a ring. The club penguin spy missions were my favorite part of the game, it was a big deal whenever a new one came out and my friends and I would try to solve it together

I knew what the culture of the 80s was, the culture of the 90s was, and what the culture of the 2010s was. Yet for the longest time, I struggled to figure out what was specifically 2000s in culture besides just skateboards. Thanks to you, I finally figured it out.

I never really thought about it when I was young, but there really was just a ton of spy stuff everywhere, huh? I was super into it but never thought to stop and think about why there was so much.

I remember setting up a lot of spy laser rooms with red string in my house. Keep going with the great content!

Watching this video really took me back, I was OBSESSED with spy stuff as a kid, I dressed up as Alex from Totally Spies for Halloween, I loved the Spy Fox games, I loved Spy Kids, I collected the spy gadget toys from McDonald’s, I made my own “spy kit” with those toys and other ones I collected, I drew a picture book about me being a spy.. Watching this video really made me realize just how marketed spy stuff was to kids in the 2000s for some reason, including myself 😂

Yes oh my god PLEASE inject that early to late 2000s nostalgia into my VEINS

I still remember escaping the laser cage in club penguin by throwing a snowball at the electric panel thing and feeling like the smartest being in existence because of it that whole secret agent recruitment minigame was awesome

I had a happy meal toy that could shoot messages attached to tiny frisbees (for secret communication) and was so excited, it was my prized possession. But there was always the realization I had no one to hide my secret communications from. A lot of unresolved sneaky energy I've been carrying with me all these years!

OMG this video hit home for me, my parents and I planned one of my tween birthdays as a spy mission party. We even filmed my mom describing the mission in a top secret “mission briefing” video made on Microsoft movie maker. We ordered cheap spy gadgets online like invisible ink pens and edible paper :3

I was absolutely OBSESSED with spy stuff as a kid but it never really dawned one how prevalent all that stuff was in media at that time, like oh my goodness! So validating to see lol

OMG I used to be obsessed with having a secret spy club with my friends as a kid!

You just unearthed a memory of my 2008 Halloween costume. I did indeed suspiciously resemble Kim Possible. Still do

90s kid and I remember growing up with all the spy stuff in the 2000s. I feel like my recent playthrough of Secret Agent Clank and this video were just well-timed since I was just thinking about those days haha

dream jelly is the only channel i will shamelessly binge

You do not understand how obsessed I was about the SPA and the point and click mission (that MUST have been the start of my love towards point and click adventure games and escape rooms). I would've killed for one of those spy electronic diaries with the invisible ink and all that... Damn, I really love gadgets

We all remember Cody Banks, Goldeneye, Spy Kids, even the Vin Diesel family movie of him being a spy

Huh. This actually explains why a lot of shows even have some sort of "spy" dedicated special episode like Jimmy Neutron and The Backyardigans lol. I didn't even notice that spies were a trend, they just naturally appear as some sort of "modernized superheroes" that I found cool and wanted gadgets of, but no longer popped into my mind soon as the fad is gone. Also this kinda made me realize these toys were just perfect for roleplaying with random kids on the playground which is probably the ONLY practical use for them. Miss those simpler times lol.

I think some of the factors that led to this were: -Declassification of cold-war era documents in the 90’s and early 2000’s -The success of video games like Goldeneye and Metal Gear Solid with spy elements. -Increasing interest in cryptography, and digital technology in general Personally, back in the early 90’s I recall getting some gear under the “Spy Tech” brand. The binoculars/magnifier kit was actually kind of useful, but there was also stuff like a periscope, decoder watch, fingerprint kit.

Yes! Spying and bushcraft dominated my childhood and now the memories are flooding back. I remember really wanting one of those gimmicky PDAs from the book fair too and I did buy a crappy preset handheld console even though I had a DS already. I also got a survival guide that came with an attached compass (not functional) that I thought was so cool! Crocodile Hunter and The Most Extreme made me believe that taming wildlife was going to be as common in my adult life as dodging quicksand haha

Goodness! I am currently struggling on trying to write/draw a novel that is very inspired by the 2000s y2k outer space/ high tech pop culture era but was unsure on what to do with that concept alone but as I was watching this for fun,I immediately got a light bulb. Thank you for the video,I got inspired!

i remember I had the choice of winning a free prize after doing some school sign up thing and after a unanimous vote from my siblings I picked the "spy ear" which was supposed to allow you to hear convos from very far away. As you suspected it did not work which not only disappointed me and my siblings but my entire 4th grade class. 😭😭😭💀 also the spy island mention just made me remember when my brother had to reassure me that my avatar's hair would come back bc my jaw practically hit the floor after i saw I was bald

It's so interesting how the technology evolving at the time really influenced the evolution of the spy genre, like the Kimunicator and the watches in Spy Kids (How long have we been falling? Idk my watch doesn't tell time!)

You really captured how amazed I was as a kid with spy stuff

Cause I’m an international super spy… SUPER SPYYYYYY

My sister had a spy themed birthday party and I was so jealous. I wanted one so bad

I remember wanting those glasses that lets you see what’s behind you. Probably didn’t work lol

Hey dream jelly we don’t you make a kids choice awards video/ retrospect since the awards are coming up

I remember playing the Spy Kids CD-ROM game where you could go on various missions, including piloting a submarine to the shore and sneaking around in a 2D platformer. I also recognise the Barbie digital camera in 7:17, which had its own software as well. CD-ROMs were my childhood

Top spy show that is weirdly cemented in my memory Project Mc2. This campy little Netflix show had the strangest plot with these teenager girls getting recruited by a spy agency cause they’re *smart*. It was honestly pretty dumb but you can bet that I watched every episode and bought ALLLLL the toys

Thank you kindly, Dream Jelly!! I am beyond ecstatic that you have done this topic!!! Tears of joy!! 🥹

Every topic you do always catches my attention omg. Hope you don’t lose motivation for this account any time soon but do remember to take breaks!!

For someone like me who was born in Dec. of 2000, I literally love how most of your video topics are about 2000's nostalgia, brands, and trends I grew up with. Some not quite conscious of as a little girl and others I was well emersed in.

This media trend gave us totally spies & Kim possible which I enjoyed way too much when I was young and that justified the whole trend

“For people that want to be like John wick but don’t want to be beat up “ I cackled

I sooo remember basically everyone I knew buying a blacklight spy pen from the book fair and writing secret messages to each other that you could only see if you owned the pen. What secrets did we have to hide at 11 years old, i still don’t know lol

I was born in the 90’s and this immediately made me think of the “Spy Gear” toy commercials. I can’t believe I remember that so vividly, probably because it was so /badass/ and /cool/

Yess I’ve been waiting for a new upload! Hope your day is great :)

i grew up with spy stuff too but from an earlier generation of kids because of shows like inspector gadget, carmen sandiago and characters like mcgruff the crime dog or harriet the spy, i often wanted the thrill of using gadgets and disguises to take down bad guys

This makes my recent purchase of a black trench coat and fedora that much more surreal. No wonder I've always been into that stuff, I grew up with it. I even studied electronics in college. Some day, I'll make a spy necklace. A mic and transmitter in the form of jewelry! Mawhahahaha! LEDs aren't the only thing that battery powers 😏

Oh man, when I was around six years old so had this spy toy which was shaped to look like a cell phone, but could then unfold into a periscope to look around corners with. It was so fun! I lost track of it after only a couple days and I have not been able to find it ever since, but it still left quite an impression.

I always love your subtle social commentary undertones

My "back to elementary school years" time again, huh?

I’m literally addicted to your videos! I cannot get enough. Your voice is calming and the format keeps me engaged. Keep up the good work.

Spy books had me in a chokehold during elementary school whenever I went to the library

Your channel is growing fast homie. That's awesome!

I FEEL SO SEEN I was OBSESSED with spies and codes I had a friend who I kept in touch with through letters and we'd send each other coded messages either through invisible ink or caesar cyphers and I had that really expensive Spyology book. I also remember playing that rainforest preservation adventure game with the Cut and Run gang, which is what I ended up calling the 'baddies' in the spy games I played with my friend.

I was into Inspector Gadget and spy gear, anything Wild Planet. It was all the coolest stuff

AYO?? I remember this kinda stuff! I adored kim possible, And thought club penguins spies were cool! (Also thanks for the poptropica mention- I was hoping someone would at LEAST mention spy island-)

My overly literal brain saw the spy stuff in book orders etc and I could never justify asking for it (bc expensive and only allowed a certain budget on them) because I could never think of any reason I'd need to listen through the wall, or etc, lmao. These days I love that style of campy spy stuff more than I did back then tbh. But I really love all sorts of camp these days, tbh.

That EPF DS game was my jam. In the minigames you could earn coins and then transfer them to your real Club Penguin account, plus the story was fun

I loved totally spy's!

I guess I was a real super spy villain as a kid. I stole all kinds of Scholastic book fair spy gadgets. Not my fault it was $40 for a tiny red plastic high security locker! Also that cat Totally Spies episode definitely weirded me out as a kid.

Even Dungeons and Dragons had a "competitor" called Spycraft

I remember when I was at Disney and they made us play some Kim Possible game, where they treated the DS like a spy gadget. They said that “DS” stood for “Dumbo Satellite” and I believed them for years. Or maybe that was my Dad, point is I called this thing a satellite until the 3DS came out. I didn’t stop.

some of my earliest memories are of playing spies in the backyard with my childhood best friend :) thanks for a comfy video 💛

When I was a kid, I was OBSESSED with spies and mysteries. I had a journal where I would write down what I observed/what was happening, with thrilling entries such as “Ana told me to jump and I bumpt my head”. My cousins and I had a spy organization called the FB^2I(Federal Bureau of Brooklyn Investigation) and our main targets were the two Sl’s(suspicious ladies). I created, like, a ton of “fake IDs”(I drew them) and I still have them all in my wallet. I have, like, a ton of pseudonyms. A funny story with those, we were going to this bar for my granny’s birthday and my parents had to show ID and the guy jokingly asked if my sisters and I had an ID and I went, “No, but I have a ton of fake IDs,” only to realize a moment later how I sounded. Anyway, wonderful video! I’ve been really enjoying your content. You make engaging, snazzy stuff. Hope ya have a great day.

Woah, I feel most mind blown that Corbin Blue and Kristin Stewart were in catch that kid. I kind of assumed they came on the scene when they were almost adults, not child actors that kinda sorta made it past child actor (can't recall anything Corbin did past High School Musical, and Kristin always feels like she just wandered onto the set, so hard to really say "they made it past child actor like a NPH").

I just found your channel and I have to say, you have videos that feel like nostalgia itself.

My mom had these two friends when she was a kid, and when she got older she kept in contact with one of them, however nobody knew what happened to the other kid and the only thing they knew was a rumour that he became a spy. And when they were kids anyway they was a rumour his dad was a spy, so...

Special Agent Dream Jelly is on the case 😎🧐

I was literally thinking about this subject for the whole past week

G-Force and the book series Swindle (a heist series but it had the same idea) are two more from this era. I was worried that you weren’t going to include Poptropica’s Spy Island. So good. I think my favorite was either that one or the superhero one. I even have the DS version of the game. I loved replaying all the islands so much.☺️

I never would've been excited to receive a basic compass, miniature telescope, and binoculars - until they were styled as spy gear, then it was the best birthday present ever that could not be beaten. I fell for this tactic hard.

I think there could be a whole analysis on the topic of Kim Possible Vs Totally Spies, and also the obscure MK and Ashley in Action. Mostly how KP is consider the "Good" show while TSP is considerer the "bad" one, according to the Nostalgia Critic 😑. Yeah KP is the more Spy accurate one BUT their entire tone was more Meta and poking fun at the genre, and School Life was consider to be way more serious than KP's saving the world adventures to the extend that Kim's sidekick Ron was consider a "loser" for some reason in school despite that he travelled the world and helped Kim (something that greatly annoyed me as someone who was school bullied). While Totally Spies, played it straight while having a more goofy tone akin to the Charlie's Angels movies of the 00's, to the extend me and many of my friends first thought it was based on Charlie's Angels movies. Also more boys had crushes on the Spies than on Kim since we all knew KP would end up with Ron.. while Sam, Clover and Alex (including mean girl Mandy) were, for a lack of a bettter word, more "available" to fans ships and fanfics than Kim ever was. Also TSP had a more colorful rogues gallery and more crazy adventures that made it more interesting and each episode had a different set of gadgets than KP'S entire arsenal. Also, Totally Spies has earned some major nostalgia enough that many people wanted a TSP movie than a Charlie's Angels remake, since more people grew up with TSP. While Kim,... well it is more fondly remembered by Critics but has become a victim of the Disney bad live action remakes and has none of the clever humor and meta of the show and resembles a Spy theme version of High School Musical... I blame it on the show treating School life more serious than the globe trotting Spy adventures which is why the movie feels so unfaithful to the show as Disney misinterpret the theme.

For some reason I wanted Edna Mode's security system to my room.

I think the spy novelty for kids is a direct result of the popularity of Buddy the Vampire Slayer and Charlie’s Angels.

i still call the psa the epf because of the ds game 😭 i traded in most of my original nintendo ds games for 3ds games but epf was one of the three i kept and im SO glad u mentioned it!! i still replay it every now and again, its a fun little adventure ^^

One of the fastest clicks on a video I've ever had. Your videos always make my day.

10:43 THANK YOU SO MUCH I've been wondering what the name of this movie is for YEARS, because when I was a wee boy I watched it while my mom was watching it one time, and I had no idea what it was called, but I immediately recognised clips you put here!

I just remembered all my spy toys and nerf funs. A great combo.

I REALLY wanted a Spy Gear (or SpyX?) watch that had a hidden camera and everything! Passed by that toy at stores so many times but never got it.

I think Julian Bashir in Our man bashir sums up the appeal of these movie spies. Real spy stuff is a combination of a lot of boring, a lot of hard choices and a lot of subtlety. He had to learn that after facing the “real” aspects of espionage. DS9 was such a good show

Thank you so much for this journey into the past! I love your videos and hope to see many more!!

SHOPPING AVENGER OMG BROUGHT BACKKKKK

I loved looking at all the spy toys in the aisle, because the gadgets were my favorite part of spy movies and media when i was young!

I loved the glasses that could see behind you

Although the game revolves around thieves, not spies, I feel like a lot of elements of the Sly Cooper games fit right into the spy niche! Being sneaky, breaking into buildings, using all kinds of gadgets, & going on missions were all the best elements of the game series! I was obsessed with Sly Cooper as a kid, it was one of the first video game series for the PS2 I ever got into! It didn’t occur to me until now how similar the game was to the idea of spies haha

Alright, that settles it. This channel is the peak of 2000s content and I GOTTA sub.

Kim Possible Shopping Adventure was my childhood LOL I spent hours on that game fr

When you join the CIA thinking you're going to be saving the world and busting bad guys, but all you actually do is plant crack in black neighborhoods and destabilize 3rd world countries.

The club penguin spy stuff was everything when I was a kid and I loved to supplement the hours spent online with my two club penguin spy ds games

i cant believe someone else has played the club penguin ds game too- so many memories. i didn't have much of a spy phase but my sister did. she gotten one of those spy investigation kits where you could dust for finger prints and wear "night vision goggles" which was just green-tinted plastic glasses. i guess the closest thing i had to a spy phase was my "ninja phase." because movies about ninjas and karate was also everywhere

Your upload schedule is tight; I went and binged all of your videos the other day, all of which were entertaining, and I was glad to see another one of yours in my recommended. Fascinating content-- keep it up.

translucent gadgets need to come back

Spies were part of the primetime television landscape at that time too. The early 2000s was the era of Alias, the spy series that launched Jennifer Garner into stardom and JJ Abrams into the next phase of his career. The show was part action packed spy thriller, part drama, part romance with a dash of sci-fi and some occasional comedy elements. Jennifer Garner’s Sydney Bristow was the epitome of everything that made spies cool at that time. Gadgets & disguises every episode, she was beating up guys twice her size, & going on missions all over the world while keeping her job secret from her best friends. The show is currently streaming on Disney+ and I think hulu too.

Man this just reminds me of the spy special episodes of Jimmy Neutron , which came out around the earlier to mid 2000s . It didn't have as many as the troupes but it sure was very 2000s for the episode to even exist , heck Jimmy in the episode kinda was an example about how any kid his age would've been hyped about being a spy and going on a dangerous mission .

we had a pair of sunglasses with plastic mirrors that took up 1/4 of each lense... except they were such blurry cheap mirrors you couldn't see anything in them 🤦lol good times

I remember receiving a little spy kit in elementary school; our class did a thing where we were allowed to pick something out of a prize box if we did well grade-wise or whatever. Anyway, I can't recall what all came with it, but I do remember it had a little fingerprint dusting kit and, my personal favorite item, a really nice booklet about secret codes and ciphers. It even included ways someone could create their own secret language. I loved that thing as a kid; it's honestly still pretty cool now.