Monday, September 2, 2013

On The Air: Xiaolin Chronicles (2013)

Here's one that Cartoon Network wishes they had.

Xiaolin Chronicles continues the story of the 2003-6 Kids' WB! series, Xiaolin Showdown, but it is not certain if the setting is a full seven years, as would be the case in real time, since the last series ended. Chronicles bowed a week ago on DisneyXD, with a 90-minute block of episodes, which encored last night. For now DXD has the show airing at night, not sure about a daytime berth as yet. What is certain is that Warner Bros. isn't producing the new series, as production appears to be entirely in Canada. Apparently, the internal infighting within the Time-Warner chain (i.e. Warner Bros. Animation vs. CN) may be what turned off series creator Christy Hui from putting this series on CN.

Due to some Canadian laws regarding actors needing to live in Canada to work there, only Tara Strong returns from the previous series, continuing as Omi.

Windogame2 uploaded the series premiere, "New Monk on the Block", featuring the debut of Omi's little brother, Ping Pong.



Other than the minor changes, not much has changed.

Rating: B.

2 comments:

magicdog said...

I had heard this show was in production but didn't catch the premiere. From the intro, the characters (especially Kimiko) look rather leggy.

I question why they chose to add Omi's brother - who is essentially the same character, only a bit faster and wackier - if that's possible. I figured if they wanted to add a new Xiaolin monk, it would have been the black kid they introduced in the original series. At the very least try to get a character that stands out as his/her own person, not a copy of an existing one.

hobbyfan said...

Unfortunately, it seems the African-American youth might've been forced on the creators by WB for cultural diversity. Remember, this came along shortly after Justice League & Static Shock at WB.

Wouldn't mind Kimiko being a little more leggy myself. Maybe they can make her and either Raimundo or Clay a couple?