Sunday, April 13, 2014

Celebrity Toons: Jackie Chan Adventures (2000)

Martial arts icon Jackie Chan landed an unlikely role in 2000----cartoon star.

Jackie Chan Adventures, which spent 5 seasons on Kids' WB!, recast the actor as an Asian Indiana Jones-type. Chan didn't voice his animated alter-ego, instead appearing in a live-action skit or Q & A segment at the end of each episode. In the cartoons, he was given a niece, Jade, and both gleaned wisdom and advice from their Uncle (that's all he went by). Mysticism, among other things, was the central theme throughout the series. Toward the end, Jade was introduced to her time-travelling adult self (special guest star Lucy Liu), which meant the series had jumped the shark. Didn't help that Kids' WB! would pull the series for weeks at a time because they had too many series and not enough room for them all.

Here's the intro:



Sony owns the series, and currently, keeps it in its vaults. Their loss.

Rating: B.

2 comments:

magicdog said...

This was a fun show - Jade and Uncle were a riot!

The action was great and it was a good premise. Funny however that each season brought a new evil to the fore - and how the "Dark Hand" gang was always changed into something! There was even character development - sumo wrestler/hired muscle "Toru" changed sides and went to work for the good guys after the first season or two.

hobbyfan said...

I think Toru joined Team Chan toward the end of the first season, IIRC. It's just too bad WB couldn't keep the show on a consistent schedule.