| Jackie Chan Adventures | |
 | |
| General information | |
| Genre | Comedy Fantasy Action Adventure |
| Created by | John Rogers |
| Voices of | James Sie Stacie Chan Sab Shimono |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 5 |
| No. of episodes | 95 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | Jackie Chan Willie Chan |
| Running time | 23 minutes |
| Production companies | Adelaide Productions |
| Release | |
| Original network | Kids' WB |
| Original release | September 9, 2000 – July 8, 2005 |
"When I was young I always liked cartoons! I really hoped that someday I would be a cartoon character. Cartoons can do all kinds of things that I cannot do in my real life." |
Jackie Chan Adventures is an American animated television series developed by John Rogers, Duane Capizzi and Jeff Kline, and produced by Columbia TriStar Television and Adelaide Productions. The cartoon series premiered on Kids' WB and ran from September 9, 2000 to July 8, 2005, spanning a total of 95 episodes across five seasons. The series chronicles the adventures of a fictionalized version of Hong Kong action film star Jackie Chan, who operates in life as an archaeologist and special agent, combating threats that are mainly magical and supernatural (based on real-life mythologies and supernatural stories from Asia and around the world) with the aid of his family and allies.
Plot[]
The series features the fictional adventures of Jackie Chan, who is an archaeologist, martial arts expert and reluctant secret agent in the series. With help from his feisty niece Jade, his stubborn old Uncle (simply known as "Uncle") and his old friend Captain Black, he saves the world from evil forces that attempt to use magical artifacts to rule the world. Later seasons included other supporting characters that comprised the world-saving J-Team. He often works for the spy group Section 13 against the criminal organization the Dark Hand and various evil and supernatural forces. The first season involved the pursuit of twelve magical Talismans. Subsequent seasons featured Talisman powers, but more prominently involved Jackie Chan's pursuit of other magical items. While he travels around the world, Jackie Chan lives in San Fransisco, California, where both Section 13 and Uncle's Antique Shop are located.
Characters[]
The main protagonists are:
- Jackie Chan - an archaeologist, who works part-time for Section 13.
- Jade Chan - Jackie's niece from Hong Kong who is staying with him. Highly adventurous and impulsive, she constantly wants to get into the action.
- Uncle - Jackie's ancient uncle who is the one and only owner an antique shop and is also a very good Chi wizard.
- Tohru - An extremely obese Japanese man who claims to be "too small for Sumo." Originally an Enforcer, he becomes Uncle's apprentice in the 2nd season and remains with the Chans for the rest of the series.
- Captain Black - the leader of super duper top secret spy organization 'Section 13' and an old friend of Jackie.
The Seasons[]
See List of episodes
Season One - The Twelve Talismans[]
(16 episodes) Jackie is recruited by Section 13 to search for twelve magic Talismans scattered across the world, in order to stop a criminal organization known as the Dark Hand from using them to revive an ancient demon sorcerer, Shendu. When the tiger Talisman is split in half, so is Jackie, and his dark half hands over the Talismans, allowing the Dark Hand to reanimate Shendu. Shendu travels to China to summon his dragon army to destroy all of Asia. Jackie pulls the Talismans out of Shendu, causing him to transform back into a statue, and Jade destroys him. However, this leaves a vacuum to be filled by a new evil force bringing on an extremely spectacular, awesome, action-filled season two where a very large portion of fillers are also placed.
Season Two - The Demon Portals[]
(36 episodes) Shendu has possessed Valmont and is trying to bring his brothers and sisters - the Demon Sorcerers - into this world through a series of mystic portals, located with the magic Pan'ku box. Jackie must stop this to save the world. After initial failure, Shendu's spirit possesses Jackie as previously planned and travels to Australia, rewriting the Book of Ages so that the demons were never banished and now rule the world, with no one remembering their now-alternate lives. But Jade had managed to retain her memories and, with the help of the J-Team, changes the world back. In this series there are also a large number of "filler" episodes, where Jackie goes off on his own adventures, involving minor criminal organizations and other bandits, Spring-Heeled Jack, the Monkey King, as well as more grisly ones with beings such as the Kiang-Shi and the Chupacabra, and occasional run-ins with Dark Hand members. There are also three episodes set during the time period of Season One. At the end of the season, the Dark Chi Wizard Daolon Wong was introduced, who after having been foiled in his long-term plan to engulf the world in dark chi, pursued the Talisman powers, paving the way for the events of Season 3.
Season Three - The Animal Powers[]
(17 episodes) When Section 13 is infiltrated by the Dark Hand and the evil Chi wizard Daolon Wong, Jackie destroys the Talismans to keep them from being used for evil. This results in the twelve powers being spread all over the world, each taking up residence in one of twelve "noble" animals. Daolon Wong is searching for these magic powers, and it is up to Jackie to try to stop him before he gains them all. In the end almost all animals with these powers are kept in section 13 (Daolon Wong manages to acquire the Rooster and Pig powers however). The only remaining power - from the Dragon Talisman - is lost since there are no more dragons in existence. To acquire the power, Daolon Wong resurrects Shendu, who then goes on a rampage and reclaims all of the Talisman powers. Section 13 arrests Daolon Wong and the Enforcers while Uncle uses the same spell from before to turn Shendu back into stone and recreate the Talismans. Shendu is stored in Section 13's vault.
Season Four - The Masks of the Shadowkhan[]
(13 episodes) Tarakudo, the King of the Shadowkhan, is inadvertently awakened by Daolon Wong. Taking the Enforcers as his servants, he sets off to find the legendary nine Oni masks which, when worn, each release a new type of Shadowkhan. Jackie battles the King of the Shadowkhan to stop him from plunging the world into eternal shadow. Sometime during this season Shendu's son, Drago, travels back in time from the future in a plan to bring back his father but is defeated and detained in Section 13.
Season Five - The Demon Powers[]
(13 episodes) Drago escapes from Section 13 and sets off to find the seven magic objects that imprisoned the other Demon Sorcerers, which possess traces of their demon chi that would allow Drago to assimilate their powers. Jackie, Jade, Tohru and Uncle set off to stop him.
Opening Sequence[]
Every episode features an opening sequence which proceeds the teaser. The opening sequence changes seasonally to accompany the introduction of new characters.
The opening begins with Jackie Chan running into Uncle's shop where the camera then zooms onto Jackie who turns into the live-action version of himself. He then switches to cartoon mode again and is confronted by two Ninja Khan. The screen changes to a silhouette of Jackie defeating the ninjas with a rolling background that is relevant to the season and live-action Chan sneaking past the screen. It changes to live-action Chan jumping onto the screen and performing a marital arts move in front of a background with Ninja Khan scrolling downward. A fan then appears and the screen changes as the fan opens to Jade preforming a move with the fans in hand in front of an orange background with Chinese letters scrolling downward. The screen then slides over to Uncle preforming a move in front of a green background with Chinese letters.
The screen changes to a quick pan of the current seasons' main antagonists with the primary antagonist appearing at the end. It then shifts to Jackie being chased by Shadowkhan through various world landmarks. This includes one of the large suspension cables of the Golden Gate Bridge, the Eiffel Tower and one of the Egyptian Pyramids. It shows a shot of Jackie's face as he is fearfully evading his aggressors, which turns into live-action Chan. A season-relevant object then slides over and transitions the screen to Jade standing by Section 13 and fiddling with another season-relevant object. Jackie then runs over and picks Jackie up before inspecting the object which activates and shines at the screen. As the shine fades, Jackie, Uncle and Jade are then confronted by a large opponent who towers over them. Uncle and Jade run away as Jackie delivers a punch which knocks the opponent out cold but hurt his hand as shown when he briefly turns into live-action Chan who wallows in his pan. A cartoon Jackie then assumes his fighting pose with Jade and Uncle join standing next to him before the screen changes to the series logo.
- In Season 1 and some episodes of Season 2, the background when Jackie fights the ninjas is of the Talismans. The featured antagonists are the Dark Hand (Ratso, Finn, Tohru, Chow, Valmont) and then the statue of Shendu whose red eyes glare at the screen. The season-relative object that slides over the screen is the Talisman Locator and the object Jade is playing with his the Dragon Talisman. The imposing enemy at the end is Tohru.
- In most of Season 2 and Re-Enter the J-Team, the background when Jackie fights the ninjas is of the other 7 Demon Sorcerers with the Talismans. The featured antagonists are almost identical to the previous season's, except Valmont's eyes will glow red and the screen shifts to Shendu in spirit-form whose eyes glare at the screen. Tohru is also absent. The season-relative object that slides over the screen is the Pan'ku Box, which is also the one Jade is playing with. The imposing enemy at the end is Hak Foo.
- Starting from The Powers Unleashed and the rest of season three, the background when Jackie fights the ninjas is the same as season one. The featured antagonists are Finn, Ratso and Chow, who quickly transform into their Dark Chi Warrior forms before Daolon Wong flies from under the screen whose staff creates a light that envelopes the screen. The season-relative object that slides over the screen is now replaced by Tohru tip-toeing across with a charged blowfish, and Jade is playing with Dragon Talisman again. The imposing enemy at the end is Ratso with Finn and Chow floating next to him.
- For the whole of Season 4, the background when Jackie fights the ninjas is now of the 9 Oni Masks with the Hana Fuda cards. The featured antagonists are Finn, Ratso, Chow, Hak Foo and then Tarakudo who makes a small shockwave before growling at the screen. The transition with Jade fiddling with season-relative object is the same as last seasons. The imposing enemy at the end is a member of the Sumo Khan.
- The final season opening is noticeably different from the previous season's. The music starts earlier and thus doesn't sync up with what's shown on screen. Jade and Uncle are presented at the same time with their screens being split together. The background when Jackie fights the ninjas is the same as season two. The featured antagonist is Drago alone whose eye is zoomed into to transition the scene. The imposing enemy at the end is the Ice Gang in dragon-form. The parts with Jade at Section 13 and Jackie escaping from the Shadowkhan are omitted entirely.
Magic[]
The series frequently explores the use of magic and other supernatural themes such as spells.
- Main article: Magic
References to pop culture[]
The series often references various pop culture, including the real life film career of Jackie Chan.
- Main article: List of pop culture references in Jackie Chan Adventures