Jackie Chan Adventures

	Jackie Chan Adventures
Genre	Action; Adventure; Fantasy; Family; Comedy
Format	Animated series
Created by	John Rogers
Developed by	Jackie Chan Productions; Adelaide Productions; Columbia TriStar Television; United Plankton; Sony Pictures Television; Sony Pictures Television International
Starring	James Sie; Stacie Chan; Sab Shimono; Noah Nelson; Clancy Brown; Miguel Sandoval; Franco Velez; Lucy Liu; Jackie Chan
Country of origin	United States; Hong Kong; Japan
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	5
No. of episodes	95 (List of episodes)
Broadcast
Original channel	Kids' WB!; Cartoon Network; Jetix
Original run	September 9, 2000 – July 7, 2005
External links
	Official website

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Jackie Chan Adventures is an animated television series chronicling the adventures of a fictionalized version of action film star Jackie Chan. Many of the episodes contain references to Chan's actual works. This series ran on Kids' WB from September 9, 2000 to July 8, 2005 for a total of 95 episodes, or 5 seasons. During its run, it was also shown on Cartoon Network, and afterwards, its reruns landed on Disney XD . An Arabic translation has been airing on MBC 3 since early 2006. There have been several toys and video games based on the series. Its main character designer is Jeff Matsuda, the same designer of the animated series The Batman.

[edit] 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 niece Jade, his grumpy 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 12 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 lives in the Chinatown part of San Francisco, California, where both Section 13 and Uncle's Antique Shop are located.

[edit] Characters

See List of Jackie Chan Adventures characters

The main protagonists are:

Jackie Chan - an archaeologist, who works part-time for Section 13.
Jade - 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 grumpy old uncle who owns an antique shop and is also a master Chi wizard.
Tohru - A huge Japanese man who claims to be "too small for Sumo." Originally a Dark Hand criminal, 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 secret spy organization 'Section 13' and an old friend of Jackie.

[edit] Seasons

Main article: List of Jackie Chan Adventures episodes

[edit] Season One - The Twelve Talismans

(13 episodes) Jackie is recruited by Section 13 to search for twelve magic talismans scattered across the globe, 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.

[edit] Season Two - The Demon Portals

(39 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 managed to retain her memories by ripping a page out of the Book before Shendu made his alterations, 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 Jiangshi 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 Three. In the intro Hak Fu replaced Torhu and Shendu is shown as a spirit possessing Valmont.

[edit] Season 3 - The Talisman-Powered Animals

Daolon Wong attacks Section 13 in search of the Talismans, at the same time as the Dark Hand does as well. In an attempt to stop them, Jackie destroys the Talismans, only to have their power scattered around the world once again. Now Jackie must find the most noble animals of each zodiac symbol, before Wong can find them and steal their power. Wong manages to get the rooster's and boar's respective abilities of levitation and laser vision, while Jackie and the others successfully get the rest of the animals. When the time comes to find the dragon, Wong resurrects Shendu so he can steal his talisman power of pyrokinesis. Shendu double crosses him upon revival and steals the rest of the powers. In the end, Jackie's uncle uses a spell to imprison Shendu in a statue and separate his powers into talismans, the same spell used on him centuries ago.

[edit] Season Four - The Masks of the Shadowkhan

(13 episodes) Tarakudo, the King of the Shadowkhan, is 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 an attempt to bring back his father but is defeated and detained in Section 13.

[edit] Season 5 - The Demon Powers

In the final season, Drago escapes from Section 13, and it's another race around the world as Jackie must locate seven cursed objects of the immortals that imprisoned Shendu's siblings which are all imbued with their demonic power before Drago does. As an easter egg, the Dragon Talisman is hidden in the background at some point in every episode.

[edit] Magic and the Supernatural

The series nearly always involves magic and the supernatural, like spells, demons, chi, and stone talismans.

[edit] Talismans

The talismans represent the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac:

Rat: Power of Animation. "Motion to the Motionless" Gives inanimate objects life. When Shendu was under the spell of Lo Pei, this talisman was required to maintain his form if the Talismans were used to free him from statue form. Found on top of an ancient Chinese lantern.

Ox: Power of Super Strength. Found by Jackie on the mask of El Toro Fuerte. In the episode "The Amazing T-Troop", it increased Jade's muscle size, but the user is always much stronger than it seems.
Tiger: Power of Balance."split a person into yin and yang, good and evil,light and dark" When halved, it also splits the user's positive and negative halves (Yin and Yang) into two separate beings, each holding a half of the talisman. Can also be used to find the "other half" of a broken object. The two beings rejoin when they reunite the broken talisman. Was found within a pie.

Rabbit: Power of Super Speed. Was found stuck in the shell of a tortoise in the Pacific.

Dragon: Power of Combustion. Allows explosive energy to be discharged from the talisman. Valmont fused it on his hand. Found in a volcanic cave.

Snake: Power of Invisibility. Found on the ceiling of a secret chamber of a snake cave, near the Amazon River and later donated to a New York museum, where Jackie had to track it down and steal it.

Horse: Power of Healing/Renewal. "the noble horse of a knight," can "expel all alien forces within," curing the user of illness (foreign bodies), and can also heal physical injuries, repair broken objects and instantly relieve physical pain and disorientation. Found within a structure atop an unnamed mountain.

Sheep: Power of Astral Projection, or the ability to eject the soul from the body and wander as an invisible spirit and able to enter a person's dreams. It was first found in a crate in a freight train.

Monkey: Power of Shapeshifting, Change shape of oneself or others into different animals(possible of turning oneself into non-living object). Found by Jade at the bottom of the sea in the dirt floor next to a volcanic island.

Rooster: Power of Levitation The user of this talisman will have the power to levitate into the air, combining this talisman with the rabbit talisman will allow the person to achieve flight. It also grants the user telekinesis. Found within a golden shield inside a ruined castle.

Dog: Power of Immortality. "The Dog is best friend to Man, it restores youthful energy and grants Eternal Life"; it can negate the effects of aging (the user won't turn young again, but they will feel as though they have) and make them invulnerable, (this was humorously pointed out when Finn collided with a bridge while atop a moving train and responded with a painful groan,) but only for as long as the user is in contact/wearing the talisman. Found in a wall of a dutch windmill.

Pig: Power of Heat Vision. Just like Superman's Laser Vision. Found on a Bavarian clock tower mechanical pig with cymbals.

[edit] Chi Magic

In the universe of Jackie Chan Adventures, several characters can use a form of magic using chi energy. Chi magic involves the use of potions, magic objects, and incantations. Below are some of the Chi incantations that have been used throughout the series. Each wizard usually uses the same incantation but can accomplish many different effects, ranging from banishing demons to turning living creatures to stone.

Yao Me Guai Gui kuai li kai - The main good incantation of the series, this spell is used most often by Uncle. It is used for multiple purposes, including: banishing Shendu from Jade's body, returning the Demon Sorcerers to the Netherworld, turning Shendu to stone, and extracting the Demon Chi of the Demon Sorcerers. The incantation is actually Cantonese for "spirits, demons, ghosts and monsters quickly go away" (妖魔鬼怪快离开).
Lai Sui Sai - The incantation used by Bai Tza during her attempt to flood San Francisco. It is possibly 'Lai Shui Zai(來水災)' in Chinese. It means 'Occur, flood' or 'Come, flood' if there is a comma between the '來' and '水'. The spell circle that this spell needs has a '水' at the middle of it, in Chinese, meaning 'Water'.
Kuai Kuai Qi Lai - Incantation used by Shendu (in Jackie's body) to open the portal to the Book Of Ages. In Mandarin, 快快起來 literally means "Quickly Quickly Stand Up."
Nukeru, He Men Jaaku - The Japanese incantation used for the removal of Oni Masks. It is also used to imprison Tarakudo in his Oni Mask. Can be translated as "Come out, evil spell." (抜ける,経面邪悪) The 'Oni' word refers to ghost in Japanese, while some Japanese ghosts looks like ogre. That explains Tarakudo and his Oni Generals' appearance.
Ya Gaa Mee Mo, Ya Gaa Mee Chi-Wah... - Drago's incantation, used to absorb Demon Chi and cause destruction.
Mee-thana Chi. Chi-Mee-thana Chi - Chant Tohru uses to attempt to ambush Drago's absorption of the Demon Chi.
Zhu yiqie bu shun Li - Iso's incantation, used for evil chi spells. It is '祝一切不顺利' in Chinese, meaning 'Wish every thing unsuccessful.'
Xia Xu- incantation used by Jade for a shrinking spell.
Kwai Jeong- incantation used by Uncle to reverse Jade's shrink spell. (Literal Chinse meaning is quick grow or grow up quickly)
Gan Ran Chui: spell to summon the three dark chi warriors

A non-chi spell called Ex Metu Veres that the Magisters used when they stole Stonehenge was also invoked. Neither Chinese nor of any relevance to Chi magic. Latin: "Out of fear, truth." This spell appears to have the same versatility as other forms of magic. Daolon Wong's incantations - as of present - are indecipherable.

[edit] References to pop culture

In "Shell Game" in Season 1, Jade says "What's up, doc?", referring to the catchphrase of Bugs Bunny of the Looney Tunes cartoons.
During an episode in Season Three, the TV Jade is watching switches to a picture of a man in a yellow jumpsuit with black stripes down the sides. The man is Bruce Lee, and the movie she is watching is Game of Death.

The show often gives references to the Indiana Jones character. Jackie, like Jones, is an archeologist and a skilled fighter. When Jackie tries to rob the snake talisman from a museum, he replaces it with another object of similar size before motion sensors detect it missing. This is a reference to Raiders of the Lost Ark where Jones does the same with a golden artifact. Jackie also uses Jones' line, "it belongs in a museum" when his foes try to take an artifact from him.

"Enter ... the Viper" (Season 1), "Re-Enter the J Team" (Season 3) and "Re-Enter the Dragon" (also Season 3) are references to Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon (which featured an early appearance by Jackie Chan) also the fight sequences in Jade's dreams are a spoof on the sequences from the 1999 film The Matrix

The episode "The Good, the Bad, the Blind, the Deaf and the Mute" got its name from the movie The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, and the three monkey monoliths were patterned after the three wise monkeys, "See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil."

The episode "The Chan Who Knew Too Much" is a reference to the movie The Man Who Knew Too Much

The episode "Through the Rabbit Hole" is a reference to the book Alice in Wonderland

Season 2's "Showdown in the Old West" borrows nearly the entire premise of Blazing Saddles.

Season 3's "Shrink Wrap", Jackie and Hak Foo find themselves shrunken to the size of ants and eventually end up inside of Tohru's ear. When Uncle and the gang realize where the two are, and that it's too late to stop the spell, Jade asks if Tohru's brain is going to go 'Scanner' on them in reference to the head exploding scenes in the movie.

The episode "Scouts Honor" includes a reference to The Godfather trilogy when Jade is watching TV, a man on screen says, "Just when I get out they keep pulling me back in!" This line is later said by Jade when she is forced to return to the Buttercup Scouts.

The episode "Half a Mask of Kung-Fu" Jackie Chan's team and the Dark Hand were searching for the mask online at an auction. The usernames "Chantastic 4" and "Finn Halen" are plays on the comic book The Fantastic Four and the rock band Van Halen, respectively. Also, The name was named after Jackie's own movie, "Half a Loaf of Kung Fu".

The Maltese Falcon is seen as part of a criminal's art collection in the second season episode "Enter the Cat".

In the episode "Jolly J-Team Xmas" Jade gets a game titled "Super Moose 2: Antler Gear Solid - Yellow Version". This is a reference to both the Metal Gear Solid and Pokémon video game series and Super Mario.

The Season Three episode "Attack of the J-Clones" has Jackie and his clone reenact the famous mirror scene from the Marx Brother's movie Duck Soup. Also, The title is a reference to Star Wars Episode II: Attack of The Clones

In the Episode "Return of the Pussycat", Spring-heeled jack, a troll able to jump great distances is released from his stone prison by exposure to water, he is returned to his stone state when he was exposed to salt.

In episode "When Pigs Fly" of the third season, Jade makes a reference to the The Wizard of Oz when saying " uh Jackie, I don't think we are in Kansas anymore." when Eggbert uses levitation to make a house fly.

In the episode "The Stronger Evil", Finn said "that will do Pig" after shooting heat beams from his eyes which is a parody of the movie Babe when Farmer Hoggart praises Babe.

In the episode with Gnomekop, Chow says "Get back here, Chuckie" to the alive toy in a reference to the horror film including an alive puppet, Chuckie. Also "Gnomekop" is Pokemon backwards with a "G" added to the front.

In the episode "Tough Break", Jade said "Its alive! Its alive!" which is a parody of the movie Frankenstein's Monster when she tried explaining to her uncle that her Gnomekop action figure came to live.

The phone booth that is used to get into Section 13 may be a reference to the phone booth at the end of the entrance montage in the 1960s TV series Get Smart.

Stars of Kill Bill, Lucy Liu and the late David Carradine, appears in the series, David Carradine voices Lo Pei, while Lucy Liu voices the older Jade.

In the episode "And He Does His Own Stunts" after Ratso mentions he wants to see Clark Gable's house, Finn says "Frankly, Ratso, I don't give a darn" referencing Gable's own movie, "Gone With The Wind."

In the episode "Rumble in the Big House", Captain Black orders Jackie to change his face in order to secretly infiltrate a prison as an inmate, this is quite similar to the plot in the film Face/Off.

[edit] References to Jackie Chan's Film Career

There are many references to the real Jackie's live-action film career in the cartoon:

When Jackie first meets Jade in the first episode he assumes that she doesn't speak English when she refuses to talk to him, to find out later that she does. This is a reference to the film Rush Hour, when Jackie's character first arrives in America and Chris Tucker's character assumes he doesn't speak English.
Also in the first episode, Tohru blows up a building that Jackie is on top of. As it is collapsing, Jackie runs down the slanted side of the building just like he does at the end of Who Am I?
Animated Jackie's all beige/khaki exploring clothes are also similar in appearance to the real Jackie in his film Armour of God. A second season episode was titled "Armour of the Gods" reference to his film Armour of God.
In the first episode entitled The Dark Hand, Jackie fights Finn, Ratso and Chow in a playground. There is a similar playground fight scene in the Jackie Chan film Police Story 2.
In another first season episode Tough Break, Jackie is seen waterskiing with a cast on his leg. This is a reference to the waterskiing scene from the Jackie Chan film Rumble in the Bronx where Jackie performed the scene with a disguised cast under his costume. Jackie had broken his ankle shooting a prior stunt where he jumped onto a passing hovercraft.
The episode Project A, For Astral is homage to Jackie's film Project A.
The Season Two episode Showdown in the Old West has Jackie's ancestor during the Old West looking just like Shanghai Noon. Another episode from season 2 is titled "Shanghai Moon"(instead of 'Noon') where Jackie fights the Moon Demon.
The Season Two episode And He Does His Own Stunts is a reference to Jackie's stunt work in his movies.
In The Tiger and the Pussycat, Jackie splits into "good" and "evil" twins. Jackie Chan played dual roles in The Twin Dragons, one is a musical conductor and the other was the lost twin who is the only one with martial arts moves. Another possible reference can be seen during the fight between "light" and "dark" versions of Jackie in Tiger and the Pussycat where "Light" Jackie fights balancing onto makeshift stilts; using a ladder split vertically by "dark" Jackie. In the Jackie Chan film, Police Story 4: First Strike (known as Jackie Chan's First Strike in the US), Jackie has a fight scene whilst wearing stilts.
In a Season 3 episode, Jackie is bitten by a snake. The poison affects him, putting him in a drunken state, which he uses to his advantage. This is an allusion to Jackie's movie Drunken Master as well as 'Who Am I?' where a race driver is bitten by a snake. Another possible "Drunken Master" reference appears in season 5, in the episode "Clash of the Titanics." Jackie (wearing SCUBA gear) explores a sunken ship which holds the chi of the thunder demon, Tchang Zu. Jackie, pursued by Strikemaster Ice and his gang, is forced to surface too quickly and gets "the bends," a condition which makes him delusional, i.e., drunken.
During the episode when Jade went back in time to Jackie's childhood, adult Jackie and young Uncle perform the same double team technique that Jackie Chan used in Rush Hour with Chris Tucker. Jackie did this similar technique with Viper in the Season One Episode Enter...The Viper when they were fighting Shadowkhan atop a giant Parade Balloon.
Another scene pays homage to Jackie Chan's trademark act, where he fights against a number of enemies while talking on the phone.
The Episode "Half a Mask of Kung Fu" from season 4 is a reference to Jackie's directorial debut, Half a Loaf of Kung Fu.
The Season 2 episode name "Rumble in the Big House" is a reference to Jackie's movie, Rumble in the Bronx.
In the episode " The Power Within" Jackie fights the bad guys in a restaurant, that is similar to the restaurant fight in Police Story 2
The episode titled "Glove Story" is similar to Jackie's film Police Story.
In one episode, Jackie fights in an aquarium with a shark almost eating him, while a parent and child watch. This is a reference to Jackie Chan's First Strike.
In one episode, When Tohru has Jackie in a reverse bear hug, Uncle uses Jackie's arms to rapidly elbow him in the stomach, this move is a reference to a scene in "Armour of God II: Operation Condor".
The battle between Jackie, the Dark Hand and the Wind Demon in "Rumble in the Big House" is reminiscent to the final wind tunnel battle in "Armour of God II: Operation Condor"

[edit] References to Jackie Chan's Own History

In the episode "A night at the opera" Uncle states that he was part of the stage group "Seven Little Fortunes", when in real life Jackie was the one who was in the stage group at a very young age.

[edit] Syndication

As of February 2009, the show can be downloaded on iTunes, or streamed for free in the US on IMDB, Hulu, YouTube, and Minisodes and full length episodes are available on Crackle.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links