Ever since i was a kid, the fictional adventures of Jackie Chan has always put a smile on my face. But catching it on cable every once in a while wasn't enough for me, i wanted to personally own the show, i only succeeded in getting a few vhs with like 3 episodes and that was it. But after 20 years I finally own the entire series on DVD. As soon I got it, i binge watched the entire series, and im happy to say the show still holds up, but more than that i want to say this is the greatest action cartoon ever made. It has every cool thing you can think of in it, whether its space travel to the moon, Kaiju battles, giants robots, monsters like el chupacabra and even time travel. The show takes you to many different countries to explore many different cultures, it was one of the first shows that exposed me to the concept of archeology and Chinese mythology. The Comedy is absolute Gold in this show, and the action is wonderfully animated. The backgrounds are drawn to look like traditional Chinese paintings. the animation for the characters and action are fluid, especially with some fight scenes that are purposefully done to look like action scenes from Jackie chan live action films.
The Characters: The show has a large assortment of unique and quirky characters, but the main assemble are terrific. Jackie Chan is a very humble man that just wants to do his job as an archeologist but is forced into a world of adventure and insanity, and has to save the world more than he would like too, but he is an admirable hero who gets the job done. Despite not being played by the real Jackie Chan, his voice actor brings the same likeability as the real one. Jackie's niece Jade, can be seen as just the tagalong kid, especially since she never stays put and always finds a way to stick to jackies side. Despite this, jade is not annoying, and is a very good character that helps jackie alot but also puts him in a lot of hard spots ( theres even an episode that showcases this), but she always does the right thing, and wants to be a hero like her uncle ( she succeeds). She is still one of the best kid characters in a cartoon ive seen, that inspired me to be more outgoing and independent. Jackie's Uncle named Uncle appears to be a cranky garlic loving old man that owns an antique shop, but he is really a wisecracking, forehead hitting, Chi wizard that is the sole reason jackie chan is able to defeat half of his supernatural enemies, also uncle ends up being the center of the shows comedy and best one liners, such as " One More Thing" and " Magic Must defeat Magic". Throughout the first season we are introduced to unique characters that end up becoming apart of Jackie's team, and come to his aid when he needs them, such as El Toro the masked wrester, Viper the sexy jewel thief, and Toru a Somu who becomes uncles apprentice. Together they fight the forces of evil such as Shendu, a demon/dragon sorcerer who can summon armies of shadow ninjas called shadow khan.
Even though each season did have a overall story arc, there were many filler episodes as well, some being hit or miss, but many being just as entertaining as the overall story of that season. I will be analyzing each season and giving it a grade.
Season1 : In this season we are introduced into the world of Jackie Chan, where he is a professional archeologist who is also one of the greatest martial artists in the world, he lives with his Uncle in San Francisco, and their lives are changed when their niece, Jade, comes to live with them. Jackie is soon recruited into a secret government group, Section 13, in order to stop a criminal organization known as the dark hand from stealing 12 ancient talismans. We discover that these talismans are representative of the Chinese zodiac and that each has its own unique power, and that the dark hand is trying to get them to release Shendu from his stone imprisonment. Each episode has the concept that Jackie must battle the forces of the dark hand in order to get all 12 talismans first, despite this simple premise each episode avoids being repetitive by having Jackie journey all around the world and encountering all sorts of people and obstacles. Despite his best efforts to retrieve all 12 talismans, they eventually are used to free Shendu, this culminates in a epic finale where Jackie must battle shendu to save Asia. Despite having a rocky start, this season is still the most energetic and compelling season of the show. 9/10
Season 2: With the defeat of shendu, a void for a new stronger evil was waiting to be filled. This comes in the form of shendus siblings, 7 demon sorcerers that are prisoners in the netherworld, and desire to be freed, to wreak havoc on the human world, this can only happen with the use of the Panku box, a device that can open the portals to each demons gate. Despite each demon being set free, the J team are successfully able to defeat them and reseal them back in their gates. When the final gate is sealed, the demons out of pure desperation, decide to locate the book of time and rewrite history. This remakes the world so that the demons were never sealed and that they are the rulers of the world, with all the members of the J team their slaves, except for jade, who is the only one that remembers and assembles the J team to stop the demons one last time. This is a worthy progression to the story established in season 1, and feels fresh, especially since Jackie has to battle demons and other monsters instead of ninjas and gangsters like in the first season. 8/10
Season 3: Despite this season starting with and mostly culminating of standalone or filler episodes, the season introduces the overall plot of a dark chi wizard called Daolon Wong wanting to obtain the 12 talismans and fill the world with dark chi. In his efforts to steal the talismans from section 13, the talismans are destroyed, but their powers are scattered across the world, choosing the most honorable animals of their Chinese zodiac sign to possess, granting the animals the specific power of that talisman. This season can feel repetitive, but luckily each episode is still made entertaining, and like i said theres a lot of unique filler episodes that keep the season feeling fresh. The finale has Daolon wong desiring the power of the dragon talisman, but since there are no more dragons in existence, he is forced to resurrect shendu, which proves to be a big mistake, since shendu hijacks the powers of all the animals, and is again the big villain of this finale, ending with him being imprisoned as a statue by uncle, thus recreating the talismans. While its still a fun season, it is most certainly the weakest in story. 7/10
Season 4: In order to escape prison, Daolon wong, attempts to summon the shadowkhan ninjas, but instead summons their king, Tarakudo, the king of the Oni. He becomes the knew villain of the season and desires to awaken his 10 Oni generals that were imprisoned in masks. If someone puts on these masks they will become an evil oni and be able to summon unique clans of shadowkhan. And if all the oni generals are awakened they will cover the entire earth in darkness ( You Know, the usual). The finale has a good plot twist and is actioned packed, and unlike before is a world threatening situation. Despite having the same formula as the previous seasons, this season feels very fresh, with each episode having differing types of shadowkhan to fight and different people voluntarily or involuntarily putting on the curse masks. 8/10
Season 5: In this season, an older secret agent jade from the future chases a criminal to the past, (or should i say the present), where he intends to kill jade when she was a little girl. This criminal is called Drago the son of Shendu. He is arrested and left in the past, but he escapes and decides to take over the world in this time, and the only way to do that is to obtain the demon chi of all of shendu's siblings which are contained in the weapons that were used to seal them away. Despite being a pitiful villain, Drago eventually succeeds by the finale, and absorbs all the demon chi, becoming a Cthulhu monster, intent on unleashing an army of demons upon the world, the j team attempt to stop him, but are no match for him in this form, so they resort to freeing shendu, and having him battle his son. This was the only season i never saw as a kid, so being the last season I was expecting to have a unique story , but sadly it still follows the formula as the previous seasons, and since i watched all these seasons in a row, i did feel this season dragged a lot, but it more than made up for it with the world ending finale. This season was still fun, on account of it having time travel, Kaiju battles and non stop action ( But you already knew that), and a nice wrap up to the show, although i would have liked to have seen the future jade again, for the finale, id say it was more than satisfactory. 7/10
Despite starting out as just another run of the mill cartoon based on a celebrity, this show out growed that origin and became something more, by being a show that could entertain and educate children. And I believe that's why it is better than all other cartoon shows based on celebrities. Also having the real Jackie Chan answer kids questions at the end of each episode really gave the show some specialness. The comedy in this show is absolute gold, whether it was funny one-liners or visual gags, i found myself laughing a lot. The action is visualizing pleasing whether its martial arts or blowfish laser blasts, i was thoroughly entertained. Despite the show being repetitive each season, the creators did find a way to try and make the seasons fresh and entertaining and ill gladly say they succeeded. This show is truly something special, and I do honestly feel it is the best action cartoon ever made, i look forward to one day watching this show with my own children. And one more thing, Magic Must defeat Magic!
The Characters: The show has a large assortment of unique and quirky characters, but the main assemble are terrific. Jackie Chan is a very humble man that just wants to do his job as an archeologist but is forced into a world of adventure and insanity, and has to save the world more than he would like too, but he is an admirable hero who gets the job done. Despite not being played by the real Jackie Chan, his voice actor brings the same likeability as the real one. Jackie's niece Jade, can be seen as just the tagalong kid, especially since she never stays put and always finds a way to stick to jackies side. Despite this, jade is not annoying, and is a very good character that helps jackie alot but also puts him in a lot of hard spots ( theres even an episode that showcases this), but she always does the right thing, and wants to be a hero like her uncle ( she succeeds). She is still one of the best kid characters in a cartoon ive seen, that inspired me to be more outgoing and independent. Jackie's Uncle named Uncle appears to be a cranky garlic loving old man that owns an antique shop, but he is really a wisecracking, forehead hitting, Chi wizard that is the sole reason jackie chan is able to defeat half of his supernatural enemies, also uncle ends up being the center of the shows comedy and best one liners, such as " One More Thing" and " Magic Must defeat Magic". Throughout the first season we are introduced to unique characters that end up becoming apart of Jackie's team, and come to his aid when he needs them, such as El Toro the masked wrester, Viper the sexy jewel thief, and Toru a Somu who becomes uncles apprentice. Together they fight the forces of evil such as Shendu, a demon/dragon sorcerer who can summon armies of shadow ninjas called shadow khan.
Even though each season did have a overall story arc, there were many filler episodes as well, some being hit or miss, but many being just as entertaining as the overall story of that season. I will be analyzing each season and giving it a grade.
Season1 : In this season we are introduced into the world of Jackie Chan, where he is a professional archeologist who is also one of the greatest martial artists in the world, he lives with his Uncle in San Francisco, and their lives are changed when their niece, Jade, comes to live with them. Jackie is soon recruited into a secret government group, Section 13, in order to stop a criminal organization known as the dark hand from stealing 12 ancient talismans. We discover that these talismans are representative of the Chinese zodiac and that each has its own unique power, and that the dark hand is trying to get them to release Shendu from his stone imprisonment. Each episode has the concept that Jackie must battle the forces of the dark hand in order to get all 12 talismans first, despite this simple premise each episode avoids being repetitive by having Jackie journey all around the world and encountering all sorts of people and obstacles. Despite his best efforts to retrieve all 12 talismans, they eventually are used to free Shendu, this culminates in a epic finale where Jackie must battle shendu to save Asia. Despite having a rocky start, this season is still the most energetic and compelling season of the show. 9/10
Season 2: With the defeat of shendu, a void for a new stronger evil was waiting to be filled. This comes in the form of shendus siblings, 7 demon sorcerers that are prisoners in the netherworld, and desire to be freed, to wreak havoc on the human world, this can only happen with the use of the Panku box, a device that can open the portals to each demons gate. Despite each demon being set free, the J team are successfully able to defeat them and reseal them back in their gates. When the final gate is sealed, the demons out of pure desperation, decide to locate the book of time and rewrite history. This remakes the world so that the demons were never sealed and that they are the rulers of the world, with all the members of the J team their slaves, except for jade, who is the only one that remembers and assembles the J team to stop the demons one last time. This is a worthy progression to the story established in season 1, and feels fresh, especially since Jackie has to battle demons and other monsters instead of ninjas and gangsters like in the first season. 8/10
Season 3: Despite this season starting with and mostly culminating of standalone or filler episodes, the season introduces the overall plot of a dark chi wizard called Daolon Wong wanting to obtain the 12 talismans and fill the world with dark chi. In his efforts to steal the talismans from section 13, the talismans are destroyed, but their powers are scattered across the world, choosing the most honorable animals of their Chinese zodiac sign to possess, granting the animals the specific power of that talisman. This season can feel repetitive, but luckily each episode is still made entertaining, and like i said theres a lot of unique filler episodes that keep the season feeling fresh. The finale has Daolon wong desiring the power of the dragon talisman, but since there are no more dragons in existence, he is forced to resurrect shendu, which proves to be a big mistake, since shendu hijacks the powers of all the animals, and is again the big villain of this finale, ending with him being imprisoned as a statue by uncle, thus recreating the talismans. While its still a fun season, it is most certainly the weakest in story. 7/10
Season 4: In order to escape prison, Daolon wong, attempts to summon the shadowkhan ninjas, but instead summons their king, Tarakudo, the king of the Oni. He becomes the knew villain of the season and desires to awaken his 10 Oni generals that were imprisoned in masks. If someone puts on these masks they will become an evil oni and be able to summon unique clans of shadowkhan. And if all the oni generals are awakened they will cover the entire earth in darkness ( You Know, the usual). The finale has a good plot twist and is actioned packed, and unlike before is a world threatening situation. Despite having the same formula as the previous seasons, this season feels very fresh, with each episode having differing types of shadowkhan to fight and different people voluntarily or involuntarily putting on the curse masks. 8/10
Season 5: In this season, an older secret agent jade from the future chases a criminal to the past, (or should i say the present), where he intends to kill jade when she was a little girl. This criminal is called Drago the son of Shendu. He is arrested and left in the past, but he escapes and decides to take over the world in this time, and the only way to do that is to obtain the demon chi of all of shendu's siblings which are contained in the weapons that were used to seal them away. Despite being a pitiful villain, Drago eventually succeeds by the finale, and absorbs all the demon chi, becoming a Cthulhu monster, intent on unleashing an army of demons upon the world, the j team attempt to stop him, but are no match for him in this form, so they resort to freeing shendu, and having him battle his son. This was the only season i never saw as a kid, so being the last season I was expecting to have a unique story , but sadly it still follows the formula as the previous seasons, and since i watched all these seasons in a row, i did feel this season dragged a lot, but it more than made up for it with the world ending finale. This season was still fun, on account of it having time travel, Kaiju battles and non stop action ( But you already knew that), and a nice wrap up to the show, although i would have liked to have seen the future jade again, for the finale, id say it was more than satisfactory. 7/10
Despite starting out as just another run of the mill cartoon based on a celebrity, this show out growed that origin and became something more, by being a show that could entertain and educate children. And I believe that's why it is better than all other cartoon shows based on celebrities. Also having the real Jackie Chan answer kids questions at the end of each episode really gave the show some specialness. The comedy in this show is absolute gold, whether it was funny one-liners or visual gags, i found myself laughing a lot. The action is visualizing pleasing whether its martial arts or blowfish laser blasts, i was thoroughly entertained. Despite the show being repetitive each season, the creators did find a way to try and make the seasons fresh and entertaining and ill gladly say they succeeded. This show is truly something special, and I do honestly feel it is the best action cartoon ever made, i look forward to one day watching this show with my own children. And one more thing, Magic Must defeat Magic!