''Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness'' (also referred to simply as ''Kung Fu Panda'') is an American computer-animated

television comedy Television comedy is a category of broadcasting that has been present since the early days of entertainment media. While there are several genres of comedy, some of the first ones aired were variety shows. One of the first United States television ...

series spun off from DreamWorks Animation's '' Kung Fu Panda films''. It serves as a bridge between the

first First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

and second films, showing Po's training to becoming a successful Dragon Warrior, whereas the second series is, according to the series' developer Peter Hastings, "not unlike a very long, super-deluxe 3-D version of one of our episodes". The series was originally set to air on

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...

in 2010, but it was pushed back to 2011 instead. The series premiered with a special preview on September 19, 2011, and began airing regularly on November 7. Three seasons were produced. Airing ceased in the United States partway through season 3. Before finishing up in the United States, all the episodes aired already in other countries, for example on

Nicktoons Nicktoons is a collective name used by Nickelodeon for their original animated series. All Nicktoons are produced partly at the Nickelodeon Animation Studio and list Nickelodeon's parent company (Viacom, now known as Paramount Global) in their ...

in Germany from 2014–2015 and then on YTV in Canada from 2015–2016. In 2016

in the United States began running ads announcing the airing of new episodes; it was subsequently revealed that five of the ten unaired episodes would play from February 15 through February 19. As a result, the final episode aired on June 29, 2016. Besides

Lucy Liu Lucy Alexis Liu is an American actress. Her accolades include winning a Critics' Choice Television Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and a Seoul International Drama Award, in addition to nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award. Liu has sta ...

and James Hong, who reprise their film roles as Viper and Mr Ping, the cast features new voice actors for the characters of Po (

Mick Wingert Micky R. Wingert (born July 4, 1974) is an American voice actor. He is known for his role as the voice of Master Po and Zeng in '' Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness'', taking over the roles from actors Jack Black and Dan Fogler, respective ...

), Master Shifu (

Fred Tatasciore Fred Tatasciore (; ) is an American voice actor who has provided voices in animated and live-action films, television shows, and video games. He is known for voicing the Hulk and Beast in various Marvel media and Solomon Grundy in various DC ...

), Tigress (

Kari Wahlgren Kari Wahlgren (born July 13, 1977) is an American actress who has provided English-language voices for animated movies, TV series, and video games. She got her start in anime voice-overs as Haruko Haruhara in '' FLCL'', and would later land ma ...

), Crane ( Amir Talai), Monkey (

James Sie James Sie is an American actor and author. He was the voice of an animated Jackie Chan and several other characters in '' Jackie Chan Adventures'', Master Monkey in '' Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness'', taking over for Chan, and Eddy Ra ...

), and Mantis (Max Koch).

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

commissioned a successor series, titled ''Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight'', in 2022. Peter Hastings, the developer of ''Legends of Awesomeness'', returned as an executive producer. Unlike the said show, however, Jack Black will reprise his role as Po from the films.

Synopsis

Po and the Furious Five defend the Valley of Peace from villains of different kinds. All the while, Po makes mistakes, learns lessons, learns more about the history of

kung fu Chinese martial arts, often called by the umbrella terms kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (), are multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater China. These fighting styles are often classified according to commo ...

, and meets other famous kung fu masters.

Episodes

Voice cast

as Po *

as Shifu *

as Tigress *

as Viper * Amir Talai as Crane *

as Monkey * Max Koch as Mantis * James Hong as Mr. Ping

Development

The series was DreamWorks Animation's second co-production with Nickelodeon. The two companies previously partnered on ''

The Penguins of Madagascar ''The Penguins of Madagascar'' is an American computer-animated television series co-produced by DreamWorks Animation and Nickelodeon. It stars nine characters from DreamWorks' animated film ''Madagascar'': the penguins Skipper ( Tom McGrath), ...

''. The show's musical score is done by the Track Team, most Chinese musical instruments including erhu, zhonghu, gaohu, bawu, hulusi, xiao, dizi, guqin, sanxian, suona, guanzi, xunetc. by well-known multi-instrumentalist Hong Wang. In addition, Sifu Kisu was the martial arts consultant for the show as he was on the ''

Avatar: The Last Airbender ''Avatar: The Last Airbender'' (abbreviated as ''ATLA''), also known as ''Avatar: The Legend of Aang'' in some regions or simply ''Avatar'', is an American anime-influenced animated television series created by Michael Dante DiMartino and ...

'' series.

Media

''Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness'' took part in

's revamp to their cartoon season on TV. As an early promotion, Po was featured in a Nickelodeon bumper alongside other characters. On July 23, an exclusive sneak peek of the show was shown at the 2011

San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Comic-Con International is a comic book convention and nonprofit multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California since 1970. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International: San Diego; but it is ...

, with producers and members of the voice cast present at the panel. A sneak peek episode was released for the

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

release for ''

Kung Fu Panda 2 ''Kung Fu Panda 2'' is a 2011 American computer-animated martial arts comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film is the sequel to ''Kung Fu Panda'' (2008) and the second installment in the ''K ...

'' on December 13, 2011. In addition, two

sneak preview A film screening is the displaying of a motion picture or film, generally referring to a special showing as part of a film's production and release cycle. To show the film to best advantage, special screenings may take place in plush, low seat-cou ...

episodes aired (one on September 19, 2011 and another on October 21, 2011) before the official premiere of the show. In June 2018, it was announced that the series will stream on Hulu.

Other dubbed versions

In 2021, Bangladeshi television channel Duronto started to broadcast a

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

dubbed version of this show as part of the channel's 15th season.

Critical reception

Mary McNamara of

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

called ''Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness'' "a show that won't drive every adult in earshot absolutely crazy. And these days, that's saying something." Kevin McFarland of

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

said that the show "rips out the elements that made the original film such a surprise, leaving behind a derivative, cliché-laden children's show that recycles moral platitudes adequately but is otherwise indistinguishable from countless other programs" and "isn't a show that's aiming to be cutting edge or original, just mildly entertaining, which it is....This isn't going to harm any kids, but it's not going to impress them either." Despite the mixed reviews, the show has received four Emmy Awards and nominated for four Annie Awards.

Awards and nominations

Home media

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness 2011 American television series debuts 2016 American television series endings 2010s American animated television series 2010s Nickelodeon original programming Animated television shows based on films American animated television spin-offs American children's animated action television series American children's animated adventure television series American children's animated comedy television series American children's animated fantasy television series American computer-animated television series Anime-influenced Western animated television series Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program winners English-language television shows Interquel television series Kung Fu Panda television series Martial arts television series Nicktoons Television series about pandas Television series set in Ancient China Television series by DreamWorks Animation