Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness is an American animated comedy television series co-produced by DreamWorks Animation Television and Nickelodeon Animation Studio, based on DreamWorks Animation's Kung Fu Panda franchise. It serves as a bridge between the first and second films, following Po's training to become a successful Dragon Warrior, whereas the second film 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 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. Broadcast in the United States ceased partway through the third and final season, though all remaining had aired in countries such as Germany (through Nicktoons) and Canada (through YTV). In 2016, Nicktoons in the United States began running commercials announcing the premiere of new episodes; it was subsequently revealed that five of the ten unaired episodes would air from February 15 to 19. The final episode aired on June 29, 2016.
Besides Lucy Liu and James Hong, who reprise their roles as Viper and Mr. Ping from the film the cast features new voice actors for the characters of Po (Mick Wingert), Master Shifu (Fred Tatasciore), Tigress (Kari Wahlgren), Crane (Amir Talai), Monkey (James Sie), and Mantis (Max Koch).
Netflix commissioned another series, Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight, which premiered in 2022. Peter Hastings, the developer of Legends of Awesomeness, returned as an executive producer. Unlike Legends of Awesomeness however, Jack Black reprised his role as Po from the films.
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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, and meets other famous kung fu masters.
Voice cast
Mick Wingert as Po
Fred Tatasciore as Shifu
Kari Wahlgren as Tigress
Lucy Liu as Viper
Amir Talai as Crane
James Sie as Monkey
Max Koch as Mantis
James Hong as Mr. Ping
Peter Hastings as Apple Cart Duck
Development
The series was DreamWorks Animation's second co-production with Nickelodeon. The two companies previously partnered on The Penguins of Madagascar.
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, xun etc. 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 series.
Broadcast
Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness took part in Nickelodeon'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, with producers and members of the voice cast present at the panel. A sneak peek episode was released for the DVD / Blu-ray release for Kung Fu Panda 2 on December 13, 2011. In addition, two sneak preview 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 dubbed version of this show as part of the channel's 15th season.
Critical reception
Mary McNamara of Los Angeles Times 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 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.