Nickelodeon will premiere the highly anticipated CG animated comedy series, Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, a co-production with DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. on Monday, Nov. 7, at 5:30 p.m. (ET/PT), kicking off a full week of brand-new episodes every weekday at 5:30 p.m. (ET/PT), following all-new episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants at 5:00 p.m. (ET/PT).
Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness follows the further adventures of Po—the energetic, enthusiastic, legendary Dragon Warrior panda—from DreamWorks Animation’s hit franchise. Kung Fu Panda was the third highest grossing movie of 2008 and grossed $631 million at the worldwide box office, and Kung Fu Panda 2, the number one animated movie and fourth highest-grossing film of this year, has brought in $664 million at the worldwide box office. Kung Fu Panda 2 debuts on Blu-ray and DVD on December 13, 2011. Lucy Liu (Kill Bill) and James Hong (Big Trouble in Little China) reprise their roles as Viper and Mr. Ping, respectively, for Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, which, beginning Friday, Dec. 2, will air regularly on Fridays at 8:00 p.m. (ET/PT).
“Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness picks up where the theatrical releases left off, and delivers the same signature action, comedy, lovable characters and high quality CG animation as the films,” said Brown Johnson, President, Animation, Nickelodeon. ”We’re excited to bring back Lucy Liu and James Hong to accompany an amazingly talented sound-alike ensemble cast.”
“The awesome combination of hilarious comedy, non-stop action and beautiful story-telling is the reason that both Kung Fu Panda movies were so enthusiastically received around the globe and is also why we are thrilled to take our beloved franchise in exciting new directions together with Nickelodeon on Legends of Awesomeness,” added Bill Damaschke, Chief Creative Officer, DreamWorks Animation.
Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness follows Po the Panda (Mick Wingert, Kung Fu Panda Holiday Special) as he grows into the role of the Dragon Warrior and is aided by his mentor Shifu and the Furious Five: Tigress, Mantis, Crane, Monkey and Viper. As the newest hero in the Valley of Peace, Po is now living at the Jade Palace with the rest of the Furious Five and takes on new responsibilities while facing brand-new adversaries in his continuing education as the Dragon Warrior.
In the premiere episode on Monday, Nov. 7, at 5:30 p.m., “Sticky Situation,” Po accidentally breaks the training equipment in the Jade Palace and invites a mechanical genius named Taotie to fix it. Unbeknownst to Po, Taotie is an old enemy of Shifu’s and this invitation was all he needed to seek his revenge. In the second episode premiering on Tuesday, Nov. 8 at 5:30 p.m., “Chain Reaction,” Po is driving Tigress nuts with his fanboy ways while they are on a mission together. Things get worse when they are attacked by Croc Bandits and wind up handcuffed together. The two have to learn how to work together to evade the bandits and save their skins.
In the next two brand-new episodes, “Fluttering Finger Mindslip” (premiering Nov. 9) leads Po to discover a rare secret move which causes temporary memory loss, but things get out of hand when he uses it on the Furious Five. Then, in “Hometown Hero” (premiering Nov. 10), Po visits Mantis’ hometown and discovers that Mantis hasn’t been entirely honest with the villagers.
In support of the series premiere, Nickelodeon’s multi-platform efforts include sneak peeks, image galleries and promotional content that will stream on Nick.com as well as Nick’s wireless partners. Additionally, Nick.com will launch a Kung Fu Panda: Tales of Po game where Po, who narrates his adventures as the Dragon Warrior, must master Kung Fu in order to take down the bad guys and save the day.
Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness is executive produced by Peter Hastings (Animaniacs, Pinky & the Brain) with Randy Dormans (The Penguins of Madagascar) and Gabe Swarr (Dexter’s Laboratory) serving as supervising producers. Additional voices on the series include Kari Wahlgren (Tak and the Power of Juju) as Tigress, Amir Talai (Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay) as Crane, Max Koch (Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Furious Five) as Mantis, Fred Tatasciore (Planet Sheen) as Shifu and James Sie (King of the Hill) as Monkey. The series is produced at the Nickelodeon Animation Studios in Burbank, Calif.