Kung Fu Panda (TV Series)

Kung Fu Panda Legends of Awesomeness is an American computer-animated television series spun off from the Kung Fu Panda films. It takes place after the first film, showing Po's training to becoming a successful Dragon Warrior, where the second film is, according to the series' executive producer 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. Two special previews were aired on September 19 and October 21, 2011 and it officially premiered on November 7, 2011. Three seasons have aired since then. Besides Lucy Liu 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), Master Shifu (Fred Tatasciore), Tigress (Kari Wahlgren), Crane (Amir Talai), Monkey (James Sie), and Mantis (Max Koch).

Plot
Po practiced his kung fu skills in the Training Hall with orders given by Shifu to make it across the obstacle course in ten seconds unscathed. Po was jumped in a sneak attack by Monkey, who was about to beat Po in their score-keeping, when Tigress suddenly interrupted them with a loud sneeze, to which she promptly fell into the obstacle course and caused the three of them to fly out onto the other side. Po and Monkey then joked around with the "sneezy trick", making light of Tigress's cold-like symptoms. She openly denied having a cold, and it was discerned by Shifu that she actually had River Fever. Po then convinced the Masters not to worry, stating that he once had River Fever as a kid and it went away the very next day. However, Tigress never had river fever as a cub. Unfortunately to Po's shock, Crane revealed that getting River Fever as an adult was fatal and that the only cure was tea made from the sacred sun orchid, located in the Valley of the Scorpion. In addition, the flower must be consumed before sundown or else Tigress would die. Monkey and Po set off to retrieve it while Tigress was reluctantly placed in a sick ward with sick children and Mr. Ping as entertainment, much to Tigress' dismay.

Upon entering the valley, Scorpion trapped Monkey unexpectedly and stung him with her elixir-enhanced, mind-controlling stinger, ordering him to set out to destroy Po. Po managed to escape Monkey's attempts to destroy him, not realizing that he was being manipulated, and took it as a friendly session of sneak attack training. However, Po soon realized the truth and eventually became cornered by Monkey, and hung on to a cliff, about to fall to his death. But thanks to the "poison of friendship", Monkey overcame the mind control and they both set out to fight Scorpion. They eventually defeated her (thanks to Po's unexpected sneak attack he had learned from Shifu), retrieved the sun orchid, and then quickly rushed back to the Valley of Peace, arriving at the Training Hall just before sundown. With no time to make the tea from the sun orchid Tigress consumed the orchid and nothing was happening. Everyone looked down sadly, believing she was dead. But she then jumped up and was immediately cured, and Po and Monkey continued to joke and try to outdo each other, with Monkey declaring a point as he tricked Po into putting peppers in his eyes.

While walking through the village street, Master Shifu explained to Po, Tigress and Mantis the importance of making sure that Princess Mei Li gets to the Qidan Clan safely. Po became excited after hearing the princess was only a kid, commenting that the mission will be easy. However, when Princess Mei Li finally arrived, she was shown as stubborn and spoiled. When Po attempted to introduce himself to her, she prodded him with her staff and caused it to break. She immediately blamed Po, but when he claimed that she had broken it, she demanded that he be executed by beheading. The execution was called off after Shifu respectfully explained that he was the Dragon Warrior. Po placed a bet with Tigress and Mantis that he could get the princess to like him by the time they arrive at Qidan, wagering against a foot massage. Both masters happily agreed. Po immediately began his first attempt by making a puppet for the princess. But she instead used it as a temporary replacement for her staff, hitting Po and the others over the head with it. The gang soon left the Valley to head for Qidan, but not before secretly being spotted by a gang of crocodile bandits.

Mei Li complained throughout the entire journey. She eventually began throwing fire poppers at Tigress, Po and Mantis, much to her amusement and to their discomfort. Whilst taking a break to eat and rest, Po tried performing juggling tricks on stilts, to which the princess simply knocked him off. Po later dressed up as a clown in another attempt, but before he could perform, Tigress sensed something and commanded the group to stop. The princess was annoyed at Tigress for this, but her servants then noticed the crocodile bandits surrounding them.

Po, Tigress and Mantis worked together to fight off the bandits. Princess Mei Li, on the other hand, was oddly unaware of the danger they were in and constantly interfered with the Kung Fu trio's fighting by demanding rice balls stuffed with lots of bean paste. Though Po, Tigress and Mantis succeeded in protecting the princess and her servants, the bandits had escaped with the group's valuables, including the food. Selfishly, Mei Li used the last of the water to clean her dusty crown and started blaming Tigress and Mantis for the loss of her valuables. Though the two accepted this, Po, finally having enough of this, defend his friends and calls the princess mean, bossy, and selfish. He stated that no one liked her and that the bandits wouldn't have taken the valuables if she hadn't interfered during the fight in the first place. At that point, the princess's anger faded and soon ran off crying, and Po feels very guilty for saying such harsh words, though Mantis comforts him that he was being honest in general. Tigress then declares for the whole group to camp out for the night.

That night, Mei Li sat away from the group. Po, feeling guilty for his earlier actions, sat next to her and told her about a story of a panda who just wanted to make the princess happy. Afterwards, the princess went over to Po and handed him the fixed puppet she had broken earlier, apologizing for her previous behavior. She stated that she never had any real friends before. Po then offered to be her friend, to which she accepted and the two happily sat down to play a game of mahjong.

The next morning, the two were seen laughing together as Po carried Mei Li around, holding his ears and steering him as he ran aimlessly around. The travelers soon arrived at the Qidan clan's territory. As Mei Li went ahead to approach the Qidan king, one of her servants relayed to Po, Tigress, and Mantis that she is to become a sacrificial slave to the Qidan king in exchange for peace, as the king receives many princesses during the ages and none of them have lasted for long as they've endured too much painful labor working for him. Realizing that Mei Li will suffer the same fate, Po and the others quickly followed her inside.

The clan's king immediately demanded to see the princess. In a desperate attempt to spare Mei Li of what will come to her, Po pushed Tigress forward and stated that she was the princess. Though Tigress hesitantly went along with it, the king then demanded that she sing the "Ceremonial Princess Dancing Song". After Tigress gave a poor performance, the king became angry and once again demanded to be handed the princess. Po, Tigress and Mantis refuse and soon fought the warriors, but Mei Li gave herself up. In a bid to save her, Po then offered the king a deal: If he won a fight against any of the king's warriors, the princess would be free to go; but if he lost, the king would claim him, Tigress, Mantis, and the princess. The king initially refuses, but after learning that Po is the Dragon Warrior, he accepted and placed himself up for battle, proclaiming himself as the legendary warrior Temutai.

Po's kicks and punches had no effect on the buffalo and he was tossed around constantly. During a brief interval, Mantis stated that he couldn't beat him Panda Style, and after some encouragement from Mei Li, he claimed Princess Style. Getting on top of Temutai's head, Po grabbed the warrior king's ears and guided him into rocks and walls before running him into the clan's old stone podium where they would keep the princess servant chained. Temutai admitted defeat and kept to Po's deal: He let the princess go, vowed to keep his promise of peace, and as a bonus also catered to the group with fried rice balls.

The princess, Po, Tigress and Mantis left the Qidan clan's village and began their journey home. Along the way, they stumbled upon the Croc Bandits, who were arguing about the material they stole. However the three warriors are flying in to attack them.

In the barracks' kitchen, Po and the Furious Five were eating, while Mantis was sulking about his girlfriend dumping him. To cheer him up, Po made some of his famous sticky dumplings, consisting of bean paste dumplings, honey, (extra) sticky plum sauce, and Po's secret ingredient (which, as Crane noted, was actually "what they patch walls with"). Even though Mantis accepted the offer, he ended up getting stuck on the dumpling itself. Shifu soon walked in and declared that it was time to train. The Five immediately followed behind while Po went back for his dumplings first.

After a training session in the Training Hall, Shifu dismissed the Five and assigned Po to clean the entire Hall by sundown as punishment for eating in the Hall. But before cleaning, Po decided to do some actual training first. However, the stickiness from his dumplings was all over his hands, thus getting him stuck on one of the swinging clubs. Po's struggle to free himself only resulted in the clubs' chains breaking and falling from the ceiling. While dodging the clubs, Po dived into the Jade Tortoise of Wisdom, sending his bowl of dumpling flying into the air and landing in the gears of the Training Hall's machinery. The dumplings caused the gears to jam and the Hall fell apart, much to Po's horror. He desperately (to no avail) tried to fix it before Shifu found out, but then he noticed a sign on the wall that indicated the marks of Shifu and Taotie. Realizing Taotie helped make the Training Hall, Po set out to find him.

Upon finding Taotie's house, Po fell prey to several booby traps, one of which was a dart that knocked him out into sleep. When he woke, he saw a teenage warthog (Bian Zao) in front of him. Po asked for Taotie, and the warthog called for his dad. Taotie appeared and started hitting Po with a staff. Po explained that he was the Dragon Warrior and that he needed Taotie's help. Thinking someone may find out about this, he made up a lie by saying Shifu had asked for Taotie to fix the Training Hall. Taotie was furious that the Training Hall was broken, but agreed to come and help, promising that Shifu would not be told.

After knocking Po out with another dart from his traps, Taotie then revealed to Bian Zao that he and Shifu were only former friends. They had trained together many years ago at the Jade Palace, but Taotie was never as good as Shifu. To improve their fighting skills, he and Shifu built the Training Hall together, but it only helped Shifu improve greatly and still left Taotie as a clumsy student. Taotie tried to make up for his weak spots by using his mechanical skills to create a giant wooden warrior, but when he showed it to Oogway and Shifu, they were horrified and told him his machine "sullied the purity of kung fu". Taotie was dismissed from the palace and had been hungry for revenge ever since.

Po snuck Taotie and Bian Zao into the palace by carrying them in a crate. When he saw the Training Hall ruined, Taotie was clearly heartbroken and angry. He calmed down long enough to trick Po into bringing him the Jade Orb of Infinite Power, which he planned to use to get his revenge. Po retrieved the orb and quickly returned to Taotie, who then instructed Po to keep everyone out of the Training Hall. With some difficulty, Po succeeded in doing so. However, Shifu and the Five grew suspicious of Po's behavior and confronted him about it. While Po desperately tried to cover it up, the wall of the Training Hall suddenly burst and they were all thrown back. Taotie and Bian Zao emerged in a giant wooden warrior made up of the Training Hall's equipment, powered by the Jade Orb.

Shifu recognized Taotie and was shocked, demanding to know how he got into the palace. Taotie gloated in telling them that Po had led them in, to which Po quickly tried to explain the situation with the dumplings and how he thought Shifu and Taotie were friends. However, Shifu corrected him by saying Taotie's heart had turned dark and they ceased to be friends. Furious with Po, Shifu dismissed the panda in helping them stop Taotie. Po ran off, ashamed. Shifu then ordered the Five to attack. The quintet quickly disabled some of the weapons on Taotie's machine. However, Taotie gained the upper hand when he finally captured the Five in traps and tossed them aside, leaving only Shifu to fight Taotie. Shifu was able to fend off most of Taotie's attacks, but in one moment was caught off-guard and Taotie captured him. He taunted Shifu, saying machinery was more powerful than kung fu, but Shifu refused to give up and declared that "machinery will never be more powerful because it has no heart." Taotie gave one last taunt before pulling a lever to finish Shifu off.

It just then that Po showed up with a wok on his head and a bowl of sticky dumplings in his hands much to Shifu and Taotie's surprise. Taotie attacked, but Po's technique proved to be successful as he used his sticky dumplings to glue the machine parts together and rescue Shifu. When he ran out of dumplings, Po managed to hold of Taotie's attacks long enough for the machine to malfunction and break down. Instead of fighting, Taotie used his spinning contraption as an umbrella to escape with Bian Zao. However, the blades suddenly stopped working and the two fell to the ground hard before fleeing.

Po apologized for his mistake, but Shifu only congratulated Po on saving him and the Five. Shifu went on to say he had one more job for the Dragon Warrior, and then promptly held up a broom for Po. Po groaned, but went on to clean. That night, Po and Mantis shared a bowl of sticky dumplings. Mantis seemed to be much happier, and Po comforted Mantis about his girlfriend dumping him. However, Mantis reveals that they got back together again.

Episodes

 * 80 (but only 70 have aired)

Theme Songs

 * Opening
 * Kung Fu Panda

Voice Cast

 * English


 * Mick Wingert as Po, Zeng & Bad Po
 * Fred Tatasciore as Shifu
 * Kari Wahlgren as Tigress & Ms. Yoon
 * James Sie as Monkey &
 * Lucy Liu as Viper
 * Amir Talai as Crane
 * Max Koch as Mantis
 * James Hong as Mr. Ping
 * Danny Cooksey as Peng
 * Paul Rugg as Master Yao
 * Lauren Tom as Song
 * Randall Duk Kim as Oogway
 * John DiMaggio as Fung
 * Kevin Michael Richardson as Temutai
 * Wallace Shawn as Taotie
 * Simon Helberg as Bian Zao
 * Lynn Milgrim as Scorpion
 * Stephan Root as Junjie
 * Jeff Bennett as Tong Fo
 * Amy Hill as Su
 * Wendie Malice as Fenghuang

Trivia
all information on the Kung Fu Panda (TV Series) came from https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kung_Fu_Panda:_Legends_of_Awesomeness