Review of Xiaolin Chronicles

The original Xiaolin Showdown series is one of my childhoods favorite cartoons and I was thrilled to find out only now, after 10 years, that the Xiaolin Chronicles is intended to be the revival and sequel series of the first one. But I had a major letdown when I saw how altered the show was, mostly because of Warner Bros's copyright terms. They had to change all the names and designs of the original Sheng Gong Wu and the ability of a small part of them (for example: golden tiger claws became cheetah claws and now have the ability to teleport people back in time for a short period of time). They even changed the color of Dojo and made him yellow. I have observed that the series have adopted a grosser manner and added some explicit elements to the series, such as animal excrement, mucus, puke, open wounds, Dojo's skin eruption(a thing that was temporary in the original series, now it happens every time Dojo senses a new Wu) and even dead animals (rats, dragons, alligators etc. ). I could say that the cartoon lacks originality in some aspects, as I could recognize obvious elements from movies and other characters (The Lord of the Rings- Mordor reference, the Warden looks like Joker, I even saw Harry Potter and The Exorcist references aaand a Robot Unicorn Attack reference). The storyline is slightly altered, some old episodes are reinvented (for example: Clay's cow, Betsy, is now a goat named Molly). The producers brought some new characters to the series, to freshen it up a little bit. Ping Pong, a mini-Omi with glasses, is the newest addition to the monk team and he will become the dragon of the fifth element, wood (yeah, sounds pretty lame, probably he will "bark" his enemies to death or something like that). On the evil side, we have Shadow, which is some sort of Chase Young's daughter. Jack Spicer is not at the same level as he was in the first series. Here he is just a wimp enemy, sloppy, who loses almost all the time and cries his way out to save his butt. Wuya can't be even called a secondary character. At least in this first season she does nothing but tell some bad jokes and make some stupid commentaries about Jack. The only real threat for the monks is Chase Young which, in my opinion, got softer, compared to the first series. The showdowns are now 3D animated and they have done a pretty good job, because the colors and the effects please the eye, but the music gives me headaches and the places where the battles take place tend to repeat themselves (I guess that the Canadians have a lower budget than WB, but still… ). The story doesn't have a great season finale, with cataclysmic events and apocalyptic threats as the original series accustomed us with, it had just an ordinary episode which disappointed my inner child. I give it a stretched 6.5 because somebody thought of making some sort of continuation to the original series, which I liked a lot (and has an honorable 9 from me because of the original idea and great scenery that kept my eyes glued to the TV screen as a child) and I recommend watching this cartoon if you are nostalgic about the old series and you want something fresh (sort of).