'Toon Reviews 21: Xiaolin Showdown Season 1 Episode 4: Katnappe

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Katnappe

One of the show’s biggest strengths is its extensive variety of villains.  Eccentric and whiny Jack Spicer and seriously thinking Wuya are the most prominently seen.  However, there are several episodes devoted to other villains of different interests and personas. 

This episode’s featured villain, introduced at the end of the previous one, is Katnappe.  She's the alter ego of a girl Jack knows who’s obsessed with cats, right down to dressing like one and making incessant cat puns.  She also means serious business in fights, taking out Jack’s robots with her bare claws or her small yet destructive robot kittens.  Now that Jack’s constant failures to obtain Shen Gong Wu are becoming an issue, Katnappe is the best way to counteract them. 

Speaking of Shen Gong Wu, although it was revealed and obtained in the last episode, this episode shows a lot of the Golden Tiger Claws.  They’re a glove of claws that rips a hole in the fabric of the universe that can transport the holder anywhere he or she desires.  It’s a cool fictional idea brought to life, and the scenes of the Xiaolin Warriors trying them out feel believable to how they’d work in reality.  The appeal of the Golden Tiger Claws crosses paths with Katnappe when Omi challenges her to a Xiaolin Showdown for the more constantly used Changing Chopsticks.  However, Omi’s desperate desire to use the Golden Tiger Claws in a Showdown is his downfall.  He doesn’t prepare himself for a baddie like Katnappe and loses them and the Chopsticks to her. 

The episode then goes in an interesting direction.  Instead of waiting until the next Xiaolin Showdown to beat Katnappe, the Warriors try to better understand her so they can stop her on their own. Doing so comes with enjoyably crafted escapades.  First, they’re put through a seemingly easy task of stealing a jade elephant from Master Fung for a week without chores.  They lose the challenge when he prevents their chances of winning by breaking it.  That’s victory enough for him, and the kids pay the price by hand scrubbing the floor (or skating with scrubbers in Raimundo’s case). 

This event plays a role in learning the importance of knowing Katnappe before catching her.  They get their chance to learn about her through reports of her robbing malls after she quit working for Jack and Wuya and stole the Golden Tiger Claws.  Although she defeats them swiftly, their research and first encounter give significant information about the shady cat fanatic.  It all leads up to a grand conclusion where they put her interest in leisurely locations and cats together and track her down to a cat-themed amusement park.  The park itself is mostly used as a backdrop for the confrontation and doesn’t have its rides and attractions play an actual role the takedown which is a missed opportunity.  Still, it's satisfying enough that everything the warriors went through pays off.  There’s even boldness from Omi who badly wanted to use the Golden Tiger Claws. He sends them to the center of the Earth so no one, including villains, will be able to use them.  Even if he doesn’t get the chance to use them (at least not until later in the season), it’s great that he’s mature enough to do what’s right for all and not just himself. 

This episode has a lot to love.  There's a new fun and creative villain, a big look at one of the more interesting Shen Gong Wu, and an engaging villain defeat strategy whose steps neatly fall into place in the end.  That’s entertainment enough for me.

A

The Ranking

1. Katnappe
2. The Journey of a Thousand Miles
3. Like a Rock
4. Tangled Web

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode that puts Raimundo on the path of great development and introduces a special kind of Xiaolin Showdown, the Shen Yi Bu Dare.

If you would like to check out other Xiaolin Showdown reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

'Toon Reviews 21: Xiaolin Showdown Season 1 Episode 1: The Journey of a Thousand Miles

If you like this review and want to stay updated for what else I have in store, become a follower of this blog, click here to like the official Facebook page, and click here to follow me on Twitter. Now on with today's review:

Today’s show is new to this blog and is one you don’t hear a lot of people talk about these days, but as someone with a lot of fond memories of it, I’m excited to bring it to mind, especially since I find it to be one of the most creative action cartoon series:

Xiaolin Showdown (Season 1)

Basic Premise

When it comes to shows from Kids WB, I have to admit that they’re not programs I particularly grew up with, mostly because I was too attached to shows on other networks to find out what channel the block was on.  Even older shows from the block, one of which I looked into not too long ago, were ones I didn’t watch when they initially aired.  It wasn’t until long after that time when I got the urge to look into some of them, and Xiaolin Showdown was one of those Kids WB shows.  My exposure to it was through reruns on Cartoon Network running from 2006 to 2007.  At the time, I was just opening up to action-oriented shows with lots of travelling to exotic locations, creative setups to the series universe, and strong continuity between episodes to bring all events together and ensure the audience keeps watching.  This show turned out to be a great fit to my interests.

It follows a young Xiaolin monk named Omi who’s young and ambitious as he trains to become a fully-realized warrior along with new companions, Raimundo, a street-smart jock from Brazil, Kimiko, a stylish tech wizard from Japan, and Clay, a kind-hearted cowboy.  Their mission is to travel around the world looking for mystical artifacts called Shen Gong Wu sensed by a cowardly shapeshifting dragon named Dojo.  Each Shen Gong Wu has its own unique power which makes their reveals a huge point of interest.  Their quest to find them however is made challenging with a vast collection of villains who are also after the Shen Gong Wu for more evil purposes, mostly a self-proclaimed boy genius, Jack Spicer, with the guidance of a ghostly head named Wuya who has experienced their power thousands of years ago.  As for the showdown portion of the series, they come up when two opponents fight over one or more Shen Gong Wu too much.  This brings about creatively conceived challenges varying in every episode and is a clear demonstration of the imaginations of this show’s crew.

This certainly makes Xiaolin Showdown sound like a fun and exciting series, and I enjoyed and held it in high regard for a couple of years now, but as I’ve been reviewing a lot, I’ll be able to analyze it enough to determine if it truly holds up well today and if it should be better remembered than it is now.  I am most pleased to start finding that out as I look into this series, starting with this review set on Season 1.  Without further ado, Gong Yi Tanpai!

Now on with the reviews:

The Journey of a Thousand Miles

This premiere episode sets the show into motion, but while it’s designed to introduce the series elements and major characters, it’s still pretty great.  It wastes no time explaining what the show is all about with the first scene being on the origins of Shen Gong Wu, powerful artifacts used by a brave Xiaolin Warrior named Dashi against the evil witch Wuya in a battle for the fate of the world which were later spread all over the world to not fall into the hands of evil. 

It’s after this opening information where we get to know the characters.  Omi is established as passionate about being a Xiaolin Warrior in training giving great attention to perfecting his fighting moves while under the guidance of his mentor, Master Fung.  However, making Omi better-rounded is a relatable character flaw of having a big ego when he meets the new students, Raimundo, Kimiko, and Clay, and acts like he knows better than them through training them at his skills when they’re perfectly capable of their own.  It does bring out some comedy and fun banter between the characters though. 

On the villains’ side, we meet the first of many well-crafted baddies, Jack Spicer, who may be your typical evil genius bent on world domination and robotics, but is made incredibly entertaining through his childish behaviors with similar ego problems and freaking out easily.  He gains much more relevance when he opens the puzzle box holding Wuya, now interestingly reduced to a floating ghost head who’s more sinister, and begrudgingly has to put up with Jack’s insanity to find the Shen Gong Wu and put the world into darkness. 

With Wuya out, the Shen Gong Wu start going active one-by-one, prompting Omi and his new companions to travel all over the world to find them as they reveal, with Dojo as their guide.  This episode leads them to three specific Shen Gong Wu, setting up their interesting quest for peace on Earth.  Each Shen Gong Wu has its own unique power like the Mantis Flip Coin allowing the holder to jump great heights, the heavy armor called the Two Ton Tunic, and the Eye of Dashi that shoots lightning.  They also allow for changes of scenery being hidden in different locations to keep finding them feeling fresh and interesting be it the bustling city of San Francisco, the canals of Italy, or just a calm field. 

When finding the Eye of Dashi, things get really interesting when Omi and Jack, who have their own Shen Gong Wu, both get to it leading to the titular Xiaolin Showdown.  This is where the crew’s imagination goes all out when the showdown brings them to a mystical location in which they use their Shen Gong Wu in a given physical challenge to win the featured Shen Gong Wu and their opponents’, in this case a race over stone columns, presenting them as the show’s biggest highlight.  This one stands out for featuring character growth from Omi as he utilizes all the different skills his new friends taught him to win, from Raimundo’s pranking, to Kimiko’s knowledge on off switches, and Clay’s more humble fighting techniques. 

Ultimately, the episode stands as a strong introduction to what to expect from the series while also selling it as a fun and exciting setup with identifiable characters, individual creativity in what they’re set to find, and everything building up to an exciting showdown.  It’s a basic introduction, but still an effective one.

A

The next Xiaolin Showdown review features Clay putting up a strong fight without throwing any punches while the other warriors get trapped in an invisible box by a mime.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is the OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes episode, "Just Be a Pebble."

If you would like to check out other Xiaolin Showdown reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.