I remember now why I like Xiaolin Showdown:

[tj_rowe]

Rewatching 'Shen Yi Bu' to check up something for a question on chase_jack, I remember why I fell in love with the show. The background music is so complex, in a way that it just isn't in the future seasons. The characters are much less caracatured, as well - Jack isn't the only one who took a turn for the worse come season two.

And 'In The Flesh' - the 'leveling up' was done with things that they already had - their elements and Shen-Gong-Wu. Not three different new types of item! It actually made sense, and you could guess ahead. That was actually why I liked 'The Last Temptation' - he took something that he could already do and expanded upon it.

Katnappe walks on two feet, too. By the end of season three, she's horizontal most of the time. I much prefer 'girl playing at catwoman' to 'rabid cat with no personality, and no girl-ness.' Honestly, they kept her mostly normal in 'Shard of Lightning' (apart from the goldfish...), but from then on... What, was she going under drugs and surgury or something? The 'genetically engineered super-kittens' vanished, too. Have we ever seen them in the last season? Because maybe her genetic engineering skills are getting applied somewhere else... She had a better theme in 'Katnappé' and 'Royal Rumble,' than in 'Shard,' too.

In Royal Rumble, too, the showdowns were called but decided themselves. There was no 'book of rules' either - the combatants decided what was legal in the showdown before they started. I'm supposing they made it simpler for this video game thing... *sigh* The later seasons have been all about expanding the fanbase and merchandising possibilities.

Looking at 'Royal Rumble,' too, Jack's had another flip-up than the obvious. Wuya is the one that organises 'Royal Rumble' and brings the various minor villans together, not Jack. However, later on it's Jack who becomes the evil diplomat. Maybe it's an oversight and maybe it's character development (he can learn things from Wuya, after all...), but it's still interesting. Though he was organising interviews in 'Shen Yi Bu,' so...

Oh, and proof that in Season One, Wu continuity matters? Jack's making of a spreadsheet. No mention of that is made in later seasons! And Jack also tells us to let spellcheck do its job. XD

Jack squeaked at the first sight of Jung, but he got over it a few seconds later when he wanted to put 'it' in his spreadsheet. It looks like the squeak and not the getting over it were taken into account.

Also, I hate Chase's 'Shen Gong Wu are teh suxxors' attitude for more than one reason - it completely contradicts the canon of THE FIRST EPISODE and 'Mala Mala Jung'. At least he keeps within it slightly by not letting Wuya near any Wu...

Gah. At least I can proudly call myself an 'old school' XS fan...


And Y'know, after watching 'In The Flesh,' I can hardly reconcile it with the later canon. At all. In my mind ATM it's like trying to compare Avatar and Tokyo Mew Mew. O_o

Comments

[jadebell.livejournal.com]

Word to the power of infinity.

*sports an "I'm an old-school XS fan!" T-shirt*

On elements/moves: This is an area in which Avatar is far superior. The Wudai weapons were one of the reasons why I disliked "Treasure of the Blind Swordsman". "Bird of Paradise" was promising. But then the Wudai weapons were brought in, and it was as if season 2 was a complete waste of time because the monks never used the Dragon X Kumei formation again. What was the point of learning it in the first place?

And that book of showdown rules is a complete load of bollocks. (From Chucky Choo) - "A dragon can take part in a showdown if he doesn't hold a criminal conviction"? What were the writers smoking thinking?

[tamerterra.livejournal.com]

Smoking is right. I mean, the first time that that book appeared, it was a 'ha ha, Dojo has to write down how Showdowns work or else he'll forget!' but then it became silly. And it got gradually sillier until the Chucky Choo episode, which was when it just crossed the line. I mean, in Shen Yi Bu, the Shen Yi Bu Dare was 'hey, a new thing!' which no-one tried to verify if it was 'allowed' because there wern't any rules. Arg.

The 'Wudai Weapons' just made all of the work they did on their elements pointless. After they had them, I think (OTTOMH) that Kimiko was the only one who used her element on its own.

I liked the Bird of Paradise episode mostly because I recognised the fairytale. Only in the XS version the elder brother was Jack and the younger was the whole group of them. XD

[jadebell.livejournal.com]

Shen Yi Bu was fine, because up until then only 1 Wu per customer had been wagered in a showdown, and in that instance 2 Wu were wagered, so it was a different kind of showdown. But showdowns should be started by two or more people fighting over Wu, and that's it. No extra rules needed. Dojo shouldn't have needed a reason/rule to take part in a showdown at all. Nor should have Raimundo in the Last Temptation, or the Sapphire Dragon in Dream Stalker. I dislike all the named showdowns in season 2, like the Showdown Trio, or a Tsunami (I think it's called). They should have kept it simple, and just had the people showdown, for goodness' sake!

[tamerterra.livejournal.com]

Word!