Yin Yang Yo!


Yin Yang Yo! is an American animated television series created by Bob Boyle for Jetix. Produced by Walt Disney Television Animation as the third Jetix original series, it first aired on August 26, 2006, as a sneak peek and premiered on September 4, 2006, in the United States. The show debuted on Jetix in the United Kingdom on February 5, 2007, after a sneak peek preview on January 27, 2007, while making its Canadian television premiere on Family Channel on March 25, 2007. The show's staff consisted of many writers and animators associated with The Fairly OddParents, 6teen, My Life as a Teenage Robot, Invader Zim, Clone High, Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! and Danny Phantom. Head writer Steve Marmel took inspiration from various anime like FLCL and anime-influenced shows such as Teen Titans and Avatar: The Last Airbender. The series centers on two anthropomorphic twin rabbits named Yin and Yang, and their sensei-like panda figure named Yo, a master of the fictional mystical martial art Woo Foo.

Premise

The show is about two 11-year-old rabbits named Yin and Yang who train under Master Yo, a grumpy old panda. They learn the sacred art of Woo Foo, a special type of martial arts that involves both might and magic. They must work together to defeat evil villains and forces motivated on destroying, corrupting or dominating society.
During the first season, the primary goal was to defeat the Night Master, a powerful enemy. During the second season, there are three primary storylines. The first one sees Yin and Yang trying to prevent other villains from being crowned the new Night Master. The second is Yang's own quest to find powerful mystic artifacts for some later-revealed-to-be villains: four evil heads who he thinks are the masters of Woo Foo. The third sees Yin and Yang against the original Night Master, Eradicus.

Setting

The setting is in a town where its buildings have an Asian style. The residents are monsters, humanoids, robots and animals with human-like qualities and behaviors. The residents keep unusual pets like puppygriffs and two-ni-corns, as well as real animals like dogs, cats, opossums or armadillos. Magic and martial arts still exist since ancient times when the Night Masters were around. The episode "Yin Yang You!" reveals that the series takes place in another dimension.

Episodes

Yin Yang Yo! premiered on Jetix on September 4, 2006, with the first season having 26 episodes. In January 2007, Jetix ordered a second season of Yin Yang Yo! with 26 episodes planned. The second season premiered on New Year's Day 2008, with 13 additional episodes.

Characters

Main

  • Yin is a pink rabbit and the younger twin sister of Yang. She specializes in the Mystic half of Woo Foo and is stubborn and a neat freak.
  • Yang is a blue rabbit and the older twin brother of Yin. He specializes in the Martial Arts half of Woo Foo and wields a transforming bamboo sword.
  • Yo is a hundred-year-old panda, Yin and Yang's teacher, and among the last known Woo Foo users. In the series finale, he is revealed to be the two's father.

Villains

  • Elcky is an ancient human who previously eradicated all of the half spider knights except for Master Yo. He is rival web, though his plans were fail because of the stupidity of and his own ego.
  • The Night Master is an ancient sorcerer who previously eradicated all of the Woo Foo knights except for Master Yo. He is highly intelligent, though his plans typically fail because of the stupidity of his minions and his own ego. The episode "The Pecking Order" reveals the Night Master to be a title previously held by Eradicus and an unnamed cobra-like woman.
  • * Grizzleflavin is a gargoyle head located at the entrance of Night Master's lair.
  • * Dank and Dire are the Night Master's minions.
  • Carl the Evil Cockroach Wizard is a flamboyant cockroach wizard who frequently seeks the approval of his mother.
  • Eradicus is a griffin and the first Night Master. He was killed years prior before tricking Yang into resurrecting him.
  • * Ella Mental is a minion of Eradicus who possesses telepathy.
  • * Rubber Chucky is a tall minion of Eradicus who has an elastic body.
  • * Indestructo-Bob is a slow-witted minion of Eradicus who has indestructible armor.
  • * Mollecu-Lars is an octopus-like minion of Eradicus who can transform his body by manipulating his molecules.
  • Brother Herman is a tyrannical ant warlord and Carl's brother.
  • * Charles is Herman's second-in-command.
  • Ultimoose is a moose-like daredevil, martial artist, and ally of the Night Master.
  • Smoke is a humanoid swordfighter who poses as Yang's girlfriend. Her appearance and mannerisms are a parody of Japanese culture.
  • Mirrors is Smoke's brother and rival. His appearance and mannerisms are a parody of Japanese culture, and he and Smoke's names are a play on the metaphor "smoke and mirrors".
  • Yuck is a green rabbit formed from Yin's obsession with control and Yang's aggression. He later uses a magic charm to create an army of Yin and Yang clones and absorbs their magic, becoming as powerful as Yo.
  • Zarnot is an evil action figure brought to life by the Lie Fairy and later recruited by the Night Master.
  • Pondscüm is a Swedish tadpole who masquerades as a fish and wields a robot suit.
  • * Lexoll and Velveema, collectively referred to as the Blixens, are Pondscüm's android henchmen.
  • Fastidious James Spiffington is a hamster obsessed with cleanliness and world domination. He is served by robots who he controls using his hamster ball.
  • Saranoia is a sorceress and mistress of disguise. She had a difficult childhood with her father and her lazy brother Mark, which led her to develop feminist views and values.
  • * G.P. is Saranoia's gnome-like assistant. He later changes his name to Fr-Ped.
  • The Chung Pow Kitties are a trio of cat ninjas who resemble the eponymous characters of The Powerpuff Girls.
  • Kraggler is an ancient gargoyle who can drain youth from others.
  • Roger the Skelewog is a vicious warrior who is a part-time villain of Yin and Yang. He is the father of Roger Skelewog Jr.
  • The Puffin is a gentleman-dressed puffin, he is a parody of the DC Comics villain, The Penguin.
  • Mastermind is the disembodied brain of an evil wizard who seeks to regain a body. his real body was blown up by a Great Bomb that Yang built years prior.
  • Badfoot is a purple horse and enemy of Yo.
  • The Manotaur is a bull-like man who dresses like a city man.
  • Ranger Ron is an illiterate, pig-like park ranger.

Allies

  • Coop is a nerdy chicken with a huge crush on Yin. He is initially a minion of the Night Master before reforming and joining Yin and Yang's Woo Foo Army. Coop has the ability to create a glowing energy aura dubbed "Shadow Chicken".
  • Lina is a dog who has a longtime crush on Yang. In the episode "Gone-A-Fowl", the two share their feelings for each other and enter a relationship.
  • Roger Skelewog Jr. is the son of Yin and Yang's part-time enemy, Roger the Skelewog. He is initially a bully to Yin and Yang before befriending them.
  • Dave is a living tree stump. He can manipulate plants, but is weak and usually underestimated.
  • The Boogeyman is a disco-loving green monster and a friend of Yin and Yang.
  • Jobeaux is a Redneckistanian Woo Foo practitioner. He has a pet armadillo named Fuzzy Thunder who hides in his mouth, giving him a hick accent.
  • Melodia is the princess of the Stink Aardvarks.
  • Rainbow Mane is the leader of the Two-ni-corns.

Cast

Guest stars

Production

The series was created by Bob Boyle, an animator and storyboard artist previously working on Nickelodeon projects such as The Fairly OddParents and Danny Phantom. Influenced by his frequent trips to Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, Boyle developed the pilot for the series when his then-previous series Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! was in production. Once the series got the green-light, Boyle initially worked simultaneously on development for the first season of both shows. Steve Marmel, a stand-up comedian and also a writer for The Fairly OddParents and Danny Phantom, who has known Boyle for years, was offered a long-term contract from Disney/Jetix to participate on the project upon request by Boyle, who needed assistance on producing the show due to scheduling conflicts. Marmel, who would later create Sonny with a Chance and So Random!, drew influence from anime shows such as Gainax-produced FLCL, putting American anime-influenced animated shows like Teen Titans and Samurai Jack in the mix, using it as driving force to deliver comedy. Although a show directed at general audiences, especially children over 6 years old, with its mildly risqué innuendos it also targets adults as well.
John Fountain was brought on board as a series director for the initial first season when his work for My Life as a Teenage Robot was concluding. Fountain worked closely with Marmel and Boyle on developing the lore of the show, and occasionally assisted in storyboarding the first episode, writing and co-voice directing with Marmel. Eric Trueheart also assisted in writing scripts and co-voice directing with Marmel during the second season.
For cost efficiency due to the small budget and crew the series had, the majority of pre-production for the series—including animation, voice recording, and storyboarding—was done in Toronto. The majority of the character design direction was done by Mark Thornton and Todd Kauffman. The animation for the show was provided by Elliott Animation, a Canadian animation studio previously working on Teletoon's 6teen. A different group of animators, who work on revisions and interstitials, come from the Disney campus of Burbank in California, United States and Frederator Studios, producer of many Nickelodeon titles. As the series is an American co-production by Disney, many actors that worked in Disney productions such as Kyle Massey, Jason Earles and Mitchel Musso guest starred as voice actors in the series.
The music for the show was provided by Michael Tavera, who also created music for Time Squad and ¡Mucha Lucha!, while the theme song was written by Bob Boyle and Guy Moon and performed by Massey. Many episodes of Yin Yang Yo! were directed by Fountain, Mark Ackland, Ted Collyer, and Chad Hicks. At the same time, the main established writing force was Steve Marmel with the help of Trueheart, Aydrea ten Bosch, Sib Ventress. Chris Romano and Eric Falconer, responsible for Spike's Blue Mountain State, and production of How I Met Your Mother and The Sarah Silverman Program, also participated on the writing of various episodes. Staff writers Evan Gore & Heather Lombard who penned Futuramas episode "Fear of a Bot Planet" and The [Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius]s episodes "Krunch Time" and "Brobot", lately dedicated their work for Lilo & Stitch: The Series, participated in the creative process of Yin Yang Yo! as well. As the series went on, Bart Jennett became a producer and writer on the series, with many other freelance writers joining like Danielle Koenig and Rob Hummel, Dave Newman and Joe Liss, Amy Wolfram, Scott Sonneborn, and even former creators like Phil Walsh and Van Partible.

Reception

Ratings

The debut of the pilot episode on Toon Disney's Jetix block was its "most-watched original animated series premiere ever". The series continued to garner high ratings on the block afterwards, tying for first place on average.
In Europe, Yin Yang Yo! was the third-most popular Jetix original series for third-party sales as of fiscal year 2007, when the first season was delivered. Yin Yang Yo! and the major Jetix Europe originals ranked "as one of the top two shows in their timeslots in all of the markets in which they aired."

Reviews

had a mixed opinion of the show, giving it a score of 3/5. The pilot was poorly received by The New York Times.

Awards

During 2007, this show was nominated for British Academy Children's Award by the BAFTA in the International category, but lost to Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants.
YearAssociationCategoryNomineeResult
2007British Academy Children's AwardsInternationalBob Boyle, Steve MarmelNomitated
2007Golden Reel AwardsBest Sound Editing in Sound Effects, Foley, Dialogue, ADR and Music for Television AnimationEpisode "Return of the Night Master"
Otis Van Osten, Melinda Rediger, Trevor Sperry, Jason Oliver, Jody Thomas, Mike Tavera, Jeff Shiffman, Kate Marciniak		Nomitated