wait remember the life and times of juniper lee well i sure do i for some reason thought it was
called jupiter lee back when it first came out but i later found out that's my brain's
fault the life and times of juniper lee was a cartoon network original series that kicked its
way onto tv in may of 2005. following juniper on her witty comebacks as she is the ancient
magical protector of the mythical and mundane as she has chosen to be the next tush onesie
that kind of sounds familiar nah nah nah completely different anyway juniper is an
11 year old chinese-american pre-teen who lives in a fictionalized version of san
francisco orchard bay city a hot spot for these magical and mysterious creatures hmm
a chinese-american kid who is a chosen protector to mythical creatures living in an american city
that released in 2005 with a dog that looks like this nah nah nah well let's focus on that later
today i wanted to take a look back at the life and times of juniper lee another cartoon network
based video look i'm just trying to balance out this to my nickelodeon output plus i have a lot
more jed x coming which is technically just more disney anyway play the intro
juniper lee the insult slinging mythical protecting butt kicking heroin from the bay area
juniper is the definition of cool and fashion that colorful hair streak who else is rocking
that okay well yeah whatever dude juniper lee is 11 years old and is now the current tush onesie
to keep peace and balance in the world hidden under the noses of humans thanks to the veil
a mystical yet thinly delicate force that hides magic from human eyes juniper though
is able to see through the veil because of her abilities which also include enhanced speed
strength agility reflexes and she can conjure up and cast spells you know just because she needed
a little bit more magic sprinkled in but that's only scratching the surface the show itself is
predominantly episodic spending its run time focusing mainly on juniper's training for her
chosen duties fighting any magical or mystical threat that pops up and of course
dealing with her human day-to-day life it's a lot to ask of someone
using folklore from all over the world the show brings in a rotating cast of interesting villains
like sandman the king of the realm of slumber and also his real name is steve steven yeah whatever
skeeter not the nose honking blue variety but more of the mummy businessman variety heck even loki is
here a literal norse god i love a show with a cool cast of interesting villains and this show
definitely checks that box off easily juniper at first is initially daunted by the responsibilities
that come with being the tuschwanzee but thanks to her given protective role she is unable to leave
orchard bay city until another family member is chosen to take her place helping juniper deal with
everything her title entails is her grandmother jasmine lee or ama who is also often referred to
as the greatest tushuansei to ever take up the mantle she's a highly skilled fighter who tries
her best to pass off the wisdom she has onto juniper and aid in her duties she also has a
streak of color in her hair which comes from the powers when you first inherit them also teaching
juniper is monroe or properly put monroe connery boy carlisle mcgregor scott v a centuries-old
talking scottish pug whose destiny is to work in aiding every tuschwanzei so due to that his
wisdom and knowledge of the magical world comes as a major help to juniper juniper also has a
brother who sometimes joins her on her adventures around the city his name is ray ray he's 8 years
old he's magic-less and he's hyperactive but thanks to an incident where he was in the way
when juniper was getting her newly given power drained in the adventures of babysitting episode
he ended up getting a bit of the powers himself in ways of now being able to see through the veil
with juniper so no longer are the monsters hidden from him their relationship is built on two core
fundamentals the first being a sibling rivalry but at the end of the day the second is that
they deeply care for one another and they make a nice tag team duo sometimes they also have
an older brother named dennis oop sorry that's wrong photo this is dennis he is a grumpy moody
15 year old who acts very dismissively towards his younger siblings at least at the beginning
of the series throughout the show we do see this relationship improve juniper's parents michael
and barbara kind of hold in their hands the stress and balance of juniper's social and academic life
michael was originally supposed to take on the mantle of tuschwanze after ama but that trait
skipped him and ended up passing right to juniper instead kind of like the mom an american dragon
jake i'm sorry still getting ahead of myself with that barbara on the other hand is a good mom she
wants the best for her kids but will not allow any problems to get in the way of their education
now going on to juniper's non-magical side of her life her best friends are jody irwin
ophelia ramirez and roger radcliffe they ate her in her toughest fight of all surviving middle
school i'm ned and this is my survival guide jody is a bit of a quirky girl and juniper's immediate
closest friend who is always there for her ophelia in comparison to jody is a melodramatic goth girl
that has a tendency to be a bit of a perfectionist if you will roger on the other hand well he's
the class clown who totally has a major crush on ophelia like look dude i get it gothgirl's ruined
me too but ophelia doesn't reciprocate those feelings and we all can't forget marcus connor the
person juniper has a major crush on but you won't catch her admitting to it he's a more popular kid
but is pretty much friends with everyone and always has an eye out for juniper a very chill
dude who gives off very good vibes he also has a crush on juniper back but like her was also too
afraid to admit it maybe they can go to a dance together melissa o'malley is juniper's school
rival who also likes marcus but more for the reasons of juniper not having a chance essentially
if it's in favor of juniper being one-upped oh she's in now some monsters make multiple
appearances as friends to juniper and ray-ray like cletus gus and lila a fun cast of interesting
creatures to be a part of several storylines also ray-ray likes leela hey i ain't judging but like i
said earlier the villains also steal the show here as well some with really awesome designs with cool
villain arcs and some that just don't have either of those things there's the humans against magic
or ham for short their goal is to cleanse the earth of magic they aren't fans of magic they
want all magic to be destroyed did you hear they don't like magic lex is the leader of hand auntie
roon a 400 year old witch whose power level makes all humans magical creatures and vegeta tremble
everyone look rainbow fish is back even avatar marge simpson is here oh never mind that's just
demonous she mainly wants to free her dad the banished kordoth kai a former tuschwanze that went
rogue and was brought back to current daytime and of course there's monsters and creatures galore
and you can't forget about this alolan raticate looking thing i will say though sandman overall
is pretty slick he's also voiced by cosmo himself lucky me then there's jonathan a tv show producer
yup there he is the amount of cool characters they would interchange for the thread of the
week was always pretty fun to see whether it was a returning villain or a one-off character
the show had a good blend of character design and ideas to play with without having villains feel
like a copy and paste of one another but that's just the fun within the show let's take a look
into how juniper lee came to be judd winik a jack of all trades when it comes to being a cartoonist
a comic book writer and a screenwriter is the creator of the life and times of juniper lee
and also was a former reality tv personality for mtv's the real world san francisco growing up in
long island new york which is where he found his love for cartoons and comic books he decided that
going to school for it was the right career path for him now attending the university of michigan
ann arbor school of art after graduation is when he applied to be a contestant on the real world
san francisco in hopes that it would be something that could help his career in some shape or form
now living in san francisco his time there truly influenced him in his work fully now inspired to
design juniper lee's city in the show orchard bay around that before juniper lee though judd
was able to achieve some of his dreams and comics being involved in writing for dc properties such
as green lantern green arrow and batman with under the hood both being the comic and then
the animated film under the red hood for coming up with juniper lee he has been quoted saying
that he had pulled inspiration from shows like the simpsons and buffy the vampire slayer specifically
buffy pushing a strong influence and coming up with juniper herself as in the show they follow
a similar path as buffy all being made in-house at cartoon network's burbank studio with rough
drafts korea aiding in the animation from overseas the show would premiere on cartoon network on may
30th 2005. spanning three seasons for a total of 40 episodes and 6 shorts coming to an end on april
9 2007. now while the show would be on broadcast in a 4 3 ratio the series would be produced in a
widescreen 16 9 ratio and in high definition making it the first cartoon network original
show to do so judd would later go on to still work on dc related properties and his original passion
comic books as well as wrote for the animated superhero comedy from seth meyers the awesomes
and hilo a concept of something that he came up with so that his seven-year-old son could
read at the time while there isn't much to note about the production side of the show
it's clear to see that the show did hit a nice mark on the network getting support from the fans
watching it and even winning a primetime emmy in 2006 and an annie award in 2007. there's only one
thing that truly gave this show a hard time and that is all the comparisons to another network's
show american dragon jake long now you and i sure we can make our jokes throughout this video
it's all fun and games no disrespect or shade thrown anywhere but these shows were very close
in so many ways that you wouldn't be vilified for pointing out just how weirdly similar they are
first and foremost both show's premises were very close obviously jake can transform into a dragon
but the whole chosen one being a protector of the mythical thing within a major u.s city didn't help
any arguments to split the difference between the two on top of that both main protagonists juniper
and jake are both chinese-american kids with a knack for laying down some smack talk to their
adversaries and their names both start with jay i mean even look at the dogs in this show do we
even have to point that out now i know they are different breeds in monroe connery boyd carlisle
mcgregor scott the fifth here is scottish but come on the other issue being that these two shows
premiered in the same year less than half a year apart juniper lee like i mentioned premiered at
the end of may in 2005 american dragon jake long however premiered in mid-late january of 2005.
even though that show lasted only two seasons it had more episodes and it ran a little bit longer
than juniper lee did also ending in 2007 just in september of that year versus april of 2007 for
juniper lee i have heard a fair amount of people refer to the show as cartoon network's american
dragon but beyond those similarities i still think that this stands on its own it always boils down
to the characters their uniqueness and how their stories play out which i think this show nails
in terms of that the overall reception was largely positive in fact so positive that the show was set
to keep going as seasons 4 and 5 were slated for production which is what made it more surprising
when the show was all of a sudden cancelled without reason ending with a season 3 cliffhanger
to be unanswered now most shows can kind of just end for a whole list of reasons but to have
more ready for production and just pull it last second is a bit odd we do know that the next era
of cartoon network was on the horizon but a lot of those changes wouldn't start to be made until 2008
a full year after the show had already ended there is a passionate fan base of this show who are
still fighting to see this show make a comeback and continue forward this change.org petition
which always works wants the show to come back to the cartoon network channel or netflix or hbo max
for the owed two seasons the show never got with over 1800 signatures but in all seriousness i love
the passion here from the fans and i would love to see this show get at least a chance to wrap things
up for the fans and who knows it could just be as big of a hit now as it was back then the life
and times that juniper lead didn't just end on the small screen however it did branch out into
other forms of media as well from 2006 to 2012 cartoon network through dc published a series of
comic books titled cartoon network action pack a variety of adaptations from the network that would
be placed as multiple story anthologies they also had a more comedy focused series of comics titled
cartoon network block party that lasted from 2004 to 2009 but for the action pack that one clearly
focused on more action-based properties which juniper lee was featured alongside all of the
other major shows to smaller not-so-longer-lasting shows that all appear in the comics hey good to
see mega xlr here video game wise well nothing really to speak about and beyond the usual website
games monster mayhem where you take on monsters throughout the city and protect your friends from
being attacked party interrupted a side-scrolling ride-based light platformer with some boss fights
thrown in for good measure and out of charm a traditional side-scrolling platformer and
beat-em-up oh and she was in cartoon network's fusion fall who the heck is that man fusion fall
was such a weird thing look at poor eddie here in the game ugh 2009 what a what a weird year
as far as other tv related outings juniper lee did appear in the truly iconic cn city bumpers
that i myself and many of you out there absolutely love these bumpers solidified a period in time for
the network making this era one of the most memorable juniper lee also made a cameo with
almost all of the other famous cartoon network characters throughout the network's history
during ok ko's let's be heroes crossover nexus event but maybe we can see something further
come from the series in the future as streaming services have become the new defining medium it
would be nice to see some investment in writing some incidental wrongs and giving fans a place
to come back and show their support so many cartoons are coming back with continuations
reboots reimaginings why not give juniper lee a fighting chance to balance things out in the world
of the mystical and mundane i personally found the show to be just as enjoyable as i did with my
experience with american dragon jake long i even think the dialogue here with the smack talk may
come off a bit more natural versus jake long while i do think it had a more interesting story arc
juniper lee stands tall as its own thing even when being in comparison i would love to explore this
world more and see where the original story was meant to fully lead to if you like american dragon
jake long at all chances are you'll probably enjoy this show as well it brings the action
and it brings the humor as well as the visuals are great too the color palette the show uses
pops very nicely especially in the hd version and also as a huge spyro fan i've made a as
shut up we don't talk about those days anymore this show holds a special weird little place in
my heart because the composer is none other than stuart copeland drummer of the band the police
using his signature sound literally sounding like the spiral music oh it works so good and
the amanda show music three people probably found that as cool as i do but whatever killer music
and killer theme song if you were a fan of the life and times of juniper lee let me know in the
comments below and also do you want to see more of the show to get the rest of the story or is
three seasons the perfect amount for you thanks so much for watching make sure to hit the like button
and subscribe for more content like this i'll be back with another video soon but until then later
you