¡Mucha Lucha!

¡Mucha Lucha! (known as ¡Mucha Lucha!: Gigante during its third season) is a 2002–2005 American animated television series that premiered on Kids' WB on August 17, 2002.[1] It was created by Eddie Mort and Lili Chin and produced by Warner Bros. Animation. It is the first animated television series intended for children created with Adobe Flash, a program which became widely used as a medium for animation in the years following.[2]

¡Mucha Lucha!
Also known as¡Mucha Lucha!: Gigante (season 3)
GenreComedy
Slapstick
Sports
Action
Created byEddie Mort
Lili Chin
Voices ofCarlos Alazraqui (2002–04)
Jason Marsden (2004–05)
Kimberly Brooks
Candi Milo
Theme music composerChicos de Barrio
Opening theme¡Mucha Lucha! by Chicos de Barrio
Composer(s)Michael Tavera, Nicolas Barry, Tomas Jacobi, Rene Garza Aldape, Chuy Flores
Country of originUnited States
Original language(s)English
Spanish
No. of seasons3
No. of episodes52 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)Sander Schwartz
Producer(s)Ken Kessel
Eddie Mort
Lili Chin
Alfred Gimeno
James Krieg
Running time22 minutes
Production company(s)Fwak! Animation
Warner Bros. Animation
DistributorWarner Bros. Television Distribution
Release
Original networkKids' WB
Audio formatDolby Surround (2002–03)
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound (2003–05)
Original releaseAugust 17, 2002 (2002-08-17) –
February 26, 2005 (2005-02-26)

In 2005, the direct-to-video feature film ¡Mucha Lucha!: The Return of El Maléfico was spun-off from the series. The show also contained music by Michael Tavera, who previously made music for Cartoon Network's Time Squad.

Premise

The show is set in Luchaville, a fictional Southern California town centered on lucha libre where nearly everyone in that town wears a mask (which they never seen without) and costume and a signature move. The series mainly focuses on three friends, Rikochet, Buena Girl, and the Flea, as they struggle through the Foremost World-Renowned International School of Lucha, where they study.

Episodes
Main article: List of ¡Mucha Lucha! episodes
SeasonEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast aired
113August 17, 2002 (2002-08-17)February 8, 2003 (2003-02-08)
222September 13, 2003 (2003-09-13)May 8, 2004 (2004-05-08)
Gigante17September 11, 2004 (2004-09-11)February 26, 2005 (2005-02-26)
MovieJanuary 4, 2005

Characters
Main article: List of ¡Mucha Lucha! characters
  • Rikochet – A young wrestler who is the protagonist. He considers himself the bravest of the group, but sometimes leaps before he looks.
  • Buena Girl – A smart, young female wrestler who always plays by the rules. She can also be very arrogant and obnoxious at times.
  • The Flea – A friend of Rikochet and Buena Girl who is always dirty and refers to himself in third person. As well as having a few disgusting habits, he is also the most nervous, but often proves to be a useful ally.
  • El Rey – An action figure which represents Rikochet's conscience. He's carried in a backpack, but can move and talk on his own, as if he were alive. It is stated that this action figure is just part of a large merchandising euphoria related to a supreme undefeated Mexican wrestler with the same name (an allusion to Santo). Along in the series, several other El Rey toys appear and often causes trouble with Rikochet's.

Broadcast

The show was also seen on Teletoon in Canada, CITV, Pop Max and Disney XD in the United Kingdom, Nine Network in Australia and Cartoon Network worldwide (including the United States).

Home media

In Region 1, Warner Home Video has released one compilation that contained the first six segment-episodes from season one, titled Heart of Lucha, on August 19, 2003. The direct-to-video movie The Return of El Maléfico, was released on January 4, 2005 during the third and final season.

In 2019, ¡Mucha Lucha! was available remastered for the first time in High Definition for home viewers and became available on demand through Amazon Prime.

Merchandise

A toy line based on the show was released by Jakks Pacific in 2004.[3] In this toy line included "Mix-a-Lot" action figures; these had removable body parts that could be placed on the bodies of other action figures in the series. "Signature Move" action figures were also put out, along with a toy wrestling ring. However, the second series of the toy line was cancelled.

During summer of 2003, DC Comics published a three-issue mini-series of comic books based on ¡Mucha Lucha! All three of the stories featured in these comic books were written by Eddie Mort, and have even been occasionally referenced in the TV series.

  1. El Rey, Come Home!
  2. It's All Buena!
  3. Limbo of the Lost Luchadores!

The show was licensed for a Game Boy Advance video game, Mascaritas of the Lost Code, in late 2003, and also a Sony PlayStation 2 video game, Mysterioso Grande, was slated for release, but was cancelled around 2004 as the creators could not find a publisher.[4]

Proposed revivial

In 2014, a revival called ¡Mucha Lucha! Para Siempre was proposed which would have focused on Rikochet, Buena Girl, and the Flea as teenagers.[5][6][7]

See also

References
  1. Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 568–569. ISBN 978-1476665993.
  2. Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 409–410. ISBN 978-1538103739.
  3. DeMott, Rick (2003-10-17). "JAKKS Pacific Lands Mucha Lucha Toy License". Animation World Network. Retrieved 2014-12-01.
  4. "Mucha Lucha [PS2 – Cancelled] – Unseen64". Unseen64: Beta, Cancelled & Unseen Videogames!. April 15, 2008.
  5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjAXpxv4joo
  6. https://muchalucha-art.tumblr.com/post/122013214348/will-there-be-more-mucha-lucha-well-were-still
  7. https://muchalucha-art.tumblr.com/page/3
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