"Tak & the Power of Juju" (2007) TV series

Director:

Mark Risley

Writer:

Nicole Dubuc (writer)

Seasons:

1 | 2

Release Date:

2007 (USA)

Genre:

Animation

Plot:

The show follows the title character named Tak who must protect the Pupununu people from Tlaloc's evil spell.

Plot Keywords:

Character Name In Title

Awards:

Won Primetime Emmy. Another 1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Kari Wahlgren	...	Jeera / ... (13 episodes, 2007-2008)
Dannah Feinglass	...	Zaria / ... (12 episodes, 2007-2008)
Maurice LaMarche	...	Chief / ... (12 episodes, 2007-2008)
Lloyd Sherr	...	Jibolba / ... (12 episodes, 2007-2008)
Hal Sparks	...	Tak / ... (12 episodes, 2007-2008)
Patrick Warburton	...	Lok (12 episodes, 2007-2008)
John Di Maggio	...	Keeko / ... (10 episodes, 2007-2008)
Megan Cavanagh	...	Slog (6 episodes, 2007-2008)

Runtime:

USA:30 min (including commercials)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Company:

Nickelodeon Animation Studios

Trivia:

Based on the Sony Playstation games

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Bleach: Kamen no gundan to yabumen (#5.15)" (2007)

Disappointing

I never played the game, especially when I heard Nickelodeon interactive was funding it, but when I heard about the cartoon series of "Tak and the Power of Juju", I would be lying if I didn't say I was interested. Ever since the old Sonic the Hedgehog cartoons (save the dreadful English-dubbed Sonic X), there hasn't been many video game cartoons being made, so "Tak" was a bit of a highlight for me. I was let down though.

From what I know, in the game, Tak is trying to save his village from an evil shaman. The villain from the games has only a minor role in the actual cartoon series. The characters from the game act like they did with Lok's false heroism and Tak's wise-cracking nuttiness, but then Nick threw in some new characters for some reason that REALLY don't help the series much.

I was expecting a show that followed the games and their story lines, since the game and the show share the same title, but instead, I got a series made up of Tak's misadventures, like a Saturday morning cartoon. Also, though the title says "And the Power of Juju", the Jujus in the show appear rarely in the episodes, like 1 out of every 6 episodes.

If you liked the games, then you'd might get a kick out of this show, but for a person who never played the game, yet knew the basic storyline, I was really let down. You might say "But the Sonic the Hedgehog cartoons didn't follow any game story lines neither." But at least they had a long-branching storyline to them, with Sonic trying to beat Robotnik, but in "Tak"s case, Nick obviously thought making Tak a Ed-Edd-N-Eddy-esqe TV series would be more pleasing to audiences. It sure wasn't for me. Like the game's ratings, this show sucked. Nickelodeon, stick to "Avatar: The Last Airbender", because that is the only true great show you have.