Let's Watch This: An Episode of "Yin Yang Yo!"

Do you remember Jetix?

If you're a 2000s kid, then I'm guessing you do. Jetix was a programming block on a bunch of different channels. In the United States, it was part of ABC Family and Toon Disney, but internationally, it was part of Fox Kids. When Toon Disney became Disney XD, Jetix went out the window. It aired a bunch of different cartoons, some of it stuff syndicated from Disney Channel like Kim Possible and American Dragon: Jake Long, but also some original shows like this...

And this...

And this...

A lot of these shows are really obscure today, so expect them to eventually get reviews on my blog.

Believe it or not, here in America, Jetix even aired some Warner Bros. cartoons. Pinky and the Brain, Jackie Chan Adventures, Superman: The Animated Series and The Mummy: The Animated Series were all part of the lineup at one point. I remember watching reruns of Pinky and the Brain on Jetix while at Walt Disney World. Aside from that, I rarely watched Jetix, so a lot of the shows it aired are ones I remember seeing ads for but never actually watched.

Today, we'll be looking at another show that aired as part of Jetix, the third original Jetix show and probably one of its more well-known ones: a little cartoon called Yin Yang Yo!.

Yin Yang Yo! was created by Bob Boyle (also the creator of Wow Wow Wubbzy!), premiered in 2006, and managed to get two seasons before Disney gave it the axe. It stars two eleven-year-old rabbits named Yin (voiced by Stephanie Morgenstern) and Yang (voiced by Scott McCord). Yang is the dumb and more aggressive one, Yin is the smarter and girlier one. They're being trained the sacred art of Woo Foo under a grumpy old panda named Master Yo (voiced by Martin Roach). What is it with animated things focusing on kung fu or whatever having pandas as major characters? This, Kung Fu Panda, Skunk Fu!... maybe people in the animation industry just think that pandas doing kung fu is automatically funny.

To be honest, I had pretty small expectations going into this show. Not as small as my expectations were towards something like Butt-Ugly Martians, but small. Why? Well, for one thing, Bob Boyle is one of the folks responsible for that awful 2016 Powerpuff Girls reboot. On top of that, the show is one of those cartoons with really, really cheap-looking Flash animation. Like, the animation here is about on par with that of the George of the Jungle reboot or World of Quest. Did the show meet my expectations? I won't be giving that away just yet.

I just picked an episode of the show at random to review... well, this is one of those "each episode is actually two episodes in one" shows, so technically I'll be reviewing two episodes, if that makes any sense. We'll be watching the fourteenth episode, "The Yin of Yang / Shopping Sprawl". This is Yin Yang Yo!.

"The Yin of Yang" begins with Yin getting ready for a playdate with her friend Lina (Novie Edwards), and this involves turning the TV into a donkey which promptly kicks Yang and sends him flying out of the house. Okay, only a few seconds in and the show's already had one joke that I found kind of funny. I suppose that's a good sign.

Yang complains to Yo about how Yin always kicks him out (using that same donkey) whenever Lina comes over. Yo suggests that it's because Yang has a habit of acting like a massive tool while Lina's around, as the flashback demonstrates.

Apologies for the really bad quality of the screencaps. I couldn't find a higher-definition
version of the episode.

Something I couldn't help but notice is that Yang sounds a lot like Beast Boy from Teen Titans. I know it's not the same voice actor, but it's really eerie how similar they sound.

Anyway, Master Yo tells Yang that if he wants a girl to like him, he needs to be her friend. "You mean I should be more like Yin?" asks Yang. "I... suppose I could try that."

Jeez, Po really let himself go after Kung Fu Panda 3...

Then Yo has the donkey kick Yang again after Yang asks him if he washed his hands after using the bathroom. Okay, the joke about the donkey kicking Yang isn't quite as funny anymore after they've used it FIVE TIMES. I mean, it's still KIND OF funny, just not AS funny.

After that, we see Yin and Lina at a shop called Battle Bath and Beyond. Wouldn't a better pun be "Bed Battle and Beyond", since "battle" sounds more like "bath" than it does "bed"? I dunno, I'm not a comedy expert...

Okay, Yin and Yang are rabbits, Yo's a panda... what the heck is Lina supposed to be?

They run into Yang, who tells them that he's just trying to figure out which of the store's doilies go better with his sword. "DON'T DO IT,  LINA! IT'S A TRAP!" Yin shouts, to which Yang makes this face:

Yang's finally snapped like a twig. It was bound to happen eventually.

"I know, but it's a desperate ploy that deserves a little attention. Let's see if he cracks!" Lina suggests. She summons some bullies who start teasing Yang for doily-shopping, causing him to ditch his "more like Yin" persona.

And what the heck is THIS guy supposed to be? The lips and green skin suggest
some sort of fish, but fish don't have hair. Then again, rabbits and pandas don't talk either,
so...

One smirk from Yin and Lina is all it takes for Yang to back off and act all polite towards the bullies, causing them to leave. Lina tells him that if he can go twenty-four hours without fighting, she will continue to give him the time of day. And it's 11:30 now, which really excites Yang for some reason.

Little does Yang know that he's being spied on by a British-accented hamster and a pair of ninjas. I have so many questions. First of all, why does a hamster have a British accent and a nice suit? Second of all, why are the ninjas wearing white? The point of those costumes is to blend into one's environment. The white makes them stick out like a sore thumb.

Maybe their suits were bleached somehow before the episode, I don't know...

According to Wikipedia, the hamster's name is Fastidious James Spiffington, and he's obsessed with cleanliness and world domination. He hates Yin and Yang because I don't know, and he's all giddy that Yang is renouncing violence in the hopes that it'll improve his chances with becoming Lina's boyfriend, as it's now the perfect time to extract his REVENGE. Just so you know, tiny cute animals like hamsters speaking in British accents and acting evil is not automatically funny.

Anyhow, the two rabbits and the girl of indeterminate species head over to the arcade, where Yang is tempted by all the violent games but remembers that he's agreed to act non-violent for twenty-four hours lest Lina not continue to give him the time of day, so instead he plays a Dance Dance Revolution parody hosted by a Pikachu knockoff. Then he sees the hamster's ninjas stealing cleaning supplies from Battle Bath and Beyond, and he's about to fight them when he remembers Lina's challenge and is all "never mind".

"What sword behind my back? I don't have a sword behind my back!"

The ninjas head back to Spiffington's secret lair inside Spaceship Earth at EPCOT, and he brags about how with Yang distracted, Yin won't be able to stop him... and then he takes a drink out of his water bottle. Get it? 'Cause he's a hamster. It's funny because a villain is a cute little pet hamster who does non-evil things like drink out of a water bottle and chew his butt. Are you laughing yet? No? Well, neither am I.

Yin, Yang, and Lina spot the ninjas stealing stuff again, and once again Yang is about to fight them before Lina reminds him of her challenge. Then this happens:

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...

Yin pushes the creepy floating Lina heads off-screen, much to my relief, and then tries to fight the ninjas herself. But they've got an "anti-magic shield pouch" that protects them from her Woo Foo.

Back at their place, Yin and Yang are visited by that bully from before, who mocks Yang for acting like a spineless loser. Yin incinerates the bully, and later that day Yang and Lina see Spiffington riding around in some sort of tank/street sweeper thing which... cleans the town. Yes, the hamster's plan was to clean the town. How evil.

"After this, I'm going to pick up litter in the park and do everyone's laundry! BWA-HA-
HA-HA-HAAAAAAAAAA!"

Panini from Chowder... I mean, Yin tries to fight Spiffington, but his tank/street sweeper thing is immune to her "girl Woo Foo". Yo shows up out of nowhere, and instead of attempting to fight Spiffington himself, he tells Yang to be himself and then runs off to hide. This prompts Yang to tell Lina that he's a little dim (a little?) and likes hitting stuff (a lot), but regardless, he's a good guy, and if that's not good enough for her, then maybe SHE'S the problem, not HIM. Honestly, I'm kind of wondering what Yang even sees in Lina seeing as she's been a jerk to him for much of the episode.

Yang destroys the tank/street sweeper thing, and as a result the shield is broken so Yin can use her "girl Woo Foo" to summon that donkey to send Spiffington flying. And as an added bonus, Lina is starting to warm up to Yang... or at least she hates him less than she did yesterday. And the episode ends with that bully showing up again, followed by Yin summoning the donkey on him. Ha ha ha.

"Shopping Sprawl" begins with Babs and Buster Bunny... I mean, Yin and Yang (I had to make that joke at some point) training, and after that they ask Yo if they can have a raise in their allowance. Yo agrees - he'll double it. Yin and Yang are excited... until they realize that they don't actually get an allowance. And zero times two is still zero. "CURSE YOU, MATH!" Yang shouts.

Wait, if Yin and Yang don't get an allowance, why were they asking Yo if they could have a raise in their allowance? Shouldn't they have been asking him if they could START GETTING an allowance?

This is admittedly just a pet peeve of mine, but I really don't like it when a cartoon animal's
ears are just floating over their head. It just looks weird to me.

After Yin and Yang complain some more about their lack of money, the cubist panda tells them that he'll quadruple their allowance if they do the dishes. About halfway through, they realize that this won't result in them actually getting an allowance because zero times four is still zero as well.

"All I want is the ability to buy things I don't need!" Yang laments. "Is that too much to ask for?!" Suddenly, this guy appears at the door:

Another pet peeve of mine is when a cartoon doesn't bother to give an animal ears at all.

This guy represents an awesome new mall opening in Yin and Yang's town. It'll have all kinds of stores with things that Yin and Yang like, but how will they be able to buy things there when they don't have any money? Answer - the guy gives Yin and Yang credit cards! Wow, I didn't know that getting a credit card was so easy!

According to the internet, one must be at least eighteen years old to have a credit card.
And Yin and Yang are eleven. Maybe the rule is different for rabbits...

Yin points out that this seems oddly convenient, but Yang doesn't give a crap because now they can buy things! The guy has them sign a contract after letting it slip that he plans to rob them of their dojo and their mortal souls, so yeah, we've just been introduced to the episode's villain.

Yo, meanwhile, is outraged to discover that their house is now located in the mall. Apparently the mall wasn't built yet and they just built it around their house overnight without any of them noticing. You'd think that they would've at least heard the construction...

Just wait until Black Friday. Then Yin and Yang will discover how crappy living in a
mall really is...

Yo heads off to the food court, and we discover that the guy who owns the mall is actually Yin and Yang's enemy Ultramoose in disguise. Shouldn't Yin and Yang have noticed that the guy looks rather similar to Ultramoose when they first met him? Then again, Yin and Yang don't seem like particularly intelligent characters to me...

Dude, put that tongue back in your mouth.

Ultramoose (Tony Daniels) is affiliated with the main villain on the show, the Dark Master (David Hemblen), who appears on one of Ultramoose's TV screens. He laughs about how Yin and Yang will rack up credit card debts, which they'll have to pay for by working for him. Or maybe they could just have Yo pay the debts? Yo presumably has money, doesn't he? Or maybe he doesn't and THAT'S why Yin and Yang don't get an allowance.

Okay, I will say this... I kind of like this guy's design.

Yang buys a bunch of violent comic books, and Yin buys a hundred boxes of shoes despite the fact that she walks around barefoot 24/7. Eventually, they've bought so much junk that they've blown their entire credit card limit in just six hours.

Disguised Ultramoose tells them that they'll have to speak to the bank president, who is in fact the Night Master. He tells them that they could simply take the stuff they want to buy if they side with him. "Which makes it FREE!" Yang exclaims, only for Yin to tell him that nothing in life is free. Ultramoose then informs them that the fine print on the contract they signed allowed them to sign away the rights to their dojo - and now the Night Master owns their mortal souls.

But wait! Yin points out that the credit cards only accrue interest after the first day. That means if they can return the stuff they bought before 5:00 PM, they don't owe Ultramoose and the Night Master anything. But they'll have to hurry, because the mall closes in fifteen minutes.

"Feel the wrath of Buster Bunny!"

So Yin and Yang run around the mall returning things and beating up security guards. However, they forgot to return a necklace Yin bought, but it only cost five cents... and Yin and Yang have five cents combined! Oh, wait, they won't even have to pay for the necklace because Yin burns the contract. I don't know why she didn't just do that earlier. Then Yo actually does something for once and beats the crap out of Ultramoose.

Back home, Yo decides to give Yin and Yang an allowance. The moral of today's story is that credit cards are very dangerous things. Especially if you're two idiot eleven-year-old rabbits.

What's the Verdict?

Honestly, Yin Yang Yo! is another cartoon I found to be just okay. Yin and Yang make for amusing protagonists, the voice actors give good performances, some of the jokes legitimately are kind of funny, and it features a nice blend of comedy and action. However, the Flash animation isn't anything to write home about, there are a lot of jokes that fall flat, and the villains (with the exception of the Night Master) are lame. Also, the show has a habit of reusing jokes that were funny once over and over and over again. Seriously, in the second one alone Yang shouted "CURSE YOU, MATH!" at least six times. It gets repetitive. I dunno, maybe I just picked one of the weaker episodes, but I doubt that I'll be seeking out more episodes of Yin Yang Yo!. If you're a fan of Wow Wow Wubbzy!, at least, I'd recommend watching at least one episode since it has a very similar vibe.

And since it's been a while since I've done a movie review, my next review will be of the 1972 sequel to The Wizard of Oz, Filmation's Journey Back to Oz. Don't worry, there aren't any Wheelers or Gnome Kings in it.