| The Life and Times of Juniper Lee | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Animated series, Adventure, Action, Fantasy, comedy, |
| Created by | Judd Winick |
| Directed by | Frank Squillace |
| Voices of | Lara Jill Miller Kath Soucie Carlos Alazraqui Amy Hill Alexander Polinsky Colleen O'Shaughnessey Candi Milo Tara Strong Phil LaMarr |
| Opening theme | You Can't Stop the Girl by Copeland |
| Ending theme | You Can't Stop the Girl Instrumental |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 40 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 22 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Cartoon Network Studios |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Cartoon Network |
| Original run | May 30, 2005 – April 9, 2007 |
The Life and Times of Juniper Lee is an American animated television series, created by Judd Winick and produced by Cartoon Network Studios. The show premiered on Cartoon Network on May 30, 2005. The series ended on April 9, 2007. In recent news a DVD was released for season 1 on August 17, 2011 in region 4 and has been released on iTunes.
Contents |
The series centers on the life of a pre-teen girl, named Juniper Lee, who lives in Orchid Bay City. Based on Winick's adopted hometown of San Francisco, California, the city is a hub for magical activity and is filled with various monsters and demons, both good and evil. The magic and human worlds have been separated by a magical barrier, known as "The Veil," which prevents ordinary humans from seeing any magic-related events or the creatures related to them. Juniper has recently been made the new Te Xuan Ze, the protector and the keeper of the balance between the human and magic worlds. To accomplish her task, she has been magically enhanced, making her far stronger and faster than ordinary humans. She can also use various kinds of magic to assist her. Maintaining the balance often interferes with her personal life, including her schoolwork and her social life, but she always manages to keep everything flowing. The show has a fairly campy and light-hearted take on the genre, often makes fun of itself, and rarely seems to take itself seriously.
Winick has stated that Juniper Lee was inspired by both The Simpsons and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Juniper does follow in the footsteps of Buffy, as stated in the quote below:
Interviewer: We’ve touched on just about everything else, so hit us with the high concept. Sum up the show for us… Judd: I’m sounding like a broken record, but it's kind of like Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets The Simpsons. That's the simplest way to put it. At the end of the day, it's about a little girl who fights monsters. There's a rather massive backstory to the whole thing, which really provides a spine to build from. I've only tapped into it a little in the show, but for me, knowing it's there is important. The show needs a spine, and needs a place to work from...[1]
Juniper Lee (voiced by Lara Jill Miller) is the main character of the series. This eleven-year-old Chinese-American girl lives in Orchid Bay City, and is the current Te Xuan Ze. Juniper is relatively uneducated in the world of magic, mostly relying on brute force, a real talent for insults, and the advice of her grandmother, Ah-Mah, and her enchanted dog, Monroe, to defeat her foes. She has long black hair, and after she inherits the powers of the Te Xuan Ze, a lock of hair on the left side changes to pure white from root to end (Juniper's grandmother Jasmine, the former Te Xuan Ze, has the same stripe in her hair) and Juniper later dyes this reddish-pink. The juniper flower symbolizes protection, referring to Juniper's role as the Te Xuan Ze, protecting others. She wishes to go to astronaut camp, but cannot because she can't leave Orchid Bay City while she is the Te Xuan Ze. She has a hopeful romance with Marcus.
Jasmine Lee, or "Ah-Mah" (Chinese: 阿嬤; pinyin: Ā-mā; literally "grandma", voiced by Amy Hill) as Juniper calls her, is Juniper's grandmother, and the previous Te Xuan Ze. Many in the magical world consider her to be the greatest Te Xuan Ze ever. Calm and deliberate in most respects but crude and tough when she needs to be, the 69-year-old gives June advice on dealing with the magical community and their expectations of her, and assists her when she is in serious trouble. As of the "Monster Con" episode, Ah-Mah was shown to still possess a significant amount of magically-enhanced speed and strength, though her stamina and durability are severely diminished (in comparison to her granddaughter who has superhuman strength) to the point of being unable to stand unassisted after two to three minutes of combat (this is because of her old age). This supports her assertion in the first episode - that it was no longer her place to act as Te Xuan Ze - and is pragmatic, in the sense that it prevents June from shirking her responsibilities. In "Little Big Mah", she claims that she knows about 26 different styles of hand-to-hand combat, and that she hasn't been to China for 40 years (as Roxanne: "I haven't been to China in 40 years! Uh, I mean weeks. For weeks."). When she was young, she dyed the white streak in her hair purple.
Ray Ray Lee (voiced by Kath Soucie) is Juniper's hyperactive eight-year-old little brother. Like Juniper, Ray Ray can see through the magic barrier, though this is not a naturally-occurring ability. In the episodes after "Star Quality", he is occasionally seen watching monster TV. When Juniper first gained her powers, a group of demons attempted to drain her powers. Ray Ray unwittingly intervened, causing some of her powers to transfer to him, as seen in "Adventures in Babysitting". Whether or not he'll gain other powers similar to hers remains to be seen, as Ah-Mah has implied that he may over time.
He is hyperactive and careless, and often gets himself into trouble when dealing with the magic world. Ray Ray is often over-eager in regards to the magic world, finding every single event involving it, no matter how bad or ominous, to be "cooool." A recurring joke about him is that asks if he has ever run out of energy, where someone would say, "but there's always a first time." He also has a sibling rivalry relationship with Juniper, although it is often seen that he cares for her deeply. Since episode "Feets too big", he has a crush on Lila, the Sasquatch. In the episodes after "O Brother, What Art Thou?", Ray Ray is a homunculus, his mind having been transferred to an artificial body after accidentally mutating his original body into a massive monster by ingesting the growth potion that was supposed to make a giant grow back to his proper size. In "Meet the Parent", Monroe states that Ray Ray has a bladder control problem, though this has never been confirmed, save in "The World According to LARP" when Juniper said that he wet his pants on the jungle gym once, and again in "Dream Date" where he has trouble making it to the bathroom after drinking punch. Since he is very young still, it is probable he will outgrow these tendencies. In "Te Xuan Me", where after Juniper was erased from knowledge he took up being the Te Xuan Ze, and being particularly skilled at his position, even earning Monroe's praise. However, after everything was set back to normal, Ray Ray started to study in magic spells as a way to help his sister in future battles.
Monroe Connery Boyd Carlyle McGregor Scott V (Monroe for short, voiced by Carlos Alazraqui) is an enchanted pug that speaks with a Scottish accent and sounds similar to the eponymous ogre of the movie Shrek. He is quite educated in the world of magic, having been alive for several centuries and assisting each Te Xuan Ze for nearly that entire time. Despite his knowledge, his ability to actually use magic or magical devices is fairly limited, due to his lack of grasping hands or opposable thumbs (according to Ray Ray, he uses this as an excuse for everything). Monroe has been magically enhanced, allowing him to be understood by those who can see through the magic barrier. Anyone else listening to him will only hear barking. He is also lactose intolerant.
Dennis (voiced by Alexander Polinsky) is Juniper's sixteen-year-old brother. Unlike his siblings, he is unable to see through the magic barrier, unless he wears a special talisman. Despite this, Dennis is a hardcore fantasy enthusiast, doing regular larping sessions with his friends. This interest makes other people, particularly Monroe and Ray Ray, taunt him about his love life (or lack thereof). Often very moody and sullen, Dennis has very little interest in the activities of his younger siblings, whom he usually tries to ignore as much as possible, although his rivalry with June and Ray Ray has gotten weaker in Season 3. Dennis often watches television over at Ah-Mah's. More than little is known about his relationship with Ah-Mah as relevant by the comment: Ah-Mah: Hello, Dennis, sweetheart, how are you doing. Dennis: Fine. 'long awkward pause' Ah-Mah: the T.V.'s in the den. Dennis: I know where it is.
In spite of this, the Lee siblings have a garage band together, called the Short Angry Freuds (each sibling chose one word). Because he plays bass, June says that nobody notices him, implying that he is the least important member of the group. However, he is a decent musician. The band is originally from Winick's comic strip Frumpy the Clown. Dennis is Monroe's favorite, as in Adventures in Babysitting, when he said: Monroe: That boy has spunk. Ah-Mah: Spunk, is that what they call children who watch T.V. all day? Spunk?.
Dennis seems to have a crush on Jody, as hinted by "Dream Date", often trying to 'act cool' whenever he sees her. In "Sealed with a Fist," Dennis had built up an immunity to the memory-erasing goblin dust, so June revealed to him about the magical world and her secret life. At the end of the episode, Monroe was ready to erase Dennis' memory with an Amnesio stone, but June said not to, figuring it might be good to have Dennis in on the secret. Monroe has noted that Dennis is actually better with magic than June due to his constant role-playing, which was based on real magic. He enjoys video games, and would like to own a pet snake as seen in "Meet the Parent".
One of Juniper's best friends, Jody Irwin (voiced by Colleen O'Shaughnessey) is the smartest girl in school, and the best cheerleader. She has an extremely bright and cheerful personality, and is the type of person who most likely won't misbehave and will always stick close to her friends. She always does her best to look at the bright side of life, rarely becoming upset about anything, though she is distressed by June's lack of punctuality and tendency to disappear occasionally. Two major exceptions being the disproportionate amount of attention her parents pay to her sister Rachael (leading to extreme, if not humorous, anger) and being thoroughly personally attacked during her run for Class President in "Citizen June" (leading to a sobbing fit once she was in relative privacy). She also seems to suspect about June and magic more than Ophelia and Roger, as seen in "Every Witch Way But Loose" at the end of which she witnessed June's acrobatic skills. Due to Rachael's bat mitzvah ceremony in episode "There's no Mitzvah Like Snow Mitzvah", it's strongly hinted that Jody and her family have Jewish descendance. A running gag seen is that she overly prepares for anything, being buying many different sunscreen for different parts of her body, to when the meteor was passing by, she stocked piled on food just in case the meteor would crash into the Earth (which ironically it did).
Another of Juniper's best friends. Ophelia Ramírez (voiced by Candi Milo), is a glum and deadpan Mexican-American punk rocker/goth girl who would not be caught wearing, listening to, or even associating with anything mainstream. She even calls her evil clone "a poser" during the ending credits of "Picture Day". As we learned in "Magic Takes A Holiday" and "Take My Life, Please", she will go out of character if need be. Being from a Mexican-American family, Ophelia can speak fluent Spanish. Ophelia seems to be emotionless, but in "Take My Life, Please", "Who's your daddy", and "Make Me Up Before You Go-Go", she laughs a little, and in "The Kids Stay in the Picture" she actually cried because she told June that she is her best friend but has no idea why because June is always running away (because of being the Te Xuan Ze). Ophelia's natural hair color is blonde (which is odd for her heritage), but she dyes it pink and violet. One of her other friends, Roger, according to her, is a dork, and in "Enter Sandman" she wouldn't let him stay for the sleep over, and in that episode, she has a dream sequence with him in a happy pink setting that she refers to as "A nightmare". When choosing whether or not to go out on a date with Roger, she comments that she'd rather put her head in a bucket of cockroaches instead, as seen in "Dream Date". In "Citizen June", she seems to be very close to Jody, as seen when she commented on how happy she looks and again when she stood up to Melissa O'Malley after seeing Jody cry during her speech while June was finding the Vindolf Hobgoblin, and as a result of her speech, she (unwittingly) becomes elected for class president after earning more votes than Juniper or Melissa. In general, Ophelia has an unfriendly attitude on the outside, but on the inside she is a great friend, as she stands up for her friends. She finds Jody and Roger to be annoying, but as she said in "Citizen June", keep your friends close and your stupid friends even closer. Roger has a hinted crush on Ophelia in the 1st and 2nd season, and the same perhaps goes for Ophelia, except, she hasn't admitted it yet although Ophelia does show that she cares about Roger.
Roger Radcliffe (voiced by Tara Strong) is the type of English-American person who tries to follow every trend and stay cool, only to achieve the exact opposite result. In Episode "Take my life, Please" it is learned that he comes from a wealthy family, and his parents somewhat and cluelessly take his jokes as being funny and amusing. Despite this, he is a somewhat lovable and yet annoying at the same time. In "Magic Takes A Holiday", when Juniper was kidnapped by Dimitri the Terrible, who wasn't observing Edipan, a magic holiday, Roger had to fill in as the title character Jack instead of his original character of the Village Idiot during the production of Stalk: The Rocksical and, according to Ophelia, was "good".
Along with being handsome and popular, Marcus Conner (voiced by Phil LaMarr) is one cool African-American boy. Juniper has a big crush on him, although she won't admit it. Despite being part of the in-crowd, Marcus is friends with everyone and often looks out for Juniper. He never gets caught up in his popularity and is always laid-back. As we see in "Enter Sandman", it was Juniper's dream to marry Marcus, after getting advice from Ah-Mah saying she had to fall asleep in order to go into the dream realm without being a visitor. His last name is first mentioned in "Meet the Parent".
Michael Lee (voiced by Carlos Alazraqui) and his wife Barbara (voiced by Candi Milo) are the parents of Juniper, Ray Ray, and Dennis. Michael is Jasmine's only child, and was supposed to wind up being the Te Xuan Ze after Ah-Mah; however, the trait skipped him and ended up with Juniper instead. Michael works with Mr. Radcliffe; his occupation is unknown. His wife, Barbara is a kind and caring mother. She will not, however, tolerate academic problems. Like her husband, she can't see magic or enchanted beings. She loves her children and will discipline them occasionally. One example is in "Monster in My Backyard" when she said: Oh and if Ray Ray blows up another potato in the microwave, he's grounded until he's 30.
Ms. Gomez (voiced by Candi Milo) is a Mexican-American teacher at Juniper's school. While it's never shown, Ray Ray mentions in the episode "The World According to L.A.R.P." that he once accidentally turned her into a rhinoceros; he still thinks she was happier that way.
William (voiced by Martin Jarvis) is Monroe's father, who previously served as the assistant to the Te Xuan Ze, and constantly teases Monroe about his weight. Although being a dog, he has a short beard. He seems more proud of his Scottish ancestry than Monroe, as he is seen wearing a kilt and tam o'shanter.
Melissa O'Malley (voiced by Tara Strong) is Juniper's Irish-American school diva rival who is jealous of June because June has a boyfriend (Marcus) and she doesn't which is why she plans on breaking June and Marcus apart so that she can steal Marcus from June. She is accompanied by two girls who help her with her plans against June and her friends, the girls' names are unknown.
Cletus and Gus (voiced by Jeff Bennett and Dee Bradley Baker) are two recurring monsters on this show.
Lila (voiced by Tara Strong) is the only Bigfoot. She is significantly smarter and bigger than other Sasquatch. She likes movies. Ray Ray is also seen to have a crush on her (even when she was hairy). In "Make Me Up Before You Go-Go", Lila claims herself to be an herbivore, although she was shown to have fangs when she got angry at Jody's sister Rachel. She helped June find her and Roger's parents (whom were captured by a lost Bigfoot named Charlie Paulsen), as well as helping her defeat a Brown Back Mountain Troll and returning a mountain lion's cubs to their mother. Later on, Monroe uses an Exfoliax Charm to remove most of her excess hair so that she could pass for human. She enrolls at Juniper's school to learn more about humans. She has super strength, reflexes on a par with Juniper's, and knows a ton about surviving and grooming skills in the woods, which as a cover states her parents were forest rangers. For some reason she is completely absent after "Make me up before you go-go" only to return in the final episode. She may be based on Roxie, another Sasquatch disguised as a human from Judd Winick's comic book series Adventures of Barry Ween, Boy Genius; this along with many similar incidences between the two when trying to adapt to human life, most noticeably trying to carry a mountain of books in their bag.
Short for Heroes Against Terrible Evildoers, H.A.T.E. is a superhero group whose members include:
They were brought to life by Dennis to help Juniper and Boomfist fight L.O.V.E.
Juniper Lee has fought various threats to the human and magical world. Here are some of the known enemies of Juniper Lee:
The Life and Times of Juniper Lee features a wide array of magical characters, most of which only appear in specific episodes. A few are recurring, but those few contribute very little overall, usually only appearing to deliver a warning or for comedic effect.