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¡Mucha Lucha!

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¡Mucha Lucha! is an American-Mexican animated television series created by Eddie Mort and Lili Chin as the show follows The Three Mascaritas - Rikochet, Buena Girl, and The Flea - who study and live the "Code of Masked Wrestling"... hoping to someday become great masked wrestlers.

The test pilot was screened exclusively at Warner Bros. Animation in 2001 before the series was greenlit for a full series. The show premiered on Kids' WB on August 17, 2002, and later aired in Cartoon Network on March 5, 2004. On November 24, 2002, it was picked up by the network for Season 2 for a 2003-2004 season. On January 12, 2004, Season 3 (as ¡Mucha Lucha!: ¡Gigante!) was officially picked up by the network for a 2004-2005 season.

In August 2003, it was announced that the direct-to-video feature "The Return of El Maléfico" went into production around the same time as producing Season 2. Then, in May 15, 2004, it announced that it will first screen in public during San Diego Comic-Con 2004 event. The movie premiered at San Diego Comic-Con on July 25, 2004, then released on home video on October 5, 2004.

Plot[]

Rikochet, Buena Girl, and The Flea attend the hot spot for masked wrestling "The Foremost World-Renowned International School of Lucha". They're three kids facing the everyday challenges that growing up brings like learning how to match wits and skill against their pesky archrivals at The Hairy Knuckle Wrestling Academy. But if they study hard and live by The Code of Masked Wrestling, then someday they will become great masked wrestlers.

Cast[]

Main Cast[]

Supporting Cast[]

Guest Stars[]

Episodes[]

For more information: List of Episodes

Season
Episodes
Season Premiere
Season Finale
1
13
August 17, 2002
February 8, 2003
2
26
September 13, 2003
May 8, 2004
3
13
September 11, 2004
February 26, 2005
Direct-to-Video Movie
1
October 5, 2004

Production[]

Creation of "Lucha School" (1999-2001)[]

Under Construction!

Development (2001-2002)[]

Under Construction!

Series Production (2002-2005)[]

Under Construction!

Direct-to-Video Movie[]

See more: "The Return of El Maléfico"

"The Return of El Maléfico" follows Rikochet, Buena Girl, and The Flea as they take on the evil El Maléfico in a full-length Las Vegas adventure. When the dark force of El Maléfico, who is accidentally released, threatens the world of Lucha Libre, the three Mascaritas must rise to the challenge and send this evil from where it came. The fate of the entire universe will be decided by the outcome of their battle with El Maléfico.

Popularity and Merchandise[]

Under Construction!

Broadcast[]

The original "Lucha School" pilot was never aired in public, but was pitched in Warner Bros. Animation studio on December 17, 2001. The pilot was released and only can seen in Fwak! Animation's website along with other animated projects and commissions. Some of the clips and drawings from the pilot was also seen in "The Lucha Behind the Mucha!" as part of "Heart of Lucha (DVD)". Although, the original animated pilot was released exclusively on "The Return of El Maléfico (DVD)".

The series first premiered on Kids' WB on August 17, 2002 starting with the first two segments, "Back to School" and "Weight Gaining". The last episode of the first season aired on February 8, 2003 with the first half-hour episode "Mask-Away". The second season premiered on September 13, 2003 during The Big Kids' WB! Really Really Big Big Premiere! and ended with the last two segments, "Getting His Goat" and "10 Rounds of Trouble" on January 21, 2005. The third season which was later renamed as "¡Mucha Lucha!: ¡Gigante!" premiered on September 11, 2004 and concluded the series on February 25, 2005 with the final half-hour episode, "The Magnificent Three". Most ¡Mucha Lucha! episodes are aired on Saturday mornings on Kids' WB and the final airing of the show was May 28, 2005.

In 2003, the ratings of the show has been successful on Kids' WB and Cartoon Network acquired the show to air worldwide. ¡Mucha Lucha! aired the first episode on March 5, 2004, starting with "Back to School" and "Weight Gaining" and ended on May 8, 2004. The second season aired from July 2004 and ended on December 4. 2004. The third season doesn't have an exact air date, but would air episodes out of order due to airing the third season's airing on Kids' WB. "The Return of El Maléfico" movie premiered on Cartoon Network during Cartoon Network's Friday on March 5, 2005.

After May 2005, Kids' WB was no longer airing ¡Mucha Lucha!, while Cartoon Network continued to air the show and the movie in reruns until April 2009, while the movie also aired in reruns from July 2007 until December 2009. However, some countries rarely airs ¡Mucha Lucha! after 2010 such as Latin America, Arabia, UK, and etc. ¡Mucha Lucha! have also aired outside of Cartoon Network such as Teletoon, Kix!, Tooncast, Canal 5 and more. Some countries would aired random episodes as well as the movie due to the popularity of the show after the cancellation.

Reception[]

Under Construction!

Cancellation[]

In July 2004, Mort confirmed that "The Magnificent Three" would be the final episode for the third season. The last audio post-production of the season and the series was completed on January 8, 2005. The show had a total of 52 half-hour episodes and a direct-to-video movie.

Kids' WB was originally going to renew ¡Mucha Lucha! for the fourth season, but Warner Bros. Animation wasn't interested in producing anymore episodes. Although, during its run, the ratings were doing well for the network, but Warner Bros. had decided to end the show with a 52-episode syndication. However, there were plans for Season 4 of ¡Mucha Lucha!. According to Mort, he was planning to direct the series with Chin and becoming a new story editor for the series. There were also more stories planned for the fourth season of ¡Mucha Lucha! series. One of the story would involve El Santo's animated appearance just like Blue Demon Jr.'s appearance.

Back in 2004, ¡Mucha Lucha! had a full-length, feature film that was in development by Warner Bros. and Warner Bros. Animation. The scripts for the film were written and it was going to be produced in a different animation studio beside Bardel Entertainment. However, no plots were given, but the feature film was never produced. There was also a second direct-to-video movie planned, but with the show's cancellation and not being picked up for the fourth season, it was scrapped along with the feature film.

On February 2005, Toonzone had released Kids' WB's Fall 2005 schedule and ¡Mucha Lucha! will no longer air the show on Kids' WB. The fourth season of the show wasn't picked up and as the 52-episode would be enough to complete a successful syndication. It would be replaced with 3 new Kids' WB shows that would be in the lineup and air September 2005 such as Coconut Fred's Fruit Salad Island, Loonatics Unleashed and Johnny Test. However, it continued in reruns on Cartoon Network until December 2009.

Revival[]

¡Mucha Lucha! Para Siempre[]

In 2014, Mort and Chin had plans for a ¡Mucha Lucha! revival called "¡Mucha Lucha! Para Siempre". They have produced a 15-minute animatic with the original cast of the series. However, since 2014, Warner Bros. wasn't interested in revisiting the series and has not yet picked up the revival. The plot for the revival would focus on the main characters - Rikochet, Buena Girl, and The Flea as they are their teenage years along with other characters from the original series growing up.

¡Mucha Lucha!: Tales From The Coliseo[]

In 2017, Mort created his own 3-part, online comic "¡Mucha Lucha!: Tales From The Coliseo", which is published by Frogtown Comics and it is aimed for all ages. It was released exclusively at ISSUU with the first part released on March 31, 2017. Then in 2022, he worked on the comic and released it online on November 18, 2022. On November 30, 2022, all 3-part online comic was released at the official ¡Mucha Lucha! Para Siempre Tumblr page.

Trivia[]

  • The show was originally going to be called "Lucha School" based on the pilot. However, Warner Bros. Animation didn't allowed Mort and Chin to use the name "Lucha" in the title. The title remained nameless until 6 months later, the show was named "¡Mucha Lucha!" after the legal was taken actions for the title of the show.
    • There was a contest held at Warner Bros. for the possible title of the show, but other title suggestions weren't good.
  • It is the first animated series to be produced and animated with Adobe Flash (also known as Macromedia Flash/Flash 8) in the U.S until the program was discontinued in December 2020.
    • In terms of animation, it is the third animated series to be animated in flash, however, John Callahan's Quads!, the short-lived series which was aired on Teletoon was actually the first animated series to be produced in flash. The second animated series was Nick Jr.'s, Max and Ruby.
  • It is also the first animated series to feature all Latino characters.
  • The show delivers the target demographics of all Boys from ages 6-11.
  • The title of the show, "¡Mucha Lucha!" means lots of fighting.
  • The show inspired by the popular theatrical style of Mexican pro wrestling: Lucha Libre along with masks, costumes, and signature moves used by each character.
  • The show was officially greenlit by Kids' WB on August 27, 2001.
  • According to Eddie Mort, the show allows storyboard artists to work from the story outline allowed them to express the creativity instead of focusing on the script.
  • The difference from the episode airing outside of Kids' WB is most episodes from Season 1 and 2 aired in production order rather than airing episodes in order. The same issue occurred during Season 3's airing due to Kids' WB airing.
  • During the series' run, some fans recognized other animated series with a similar premise/theme to ¡Mucha Lucha!:
  • During the dubbing production of the show, both Spanish dub actors Héctor Emmanuel Gómez (as Rikochet) and Karla Falcón (as Buena Girl) fell in love and as the show ended, they were married. Coincidentally, the romantic relationship between Rikochet and Buena Girl could possibly foreshadow the Spanish dub actor's relationship.

Videos[]

Promos[]

Gallery[]

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Click here to visit ¡Mucha Lucha!'s Gallery!


External Links[]

References[]

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