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¡Mucha Lucha!

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¡Mucha Lucha! is an American 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 a school centered around teaching masked wrestling known as "The Foremost World-Renowned International School of Lucha". While going about their school lives, they face everyday challenges that growing up brings like learning how to match wits and skill against rivals, including against students from The Hairy Knuckle Wrestling Academy. But they vow to study hard and live by The Code of Masked Wrestling, in order to, someday, become known as the greatest Luchadors of all time.

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
January 21, 2005
3
13
September 11, 2004
February 26, 2005
Direct-to-Video Movie
1
October 5, 2004

Production

Creation of "Lucha School" (1999-2001)

When Lili Chen and Eddie Morton first created the pilot, the main characters went through several revisions. Originally, Rikochet wore a purple and silver outfit and mask, he also had a lightbulb-shaped head, but his design became a lot brighter over time and his colors changed to red and blue while also becoming more compact and cute. Buena Girl was originally known as Super Nina and she also had a different color scheme, her outfit was mostly white with yellow eyebrows, highlighted with neon green outlines, red bands around her waist and arms, also highlighted with neon green outlines, purple eyeholes for her mask, purple boots and a red ponytail. The Flea was originally called La Cucaracha and wore a dark green costume before his name was changed to Roach Boy, to Roach, and finally to The Flea. His outfit also changed to brown with his nature becoming more like an animal.

Development (2001-2002)

Co-creator Eddie Mort commented that Harvey Comics, 1960s Hanna-Barbera, Ralph Bakshi, and Ren & Stimpy influenced all his work, including ¡Mucha Lucha![1] In an interview for a behind the scene look at the making of the show called The Lucha Behind The Mucha, he explained that he had been a fan of wrestling since he was a kid, but then, when he was older, someone introduced him to Mexican wrestling, Lucha Libre, and it seemed to him like American wrestling, only more colorful, more masks and more action. When presented with the idea of what the signature moves of each of the wrestlers in the show would be, both Lili Chen and Eddie Morton decided to take the idea of signature moves to the extreme by having the characters transform into things, such as Rikochet's Pulverizing Pinball, Buena Girl's Buena Bulldozer of Truth, etc.

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 see 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 were May 28, 2005.

In 2003, the ratings of the show have 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 June 4, 2004. The second season aired from July 2004 and ended in January 2005. The third season aired on Cartoon Network from August 15, 2005, until September 1, 2005, with the series finale, "The Magnificent Three". "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 air ¡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 air random episodes as well as the movie due to the popularity of the show after the cancellation.

Reception

Under Construction!

Awards and Nominations

Award Category Nominee Result Source
19th Annual Imagen Foundation Awards Best Children’s Programming ¡Mucha Lucha! Nominated [2]
51st Golden Reels Award Best Sound Editing in Television Animation "The Littlest Luchadora" Nominated [3][4]
20th Annual Imagen Foundation Awards Best Children’s Programming ¡Mucha Lucha! Nominated [5]
53rd Golden Reels Award Best Sound Editing in Television Animation "Niko Sushi's Happy Battle Funtime Dome 3000!"/"Smarticus" Nominated [6][7]

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 were written by an outside studio and commisioned to Mort and Chin, in which they thought that it wasn't a very good script.[8] It was also going to be produced in a different animation studio beside Bardel Entertainment. The feature film was still in development after the series ended, but unfortunately it was never produced. The film also had no plots or premise given that the development had scripting issues. There were ideas for a second direct-to-video movie, but with the show's cancellation and not being picked up for the fourth season, it was scrapped.

In 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 allow 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 & Ruby.
  • It is the first animated series to feature most Latino characters.
    • Despite the show having Mexican-themed culture and references, ¡Mucha Lucha! is very popular in Latin America, specifically Mexico.
  • 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.
  • ¡Mucha Lucha! was officially greenlit by Kids' WB and started production 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 Seasons 1 and 2 are aired in production order, rather than airing episodes in order. The same issue occurred during Season 3's airing due to Kids' WB airing.
  • Outside of the show, Mort has recently produced two animation projects dedicated to ¡Mucha Lucha!, in which they are both available to watch on Youtube: "¡Mucha Lucha!: Rise of the Undercard", an animation tribute, produced in 2021 and a ¡Mucha Lucha!-inspired animated series, "Room 208" as of June 2024.

Videos

Promos

Gallery

Click here to view the gallery for ¡Mucha Lucha!.
Click here to visit ¡Mucha Lucha!'s Gallery!

External Links

References

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  1. ↑ The End of ¡Mucha Lucha! featuring co-creator Eddie Mort
  2. ↑ 19th Annual Imagen Foundation Awards Recipients
  3. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20040812090525/http://www.mpse.org/All%20Nominees2003/NomList.html
  4. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20040221222739/http://www.mpse.org/All%20Nominees2003/BSETVA-MX.html
  5. ↑ 20th Annual Imagen Foundation Awards Recipients
  6. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20060806015825/http://www.mpse.org/goldenreels/tvnominees.html
  7. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20060806133158/http://www.mpse.org/goldenreels/nominations/2005nominees/05animatedtv.pdf
  8. ↑ [1]
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