One late afternoon not too long ago I found myself flipping through the channels looking for something to watch. Soap operas, lame TV movies, Price is Right (when is Barker going to stop?) and cartoons littered my television. I was just about to give up when right then and there I came across Xiaolin Showdown. I had my thumb on the button to go to the next channel but for some reason I hesitated. After a couple of minutes I found myself overwhelmed with a slight sense of embarrassment. I was really getting into a kid's show.

Sure the plot was simplistic and the characters were stereotypical. The saving grace here was the personality and witty dialogue. There was just a sense of fun surrounding the show that I, as an adult, was able to enjoy along with its target audience.

In case you are unaware of Xiaolin Showdown, take a trip through the cereal isle at your local grocer and check out the boxes plastered with images of the characters. This Warner Bros. series has proven itself popular enough to run for three seasons with a fourth one currently up in the air it seems. If you want to do more than read cereal boxes though, the first season has just arrived on DVD with all 13 episodes on two discs.

Xiaolin Showdown presents a premise not unlike other mainstream action-oriented cartoons. A squad of four heroes fights against an evil genius who wants to take over the world. In order to accomplish this they need to collect several mystical artifacts scattered across the globe and use them to defeat their foe. The four main characters each represent an element and some support characters pop in to help from time to time. Thankfully they don't call themselves the Planeteers ("The power is yours!").

Admittedly every one of the pieces that make up this show seems stereotypical on paper. For starters the whole mystical artifact collecting is a little too similar to Pokemon's "gotta catch em all" mentality. Every kid's show needs a hook to keep them coming back every week though so it's really no surprise because this formula is tried and true. Several of the characters feel a little too generic as well and don't really receive the development they need to enable them to grow beyond the stereotype. Some episodes even employ age-old plot twists that are predictable beyond reason. However, even though there are many color-by-number cartoon rules followed here, this show just crackles with energy.

The center of attention in Xiaolin Showdown is a young Xiaolin monk named Omi. Orphaned and left at the Xiaolin Temple Omi has been trained since birth to be a fearsome warrior. Easily the most skilled of the heroes in terms of kung fu, Omi tries to always look on the bright side of things. He's also very mischievous and leaps before thinking. Frequently Omi is the butt of jokes, mostly due to his poor grasp of English slang. My favorite miss-quote of his in this first season was easily "Talk about erotic timing!" when he meant to say rotten timing.

Omi is arguably the star of the show but new friends Clay, Raimundo, and Kimiko show up to round out the elemental Xiaolin Dragons. Clay is the stereotypical cowboy American from Texas who is large and in charge. He has a penchant for lassoing things and getting a hankering for BBQ from time to time. Kimiko is Japanese and frequently changes her appearance in each episode. She is addicted to her cel-phone, PDA, and gaming devices. Unfortunately she doesn't get a lot of development in this first season. Raimundo the Brazilian gets some of the most development of these three as the show moves forward and his character becomes pivotal in some later plot twists.

Together the four warriors team up to track down the magical Shen Gong Wu artifacts and collect them before the evil Jack Spicer can get his hands on them. Spicer is a red-headed kid affiliated with Heylin (the bad guys) who is trying to take over the world with the ghost of a 1500 year old witch named Wuya. Once one of the Shen Gong Wu becomes activated the two sides make a mad dash to recover the relic. Sometimes the good guys get to them and other times the bad guys do, but when they reach the same destination and touch the artifact at the same time a Xiaolin Showdown occurs.

A Showdown is basically a one on one contest to see who gains possession of the new Shen Gong Wu. Prior artifacts from their collections are put up as ante and several times across the first 13 episodes here items such as the Sword of Storms and the Fist of Tebigong trade hands more than once. The thing that I grew to enjoy about Xiaolin Showdown was even though the good guys typically emerge victorious, the bad guys have their day as well.

Spicer frequently wins Showdown's and his collection of Shen Gong Wu sometimes matches, or surpasses, that of the Xiaolin monks. Later in the season the bad guys win some more rounds and the last episode ends on a "join the Dark Side" kind of moment with a dramatic cliffhanger. That being said not every one of these episodes is really worth the trouble of going through.

I found "Big as Texas", "My Homey Omi", and "Ring of the Nine Dragons" to be the weaker episodes of the bunch. They are important to the story for the Shen Gong Wu they introduce, but overall they were pretty skip worthy in my opinion. "Big as Texas" held the most merit thanks to the development of Clay, but to be honest it was pretty weak.

On the plus side, just about every other episode here is worth checking out. "Like a Rock" was the episode that hooked me thanks to the fact that the Xialoin Dragons square off against a magical mime. "Katnappe!" was a fun episode that introduced the Heylin Cat-Woman-like character, Katnappe. There were several great parts in this episode and it also brought the Golden Tiger Claws Shen Gon Wu into the picture, which give their user the ability to transport anywhere they want to.

I really got a kick out of "Night of the Sapphire Dragon." This episode featured a deadly Shen Gong Wu that by itself could destroy the world. A sapphire dragon is reborn and quickly goes about the temple making sapphire-zombie statues out of everybody it comes in contact with. The only thing standing in its way is Dojo, the mini dragon, and a couple bottles of Clay's hot sauce. For my money though, the best episode in this season was "Mala Mala Jong". Wuya uses a collection of specific Shen Gong Wu to revive an indestructible monster known as Mala Mala Jong. It destroys the Xiaolin temple and sets its eyes on destroying the Xiaolin Dragons after that. It had some of the best moments from this season and brought about the change in Raimundo's character.

The progression of the story here is largely episodic, but there are references and plotlines that link to previous episodes. From start to finish this is a very strong first season and even though there are a few duds in the 13 episodes, I was thoroughly entertained. There is a bit of animated violence, as to be expected, but this is a show that kids and their parents can enjoy watching together. I never thought I'd say it, but Xiaolin Showdown is good, clean kung fu fun for the whole family.

Originally airing in 2003 Xiaolin Showdown is presented with a 1.33:1 full frame aspect ratio. The video quality is virtually without flaw and the presentation is so vibrant that it absolutely pops. My only real complaint with the transfer here is that some aliasing is evident in most scenes. There wasn't really any grain to complain about or noticeable compression artifacts though, so the rest of the DVD looks pretty darn good.

With English, French, and Spanish as the spoken languages this DVD receives 2.0 stereo treatments all around. That's unfortunate for this show because there is a ton of action, music, and dialogue that could have been well served by a 5.1 surround track. Alas that is not the case and we're stuck with an acceptable quality presentation, albeit one with subdued and sometimes clustered audio. No subtitles are included on this release.

The only "extra" packed onto the first season of Xiaolin Showdown is a collection of trailers. Disappointing to say the least!

From start to finish I had a lot of fun with Xiaolin Showdown. This is one of those rare shows that adults can actually enjoy watching with their children. The series is more goofy than serious but kids will get into the search for the Shen Gong Wu and fall in love with Omi. If you have a child that is into kung fu, or you are just looking for an enjoyable way to pass the time with, Xiaolin Showdown may be the show you're looking for.

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