The Emperor's New School facts for kids
Quick facts for kids The Emperor's New School |
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| Genre | Comedy |
| Created by | Mark Dindal |
| Written by |
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| Directed by |
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| Theme music composer | Danny Jacob |
| Opening theme | "Kuzco Academy" |
| Composer(s) | Michael Tavera |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 52 (list of episodes) |
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| Executive producer(s) | Bobs Gannaway |
| Running time | 22 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Walt Disney Television Animation |
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| Original release | January 27, 2006 – November 20, 2008 |
The Emperor's New School is an animated TV show from America. It was created by Mark Dindal and aired on Disney Channel. The show ran for two seasons, from January 2006 to November 2008.
This series is a follow-up to the 2000 movie The Emperor's New Groove. It also came after the movie Kronk's New Groove, which was released straight to video in 2005. The story is about Kuzco, a young emperor-to-be. He has to graduate from Kuzco Academy to become the official emperor.
Yzma, Kuzco's former advisor, tries to stop him. She wants to become empress herself. Her helper is Kronk. Kuzco gets help from a kind villager named Pacha and a smart student named Malina. The show is full of funny physical comedy. Kuzco often talks directly to the audience, which makes the show unique.
The Walt Disney Company decided to make the series because The Emperor's New Groove was very popular when shown on TV. Most of the original movie's voice actors returned for the show. J. P. Manoux took over as Kuzco, and Fred Tatasciore voiced Pacha for the first season. John Goodman, the original Pacha, returned for season two. The show used traditional 2D animation. This helped keep the unique art style of the movie. They chose a high school setting to show Kuzco learning how to be a better person. It also allowed for stories about everyday teenage challenges.
New School first aired in January 2006 on several platforms. These included Disney Channel, ABC, and Toon Disney. The series ended after Eartha Kitt passed away in 2008. You can watch both seasons by downloading them or streaming them on Disney+. Critics had mixed feelings about New School. Some liked the humor and voice acting. Others found Kuzco a bit annoying.
Contents
What the Show is About
Story and Main Characters
The Emperor's New School follows Kuzco. He is a confident, sometimes rude, emperor-in-training. To become the true emperor of the Kuzconian Empire, he must graduate from Kuzco Academy. He finds this out on his birthday, when he expected to become emperor. Instead, he is kicked out of his palace!
Even though the show is set in the ancient Inca time, Kuzco Academy looks like a modern American high school. The stories often focus on Kuzco learning important life lessons. He learns about friendship and working hard. The show also deals with things like peer pressure, self-esteem, and being responsible.
Kuzco's old royal advisor, Yzma, pretends to be the school principal, Amzy. She constantly tries to stop Kuzco from graduating. If he doesn't graduate, she can become empress herself. Yzma wants revenge because Kuzco treated her badly when she was his advisor. In the first season, Yzma often turns Kuzco into an animal. She uses potions from her secret lab to mess up his schoolwork.
Kronk, Yzma's loyal helper, pretends to be a student at Kuzco Academy. Even though he works for Yzma, Kronk is not as mean as she is. He mostly helps her because he is very loyal.
As a student, Kuzco lives with the kind peasant Pacha. He lives with Pacha's wife, Chicha, and their children, Chaca, Tipo, and Yupi. Their simple home is very different from Kuzco's fancy palace. Pacha acts like a father figure to Kuzco. He helps him with his school assignments. For example, Pacha once helped Kuzco train for a race in gym class.
Kuzco also gets help from Malina. She is a cheerleader and the "president of every club." Malina is smart and popular. She often challenges Kuzco and tells him off for being self-centered and spoiled. Kuzco has a crush on Malina. He often calls her a "hottie hot hottie."
Other characters include the Royal Records Keeper and Kuzco's teacher, Mr. Moleguaco. Mr. Moleguaco's name is a funny play on "guacamole." He is a wise and helpful teacher. But he can also get frustrated by Kuzco's silly behavior.
How the Show Connects and is Funny
New School is the second follow-up to the 2000 movie The Emperor's New Groove. It came after the 2005 video movie Kronk's New Groove. The TV series takes place after the events of The Emperor's New Groove. It started about a month after Kronk's New Groove was released.
The show uses many jokes and references from the original movie. For example, Yzma often gets hurt when Kronk pulls the wrong lever to her secret lab. Also, Kronk often makes his special spinach puffs.
There are a few small differences in the story between the show and the movie. For instance, Kuzco goes back to being self-centered. This seems to undo the changes he made in the movie. Also, Yzma is human again in New School. In the movie, she was last seen as a cat. Kronk mentions Yzma's cat form in one episode. Her return to being human is explained in Kronk's New Groove.
The series uses funny physical actions and clever jokes for kids. One writer said the humor was like old-fashioned comedy shows. Kuzco often talks directly to the audience. He even stops scenes to make sarcastic comments or draw his ideas on paper. These drawings became a running joke and even an entire episode. The show's executive producer, Bobs Gannaway, said these audience interactions gave the show a "modern feel."
The show also uses funny, quiet pauses in its conversations. This was inspired by the Austin Powers movies. One reviewer said the show's humor was better for older kids. The stories often dealt with common problems teens face. The school setting felt very much like a modern American high school. It had common things like the overachiever (Malina), bad cafeteria food, and a gym teacher who didn't accept excuses. New School also included modern ideas, like an episode about an Inca version of Christmas (Giftmas) and Santa Claus (Papa Santos).
How the Show Was Made
Idea and Beginning
The Emperor's New Groove movie didn't do as well in theaters as other Disney films. But when it was shown on Disney's TV channels, many people watched it. Its first showing on Disney Channel in 2002 got very high ratings. Millions of kids and tweens watched it. Reruns of the movie kept getting high ratings for the next three years. When shown on Toon Disney, the movie greatly increased the channel's audience. The film was also very popular when sold on VHS and DVD.
Because the movie was so popular after its theater release, Disney decided to make New School. This was according to Gary Marsh, who worked for Disney Channels. The series was first announced in 2004. It was planned for a 2006 release. Its first name idea was The Emperor's New Skool, with a funny spelling.
Bobs Gannaway was asked to be the executive producer for the spin-off series. He had worked on other Disney TV shows before. These included Timon & Pumbaa and Lilo & Stitch: The Series. He was known for expanding on existing Disney movies. Mark Dindal, the director of New Groove, approved Gannaway's involvement. Dindal was named the creator of the series. Howy Parkins and David Knott were the directors. The main writers were Dindal, Kevin Campbell, and Ed Scharlach. New School was Disney's last spin-off series for kids above preschool age until 2017.
The writers chose a school setting for the show. They felt it would be a good way to explore Kuzco's lack of social skills. Gannaway said the episodes would have "socially redeeming stories." Kuzco would learn to solve problems with his teachers and classmates. He also said New School was special. Unlike most Disney movies, The Emperor's New Groove had a funny main character. Other Disney movies usually have serious main characters with funny sidekicks. Gannaway knew viewers might not like Kuzco at first because he was selfish. But he hoped the show would make him a "sympathetic jerk." Someone who "really doesn't know any better."
Voice Actors
Most of the voice actors from the movie returned for the TV series. Eartha Kitt and Patrick Warburton came back as Yzma and Kronk. Kitt loved playing Yzma. She said kids knew her name and asked her to say Yzma's lines. She felt happy that it meant she was "still alive and still wanted!" While working on New School, Warburton also voiced characters in four other shows. One of these was the Disney Channel show Kim Possible.
J. P. Manoux replaced David Spade as the voice of Kuzco. David Spade was the original voice in The Emperor's New Groove. Spade had voiced Kuzco again for Kronk's New Groove. But Manoux had already voiced Kuzco in other projects. These included The Emperor's New Groove video game and an episode of House of Mouse. Manoux first voiced Kuzco in a DVD extra for The Emperor's New Groove. Critics said Manoux's Kuzco sounded so much like Spade's that it was almost an impression.
John Goodman, the original voice for Pacha, was replaced by Fred Tatasciore for New School. Some news outlets mistakenly said Brian Cummings voiced Pacha. But Cummings only voiced other small characters. Goodman returned to voice Pacha for the second season.
Bob Bergen and Wendie Malick returned as Bucky the squirrel and Chicha. Bergen said he and Warburton had good chemistry in their scenes, even though they didn't record together. He joked they were like a famous comedy duo when edited together.
The rest of the main cast included Jessica DiCicco as Malina. Shane Baumel voiced Tipo. Rip Taylor was the Royal Records Keeper. Curtis Armstrong played Mr. Moleguaco. Famous Guest appearances included Miley and Noah Cyrus, Joey Lawrence, Gabriel Iglesias, and Dylan and Cole Sprouse.
Animation and Music
New School used traditional 2D animation. This was done by Toon City and Wang Film Productions. They decided not to use Flash animation. They wanted to keep the art style of The Emperor's New Groove. The show focused on making the characters stand out. The original movie made characters look "flatter" against simple backgrounds. This helped them "pop." The show aimed to continue this style. Each episode took about nine months to make. Around 16 to 17 episodes were being made at the same time.
Janis Liebhart helped write the theme music, "Kuzco Academy." Danny Jacob produced it. It's a "rocking march song" and a "college fight song" where Kuzco brags about himself. Jacob had written theme music for Lilo & Stitch: The Series before. He became a frequent composer for Disney. Jacob also wrote, produced, and arranged other songs for New School. Michael Tavera was the show's main composer. He arranged one song called "New Kid Ozker."
Laura Dickinson sang some songs for the show. These included "Let's Brock," "Kuzco Dance," "Our Academy," and "Kronk for Hire." For the episode "Yzmopolis," Kitt recorded a song with the same name. She also did a special intro for that episode. After recording "Yzmopolis," Kitt said she "loved every minute of singing" it. She felt that singing gave her character "an added and vital layer." She even said, "May Yzma sing forever and often!"
Episodes
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
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| First aired | Last aired | |||
| 1 | 21 | January 27, 2006 | November 11, 2006 | |
| 2 | 31 | June 23, 2007 | November 20, 2008 | |
See also
In Spanish: The Emperor's New School para niños
