The Life and Times of Juniper Lee
| The Life and Times of Juniper Lee | |
|---|---|
| File:JuniperLee.jpg From left to right: Monroe, Juniper Lee, and Ray Ray. | |
| Created by | Judd Winick |
| Starring | Lara Jill Miller Kath Soucie Carlos Alazraqui Amy Hill Alexander Polinsky Candi Milo Colleen O'Shaughnessey Tara Strong Phil LaMarr |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 39 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 22 minutes approx. |
| Original release | |
| Network | Cartoon Network |
| Release | May 30, 2005 – Present |
The Life and Times of Juniper Lee (also known as Juniper Lee for short), is an American animated television series, created by Judd Winick and produced by Cartoon Network Studios. The series premiered on Cartoon Network on May 30, 2005. As of April 2006, the show currently airs on Cartoon Network with new episodes Fridays at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT.
The series centers on the life of a pre-teen girl, named Juniper Lee, who lives in Orchid Bay City. The city is a hub for magical activity, and is filled with various demons, both good and evil, at all times. The magic and human worlds have been separated by a magical barrier, preventing ordinary humans from seeing any magic-related events or the creatures related to them. Juniper has recently been made the new Te Xuan Ze, which gives her the responsibility of maintaining 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.
Main characters
Juniper Lee
Juniper Kim Lee (called "June" for short) 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 and the advice of her grandmother, Ah-Mah, and her enchanted dog, Monroe, to defeat her foes. Lara Jill Miller is the voice of Juniper.
Jasmine Lee
Jasmine Lee, or 'Ah-Mah' (Traditional Chinese:阿媽; Pinyin: Ā-mā, a diminutive meaning "grandma") 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 all things, the 69-year-old gives June advice on dealing with the magical community and their expectations of her, and helps her out 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) to the point of being unable to stand unassisted after two to three minutes of combat. This would seem to suggest that her assertion in first episode that it was no longer her place to act as Te Xuan Ze was as much pragmatic as it was to prevent June from shirking her responsibilities. Jasmine's voice is provided by Amy Hill.
Monroe
Monroe Connery Boyd Carlyle McGregor Scott Lee V is an enchanted dog that speaks with a Scottish accent. 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. 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. Carlos Alazraqui is the voice of Monroe.
Ray Ray Lee
Ray Ray Lee is Juniper's hyperactive eight-year-old little brother. His name is believed to be short for "Raymond." Like Juniper, Ray Ray can see through the magic barrier, though this is not a naturally-occuring ability. When Juniper first gained her powers, a group of demons attempted to drain her powers. Ray Ray unwittingly intervened, causing some of her power to transfer to him. 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." 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. 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, though this doesn't necessarily mean anything since he is only eight. Kath Soucie is the voice of Ray Ray.
Secondary characters
Dennis Lee
Dennis is Juniper's sixteen-year-old brother. Unlike his siblings, he is unable to see through the magic barrier. 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. In spite of this, the Lee siblings have a garage band together, called the Short Angry Freuds (each sibling chose one word). He seems to have a crush on Jody, as hinted by "Dream Date". Alexander Polinsky provides the voice for Dennis.
Jody Irwin
One of Juniper's best friends, Jody Irwin 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. Jody is a big fan of The Powerpuff Girls, and has every episode (she claims that there are two hundred episodes when, in fact, there are only 78) on tape. Jody's voice is done by Colleen O'Shaughnessey.
Ophelia Ramírez
Another of Juniper's best friends, Ophelia Ramírez, is a rather glum and deadpan punk rocker/goth girl in training 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. Candi Milo provides Ophelia's voice.
Roger Radcliffe
Roger Radcliffe is the type of person who tries to follow every trend and stay cool, only to achieve the exact opposite result. Despite this, he is somewhat loveable 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." Roger is voiced by Tara Strong.
Juniper's parents
Michael Lee and his wife 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. Carlos Alazraqui lends his voice to Michael Lee, and Candi Milo does Mrs. Lee's voice.
Marcus Conner
Along with being handsome and popular, Marcus Conner is one cool guy. 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". Phil LaMarr provides Marcus' voice.
Ms. Gomez
Ms. Gomez is the teacher at Juniper's school. She is voiced by Amy Hill.
William
William is Monroe's father, who previously served as the assistant to the Te Xuan Ze, and constantly teases Monroe about his weight. Martin Jarvis voices William.
Magical characters
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.
Episodes
The episode numbers are given by number in production, followed by number in season.
First season
| Overall | Season | Title | Airdate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | 101 | "It's Your Party and I'll Whine If I Want To" | May 30, 2005 |
| 02 | 102 | "I Got My Mind On My Mummy And My Mummy On My Mind" | June 5, 2005 |
| 03 | 103 | "It Takes a Pillage" | June 12, 2005 |
| 04 | 104 | "New Trickster's in Town" | June 19, 2005 |
| 05 | 105 | "Not In My Backyard" | June 26, 2005 |
| 06 | 106 | "Enter Sandman" | July 3, 2005 |
| 07 | 107 | "Ding Dong, the Witch Ain't Dead" | July 10, 2005 |
| 08 | 108 | "I Get By With a Little Help From My Elf" | July 17, 2005 |
| 09 | 109 | "The World According To LARP" | July 24, 2005 |
| 10 | 110 | "Magic Takes A Holiday" | July 31, 2005 |
| 11 | 111 | "Take My Life, Please" | August 7, 2005 |
| 12 | 112 | "Meet the Parent" | August 14, 2005 |
| 13 | 113 | "Monster Con" | August 21, 2005 |
Second season
| Overall | Season | Title | Airdate | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | 202 | "O Brother, What Art Thou?" | January 14, 2006 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 16 | 203 | "The Great Escape" | January 21, 2006 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 17 | 204 | "Picture Day" | January 28, 2006 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 18 | 205 | "Star Quality" | February 3, 2006 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 19 | 206 | "There's No Mitzvah Like Snow Mitzvah" | March 11, 2006 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 20 | 207 | "Bada Bing, Bada Boomfist!" | March 17, 2006 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 21 | 208 | "Adventures in Babysitting" | March 24, 2006 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 23 | 210 | "I've Got You Under My Skin" | May 12, 2006 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 24 | 211 | "Welcome Bat Otter" | June 6, 2006 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 25 | 212 | "Dog Show Afternoon" | June 15, 2006 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 26 | 213 | "Dream Date" | June 20, 2006
Third season
Holiday episodes
TriviaEpisode titles
Other
InspirationWinick 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:
External links Wikiquote has quotations related to The Life and Times of Juniper Lee. |