El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera

El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera (sometimes shortened to El Tigre) is an American flash-animated television series created by Jorge R. Gutierrez and Sandra Equihua for Nickelodeon. It was the first Nicktoon to be animated with Adobe Flash after O'Grady, which was exclusive to The N. The first screening of the show was on January 19, 2007, in the first-ever Nickelodeon Creative Summit held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, as a special treat for the 60 exclusive attendees. A sneak peek of the series aired on February 19, 2007. The series had two runs on two different networks; Nickelodeon from March 3, 2007, to June 20, 2008, then Nicktoons Network from August 7 to September 13, 2008.
Premise
Set in the fictional crime-ridden Mexican-American metropolis of Miracle City, El Tigre follows the adventures of Manny Rivera, a 13-year-old boy with superpowers trying to choose between being good or evil. Manny's father is a superhero known as White Pantera and wants Manny to grow up to be good and fight evil. Manny's Grandfather is a supervillain known as Puma Loco who thinks Manny should go to the dark side.
Characters
Main Characters
Alanna Ubach as Manny Rivera / El Tigre, the main protagonist who is divided of becoming a hero or villain
Grey DeLisle as Frida Suárez, Manny's troublemaking rockstar friend
Eric Bauza as Rodolfo Rivera / White Pantera, Manny's heroic father who wields his Bronze Boots of Truth
Carlos Alazraqui as Jorge "Grandpapi" Rivera / Puma Loco, Manny's villainous grandfather who wields his Golden Sombrero of Chaos
April Stewart as Maria Rivera, Manny's loving mother and Rodolfo's ex-wife
Villains
Susan Silo as Sartana of the Dead, the skeletal guitarist and most feared villain of Miracle City
Candi Milo as Zoe Aves / Black Cuervo, Frida's archenemy who holds a vendetta on her and has a crush on Manny
Richard Steven Horvitz as Diego Jr. / Dr. Chipotle Jr., a evil child prodigy who specializes on exterimenting with guacamole
Jeff Bennett as Sergio / Señor Siniestro, a exchange student from Italy who pretends to be a robotic cowboy
John DiMaggio as El Oso, a bear-themed villain that usually robs from banks
Grey DeLisle as Carmelita Aves / Voltura, Zoe's mother who holds a grudge on Rodolfo for breaking up with her (which she claims that she broke up with him from that day)
Carlos Alazraqui as Pachita "Grandmami" Aves / Lady Gobbler, Zoe's grandmother who holds a grudge on Grandpapi for leaving her at the altar on their wedding day with another woman named Dora (Rodolfo's mother)
Richard Steven Horvitz as Diego Sr. / Dr. Chipotle Sr., the father of Dr. Chipotle Jr.
Danny Cooksey as Django of the Dead, the grandson of Sartana
John DiMaggio as General Chapuza, the leader of the Calevera Zombies
Grey DeLisle as Che Chapuza, the grandson of General Chapuza
Jon Polito as Don Baffi, the mob boss of the Moustache Mafia
Jack Angel as Comrade Chaos, a Russia-themed villain
Carlos Alazraqui as El Tarántula, a spider-themed villain
Charlie Adler as Mano Negra, a villain whose head is attached to a robotic suit
Danny Trejo as El Mal Verde, a hulking giant who is capable of swallowing heroes whole
Rene Mujica as Titanium Titan, White Pantera's former partner who turns to a life of crime
Recurring Characters
Daran Norris as Chief Emiliano Suárez, Frida's father who is the chief of police that doesn't trust Manny with her
Grey DeLisle as Carmela Suárez, Frida's mother who is the Miracle City judge
Grey DeLisle and April Stewart as Anita & Nikita Suárez, Frida's bossy twin siblings
Carlos Alazraqui as Vice-Principal Chakal, the disciplinary vice-principal who always gets Manny and Frida into detention
Jessica DiCicco as Davi Roccco / Albino Burrito, Manny's biggest fan who wants to be his sidekick
John DiMaggio as Municipal President Rodríguez, the president of the Miracle City municipal council who is arrogant and selfish
Production
El Tigre was created by a husband-and-wife team named Jorge Gutierrez and Sandra Equihua along with others who were employed to make the show. The couple made the project from experiences they had when they were younger. Manny Rivera is based on Jorge's young self. Many things known in the show were based on actual events or parts of Jorge's life. His father was an architect (which was viewed as good) and his grandfather was a general in the military (which was viewed as evil). That idea was exaggerated to the idea of superheroes and supervillains. The city Miracle City is likely based on Tijuana, where Jorge grew up.
El Tigre's Decision of Destiny
On January 25, 2008, Nickelodeon allowed viewers to vote on the ending of an episode, deciding whether El Tigre would choose the path of heroism or villainy. "The Good, the Bad, and the Tigre" premiered later that same day with the ending chosen by the voters. Voters ultimately chose the heroic ending, in which El Tigre defeated Django and Sartana. If the villainous ending had been chosen, he would have helped Django and Sartana conquer the world, but turned against them by launching them through space to take the empire for himself and Frida, and ruled over the world into old age. After they remembered to free the now elderly White Pantera and Puma Loco from all their tyrannical fun, their reunion was interrupted when Sartana and Django recruited an army of aliens to retake her throne, in which the Rivera men (along with Frida who rides a mech) leap into action to battle Sartana, which cuts with the title "The End?".
Episodes
Home media
The complete series DVD was released as Season 1 on a six-disc set on November 23, 2011, as a manufacture on demand Amazon exclusive. It is also available to purchase on iTunes and Amazon Prime Video digitally.
Reception
Critical
Emily Ashby of Common Sense Media gave the series three out of five stars; saying that, “Tweens will enjoy the zany characters and exaggerated stories, but parents might take issue with the young characters' penchant for troublemaking, the absence of a strong role model for Manny, and the overall lack of repercussions for his questionable behavior.” The first season received an approval rating of 100% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on six reviews.
Amid Amidi of Cartoon Brew wrote that "El Tigre offers hands down the most dynamic implementation of Flash I’ve ever seen in an animated TV series, seamlessly combining the cinematic possibilities more commonly associated with 3D CGI alongside the organic appeal of drawn animation," while also stating that the series has an "annoying tendency to stage too many scenes on slants and diagonals, voice acting performances that I couldn’t understand."
Awards and nominations
Other appearances
A videogame based on the series, also titled El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera, was released for the Nintendo DS and PlayStation 2 in 2007. El Tigre is a playable character in the Nintendo DS version of Nicktoons: Attack of the Toybots, and he also makes a non-playable cameo appearance in Nicktoons MLB. El Tigre is set to appear as a playable character in Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2, along with a stage based on the Miracle City volcano arena.
The series also had several internet browser-based games on Nickelodeon's official website, including a fighting game that could be downloaded through the Nick Arcade website, titled Festival De Las Piñatas. El Tigre was also a playable character in several Nickelodeon-crossover browser games, including Nick Arcade's Nicktoons HoverZone.
The characters Manny, Frida, and Grandpapi/Puma Loco make an appearance during a 2D animated scene in The Book of Life which is Jorge R. Gutierrez' first feature-length film. A wallpaper with El Tigre's design can be seen in a later scene as well as White Pantera in another scene.
El Oso (renamed as Bear Killah) appeared as a recurring character in Maya and the Three (also created by Jorge R. Gutierrez).
References
External links
AnimationInsider.net Interview with Shawn Patterson, Composer for 'El Tigre'
Interview with Jorge Guiterrez' co-creator of El Tigre.
2007 American television series debuts
2008 American television series endings
2000s American animated television series
2000s Nickelodeon original programming
American children's animated action television series
American children's animated adventure television series
American children's animated comedy television series
American children's animated fantasy television series
American children's animated superhero television series
American flash animated television series
Nicktoons
English-language television shows
Teen animated television series
Teen superhero television series
Television series about tigers
Annie Award-winning television shows
Emmy Award-winning programs
Hispanic and Latino American television
Autism in television