Kung Fu Panda: The Beginning

## Characters

### Heroes

* **Daniel** (voiced by Harrison Chad) – The main character of the series. Daniel is the youngest of Jade Palace's Kung fu students and wants to become a Kung Fu master, but he must first learn his Kung Fu moves with Oogway and Knut. Daniel can sometimes be lazy and impatient. But when he sets his mind to it, Daniel can achieve a lot through a lot to reach his goal. Daniel trusts his friends a lot, even Rabbit who doesn't always treat Daniel with respect. Instead of concentrating on his lessons, Daniel tries to find the "easy way out". However, this usually backfires, forcing Daniel to find a way out and learn the lesson he was initially trying to avoid. Despite being lazy and sometimes mischievous, Daniel cares about his friends and usually tries to do the right thing. Daniel has great fire powers from the fire element and can control fire and become very hot when he is angry. Daniel sometimes goes on missions that don't need him, causing disaster. He usually calls himself "The fire master" when he is bigger than the enemies or when he is on a large facility. He was given to the Jade Palace by the Blue Dragon when Oogway and Knut asked the Dragon Gods for help against The Unknown Enemy, suggesting that he has a greater destiny than he realizes. Daniel always goes barefoot because the valley had no shoes for him. But Daniel likes to  going barefoot everywhere, even though he's extremely ticklish under his feets.

* **Fox** (voiced by Patricia Rodriguez) – An effective, graceful fighter, Fox is the leading lady of the story and the only dog family member of the kung fu warriors in the Jade Palace. She is Daniel's adoptive mother, she helps him with her sound advice and is very level-headed. She loves Daniel like her own son and is often protective of him, like getting mad at Rabbit and repeatedly smacking him behind the forehead when he made fun of the young boy while he was playing with ants in "The Art of Small Victories". Beneath her demure exterior, she has a hot temper and a warrior's spirit which drive Rabbit wild. Although it's unclear whether Fox is annoyed or flattered by Rabbit's affections, she is attracted to Rabbit, although she does consider him too much of a pest. Like Rabbit, she also gives Daniel pet names like "son", "little Warrior", or simply "kid". She often uses her allure to escape enemies (especially Baboon). She also mastered the art of Fan-Fan and did the four winds attack with Crane, Duck, and Daniel.

* **Elida** (voiced by Bethany Brown) - is one of Oogway and Knut's students and has ice powers. Elida was on the run from the world outside and ended up in the Kung Fu Panda Wall and move into the Jade Palace, Elida has a big sister role for Daniel and helps him and comforts him when he is sad. She helps him in training since she is a level higher than Daniel in Kung Fu.

* **Leopard** (voiced by Hynden Walch) - is one of the brightest students, she is Daniel's love interest. After he had passed the tests for the hard training, she began to like him. In the course of the series, Daniel tries in many ways to impress her, but he doesn't always succeed. In the episode "The Art of Monkey Love", Leopard becomes jealous which shows that she has also developed feelings for Daniel.

* **Bird** (voiced by Tony Acworth) – is assumed he is not a warrior due to his lack of interest and hardwork. He is characterized as lazy (like Daniel), sneaky and sleepy. Bird can often be found on Ox's back. He,Ox and Daniel are good friends and hang out often and is the brains of the trio. They like nothing better than to relax and accept the fact that they are "nobodies".

* **Ox** (voiced by Tony Acworth) – once was considered a huge hero since he could perform the art of "No Mind" allowing him to see invisible Ninja Monkeys, but it is unknown wether Ox is a Kung-fu master or not. He is one of Daniel's best friends and always hangs out with him, Bird and Pig. Ox can understand and speak Ninja Monkey and dolphin language.

* **Pig** (voiced by Tony Acworth) – Despite his name, Pig is in fact a wild boar. Pig is simple-minded and spends all of his time bathing in mud. While he rarely helps in battle, he assists against Jindiao in other ways, such as eating all of the truffles during the Year of the Pig so that Jindiao can't use them for a lotion to temporarily break free from his disembodied state, according to Oogway and Knut, two or three weeks. While Pig is mostly likable, he is easily influenced by Rabbit to mirror his thoughts. However, he is shown to be a great warrior such as when he was convinced he was a Ninja Monkey. He was easily able to defeat Daniel, Rabbit, and Mantis at the same time. Pig wishes to be treated like a grown pig.

* **Rabbit** (voiced by Paul Tylak) – A violent, ill-tempered, egotistical, smart-aleck hare (despite his name) who is always on the lookout for conflict. He has a major crush on Fox but will go great lengths to hide this. Sometimes Rabbit has dreams of her. He calls his fist Mr. Fisty and he considers himself the strongest animal in the Valley. He sometimes fights with Knut and Oogway about it. He also desires to become the leader so he can fight Jindiao and the new upcoming threat The Unknown Enemy right away instead of waiting like Knut and Oogway orders. He creates plans to attack the ninja monkeys, but they always backfire. He has a soft spot for Daniel, calling him "human boy". He also enjoys picking on Daniel and often takes advantage of him, but he cares and loves him as a friend. He even taught Daniel the art of attitude, which Knut said was an art Daniel was not ready for.

* **Knut** (voiced by James Earl Jones) – is the very wise 80-year-old human and one of the leaders of the Valley of Peace (with Oogway) who spends his time training Daniel in the various arts. He met Oogway and they become best friends, they trained many students until one of their best students became evil and turned into The Unknown Enemy. When he and Oogway asked the Dragon Gods for help, Daniel came to the palace, while Fox raised Daniel learn Knut and Oogway him the way of Kung Fu. He, Oogway and Ms. Duck are the only ones in the whole Kung Fu Panda Wall who know The Unknown Enemy's identity, but they never mention it to their students. He knows Daniel is the one who is destined to defeat the new evil army The Dark Empire and free the Valley from the dark masters and must ensure he is ready when that day comes.

* **Oogway** (voiced by Randall Duk Kim) – A wise old Kung Fu master. Oogway is one of the leaders of the Valley of Peace (with Knut) and helps to teach Daniel in Kung Fu. Oogway is always happy to help Knut and Tiger. He also is the greatest kung fu master in the Kung Fu Panda Wall on the good side.

* **Ms. Duck** (voiced by Jules de Jongh) – A wise old bird with a few moves up her feathers. Like Oogway and Knut, she knows the back story of The Unknown Enemy. She also is gifted at making food and Dim sum Fu. She seems to have a horrible singing voice. Duck, Fox, and Crane taught Daniel how fans can be used in battle.

* **Tiger** (voiced by Rod Goodall) – An old friend of Oogway and Knut. Tiger claims to be a great warrior and once fought Jindiao. Since that apparently disastrous battle, he has been a tremendous coward, though he fights ferociously if he is angered. He appears to be a White South China tiger.

* **Frog** (voiced by Tony Acworth) – The master of jumping. Frog appears to be a silly character who likes making people laugh. In "The Art of Giggling", he even helps Daniel conquer a case of the giggles by forcing the young warrior to play leapfrog every time he chuckled.

* **Snake** (voiced by Paul Tylak) – enjoys inflicting pain (especially on ninja monkeys). He is the Valley spy. Although Snake speaks in an Australian accent, cobras are not indigenous to that continent though he could be another species of snake.

* **Killer Bees** (voiced by Tony Acworth) – A full nest of bees who tend to be extremely short-tempered and will attack anyone regardless of whether they are friend or foe. They talk in a "hip-hop" style of dialog. Working together, they can form into different shapes such as nunchucks.

* **Crane** (voiced by Jules de Jongh) – The general town gossip. Crane is often used for aerial missions and was part of the Fan-Fan Quartet with Fox, Duck, and the newly anointed Daniel.

* **Mantis** (voiced by Tony Acworth) – The valley's lookout bug. When he speaks, he makes brief pauses every few words (a nod to actor Christopher Walken). He seems to be a masochist constantly looking to put himself in harm's way in hopes of a tragic outcome. He even expresses disappointment when a battle is going favorably. Despite his desire to see himself harmed, he is noted to put up an honest fight. Though much to his delight, he often just ends up being squashed and left aside.

* **Mr. Fish** (voiced by Tony Acworth) - He's the underwater head honcho and has feelings for Ms. Duck, asking Daniel to make him a statue of her. He teaches Daniel the "Art of No Lung Fu" (underwater fighting) and carries a fishbowl whenever he needs to travel out of water.

### Villains

* **Jindiao** (voiced by Steve Blum) – The main antagonist of the series. Many years ago, Jindiao had the physical form of a dragon and was the original dragon master. Corrupted by his own power, he sought to attain godhood by binding with the Wellspring, a great source of chi. This would allow him to dominate over all. However, the original Four Constellations, who were originally his students, used their chi to stop him. This meant that they sacrificed their mortal existence, but they separated Jindiao’s physical body from his soul. Left without a body, Jindiao sought out a new one to hijack. However, he hid in Pinnacle Rock within the wasteland outside the Valley. When he learned that one of his students Blue Dragon's son Daniel had come Jade Palace, Jindiao sees him as a major threat to his coming empire, he plans to destroying Daniel and all who protect him. He dispatching his second-in-command, Baboon to carry out his plans. Even though he is only a soul he has the ability to breathe fire and he has knowledge of many powerful spells.

* **Baboon** (voiced by Paul McLoone) – The secondary villain of the entire series, Baboon is also the head of Jindiao's Ninja Monkey army and is also the one usually dispatched to carry out most of Jindiao's own plots. Baboon is very dominant over the Ninja Monkeys and often mistreats them to the point of physical abuse. Baboon has even used some of the Ninja Monkeys as punching bags or guinea pigs. However, despite mistreating the Ninja Monkeys, Baboon sometimes expresses concern for them, implying that he cares for their well-being at times although this is very rarely shown. Baboon is mostly something of a lackey to Jindiao with Baboon harboring both a strong sense of loyalty and fear to Jindiao. Baboon is also an easily angered and very intimidating figure who is in love with Fox, but she does not feel the same way (after he almost killed Daniel), although she is in fact more than willing to use Baboon's crush against him. He speaks in a Cockney accent. Although he attempts to beat Daniel, Baboon's own stupidity and that of the Ninja Monkeys often results in both sides being regularly defeated with Baboon regularly incurring Jindiao's wrath which often sees Baboon getting burnt by Jindiao's flames. Despite that, Baboon can hold his own in battle and has proven that he is a dangerous enemy to the Valley. His catchphrase is "Wasabi!" which he usually says mere seconds before he's defeated in battle.

* **Ninja Monkeys** (voiced by Tony Acworth) – Jindiao's soldiers and the first army of the Dark Empire, who are usually dim-witted and ineffectual. There is a potion that can make Ninja Monkeys become invisible, but only someone with the No-Mind skill can see them. Oogway and Knut says the Ninja Monkeys are funny to watch, which is often true. Ninja Monkeys, though well-trained, are easily defeated. What they make up for lack of skill, they make up for with numbers and a large group of them could even take down Knut or Oogway. Even though they are usually shorter than most of the Valley dwellers, they were shown to be the same height as Fox in "The Art of Hospitality". Baboon commands the Ninja Monkeys and can even understand what they're saying with Baboon even acting as a translator as well.

### Other Characters

* **Korra** (voiced by Janet Varney) - is Daniel's mother from whom Daniel was taken away from by the Blue Dragon. When Daniel came to the Jade Palace he missed Korra very much and the only thing he had from her was a blue wool blanket. Daniel meets Korra again in a dream where she comforts him and says that she will always be in his heart.

* **Barney** (voiced by David Joyner) - Is Daniel's stuffed animal that disappeared, but when Daniel unable to master the kung fu training he appeared because of Daniel's memory of him. Barney helps Daniel during training by describing how to do the kung fu moves, When Daniel was allowed to enter the hard training, he is threatened by student bully Louis, Barney obtained help from Daniel's closest friends who had Louis banished. When Daniel was ready for hard training, Barney said goodbye to him, but he promises that they will meet again.

* **Blue Dragon** (voiced by JB Blanc) - is the leader of the Four Constellations and Daniel's father. He saved Daniel from a dark warrior but failed to save Daniel's mother, Korra. Since he had sacrificed his mortal, he could not protect Daniel himself. When Fox tried to save Daniel from the Baboon, Blue Dragon chose her to protect Daniel for him and Fox tries her best to keep her promise to him.

* **Blinky the Firefly** – In "The Art of Responsibility", Blinky was Daniel's friend and his pet in the past, though the fireflies view it as Daniel being his pet. He cannot talk, like mature fireflies, so he communicates with a series of beeps, which Daniel used to his advantage in games. He helped end the Ninja Monkeys' night raids by lighting up the Valley as a defense. He made cameo appearances in later episodes.

* **Louis** (voiced by Matt Hill) - Is the Jade Palace's bully and thinks he is the best student (but actually he knows almost nothing about Kung Fu). He doesn't care about anyone but himself and he bothers Daniel and teases him because he is barefoot. He almost burned Daniel's blanket (which was the only thing he had after his mother) but Daniel stopped him with his fire powers. Later when Daniel had trained Kung Fu and reached the final test to enter the hard training, Louis cheated to win but Daniel's bare feet gave him an advantage that made Louis fail. When Daniel go in to the locker room, Louis locked himself and him in and threatened Daniel to give him the flag and declare him the winner. When Daniel refuses, Louis tortures him by placing a bench over him and tickling him under his feet. When Daniel still wouldn't give him the flag Louis threatened to bite his feet but before he could do that, Daniel's closest friends broke in and saved him. Louis was banished from the valley, but he swears revenge against Daniel for taking his destiny.