Ni Hao, Kai-Lan

Ni Hao, Kai-Lan
Genre	Fantasy Comedy
Created by	Karen Chau
Developed by	Mary Harrington Karen Chau Judy Rothman Sascha Paladino
Written by	Sascha Paladino (Head Writer) Bradley Zweig (Staff Writer)
Directed by	David Marshall
Voices of	Jade-Lianna Peters Clem Cheung Ben Wang Jack Samson Khamani Griffin Angie Wu Beverly Duan Terence Hardy Hsiang Lo
Theme music composer	Matt Mahaffey
Opening theme	Theme song composed by Matt Mahaffey, lyrics by Sascha Paladino
Composer	Doug Califano
Country of origin	United States
Original languages	English Mandarin
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	42 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer	Mary Harrington
Producer	Sascha Paladino
Running time	24 minutes
Production companies	Harringtoons Productions Nickelodeon Animation Studio (credited as Nick Jr. Productions for season 1) [a]
Original release
Network	Nickelodeon Nick Jr. Channel
Release	February 7, 2008 (2008-02-07) – August 21, 2011 (2011-08-21)

Ni Hao, Kai-Lan is an American animated children's television series produced by Nickelodeon Animation Studio. It began as a series of three interstitial shorts on Nick Jr. called Downward Doghouse. ^[2] The first full episode was initially set to premiere on October 22, 2007 ^{[3] [4]} on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block in the United States, but was delayed to February 7, 2008, coinciding with Chinese New Year. ^[3]

Ni Hao, Kai-Lan is based on the childhood memories of the show's creator, Karen Chau, who grew up in a bicultural (Chinese-American) household. ^[5] "Ni hao" (你好 nǐ hǎo) means "Hello" in Mandarin, and Kai-Lan (凯兰 Kǎilán) is the Chinese name Chau was given at birth, which was later anglicized to Karen.

The first two seasons had 20 episodes each. The third season consisted of a two-part series finale. Sascha Paladino was the head writer and developer for the show.

This series was released on Paramount+ (at the time CBS All Access) on January 19, 2021, until it was removed on December 22, 2024, due to licensing contracts.

Premise

The series follows the adventures of Kai-Lan, a 6-year-old Chinese-American girl; and her group of talking anthropomorphic animal companions, Rintoo, a yellow 6-year-old Bengal tiger; Tolee, a gray 5-year-old koala; Lulu, a light pink 5-year-old rhinoceros; and Hoho, a white 3-year-old monkey. Each episode is based around a series of events during Kai-Lan's day, along with obstacles that she and her friends are forced to overcome (with "assistance" from the viewing audience) relating to riddles, playing games, and working together. Common rituals may involve Kai-Lan resolving conflicts with her friends when they feel negative emotions. To help them, Kai-Lan has the audience help her figure out why they are having difficult situations. Usually, once Kai-Lan's friends discover their actions are wrong, they usually apologize and promise to work together better. The audience is generally presented with two musical sing-alongs where Kai-Lan sings about what must be done to overcome her and her friends' challenges. The episode always ends with Kai-Lan successfully helping her friends and everyone gets along. At the end of all episodes, Kai-Lan thanks the viewer for helping her and adds, "You're a really great friend", saying again in Chinese in season 2 before "You make my heart feel super happy" before saying goodbye in 2009-10. Later, she also said "You make my heart feel super happy!", saying it again in Chinese in Season 2 onward before saying goodbye. In the Season 1 finale, it is stated that they all live in California.

Other aspects generally featured in episodes are 11 minutes of interactivity, ^[6] a target word that is repeated multiple times, ^[7] a few words of Mandarin Chinese vocabulary, and before saying goodbye (at the end of each episode), Kai-Lan says, "You make my heart feel super happy". Later installments added Kai-lan saying this phrase in Mandarin after she said it in English: 你讓我好開心 (Ni rang wo hao kai xin). Ni Hao, Kai-Lan introduces its viewers to the Mandarin Chinese language, along with elements of Chinese culture and values, and intergenerational families (e.g., Kai-Lan and her relationship with Ye-Ye).

Episodes

Main article: List of Ni Hao, Kai-Lan episodes

Season	Episodes		Originally released
			First released	Last released
1	20		February 7, 2008 (2008-02-07)	August 14, 2009 (2009-08-14)
2	20		February 2, 2009 (2009-02-02)	October 8, 2010 (2010-10-08)
3	2		August 21, 2011 (2011-08-21)	start

Characters

Main

• Kai-Lan (voiced by Jade Lianna Peters) is a playful and adventurous 6-year-old Chinese-American girl and the host of the show with a big heart. During the show, she and her friends have to solve problems that come up during their daily lives. Kai-Lan speaks both English and Mandarin Chinese. She can also translate the languages. She loves dinosaurs and hearts and she plays tambourine in her music group.
• Ye-Ye (voiced by Clem Cheung (English dialogue) and Ben Wang (Chinese dialogue)) is Kai-Lan's playful, thoughtful, and caring paternal grandfather legal guardian. He was born in Hong Kong and passed on his traditions to his granddaughter. He also provides Kai-Lan with gentle guidance, leading her to find her own answers, at her own pace. He can play the tuba with surprises coming out of it like bubbles and confetti. He also enjoys picking apples and making dumplings for Kai-Lan and all her animal friends. He's known to pop out of places unexpectedly, but his friends are always happy about it.
• Rintoo (voiced by Jack Samson) is a rambunctious and energetic yellow 6-year-old front lisp-accented Bengal tiger. Sometimes, Rintoo acts before he thinks and problems in the show happen to him more. Even if he's with Hoho most of the time like for favorites and problems, his actual best friend is Tolee besides Kai-Lan. He loves dragons and race cars and in Kai-Lan's music group, he plays xylophone.
• Tolee (voiced by Khamani Griffin) is a 5-year-old gray koala who loves pandas and fruit. He is intelligent and always thinks before he acts and sometimes worries too much, but he never lets that stop him from having a great time with his friends. Kai-Lan and her friends can always rely on him for good ideas. Tolee also has a stuffed panda he affectionately named Pandy, and Tolee loves Pandy so much that he cannot imagine being without him. He is the vocalist in Kai-Lan's music group and if he plays a musical instrument, he'll play guitar.
• Hoho (voiced by Angie Wu) is an energetic 3-year-old white monkey and is the smallest and youngest of Kai-Lan's friends which makes him go first in activities. He is very hyperactive and bounces a lot, and whenever he does it, a spring sound can be heard, so he can often be found jumping on his friends' heads. He's full of boundless energy and nothing makes him happier than being the center of attention and sometimes because he's so young, he isn't a good listener that much. Hoho likes bananas, monkeys, and stars and he plays them as the resident DJ in Kai-Lan's music group. He can't always control his emotions and can sometimes have a fiery temper when he doesn't get his way, so he sometimes needs help with them. He is very cute, adorable, bouncy, and loves playing.
• Lulu (voiced by Beverly Duan) is a sweet and intelligent 5-year-old light pink rhinoceros. She has a red balloon tied around her horn that helps her fly. Lulu is always seen as being there to help her friends. Her musical instrument is a piano or a keyboard. Her favorite fruit is lychee. She likes balloons, tea parties, dancing, playing house, dressing up like a fairy, and more. She is very nice, energetic, and sweet.
• Mr. Sun is one of the main characters in the series. In the beginning of every episode, he is found sleeping. Kai-Lan tickles him so she can start her day. After that, he sometimes bursts out sun fuzzies which are miniature versions of him and they tickle Kai-Lan. At night, he's called Mr. Moon and has moon fuzzies. He plays a French horn like at the beginning of "Tolee's Rhyme Time" as Kai-Lan plays her tambourine and some ladybugs play a pipa.
• In one corner of Kai-Lan's backyard is a teeming mini-metropolis of ants called Ant City who deliver mail and build things. San San (voiced by Zachary Gordon) is their leader along with his two right-hand ants, Bubu (voiced by Luke Mantiquez) and Fufu (voiced by Kyla Rae Kowaleswski).

Recurring

• Howard (voiced by Khamani Griffin) is an owl who delivers letters and only speaks in hoots.
• Mr. Fluffy (voiced by Austin Chan in "Everybody's Hat Parade" and "The Snowiest Ride", Jeremy Herzig in "Happy Chinese New Year" and "Roller Rintoo" and Elan Garfias in some episodes from season 2) is a hamster and baker. He has an assistant named Mei Mei (Chinese for "younger sister"). He is voiced by three actors.
• Mei Mei, Chinese for "younger sister", (voiced by Laura Marano), is a shy blue polar bear and is often Mr. Fluffy's assistant and partner.
• Stompy (voiced by Hsiang Lo) is a big, playful blue elephant.
• Gu Nai Nai (voiced by Ming-Na Wen) is Kai-Lan's grandaunt and Ye-Ye's sister.
• Xiao Xi Gua, meaning "little watermelon", is a baby panda.
• The Peeking Mice are little black mice who are often seen playing music. They are voiced by assorted members of the cast.
• Mr. Hoppy (voiced by E. G. Daily in "Everybody's Hat Parade" and "Wait, Hoho, Wait!" and Kwesi Boakye in "Kai-Lan's Carnival") is a frog who starts as light green with white eye with black pupils within and speaks in ribbits. Then, later on, he's dark green with black eyes and talks.
• The Snails (voiced by assorted members of the cast especially Olivia Fine, Kwesi Boakye, Zachary Gordon, and Brittany Chen) are found in one corner of Kai-Lan's backyard just like the ants.
• The Worms (voiced by assorted members of the cast, especially Olivia Fine, Kwesi Boakye, Zachary Gordon, and Brittany Chen) are found in one corner of Kai-Lan's backyard just like the ants.
• The Monkey King (voiced by Jack Cygan) is a monkey superhero who lives in the sky.
• The Fox King (voiced by James Siang'a) is a fox in The Fox Kingdom.
• Xin Xin (voiced by Terrell Ransom Jr.) is a baby fox in The Fox Kingdom.
• The Foxes are red foxes that live in The Fox Kingdom.
• The Bear Queen (voiced by Lucy Liu) is a bear in The Bear Kingdom.
• Tian Tian (voiced by Olivia Fine) is a baby bear in The Bear Kingdom.
• The Bears are brown bears that live in The Bear Kingdom.

DVD releases

Ni Hao, Kai-Lan home video releases

Season			Episodes	DVD release dates
				Region 1
	1	2008–09	20	Volume 1: Super Special Days: August 12, 2008 [8] Episodes: "Dragonboat Festival" • "Beach Day" • "Twirly Whirly Flyers" • "Everybody's Hat Parade" Volume 2: Celebrate with Kai-Lan: January 6, 2009 [9] Episodes: "Happy Chinese New Year!" • "Safari Pals" • "Kai-Lan's Campout" • "Tolee's Rhyme Time" Volume 3: Kai-Lan's Great Trip to China: July 14, 2009 [10] Episodes: "Kai-Lan's Trip to China" • "Rain or Shine" • "The Ant Playground" Volume 4: Kai-Lan's Carnival: October 6, 2009 [11] Episodes: "Kai-Lan's Carnival" • "Lulu Day" • "Roller Rintoo" • "Wait, Hoho, Wait"
	2	2009–10	20	Volume 5: Princess Kai-Lan: October 5, 2010 [12] Episodes: "Princess Kai-Lan" • "Lulu's Cloud" • "The Moon Festival"

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Recipients and nominees	Outcome
2008	Artios Award	Outstanding Achievement in Casting – Animation TV Programming	Sarah Noonan and Meredith Layne	Nominated
2009	Annie Award	Best Storyboarding in an Animated Television Production	Notes [13]	Nominated
2010	Daytime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Special Class Animated Program	Sascha Paladino, Mary Harrington, Jeff DeGrandis and Andrew Huebner	Nominated

Video games

The success of Ni Hao, Kai-Lan spawned its own video game series, supported by various gaming consoles and platforms:

• Ni Hao, Kai-Lan: Super Game Day (Wii, PS2) – released, October 26, 2009 ^[14]
• Ni Hao, Kai-Lan: New Year's Celebration (DS) – released, November 3, 2009 ^[15]

References

1. "Monday, January 14th, 2008". Cynopsis Media. January 14, 2008. Archived from the original on May 25, 2021. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
2. "'Ni Hao, Kai-lan': Tigers and Dragons and Mandarin Lessons". Animation World Network. Archived from the original on 2021-05-25. Retrieved 2020-12-30.
3. Hale, Mike (February 7, 2008). "A Pint-Size Peacemaker With a Lot to Teach". The New York Times . Archived from the original on April 6, 2020. Retrieved December 30, 2020.
4. Davis, Micheal (April 15, 2007). "Cartoons With Heart ... and a Little Mandarin". The New York Times . Archived from the original on July 15, 2018. Retrieved September 6, 2017.
5. "HOW 'KAI-LAN' GOT HER GROOVE". Hartford Courant . March 9, 2008. Archived from the original on 2020-04-06. Retrieved 2021-07-20.
6. Strike, Joe (2007-12-04). "Ni Hao, Kai-lan: Tigers and Dragons and Mandarin Lessons". Animation World Network. Archived from the original on 2009-06-27.
7. Liu, Ed (2008-01-21). "Toon Zone Interviews Nick SVP Teri Weiss About "Ni Hao, Kai-lan"". Toon Zone. Archived from the original on 2008-04-20.
8. "Ni Hao, Kai-Lan – Super Special Days". Amazon.com. August 12, 2008. Archived from the original on April 19, 2019. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
9. "Ni Hao, Kai-Lan – Celebrate with Kai-Lan". Amazon.com. January 6, 2009. Archived from the original on March 6, 2023. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
10. "Ni Hao, Kai-Lan – Kai-Lan's Great Trip to China". Amazon.com. July 14, 2009. Archived from the original on March 6, 2023. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
11. "Ni Hao, Kai-Lan – Kai-Lan's Carnival". Amazon.com. October 6, 2009. Archived from the original on March 6, 2023. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
12. "Ni Hao, Kai-Lan – Princess Kai-Lan". Amazon.com. October 5, 2010. Archived from the original on March 6, 2023. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
13. Crump, William D. (April 4, 2019). Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film. McFarland. ISBN   9781476672939. Archived from the original on April 6, 2020. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
14. Liu, Jonathan (February 6, 2010). "Have a Super Game Day with Kai-Lan". WIRED. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
15. Healy, Christopher (June 19, 2019). "Ni Hao, Kai-Lan: New Year's Celebration". Common Sense Media. Archived from the original on November 9, 2020. Retrieved April 5, 2020.

Notes

1. Animation outsourced to Wang Film Productions, Hong Guang Animation and Saerom Animation. ^[1]

External links

• Ni Hao, Kai-Lan at IMDb
• Official Website on nickjr.com (archived on April 30, 2015)

• Cartoon portal
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