Ni Hao, Kai-Lan

Last updated
Ni Hao, Kai-Lan
Ni-hao-kai-lan-logo.png
Genre Fantasy
Comedy
Created by Karen Chau
Developed byMary Harrington
Karen Chau
Judy Rothman
Sascha Paladino
Written bySascha Paladino (Head Writer)
Bradley Zweig (Staff Writer)
Directed byDavid Marshall
Voices ofJade-Lianna Peters
Clem Cheung
Ben Wang
Jack Samson
Khamani Griffin
Angie Wu
Beverly Duan
Terence Hardy
Hsiang Lo
Theme music composer Matt Mahaffey
Opening themeTheme song composed by Matt Mahaffey, lyrics by Sascha Paladino
ComposerDoug Califano
Country of originUnited States
Original languagesEnglish
Mandarin
No. of seasons3
No. of episodes42 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producerMary Harrington
ProducerSascha Paladino
Running time24 minutes
Production companiesHarringtoons Productions
Nickelodeon Animation Studio
(credited as Nick Jr. Productions for season 1) [a]
Original release
Network Nickelodeon
Nick Jr. Channel
ReleaseFebruary 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]

Contents

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

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

Characters

Main

Recurring

DVD releases

Ni Hao, Kai-Lan home video releases
SeasonEpisodesDVD release dates
Region 1
1 2008–0920Volume 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 2009–1020Volume 5: Princess Kai-Lan: October 5, 2010 [12]
Episodes: "Princess Kai-Lan" • "Lulu's Cloud" • "The Moon Festival"

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryRecipients and nomineesOutcome
2008 Artios Award Outstanding Achievement in Casting – Animation TV ProgrammingSarah Noonan and Meredith LayneNominated
2009 Annie Award Best Storyboarding in an Animated Television ProductionNotes [13] Nominated
2010 Daytime Emmy Awards Outstanding Special Class Animated ProgramSascha Paladino, Mary Harrington, Jeff DeGrandis and Andrew HuebnerNominated

Video games

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

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References

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  3. 1 2 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.
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  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.
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Notes

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