Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context YMMV / TheLifeAndTimesOfJuniperLee

Go To

1* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
2** June, Dennis, and Ray Ray singing "I Sing the Body Electric" from ''Film/{{Fame}}'' at the end of "Enter Sandman".
3** In the show itself as it had [[Music/ThePolice Stewart Copeland]] as a composer (who most gamers may remember from his work on the first three ''Franchise/SpyroTheDragon'' games).
4* CultClassic: While overshadowed in comparison to ''Jake Long'', it does have a dedicated group of fans. Heck, Juniper got a name drop in the crossover with ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' and ''WesternAnimation/UncleGrandpa'' alongside characters from more well known Cartoon Network shows, so the writers of that episode were clearly fans as well.
5* EvilIsCool: Kai Yee was shown to be an interesting villain who had potential to be an evil counterpart for June and a potential [[BigBad Big Bad]] for the show that would have expanded on the series universe, and could have returned had the show continued.
6* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Got much better recognition down in Australia, so much so that the first season even got a [[http://www.capsulecomputers.com.au/2011/06/the-life-and-times-of-juniper-lee-coming-to-dvd/ DVD release]].
7* HilariousInHindsight:
8** In "The Kids Stay In The Picture," Ophelia rants at one point that movies in the present are "fight scenes, special effects, talking dogs and superheroes!" While there were plenty of examples before this episode, the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse would make many critics say the same thing with SerkisFolk instead of talking dogs (and [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014 Rocket Raccoon]] is a borderline example of both).
9** In the same episode, June is briefly transported into a ''Franchise/StarWars'' parody where she uses a lightsaber and the "Power" to telekinetically grab the villain who's dressed as Darth Vader, essentially being a female Luke Skywalker. [[Film/TheForceAwakens The first film of the sequel trilogy]] features Rey, a female Force-User with a similar backstory to Luke who fights InUniverse Darth Vader expy Kylo Ren who [[spoiler:captures her by using telekinesis to freeze her in her tracks]].
10** Going further with the MCU, TheSandman in this show [[HatesBeingNicknamed insists on being called "Steven"]] and in his initial scheme put the dream-selves of Orchid Bay's population to work while their physical bodies suffered in the day time. In ''Series/{{Moon Knight|2022}}'' Steven Grant feels the same way about his name while a supernatural entity uses him while he's asleep, albeit for more (mostly) heroic purposes while the situation really messes up his life during the day.
11** Lila's design is similar to Lila Rossi from ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' in coloration and they're both technically liars, though the characters themselves are as different as night and day when it comes to their moral alignment with the latter being a ConsummateLiar and antagonist to Ladybug while the former is a genuine [[NiceGuy Nice Girl]] and ally to June.
12* LesYay:
13** Though Marcus is her official LoveInterest, June has a pretty good PseudoRomanticFriendship going with Jody who at the least is TheNotLoveInterest: Jody is shown to be the most hurt by the effects of June's double life and in one conversation the two girls compliment each other to boost their confidence by noting how attractive (among other things) they are, with another example being Jody telling June to make eye contact with lots of boys when debating in a school election since "you're cute-use it!" Given how Creator/JuddWinick is no stranger to writing gay characters, it's not hard to view June and Jody's relationship as a mutually oblivious puppy love and in the final episode [[spoiler:Jody is shown to have noticed June's supernaturally athletic feats which could lead to her becoming a SecretSecretKeeper, the first of June's human friends to do so and had the show continued she would certainly have become closer to June as a result]].
14** June and Lila, with the former being incredibly supportive of the latter's attempts to integrate into human society and the latter being extremely loyal to June despite being the newest of her friends. The fact that Lila can actually fight with June against her foes also has a BattleCouple vibe.
15* {{Misblamed}}: The show often gets blamed for copying ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDragonJakeLong''. In truth, Judd Winick had the idea for a while before getting the greenlight by CN to make it at around the same time ''American Dragon'' was in production and set to premiere. It was just bad timing in airing that didn't allow ''Juniper Lee'' to be more well known. Probably didn't help that ''Jake Long'' was backed by Disney who had a bit more widespread influence than CN. CN did pull a strong campaign at first when premiering the show (check out its [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvYTQ7--kiM first commercial]]) but neglected to advertise for the series in its later seasons.
16* {{Moe}}: June qualifies for this quite easily given her combined status as a BadassAdorable and a CuteBruiser. Jody, Ashley, and even Ray Ray could also count.
17* SoOkayItsAverage: The show's concept has been done in quite a few other shows, such as its noted influences ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'', ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'', and most notably, ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDragonJakeLong''. This made it hard for it to stand out from the pack despite some well written stories.
18* TheyCopiedItSoItSucks:
19** A few of this show's detractors will point out that this show's plot is almost the same as ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDragonJakeLong''.[[note]]Again a lot of this was just coincidence, not deliberate.[[/note]] Not helping matters is the fact that both shows came out in the same year just a few months apart.
20** Also worth noting is the amount of people who took the comparison on [[CrossoverShip an entirely different direction]]...
21* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Kai Yee was a rather competent, charismatic and interesting villain, being a [[FallenHero former Te Xuan Ze turned rogue]] [[WellIntentionedExtremist for a credible reason]], a potential EvilCounterpart to June and giving some development to the series' universe. However, he only appeared in one episode, and the show was cancelled before he got a chance to return. It's likely they were gonna bring him back but never got the chance.
22* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot:
23** Jasmine's house is riddled with old statues of former Te Xuan Ze's. Were they just there to revere the old protectors? In "Out of the Past," [[spoiler:Kai Yee is removed from a statue and then re-encased into a new one at the end of the episode.... which begs the question of whether or not all of the statues had a similar function.]]
24** In the crossover MMORPG ''VideoGame/FusionFall'', there's a giant statue of Juniper in Forgotten Falls complete with waterfalls and a glowing T-shirt logo, and a "Te Xuan Ze Inc." in Endsville, which are never given any in-game explanation. Might have been threads that CN tried to pick up but never really continued or built upon.
25* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvYTQ7--kiM The commercial]] for the lead up to the show was actually pretty well animated. But it probably [[NeverTrustATrailer painted that the show was going to be CG animated rather than 2D]].
26* TheWoobie:
27** Both June and Ah-Mah as a Te Xuan Ze are BlessedWithSuck.
28*** They get superpowers and the ability to see the supernatural, but they can't tell anyone, not even other members of their family or close friends. Since the supernatural is only seen by them, they spend a lot of time keeping the balance and often they have to head off to do so at a moment's notice. This often leads to conflict with those around them who don't, and can't, understand why they're acting so oddly, isolating the Te Xuan Ze from others. One of the biggest issues is that until another Te Xuan Ze takes over, the current one must stay in Orchid Bay, and he/she can't leave until he/she reaches adulthood and has children who can become the Te Xuan Ze. Until then, they are bound to the city, unable to go on vacation/trips/jobs outside the town or colleges outside of town. If their dream job is unavailable in the town, like Ah-Mah's was, then tough luck.
29** Ah-Mah suffered a lot from this as her only child did not become the Te Xuan Ze, meaning she spent twice as long bound to the rules and was only free after her granddaughter June takes over. During the show, she is often seen doing many wild and crazy things that are not expected of a grandmother. Juniper claims that she does them because it's the first time she has been able to in her life (well, at least outside of Orchid Bay), and while Ah-Mah says she is traveling the world trying to find a way to allow Juniper to leave Orchid Bay, she also doesn't deny on trying to catch up on life now that she has a granddaughter.

Top