A 13-year-old boy is torn between becoming a superhero like his father and a super villain like his grandfather in El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera, a Flash-animated series premiering on Nickelodoen this Saturday, March 3. The show will debut with back-to-back episodes starting at 10 a.m. (ET/PT).
Created by the Mexican-born husband-and-wife team of Jorge R. Gutierrez and Sandra Equihua, El Tigre is Nickelodeon’s first Flash-animated comedy series. The show follows the misadventures of Manny (voiced by Alanna Ubach), a well-meaning kid who lives with his father, Rodolfo (Eric Bauza) and his grandfather, Granpapi (Carlos Alazraqui), in Miracle City, a spicy urban melting pot full of colorful heroes and nefarious villains. When he spins his mystical belt buckle, Manny transforms into El Tigre, a brave and powerful masked warrior who possesses the spirit of a good guy but also has potential to be a great baddie.
‘Sandra and I set out to create a world that is rich with Latino culture based on where we grew up in Mexico and the things we are passionate for and love about our heritage,’ says Gutierrez. ‘So we decided to make Miracle City a magical place of beauty and excitement juxtaposed with a spicy underbelly of crime and villainy.’
‘I did my college thesis on Flash animation, and when I discovered Jorge had a similar passion for it, we decided that our first collaborative series would be done in this medium,’ adds Equihua. ‘It gives the show more of a unique look and feel with a striking color palette and also complements the frenetic action of the stories.’
In the first part of the premiere episode, ‘Sole of a Hero,’ Manny and best pal Frida borrow Rodolfo’s super-charged Bronze Boots of Truth for some late-night fun and end up wrecking them, something Rudolfo discovers when has tries to use them in battle against the villainous El Oso. In the second half, ‘Night of the Living Guacamole,’ Manny is sent by his father to buy some premium guacamole and ends up buying a cheap knock-off and pocketing the leftover money to buy a laser tattoo maker. As it turns out, the substitute guac was engineered by the evil Dr. Chipotle Jr. and turns both Rodolfo and Granpapi into horrible Guacamole Monsters bent on destroying Manny.
El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera is produced at the Nicktoons Studios in Burbank, Calif. The show will air regularly on Saturdays from 10:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
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