Three Delivery

Three Delivery
Also known asChop Suey Trio
Genre
Created byLarry Schwarz
Directed by
  • Andy Coyle
  • Tavis Silbernagel
Starring
Opening themeDelivery by Ten Minute Turns
Composers
  • Ten Minute Turns
  • John Angier
Country of origin
  • United States
  • Canada
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes26 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
  • Gene Fowler
  • Nikki Hilton
  • Andrew Dunn
  • François Trudel
  • Larry Schwarz
  • Chris Faucci
  • Doug Maclennan
Producers
  • Robbie Anderson
  • Doug Little
  • Amy Feldman
Running time22 minutes
Production companies
Original release
Network
ReleaseJune 27, 2008 (2008-06-27) –
June 28, 2009 (2009-06-28)

Three Delivery (also known as Chop Suey Trio[1]) is an animated television series inspired by kung-fu movies. It was created by Larry Schwarz, who also created similar series, Kappa Mikey and Speed Racer: The Next Generation. It is a collaboration between Animation Collective in Manhattan, New York and the now-defunct Fatkat in Miramichi, New Brunswick as their last project. The show premiered on Nicktoons in the United States, and YTV in Canada on June 27, 2008. An episode of Three Delivery was first shown at the New York Comic Con 2008, on April 19, 2008. The show was broadcast on CBBC in the UK beginning on February 21, 2009 and on Once TV in Mexico.

Synopsis

Years ago, an evil young apprentice named Kong Li unleashed the power of a magical cookbook, scattering its dangerous recipes throughout Chinatown. Thanks to an ancient spell, a force field was placed around the city, keeping the magic in. For many years, the rest of the world was protected, but now Kong Li has returned to find the powerful recipes. If he succeeds, their evil power will be released and the world will be in grave danger. Luckily, three teenage heroes, skilled in kung-fu, have been trained to stop him. When orphans Sue, Sid and Tobey were recruited by Nana to make deliveries for Wu's Garden Chinese restaurant, they saw it as a way to move out of the orphanage and have a chance to ride cool bikes. Little did they know then, that they would be locked in a battle against evil for the fate of the world. On top of everyday teenage problems, the heroes must track down every last magic recipe – and shut down Kong Li for good.

— Three Delivery Official Website, Defunct

Characters

  • Sue Yee (Stephanie Sheh): a tough girl dedicated to her friends and family. Despite some sibling rivalry, she and her older brother Sid will do anything to protect each other. Sue won't admit it, but she has a crush on Barney.
  • Tobey Li (Robby Duncan Sharpe): a boy with a big heart and stomach and a bigger sense of humour, in spite of his dark past. Despite his constant joking around, he loves being a superhero and will protect his friends no matter what.
  • Sid Yee (Johnny Yong Bosch): a cool and composed boy with a razor sharp wit and an interest in music. He is Sue's older brother and takes his duties as one of Chinatown's protectors seriously.
  • Nana (Nancy Wu): a kind but tough old lady who is the guardian of the magic cookbook and the most formidable defence against Kong Li; she's an expert in both magic and martial arts. She takes in Sue, Sid, and Tobey and trains them to defend Chinatown against Kong Li. Her real name is Mei Wa and she's Mr. Wu's mother, and Barney's grandmother.
  • Mr. Calvin Wu (Michael Alston Baley): the proud and boastful owner of Wu's Garden Restaurant, where Sue, Sid, and Tobey are employed as delivery people. While he yells at his employees often for slacking off and subjects them to trying his new and unusual recipes, Mr. Wu actually has a good heart.
  • Barney Wu (David Chen): Calvin's son who has his head in the clouds and his hands in a dirty sink so often that he doesn't notice Tobey, Sid, and Sue have been protecting Chinatown. Like his father, he has strange ideas, but a good heart.
  • Kong Li (Lex Woutas): a former martial arts student who became a cruel and ambitious magician who will stop at nothing to obtain the magic cookbook. For now, he remains trapped within the barrier around Chinatown.
  • Eugene (Jamie McGonnigal): Sue, Sid and Tobey's science nerd classmate and friend.
  • Eunice (Annice Moriarty): A spoiled rich girl who may be rude and stuck-up at times but is nonetheless kind-hearted. She once mispronounced the name of Wu's Garden in one episode ("Shape Shifter"), calling it "Wonk's Garden". She also mentions her rich dad a couple of times. She only appeared in 2 episodes.

Production

Animation Collective partnered with FatKat to guarantee more fluid, traditional-style 2D animation not usually found in Flash shows. The backgrounds are also painted in Flash. Schwarz was drawn to the premise, saying that he used to live near Manhattan's Chinatown himself and that this show would reflect some of his personal experiences.[2] Art director and former director Alan Foreman designed the visual style of the show, which he compares to a living graphic novel. He also performs the vocals for the theme song and contributes to the score, with his New York-based, indie-rock band Ten Minute Turns.[3]

Promotion for the show began with the studio making 11 two-minute original adventures for mobile phones in 2007, which also gave the studio an exercise in working with the new characters in preparation for the series. Three of them first aired on May 2, 2008 on Nicktoons Network during the premiere of Speed Racer: The Next Generation during commercials. Some of the clips are named "A Silver Tongue is fine, but Silence is Golden", "Two Heads Are Not Always Better than One", and "Out of Sight? You're Out of your Mind!", after each of the fortune cookie fortunes that appear at the beginning of every short. The last eight were to be broadcast in 2009.

Episodes

Shorts (2008)

No.TitleOriginal air dateProd.
code
1"A Silver Tongue is fine, but Silence is Golden"May 2, 2008 (2008-05-02)001
Tobey uses a fortune to make Sue unable to talk.
2"Two Heads Are Not Always Better than One"May 2, 2008 (2008-05-02)002
Sid uses a fortune cookie to make a copy of himself to clean Wu's Garden's kitchen so he can go to the movies with Sue and Tobey.
3"Out of Sight? You're Out of your Mind"May 2, 2008 (2008-05-02)003
There is an invisible man harassing Sue and Tobey while they eat. It turns out to be Sid.
4"There is Nothing to make the Spirit Soar like the Passing of the Wind"May 9, 2008 (2008-05-09)004
Tobey uses one of Nana's cookies to fly in the wind, but it turns out he flies by breaking wind.
5"Beware of Talking Animals"May 16, 2008 (2008-05-16)005
Tobey turns into a cat to try to get the dirt on Sue, but backfires when she swoons over Barney a little too much.
6"To Know Me, Walk a Mile in My Shoes. But Keep Your Hands Out of My Soup."May 23, 2008 (2008-05-23)006
Barney is cooking up some Hot & Sour soup for lunch by following his recipe, but Tobey decides to prank Barney by switching in a couple of “Ultra-Spicy” ingredients, but it backfires when Barney doesn’t react, and Tobey ends up getting a “HOT” taste of his own medicine.

Series 1 (2008–09)

Season one began on June 27, 2008 on Nicktoons Network and ended on June 28, 2009.

No.TitleWritten byOriginal air dateProd.
code
1"I Feel the Earth Move"Adeline Colangelo, Kim HolmesJune 27, 2008 (2008-06-27)101

When mysterious earthquakes threaten the streets of Chinatown, Sue, Sid, and Tobey discover that they are connected to an old well downtown. When their mentor Nana learns that the evil sorcerer Kong Li is attempting to awaken an ancient dragon sleeping under Chinatown with the "Di Xia Spicy Noodle Recipe," it takes some ingenuity and bravery to stop Kong Li from breaking the barrier around Chinatown and escaping.
Recipe Obtained: The Di Xia Spicy Noodle Recipe

Guest Star: Evelyn Lanto from Kappa Mikey (Mitsuki) as Exercise Instructor
2"Bottomless Soup"Sean Boyland, Bennett MadisonJuly 4, 2008 (2008-07-04)102

Sue, Sid, and Tobey must discover the source of the soup flooding Chinatown.
Recipe Obtained: The Bottomless Soup of General Yang Recipe
Absent: Kong Li

Guest Star: Stephen Moverly from Kappa Mikey (Ozu) as General Yang
3"Great Balls of Fire"Leila StrachanJuly 11, 2008 (2008-07-11)103

A kid named Eugene, who idolized Sue, Sid and Tobey, draws comics using ink he makes himself, but his creations somehow come to life and set the town on fire.
Recipe Obtained: The Crocus Ink Recipe
Absent: Kong Li

Guest Star: Jamie McGonnigal from Pokémon and Viva Piñata as Eugene
4"Let Them Eat Cookies"Adeline ColangeloJuly 25, 2008 (2008-07-25)104

Tobey is turned into a flying monkey when he opens a magic fortune cookie.
Recipe Obtained: The Fu Fortune Cookie Recipe

Absent: Kong Li
5"The Other Garden"Kim HolmesAugust 1, 2008 (2008-08-01)105
Tired of always training to defeat Kong Li and never getting to do normal teen activities, Sid wishes he, Sue and Tobey had never met Nana... and witnesses a parallel universe that results.
6"Shape Shifter"Adeline ColangeloAugust 8, 2008 (2008-08-08)106

Kong Li sends a shape shifter to track down a collection of antiques.
Recipe Obtained: The Mokupow Recipe

Guest Star: Kether Donohue (Annice Moriarty) from Kappa Mikey and Dinosaur King (Lily) and (Zoe) as Eunice
7"The Tutor"Adeline ColangeloAugust 15, 2008 (2008-08-15)107

Sue wants to learn magic so badly, because she believes Kong Li can't be defeated with kung fu alone. While on a delivery, her customer is a magic master. She decides to train from him, but he might be using her for a recipe.

Recipe Obtained: The Crab Rangoon Recipe
8"Happy Birthday to Sid"Kim HolmesAugust 22, 2008 (2008-08-22)108

Kong Li mixes a potion into the ingredients of a cake, which turns Nana and Mr. Wu into children on Sid's birthday, and tricks little Nana into thinking the siblings are her enemy.

Recipe Obtained: 'unknown'
9"Terracotta Warriors"Kim HolmesAugust 29, 2008 (2008-08-29)109

The siblings practice team building in an art museum, when they discover the terracotta warrior statues are coming to life.

Recipe Obtained: The Qin La Chili Recipe
10"The Jiangshi"Adeline ColangeloOctober 31, 2008 (2008-10-31)110

Sid, Sue and Tobey each try to avoid delivering to the creepy house of Mr. Von Yang. Sue spots a child in the window, which they discover to be the soul of Von Yang's dead twin brother. Sid bumps into zombie-like monsters called the Jiangshi.
Recipe Obtained: The Hopsink Shrimp Recipe

Absent: Kong Li
11"Cocoon"Keith StaskiewiczNovember 7, 2008 (2008-11-07)111

A silker uses a magic recipe to make silk grow, but it turns out that his worms grew, and they all turned into Cocoons. Afterwards, the worms' cocoons hatched and became giant moths.
Recipe Obtained: The Danshaku Soup Recipe

Absent: Kong Li
12"Night of the Nian"Adeline ColangeloNovember 14, 2008 (2008-11-14)112

A dog food seller uses a magic recipe to make a lot of dog food, but it soon gets over used... and turns 10 of the neighborhood dogs into monstrous beasts called Nian.
Recipe Obtained: The Gocheok-dong Soup Recipe

Absent: Kong Li
13"Paint Problem"Kim HolmesNovember 21, 2008 (2008-11-21)113

Sue gets stuck inside a house while trying to investigate the source of purple painted on it, and both magically disappear. Meanwhile, Mr. Wu is going on a date, but he messes it up.

Recipe Obtained: 'unknown'
14"Friday the 13th to the 4th Power"Zachary ScheerMarch 13, 2009 (2009-03-13)114
Sue, Sid, and Tobey relive the same Friday the 13th over and over.
15"Bedtime for Baku"Adeline ColangeloMarch 19, 2009 (2009-03-19)115
Kong Li uses a recipe to put Chinatown to sleep while he searches for the missing recipes.
16"Cookbook Crooks"Kim HolmesMarch 26, 2009 (2009-03-26)116
Thieves try to steal Nana's cookbook and attempt to cook some of the recipes without knowing what they're really for.
17"Underworld Rising"Zachary ScheerApril 2, 2009 (2009-04-02)117
A kid and his brother cook a recipe that summons boar soldiers who wish to make the kid their master.
18"New Employee"Adeline ColangeloApril 9, 2009 (2009-04-09)118
The shape shifter previously seen in an episode of the same name applies for a job at Wu's Garden so he can locate the cookbook.
19"Night of the Living Vegetables"Kim HolmesApril 16, 2009 (2009-04-16)119
A child adopts a strange pet: A living boc choy!
20"Fear Factor"Kim HolmesMay 7, 2009 (2009-05-07)120
Kong Li uses a recipe that makes people see their worst fears.
21"Qiang Wall of Chinatown"Zachary ScheerMay 14, 2009 (2009-05-14)121
Sue, Sid, and Tobey's history teacher makes a recipe that makes him power hungry and he orders everyone in China Town to build a wall.
22"Super Sid"Adeline ColangeloMay 21, 2009 (2009-05-21)122
While trying to win a video game tournament, Sid hears of a recipe that makes you unstoppable, he cooks the recipe wrong and accidentally summons Chi-yu soldiers.
23"Chinese New Year"Zack ScheerJune 27, 2009 (2009-06-27)123
During the Chinese new year celebrations, Kong Li cooks a recipe that will bring every recipe back to him.
24"Heat Wave"Kim HolmesJune 27, 2009 (2009-06-27)124
Kong Li uses a heat wave recipe to get Nana to release the force field.
25"Time Travel"Adeline ColangeloJune 28, 2009 (2009-06-28)125
When most of the monsters come back, Nana makes a recipe that allows Sue, Sid, and Tobey to travel through time.
26"Origins"Zack Scheer, Adeline Colangelo & Kim HolmesJune 28, 2009 (2009-06-28)126
Kong Li reveals that he is Tobey's father

Ratings

Episode 1 garnered 571,063 viewers. Episode 2 garnered 593,000 viewers. By episode 3, it garnered over 1.5 million viewers.[citation needed] Three Delivery then became #2. It then dropped to #3 on Nicktoons Network ratings due to Avatar: The Last Airbender hitting #2 above Three Delivery. But it has garnered over 4.7 million viewers and has stayed at the top.

References

  1. ^ "Chop suey trio - Émissions - Unis TV". ANNÉE DE PRODUCTION : 2008
  2. ^ Liu, Ed (2008-04-19). "NYCC 2008: Nicktoons's "Three Delivery" - Like "The O.C." In Chinatown. With Dragons". ToonZone. Archived from the original on 2011-08-08. Retrieved 2024-06-06.
  3. ^ "Three Delivery". Archived from the original on 2008-09-01.