Chinese martial arts

Chinese martial arts, often labeled under the umbrella terms Kung Fu (/ˈkʊŋ ˈfuː/; Chinese: 功夫; pinyin: gong fu) and Wushu (武术), are the several hundreds of fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in China. These fighting styles are often classified according to common traits, identified as "families" (家; jiā), "sects" (派; pài) or "schools" (門; mén) of martial arts. Examples of such traits include Shaolinquan (少林拳) physical exercises involving Five Animals (五形) mimicry, or training methods inspired by Chinese philosophies, religions and legends. Styles that focus on qi manipulation are called internal (内家拳; nèijiāquán), while others that concentrate on improving muscle and cardiovascular fitness are called "external" (外家拳; wàijiāquán). Geographical association, as in northern (北拳; běiquán) and "southern" (南拳; nánquán), is another popular classification method.

Terminology

Kung fu and wushu are loanwords from Chinese that, in English, are used to refer to Chinese martial arts. However, the Chinese terms kung fu and wushu ( listen (Mandarin) ; Cantonese: móuh-seuht) have distinct meanings. The Chinese equivalent of the term "Chinese martial arts" would be Zhongguo wushu (Chinese: 中國武術; pinyin: zhōngguó wǔshù) (Mandarin).

Kung Fu Panda

Kung Fu Panda is a 2008 American computer-animated action comedy martial arts film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It was directed by John Stevenson and Mark Osborne and produced by Melissa Cobb, and stars the voices of Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Ian McShane, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, Randall Duk Kim, James Hong, and Jackie Chan. Set in a version of ancient China populated by anthropomorphic talking animals, the plot revolves around a bumbling panda named Po who aspires to be a kung fu master. When an evil kung fu warrior is foretold to escape from 500 years in spirit prison, Po is unwittingly named the chosen one destined to bring peace to the land, much to the chagrin of the resident kung fu warriors.

The idea for the film was conceived by Michael Lachance, a DreamWorks Animation executive. The film was originally intended to be a parody, but director Stevenson decided instead to shoot an action comedy wuxia film that incorporates the hero's journey narrative archetype for the lead character. The computer animation in the film was more complex than anything DreamWorks had done before. As with most DreamWorks animated films, Hans Zimmer (collaborating with John Powell this time) scored Kung Fu Panda. He visited China to absorb the culture and get to know the China National Symphony Orchestra as part of his preparation. A sequel, Kung Fu Panda 2, was released on May 26, 2011, along with a television series, Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness later that same year as a part of a franchise. The third installment called Kung Fu Panda 3 debuted in January 2016.

Teletubbies

Teletubbies is a British pre-school children's television series created by Ragdoll Productions' Anne Wood CBE and Andrew Davenport, who wrote each of the show's 365 episodes. It originally aired on BBC2 from 31 March, 1997 to 16 February, 2001. The programme's original narrator was Tim Whitnall in the United Kingdom, while the United States narrator was Rolf Saxon. Though production had been announced cancelled in 2002, a new series of Teletubbies was created for 2015.

Teletubbies, particularly notable for its high production values, rapidly became a critical and commercial success in Britain and abroad and won a BAFTA in 1998.Teletubbies Everywhere was awarded "Best Pre-school Live Action Series" at the 2002 Children's BAFTA Awards. 'Teletubbies say "Eh-oh!"', a single based on the show's theme song, reached number 1 in the UK Singles Chart in December 1997 and remained in the Top 75 for 32 weeks, selling over a million copies.

In June 2014, the BBC announced it had ordered 60 episodes of a new series of Teletubbies to be aired, with DHX Media, which recently acquired Ragdoll Productions, producing the series. This marks the first new episodes of the series since 2001 and the first to be aired on CBeebies, after reruns of the original series were broadcast on the channel. However, the new series was filmed on replica model sets instead of Wimpstone Farm in Warwickshire (the original setting for Teletubbyland), because the owner of the land flooded the old set and turned it into a lake in 2003. In April 2015, Daniel Rigby was announced as the show's narrator. Fearne Cotton and Jim Broadbent were announced as the voices for the Voice Trumpets and Jane Horrocks will voice the Tubby Phone, a device that transports the Teletubbies to the modern world.

PAW Patrol

PAW Patrol is a Canadian animated television series created by Keith Chapman. The series first aired on August 12, 2013, on Nickelodeon in the United States and in Canada on TVOKids on August 27, 2013. The series is produced by Spin Master Entertainment in association with TVOKids and Nickelodeon, with animation provided by Guru Studio. On November 14, 2013, Nickelodeon announced that PAW Patrol had been renewed for a second season, which began airing on August 13, 2014. On June 9, 2015, Nickelodeon announced that PAW Patrol had been renewed for a third season, which began airing on November 20, 2015.

Plot

A tech-savvy boy named Ryder leads a pack of seven dogs: Marshall, Rubble, Chase, Rocky, Zuma, Skye and Everest (the last of which was added to the team in season two). With a unique blend of stunts, pop culture references and lots of child-friendly humor, the PAW Patrol works together on high-stakes rescue missions to protect the city of Adventure Bay. Their most frequent caller is a fisherman named Cap'n Turbot, who knows a lot about the ocean and loves hanging out with the pups.