Big fun on the small screen! Fa-la-la-la-la…

If you love Baymax and the rest of the Big Hero 6 gang, I hope you’re watching Big Hero 6: The Series on Disney Channel.  It’s a funny, light-hearted series about a kid trying to fit in even as he stands out.  A faithful follow-up to the film, Big Hero 6: The Series has most of the cast returning including Ryan Potter as Hiro Hamada, Scott Adsit as Baymax, and Maya Rudolph as Aunt Cass. Even Stan Lee returns as Fred’s father!  Fred gets a new voice with Brooks Wheelan replacing T.J. Miller and he does an outstanding job.  The show gives Fred a much more prominent role (reminds me of Shaggy from Scooby Doo) and Wheelan makes Fred likeable while still a bit of a overdramatic nerd in the best way.  Of the main cast the only other replacement is Khary Payton as Wasabi, taking over from Damon Wayans, Jr.  Maybe the best addition to the cast is Professor Granville portrayed by Jenifer Lewis from black-ish.  She gives life to a character that acts as a guide for Hiro and gives him direction and discipline while still nurturing him in a different way from Aunt Cass.

There are some pretty amazing actors who help round out the cast.  Fans of Kim Possible might recognize Christy Carlson Romano as Trina the bot fighter while fans of Sherlock might recognize the mysterious villain as having the voice of Andrew Scott (Moriarity).  Andy Richter does a great job as “sub-par” villain Globby.  He makes Globby both funny, endearing, and misguided.  But maybe my favorites are Alton Brown who basically plays himself in the role of Yum Labouche – a host of a television cooking competition, and Gordon Ramsey as Bolton Gramerci (yes, a purposeful play on phonetics) a chef on said show.  The episode “Food Fight” they are both featured on had to be one of my favorites.

Speaking of Kim Possible, the creators of that show also created this one!  As you might expect, it has the same successful recipe of funny dialogue and fun action.  For me, I love the diverse cast and it’s great to see a show like this on TV that features a wide range of ethnicities.  There are so few Asian characters (let alone Japanese-American) that it’s great to see Hiro featured in this show and he and his brother Tadashi continue to use their Japanese names instead of being Anglicized.  With Wasabi being African-American, Honey Lemon as Hispanic, Fred as a European-American, and Go-Go Tomago as another Asian / Japanese representative it really is great for kids to see themselves on TV.

Now, you can see the premiere 44-minute episode, “Baymax Returns” along with the first six episodes of the regular series (including “Food Fight”) on DVD.  Released under the banner of Big Hero 6: The Series – Back in Action! it also includes six bonus shorts shown on YouTube prior to the series’ release.  If you’re a fan of the show and haven’t yet seen the series, it’s a great way to catch up quick and at only $9.99 on Amazon it’s cheaper than going to see a movie!  That’s a lot of good TV (176 minutes worth to be exact).