Tenko and the Guardians of the Magic

infobox television
show_name = Tenko and the Guardians of the Magic


format = Animated
caption = "Tenko and the Guardians of the Magic" logo.
runtime = 30 minutes
executive_producer = Haim Saban
country = USA, Japan
network = syndicated (1995-1996)
first_aired = September 11, 1995
last_aired = ?
num_episodes = 13|

Tenko and the Guardians of the Magic was a cartoon show from Japan produced by Saban that centered around the fictional adventures of real-life magician Princess Tenko a.k.a. Mariko Itakura. After each episode, she would appear in the flesh to perform an illusion or do her "Teach-A-Trick", a segment that teaches the audience a simple magic trick they could perform at home. The show failed to attract an audience and production was cancelled after one season, which ran from 1995-1996.

ynopsis

The story of "Tenko and the Guardians of the Magic"' begins when a female magician, already an experienced performer, is chosen by an old man named Tenko to come to his school for magicians and learn real magic. There are already several magicians there learning from Tenko. He introduces the young magician to the Tenko Box, which looks like a magic wardrobe and holds many magic gems called Starfire gems. Each one has its own magic properties. It is Tenko's job to protect the Starfire gems. The new magician begins her training and quickly becomes the best magician at the school. Two of the most senior students, the twins Jana and Jason, become jealous of the newcomer when she is chosen to become the new Tenko just before the original dies. Jana and Jason then try to steal the Starfire gems. Jana steals the Amber Starfire gem and Jace gets the Ruby Starfire gem.

When they hold them up and say, "Starfire!" they are given flashy costumes and powers. Jana, very dominant over Jason, can control fire, while Jason has a magic shield with hypnotic powers. Once the twins' treachery is discovered, each of the other students receives a Starfire gem to fight. The three males at the school each receive a Starfire gem that gives them a weapon: one gets a sword, another a shield, and the third gets a set of magic rings to throw at enemies. Finally, the newest magician of all, the new Tenko, receives her own Starfire gem, the Topaz.

When she says, "Starfire!" she, like the others, is given a flashy costume and new powers. She uses a magic wand with a crystal at the top. The crystal holds the spirit of a lion that she can summon to help her fight. During the battle at the school, Jana and Jason demonstrate their ultimate power: by combining their Starfire gems, they transform into a large, two-headed dragon. In the scuffle, the Tenko Box is damaged, and the remaining Starfire gems are scattered all over the world. Jana and Jace make a quick escape. It is now up to Tenko and the Guardians of the magic to retrieve all of the Starfire gems before Jana and Jason get them and use them for evil. All of this happens in the first episode of the series.

Characters

*Princess Tenko: The Master Guardian, she is the leader of the show's heroes. She performs a traveling magic show while searching for the displaced Starfire Gems. The ones she personally uses each allow her to summon a ghostly animal companion to help her battle.

*Bolt: Bolt is a caucasian Guardian who is the team's joker.

*Hawk: Hawk is a Native American Guardian with a somewhat stereotypical connection to nature.

*Steel: Steel is an African-American Guardian who is a scholar of history.

*Ali: Ali is a hot-headed teenage girl who feels distant from everyone in her life. After helping Tenko in one adventure, she becomes her apprentice and trains constantly to be a Guardian. In the second to last episode she does become a Guardian and earns her own Starfire Gem, but we never see what her power is.

*Shonti: Shonti lives at the Guardians' mansion and is in charge of taking care of their animals, especially Tenko's pet snow leopard cub Ninjara.

*Janna: Granddaughter of the Master Guardian who came before Hikita, the short-tempered Janna tried to steal the Starfire Gems when Tenko became the new Master Guardian instead of her.

*Jason: Janna's twin brother. He and Tenko have shown signs of being attracted to each other, but he's easily manipulated by his sister and so follows her orders.

*Hikita Tenko: The former leader of the Guardians. After he was injured by Janna and Jason he was placed in the Tenko Box and disappeared, but occasionally his spirit appears to Princess Tenko to give her advice.

*Travis Cage: An endangered-species poacher who is interested in money with each endangered animal he captures and trades. He finds the diamond Starfire Gem after failing to bag a gorilla. With the help of Janna and Jason, he kidnaps Ninjara, seeing her as a rare prey, and sets traps for Tenko and the Guardians.

*Vell: An evil industrialist who was logging a rainforest to try to find the emerald Starfire Gem, which would allow him to free a demonic entity imprisoned long ago in another dimension. He is pulled into the demon's other realm for failing and his ultimate fate is unknown.

tarfire Gems and Abilities

*Topaz Gem - summons a Golden Lion (Holder: Princess Tenko)
*Rose Quartz Gem - summons the Rose Eagle (Holder: Princess Tenko)
*Sapphire Gem - lets holder breathe underwater and summon the Sapphire Dolphin (Holder: Princess Tenko)
*Garnet Gem - lets the holder to wield a magic sword. (Holder: Bolt)
*Turquoise Gem - gives holder a magical shield (reputedly makes them impervious to the Ruby's powers, but never demonstrated) (Holder: Hawk)
*Quartz Gem - gives the holder magical rings which he/she can throw to capture enemies or create ladders (Holder: Steel)
*Morganite Gem - Unknown (possibly super speed). (Holder: Ali)
*Amber Gem - allows holder the power to shoot fireball projectiles (Holder: Janna)*
*Ruby Gem - creates a mesmer-disk shield that lets holder hypnotize people (Holder: Jason)*
*Opal Gem - Can bring inanimate objects to life. (Holder: Princess Tenko)
*Amethyst Gem - Holds several animated suits of armor. (Holder: Princess Tenko)
*Diamond Gem - can enlarge a creature it is used on (Holder: Princess Tenko)
*Pearl Gem - Has the power of flight, used by Tenko to turn her horse into a pegasus. (Holder: Princess Tenko)
*Onyx Gem - Lets the holder create storms, but carries a curse that if it isn't given freely its power will eventually run out of control. (Holder: Princess Tenko)
*Cat's Eye Gem - Lets the user see anywhere in the world and has limited power to see the future. (Holder: Janna)*
*Emerald Gem - the most dangerous Starfire Gem, allows the holder to free demonic entity imprisoned long ago in another dimension (Holder: unknown)

*Note: He and Janna can transform into a two-headed dragon by touching their Starfire Gems together.

Episodes

*1. Let the Magic Begin!Tenko saves a child from a burning building and for her bravery is selected by Hikita Tenko to become one of the Guardians of the Magic and his successor. Angered that she wasn't chosen, Janna coerces Jason into helping her steal the Starfire Gems, which Hikita hurls through time to keep them safe. (Note: the title is also one of the show's catchphrases. The other one is "The magic is within you".)

*2. Through the City DarklyA thug has found a Starfire Gem, but his bag gets mixed up with Ali's, and Janna and Jason come after her to get it. The twins and the Guardians both appeal to Ali to let them help her, and she realizes the Guardians are the ones who really want to help. Ali becomes Tenko's apprentice.

*3. Diamond in the RoughA big game hunter finds a Starfire Gem, and in exchange for it Janna promises to give him the chance to hunt a snow leopard. Tenko's snow leopard, Ninjara. The Guardians travel to Africa to try to bargain for the gem, and Bolt and Hawk get stuck at customs for the entire show. The hunter's son tells Tenko and Steel what's going on, and after a battle with Janna and Jason the hunter realizes that his son matters more to him than hunting, and gives the gem to Tenko. With the help of the diamond Gem, Ninjara breaks out of her captivity and saves Jason from a raging fire, and the Gem is put into the box for safekeeping.

*4. Strong Medicine, Strong MagicJanna poisons Tenko's horse, Pearl-Rider, with a poisoned apple, and seeking a cure Hawk takes her to his tribe's reservation in search of his grandfather the medicine man. Janna and Jason have captured him, but Tenko and Hawk save him and teleport back to the mansion in time to save Pearl-Rider.

*5. The Stone of DestinyProfessor Doole, a teacher of Steel's, is buried in rock when excavating the tomb of King Hepsut, a pharaoh who owned the Star of Destiny (the dialogue calls it the Star, not Stone), which allowed him to see across time and space. Figuring it's another Starfire Gem, the Guardians and Janna and Jason descend on the tomb. Surviving traps and undead mummy guards, the Guardians get the Star of Destiny, but Jason kidnaps Ali, and Tenko is forced to trade them the gem for Ali's safety. The twins use it to the see what the future holds, and see Tenko's wedding. Janna snatches it away before Jason can see who the groom is, but he has a long brown ponytail, like Jason...

*6. Trust and BetrayalJanna and Jason find another Starfire Gem, but its energy is unstable and Jason is placed in a coma when he touches it. Janna goes to the Guardians for help saving her brother, and he's put inside the Tenko Box to be healed. Janna then reveals her other face and locks up the Guardians, but Ninjara and Kiddles the monkey manage to get the keys and free the Guardians. Tenko enters the box and brings out Jason who almost reforms, but Janna forces him to join her again and the twins are fought off.

*7. Night of the DolphinTenko is performing at an aquatic theme park, and meets two of the occupants, a dolphin named Delphy and a young orca named Kaylu who's been kidnapped from his pod. Janna and Jason conspire with the greedy owner of the park to ambush Tenko. During the attack most of the park's occupants are freed into the ocean, ruining the corrupt owner, and Tenko with them. Delphy leads her to a grotto where she finds the sapphire Starfire Gem and learns that Delphy is the dolphin it controls.

*8. The Big StoryBolt falls for Stacy Roberts, a reporter for a show called The Big Story, but Jason hypnotizes her into leading Bolt into a trap so they can steal his Starfire Gem. They also steal the Tenko Box and use it to summon a chimera, but the Guardians manage to drive it away, and Stacy's news camera breaks, so she doesn't get an exclusive of the battle.

*9. Troubled WatersTad Donovan, an old friend of Bolt's, is working with a scientist in a plan to bomb a California fault line to prevent The Big One. Tenko senses another Starfire Gem in the vicinity so the Guardians find it while Janna and Jason try to take advantage of the bombs, because in truth they'll cause a devastating earthquake rather than prevent them. Tenko keeps the bombs from going off just in time.

*10. Will the Real Tenko Please Stand Up?A prince sends his advisors to hire Tenko to perform for him, and he promises to give her a Starfire Gem he owns. Hearing this, Janna pretends to be Tenko and the prince decides to have them compete against each other. When Janna destroys things and Tenko saves the spectators, the prince realizes she really deserves the gem and gives it to the real Tenko.

*11. The Forest EmeraldTenko has a dream about being chased into a cave by a villain, and Hikita's spirit tells her to find a purple pouch. After discovering a secret passage in the mansion, they find the purple pouch, which has a map to the resting place of the emerald Starfire Gem. While Bolt, Steel and Ali lead Janna and Jason on a wild goose chase, Tenko and Hawk travel to a rain forest to look for the emerald. The map is stolen by an evil developer named Vell, and he finds the emerald first. Tenko manages to shatter it, but Vell steals half of the part which gives it its magic and escapes.

*12. The Magic SkatesAli is tired of training as Tenko's apprentice and not being considered responsible enough to do advanced magic. She returns home and meets with an old friend who convinces her to buy a pair of skates. Little does Ali know, now that she has left Tenko's protection, Janna and Jason will do anything to get her skates, which each have half of the morganite Starfire gem. After proving herself to be responsible and capable of using the magic she has learned, Tenko presents Ali with the morganite gem and deems her worthy of becoming a Guardian.

*13. Cry HavocVell joins forces with Janna to steal Tenko's piece of the emerald Starfire Gem, and takes it from her after trapping her in a volcano. Tenko follows them to the ruins of Atlantis, where Vell betrays Janna and uses her life-energy and the emerald to try to free an ancient demon. Janna combines her power with Tenko's to seal the demon away, but doesn't know when to stop and tries to take the emerald even when the cave starts to collapse, burying her. As Jason arrives at the mouth of the cave, an eerie green glow is seen coming from within...

External links

* [http://www.darah.com/collection/tenko/ Tenko and the Guardians of the Magic Toyguide]