A Look Disney's Summer In Avalor: Villains Profile: Shuriki

Villains with magical powers are always fun and those are some of the most popular types of villains in the Disney canon when you consider that they have the likes of Ursula, a sea-witch, Dr. Facilier, a voodoo man and Mother Gothel, a witch that used a magic incantation to keep herself looking young.   And Disney's magical villains can also be some of the most ruthless as they'll stop at nothing to get what they want.   Ursula took the voice of an unassuming sixteen-year-old, Doctor Facilier tricked an arrogant prince (that is at least how some saw him) into giving away his life and Mother Gothel did this.

She kidnapped a baby and hid her from the world for 18 years.  Why am I bringing this all up?  Well, Elena of Avalor presented the audience with perhaps one of the evilest magic users that an audience has seen in a Disney program.  I present to you, Shuriki.   Now,  this one is gonna work a little differently considering that is a character from a TV show and she has appeared in two seasons of the show, I did not go back and watch every appearance but I did try to hit the big ones such as her debut and one of her re-appearances and her ultimate demise but I'll be relying on both the Disney and Elena Wikis to help fill in some important gaps. Please understand that even though, a good chunk of season 2 is on Disney Now,  that would push this blog back even further than I already pushed it back.   Now in fairness, I did re-watch her first appearance and her some of her other big appearances and I hope that makes this sufficient.  

Voice Actor

Jane Fonda

Something I find kinda neat is that a lot of the villains on this show are played by relatively well-known actors as Lou Diamond Phillips also plays a villain on this show.  As for Fonda,  I'm familiar with her work and I know I've got some of her movies on TV once or twice such as 9 to 5 but I more think of her in her Netflix show, Grace & Frankie that my mom loves.   As for how she plays Shuriki, I'm impressed as she is cruel and vindictive and quite scary.  Another key point in Fonda's favor in how she plays Shuriki is that she embodies the character and unless you go looking for this information, you probably wouldn't be able to tell that she is playing this role.  

First Appearance

Shuriki is first seen in the Elena of Avalor/Sofia The First crossover,  Elena and The Secret of Avalor as Elena sends Sofia a vision of what happened to her parents and it is actually quite a bit dark to see this.

This is dark and quite intense but it serves as a good way to introduce Shuriki and show what she is capable of doing because by killing off the king and queen of Avalor shows that she'll do anything to get what she wants.   And it did as it led to her reigning over Avalor for 41 years. 


Personality



It's quite simple as she cruel, power-hungry vindictive and will stop at nothing to get what she wants.  Which is seen in two big ways in first with her fake defeat at the end of the special as it shown that she has survived but it is seen that she will get back up and do what it takes to reclaim Avalor and also how she is able to convince every single one of Elena's foes to work under her in the hopes of taking down the Crown Princess and promising them each something.  This is something that I'll touch upon more in that segment but it is actually quite impressive in how she is able to get people to rally under her.



Grand Desire


Shuriki is interesting in that with her first goal, she actually succeeded as her first goal was to become the queen of Avalor and overtake the country by force and she did that.  And forty-one years,  she was in charge of Avalor.   Granted,  at the end of the Secret of Avlaor, the people turned against her and ran her out of the castle and the kingdom.   Where she'd lay low and was seen again until the very end of the special, Realm of the Jaquins.  

However,  she gets more intense in the second season especially during the Scepter of Night arc, which we will be looking at during this event as she gathers up every single one of Elena's foes in an attempt to use them to take out Elena and retake Avalor. 




Allies



Yeah,  like I said Shuriki doesn't exactly have lackeys.  Even if she may think that she has a whole horde of allies.   It's actually quite impressive how many people/creatures she is able to convince to work with her but they all want something similar, revenge on Elena or one of her friends. 

Now as you may see here,  two of these have formerly by their names and that's because they survived Shuriki's attack prior to the start of the show and for Esteban, Elena's cousin, he still has guilt but he served under Shuriki as a way of hoping to free his aunt and uncle/Elena's grandparents as they raised him when he was a child. 



Most Evil Deed


This might seem cheap as I'm going with one that happened before the show even started but it is, in my opinion, the most evil thing that she did.  That would be killing Elena's parents. 

Again, I know I'm not going with anything from the show proper but consider that this set the events of the show in motion and that Shuriki just zapped them with her scepter right in front of Elena.  And for forty-one years while Elena was trapped in the amulet,  Elena heard the spell that killed her parents running through head every single day.  I think that this must've had a rather profound effect on the daughter of these two.


Defeat



Elena takes out Shuriki in  Song of the Sirena.   

Shuriki fires her Demolish spell at the princess. It appears she succeeded, but as she checks the spot where she stood, she is caught off by guard by Elena, who is still very much alive. Before Shuriki can retaliate, Elena fires her Blaze spell at essentially point-blank, taking out Shuriki once and for all, avenging her parents at long last. All that is left of Shuriki is the Jewel from the Scepter of Night,

And Craig Gerber has confirmed that Shuriki is dead as Elena's blast killed her. 

This is interesting and I like this angle because honestly if Elena hadn't killed Shuriki, things would have only gotten worse as Shuriki's magic was getting more powerful as the second season went on and if it had gotten any stronger,  Elena may not have been able to stop her.   Now, there's one other thing of note here.   Just because she's dead, that doesn't mean that she's out of the show.  You see,  Elena has the ability to see spirits of those who have passed on during Day of the Dead.   And I doubt the show would be able to do this but I could see Shuriki's spirit attempting to take advantage of that to try and haunt Elena but I do think her friends would be more willing to believe her.




Is Shuriki a Good Villain? 


Overall, she's great.  She's very menacing and quite scary and strong.   It shows how formidable a foe she is to Elena and would stop at nothing to get what she wants.  Join me next time as I look at Elena and The Secret of Avalor.  Peace.  

A Look at Disney's Summer In Avalor Music Fridays # 186: Elena & Isabel

We continue our Summer in Avalor by looking at what one of my favorite things in the show,  the relationship between Elena and her little sister, Isabelle.   This relationship is just so pure and shows how much love Elena has for her younger sister and will always be there as a guiding light for sister.  Now granted, I will be including one song that doesn't fit that as it is an Isa solo but it's my favorite song from the show, so I felt that I had to.  With that outta the way, let's begin.


Sister Time - Model Sister








We start with the song, Sister Time from an episode early in the show's run that is just so fun and catchy in showing how Elena will always attempt to make time for Isa even now that she is Crown Princess.   It's a cute and catchy number that sells the audience on Elena's love for Isa early in the show's run.   It doesn't much establish how Elena will become that guiding light for Isa but two other songs that we will look at, do that perfectly. 



Fix Anything -  Crystal in The Rough

I just want the kids to like me

This line from Isabel that she speaks before the song starts speaks volumes to her character here during the first season.  Isabel is a smart kid and that's great but sometimes being as smart as she is, can make you feel like an outcast and that's depressing in how one can be made to feel so dejected in such an easy manner but as Elena points out,  there is nothing wrong with being smart and more importantly being yourself.  Sure, it's a cliche message but it's one that people still need to hear from time to time.





Hand in Hand  - Science Unfair






Isa is a very smart young girl and that's great but that can also cause her to get in her own way and think that she can do things on her own.  That's what this episode observed and more-so this song perhaps best seen with this bit of dialogue. 

Elena: Wow you really did some damage
Isabel: I know its a mess
Elena: Uh I meant with your friends
Isabel: So did I have to fix this

This song may seem simple but that is what makes it so great, everyone has a time where they realized that they pushed people like Isa did and that it's better to rely on them if they were willing to have you back.  This song is most definitely showing Elena as a guiding light here considering that she has a council that she goes to for advice and she can parlay that experience to teach Isa that it's okay to go to others.  It's a sweet and simple song that really shows how Elena will always be there for her sister. Perhaps not as much as the last song but it still got the point across.


Grown Up Enough -  Three Jaquins and a Princess







This is my favorite song from the show because being a younger sibling, there is always that moment growing up when you wanted to prove that I can handle more adult responsibilities.   And we believed that like Isabel, that we were grown up enough but could blow up in our face much like what happened with Isa here but Isabel does present a strong argument for why she could handle the situation and dang if this song didn't have me rooting for her.  This number perfectly encapsulates the feeling of being the youngest and wanting to feel older. 



Okay, I hope that you've enjoyed this Music Fridays and there might be more as the Summer in Avalor continues. Join me next time as we finally look at Shuriki.  Peace!

A Look at Disney's Summer in Avalor: Can We Talk about Elena of Avalor and It's Treatment

It is time for this year's Summer event and this year, it's a little different as it may not last a whole month but this is something that I've wanted to cover for some time.  Elena of Avalor is one of the best new shows from Disney and well,  it's been treated a bit weird by Disney Channel.  The show debuted on Disney Channel in 2016 as a part of the Disney Junior block and at the time that made sense as it was promoted as a spin-off as another popular show, Sofia The First.

Which makes sense as both shows were created by the same person, Craig Gerber.   

Gerber created one of the best shows for Disney Junior with Sofia The First.  And it only made sense that he would create another show that could be a home run for Disney.    And if we look here,  it's very noble as to why he wanted to create this show.

 ....following his success with Sofia the First, Gerber went on to create Elena of Avalor in June 2016.^[11] He was aware that there had been many Disney princesses of color, but not one of Hispanic roots. Gerber was careful not to state what country she is exactly from, but rather incorporate the “influence” of the location. He stated “What Disney really does well is create fairytale kingdoms,” he explained. “It makes it very inclusive—you don’t have to pick just one nationality

Which works but you'd think that he had been successful with a previous show,   his next show would be treated a little better.   One of the most confusing things considering this show is that the first episode, First Day of Rule aired in July.   Which on the surface may not seem like a problem but there was a Sofia crossover, Elena and The Secret of Avalor that was meant to set up Elena's show and it was promoted as airing before her show started but it didn't air until November of 2016.  

Which,  not a problem as there is a wraparound that ties into Elena's show but still that felt odd to wait so long after the show started to air this crossover that was meant to set it up.  This may not seem that strange but Elena is a story driven show and something that becomes even more apparent considering that it does Previously On's for a lot of its episodes.   Things also seemed to get a little weirder during the show's second season.   As the show was moved from the Disney Junior block to being treated as a Disney Channel show and airing during regular Disney Channel blocks but sometime during the second season, the show was moved off of Disney Channel altogether and put on the Disney Junior channel.  

This reminds me of how Nickelodeon will move their shows that aren't doing that well off the main channel and onto their Nicktoons channel but I'm not sure if that's the case as the show just finished up its second season this past season.  Yet, look at this...

Season two took about two years to finish airing and I think part of that comes from the move from Disney Channel to Disney Junior.   And episodes didn't air weekly in the second season except for two in October but that was perhaps the only time.   It went to a monthly schedule or bi-monthly as the last episode before the season finale, which aired in the first week of June and the last episode before the finale was in April.   So, that's probably why the show needs those Previously On's.    And this is something that I have seen with other Disney shows such as Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure.  Its second season had a similar mistreatment by Disney Channel.  

Kinda weird that two Princess shows have gotten this treatment and even more now, that Elena has been tangentially connected to the Princess line.  She even got her own Coronation at the Magic Kingdom and shares a meet-and-greet with Cinderella.

 






TV characters especially  TV princesses usually don't get this much fanfare and that does seem like a good thing overall but one would think that with a character that had this big an introduction,  that her show would have been treated better. 



Ah well,   it's still a good show but I felt before diving into this summer event, I needed to look at the odd way that this show has been treated.    Join me next time as we take a look at Elena's greatest enemy in the next Villains Profile as I look at the evil enchantress...


Shuriki