Three Delivery



Three Delivery (2008) is an animated series appearing on Nicktoons Network, and produced as a joint collaboration with Animation Collective and FatKat Studios.

It centers on the staff of the Chinese restaurant Wu's Garden: Calvin Wu, his mother Mei Hua (who is mostly referred to as Nana), Calvin's son Barney, and the three delivery kids Sue, Sid and Tobey, who have more to do than deliver takeout around Chinatown. Years ago, Kong Li unleashed the powers of a magical cookbook. The pages -- which contain magical recipes -- were scattered all over Chinatown. A spell was placed on the area by Mei Hua to keep the worst effects confined to Chinatown and to protect the rest of the world. Nana and the Three Delivery trio are in a race to get the magical recipe pages before Kong Li does, and endangers the world.

The title of the show is a clever pun on the facts that the trio delivers takeout to Muggles and magic cookbook pages to Nana, and that their cook, Barney, is overly excited about the fact that Wu's Restaurant has free delivery.

Tropes:

 * Alternate Universe: Sid's wish causes one.
 * All Love Is Unrequited: Sue crushes on Barney. Barney crushes on Tiffany Cho. Tobey crushes on some girls who simply uses him as entertainment.
 * Audible Blink: Mostly in reaction to the weird/bizarre things Tobey says and does.
 * Badass Bookworm: Sue, who studies when they're not fighting or working, and applies what she learns.
 * Badass Normal: The trio. They have no special powers; they're just trained in martial arts.
 * Bare Your Midriff: Sue.
 * Be Careful What You Wish For: Sid discovers this after drinking a recipe-powered smoothie.
 * Brother-Sister Team: Sue and Sid are siblings.
 * The Big Guy: Mr. Wu, although calling him, Nana and the trio a Five-Man Band would be stretching things.
 * Big Eater: Again, Mr. Wu.
 * Chekhov's Gun
 * Conveniently an Orphan: All three.
 * Cool Old Lady; Nana, who trained Sid, Sue, and Tobey to fight evil.
 * Crazy Prepared: Nana has given the kids bikes outfitted with things they may need in the course of their cookbook quest.
 * Cymbal-Banging Monkey:
 * Deflector Shields / Containment Field: There's a magic forcefield around Chinatown protecting the world from what happens inside it.
 * Distracted By the Shiny
 * The Ditz: Tobey is the one with a blond streak, both figuratively and literally.
 * Dragons: As might be expected for a show that takes place in Chinatown, the dragons are of the Chinese variety.
 * Establishing Shot: Wu's Garden in particular.
 * Every Episode Ending: Each episode ends with Nana and the trio winding down for a bit in the garden behind the restaurant. They put the recipe back in the cookbook, then return for one more quick gag before the credits.
 * Evil Laugh: Kong Li does this when he has the chance.
 * Friendly Local Chinatown: Well, friendly until the weird magic stuff starts happening.
 * Great Big Book of Everything: The cookbook of spells.
 * Goofy Print Underwear
 * Hey, It's That Voice!: Has Sid ever told you that he was a Soul Reaper? Or that Sue is a reality warper who loves said Soul Reaper?
 * Idiosyncratic Wipes: The scene transitions feature Chinese characters and one of the three doing martial arts poses.
 * Lethal Chef: Though arguably, anybody who gets a recipe from the magical cookbook could be so.
 * Le Parkour
 * Luke, I Might Be Your Father: In the series finale, Kong Li tells Tobey that he is his father. However, Nana says that she doesn't know for sure and that Kong Li only thinks that Tobey is his son.
 * Martial Arts and Crafts
 * Michael Sinterniklaas: The voice director.
 * Muggles: Barney [and possibly his father] are unaware of Nana's mission with the three delivery kids.
 * Never Mess with Granny: Mei Hua is a sweet old lady who has significant martial arts prowess, and is quite capable of using it when the situation calls for it.
 * Opening Narration: describing the show's premise; Nana and Kong Li are former mage classmates. The latter turned to evil, and the former trained the titular trio to fight him and protect Chinatown and the world.
 * Parental Abandonment: Sue, Sid and Tobey are all orphans.
 * Disappeared Dad: Nana is Calvin's mother, but there's no sign of his father. Given that his mother is a Cool Old Lady, it's probably a safe assumption he has died.
 * Missing Mom: Calvin is Barney's dad, but there's no sign of his mother.
 * Prophecies Are Always Right: Nana raised Sid, Sue and Tobey in response to one.
 * Reset Button
 * Roof Hopping
 * Skunk Stripe: Tobey has one.
 * Unusual Euphemism: "We're gonna be shrimp toast!"
 * Wake Up, Go to School, Save the World: Or in their case: deliver Chinese food, clean the restaurant, save the world.