Kung Fu TV show reboot

I never was a fan of the original series - I couldn't get into it.

This looks like it might be good though. I'll have to wait for it to make its way across the pond.

 

I will watch it, before judgement, but so far the reboots I have seen are not so good

 

CW does tend to do well lately with their young adult action genres thanks to their involvement with DC (Arrow, Flash, Supergirl). So if they lean heavily toward that instinct it might go over well.
Fights wise just checking, co ordinator worked on Warrior as choreo. So theres a bit of hope.

Of course you cant go into a Kung Fu series and not discuss or avoid the involvement of Carradine and Bruce contraversy.

So lets see.

 

I'll watch it. I watched the original which I found entertaining enough, but as I got into martial arts and rewatched I realised quickly how bad the martial arts action was.

 

Heresy!

 

I'll probably give this a miss. From the teaser video it looks like the typical mix of wooden actors who can't do martial arts very well at all. I don't understand why casting directors never hire talented martial artists who can act because there are certainly plenty around, especially since the advent of extreme forms & tricking. But it's hard to believe the lead character can take out the bad guys when their technique is so sloppy.

I never watched the original series but very much enjoyed The Legend Continues in the 90s. Probably my favourite show after Buffy, SG-1, DS9, and Space: Above and Beyond. I'd prefer it be left alone and the studio produces an entirely new IP for the current generation.

All these reboots with different ethnicities and genders (Buffy, Charmed etc) feel like a bit of a hollow box-ticking exercise so the studios can prove how politically correct they are. Most rebooted franchises consistently fall flat, but even more so when they seem to be trying to score diversity points. I think the studios would be doing a better service to their target audiences by producing entirely new materials covering issues that are important to them.

 

Saw it, hated it, not into the family drama they seem to be putting into all of these reboots today

 

Warrior was renewed for a third season courtesy of HBO. Just saying.

 

Anyone know when this will hit the UK? If it will be on a particular streaming service?

 

I haven't seen anything about it being broadcast in the UK yet

 

Wait, what?

Legend Continues was replete with wooden acting and sloppy technique. I mean, I watched it. Such was my addiction to martial arts entertainment. My favourite memory of it was a guest appearance by Peter "Sugarfoot" Cunningham (who actually isn't wooden and has brilliant technique). But David Carradine has NEVER been a talented martial artist.

Obviously, I'm typing this with tongue firmly in cheek. You can skip or watch whatever you like, of course. And I'll skip it too, honestly. But based on the preview, the martial arts aren't mind-blowing, but they're still leagues ahead of the original. Exhibit 1: go to YouTube and search for a clip in which Kwai Chang Kaine is introduced to "capoeira."

Years ago (and, apropos of nothing, on a flight between the US and the UK), I read Carradine's book Spirit of Shaolin. It's clear to me that he wasn't especially interested in being genuinely knowledgeable about martial arts. His glossary, for instance, cited "bushido" as a martial art. But the book was interesting in a lot of ways. One of which being that the original choreographer (a David Chan, if memory serves) was a judoka, not a gung fu practitioner. I think he might have had a bit of background in chin-na, but remained an odd choice, to my mind.

I think the bottom line was that it was a different time in terms of audiences' capacity to discern between gung fu, karate, capoeira, etc. It was enough for an actor to be able to raise one foot off the ground somewhat deftly.

The original was important for all sorts of sociological reasons (not all of them commendable), but the action was awful.