KUNG FU - season one

[The Burgomaster]

I unwrapped my KUNG FU season one DVD set yesterday and watched the pilot episode.  I haven't seen the pilot movie or the any episodes of the series in many years, but, boy, it was worth the wait!

The picture quality isn't quite as sharp as I would have liked, but that's okay.  

Also, you can clearly see the face of David Carradine's stunt-double in a few shots.

Carradine is excellent as Kwai-Chang Caine, the Chinese-American halfbreed Shaolin monk.  As the pilot film opens, Caine is walking across the desert of the American west.  We learn that he is wanted for murder in China and is on the run from Chinese authorities.  (Later in the series, he embarks on a mission to locate his brother Danny Caine).

The mix of "old west cowboys," "far east philosophy," and martial arts is great.  Caine is a peaceful man, but when he needs to defend himself, he opens a serious can of "whoop ass."

The extras include a documentary about how the show was conceived and pitched to ABC television executives.  (David Carradine is looking very old and feeble these days).  Also, director John Badham (of SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER, BLUE THUNDER, etc.) appears.  He was one of the directors who worked on the series.  John Saxon also shows up in the interviews (he was a guest star on the series).

I can't wait to launch into each and every episode of this great series.



Post Edited (03-18-04 11:14)

[Mr_Vindictive]

I think that I just might have to pick up that set Burgo.  Kung Fu is a fantastic show, and I would love to own it.

[Yaddo42]

If I ever get "unpoor" again I'd like to pick this up, although I really like the second and third seasons better.Somewhere around here I've got an episode guide I picked up in a clearance bookstore. Lots of interesting snippets of info and ministories from Carradine and some of the others involved in the series.

I used to watch this all the time on TNT, plus I liked that since they showed them in order you could watch his hair grow over the run of the series, until he shaved it and adopted a whole new outfit around the time of theepisode with Cannonball Adderly and Jose Feliciano and later the  wrapup story arc around finding his half-brother.

[The Burgomaster]

Yaddo:

They talk about the hair issue on one of the "extras" interviews.  Carradine said that he just let his hair keep growing throughout the series.  One day, he showed up on the set with his head shaved.  The production crew was surprised because he was supposed to have hair.  They asked him why he shaved his head and he said, "It's something that Caine would have done."

I had forgotten some of the guest stars:

* Barry Sullivan (from the pilot episode)
* Brandon Cruz (from THE COURTSHIP OF EDDIE'S FATHER - he looks like a bum on the interview track . . . scruffy looking, wearing a stocking cap, hoop earrings, a chipped tooth in the front of his mouth . . . )
* John Saxon
* Jodie Foster
* Harrison Ford
* Mako

. . . to name a few.



Post Edited (03-19-04 12:12)

[AndyC]

The Burgomaster wrote:
 (David Carradine is looking very old and feeble these days).

I had just seen a clip of a recent interview on TV last week, and remarked to my wife how much like John Carradine he's looking these days.

[BoyScoutKevin]

What memories. And seemingly every Asian actor in Hollywood at that time. Benson Fong, Richard Loo, Keye Luke, Philip Ahn, Victor Sen Yung, Robert Ito, and James Hong. One of the better and more memorable pilot episodes. Besides Barry Sullivan, also providing support in the pilot episode were Albert Salmi, Wayne Maunder, Radames Pera, and Keith Carradine.

[Dutchman]

Kung fu was my favorite show when I was a kid, & I was looking forward to the dvd release...but, I read on the Mobius forum that although the show was actually shot at 1.33:1(full frame), the dvds are matted as to give the impression of widescreen. Fake letter-boxing that actually impairs the original picture. If thats true, I think it's a pretty crappy idea.

[The Burgomaster]

Dutchman - It's true.  The DVDs are in matted widescreen format.  But I don't think it takes much away from the picture.  I'm not sure of the exact aspect ratio, but it appears to be about 1.66 : 1, or maybe not even that extreme.  It would be much worse if they used a more extreme aspect ratio.

So far, I have watched the pilot episode, and 3 regular epidodes.  What a great show!