Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting!

So, I basically have 3 television shows that have completely and utterly shaped who I am as a man today. I alluded to this fact once in a poignant post I wrote in 2008 early on in this blog's existence called: "My Three Dads." I reposted it 2 years ago on Father's Day here. Perhaps some of you might recall that.

As that article pointed out, my three all-time favorite tv shows from childhood are, in no particular order: Star Trek: The Next Generation; Kung Fu: The Legend Continues; and Highlander: The Series. With the latter receiving top billing in both my estimation and impact on who I am as both an adult and as a writer.

However, while two of these shows have been readily available on DVD and Blu-ray formats for some time, for years now I have been maligning the fact that the remaining series has never seen the light of day in North American home video release -- not even VHS tapes! I mean, ever since I first got a DVD player in 1998 I've been scouring the 'net and retail stores alike for this series to release, and to no avail. Back in 2001 I even joined online petitions and Amazon's own mail notification service in the hopes of having my dream fulfilled, and still -- bupkis!

That is, until now:

Behold, the day has finally come. The day that my beloved television show, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues has at last arrived in a professional, officially sanctioned video release. Sure, it's only a DVD release in an age where everything is inevitably switching over to the Higher Definition format afforded by Blu-ray disc, but it's better than nothing. And since HD tvs were not in existence when this show first aired way back in 1993, I can't say that I mind too much watching these episodes in Standard Definition. That's the only format I've ever seen them in!

Kung Fu: The Legend Continues was one of the flagship shows to air on the new and untested independent station, The Prime Time Entertainment Network in early 1993. It told the tale of one Kwai Chang Caine, an elderly Shaolin Buddhist monk and gong-fu master who, after 15 years of wondering the world, is reunited with his Westernized son-turned-police detective, Peter. The show was a spinoff of the original Kung Fu, which aired from 1972-75, and whose's protagonist was also named Kwai Chang Caine. Since that show took place in the American Wild West of the late 19th century, it was explained early on in the new show that this other Kwai Chang Caine was in fact the grandson of that now legendary figure. Both characters were portrayed by the late, great David Carradine.





Press play up there to watch the show's very memorable opening sequence.

The series was a wonderful attempt to blend your typical cop procedural with martial arts know-how and even some tinges of Eastern philosophy here and there, albeit sometimes in a heavy-handed, kitschy sort of way. Okay, not sometimes. Try ALL of the time! I was 16 at the time this show aired, though, and too young to know any better. But the young, unsophisticated teenage me ATE IT ALL UP! I loved it so much. For me, although it looks quite dated now, nothing like this had ever been done on television before. The themes were very adult back then, and the father-son dynamic at work really spoke to me, a kid from the Bronx who never had a father figure to look up to, let alone bond with.

In just a few short episodes, I was hooked and a die-hard fanatic of this series. It not only sparked my interest in learning gong-fu as not just a martial art, but a way of life -- it also put me firmly on the path of my lifelong love affair with all things Chinese. This interest in that far East culture always existed within me, to be sure; but Kung Fu fanned the flames into a full-blown passion! And Kwai Chang Caine was my role model.

For years the parent company which owned the rights to this show, Warner Brothers, sat on it and would not budge. No matter how many fans clamored for some sort of home video release, we were never appeased. Not even a hint that we might someday get what we wanted. Until suddenly, just a little under a month ago, word came out that the company would be releasing the entire 1st season on DVD via their manufactured on demand (MOD) endeavor exclusively from their online site. I found out about it just a few days after the series became available on the Warner Archive Collection website for just under $50. I received the set in the mail earlier this week, and I swear tears of joy nearly streamed down my face as I began watching the 90-minute pilot episode again after more than 2 decades. All the memories were back in a flash!

What a way to start off the month of June! I know it's silly, but despite my cynicism over nostalgic home video releases, I actually find myself these days with a spring in my step, humming the opening theme, and waiting to get home so that I can sit down to dinner and watch another episode of this classic action show from my youth.

That's the magic of television, folks. That right there! And if you would like to own your own copy of the show, click on that link just above. I believe this was a first-run service straight from Warner's website, with plans to allow Amazon and other online retailers a chance to sell their own stock sometime later in the month. This particular fanatic just HAD to get his hands on it as early as possible, though, so . . . NYAH!

New Video Purchases For The Week

Stepped across the street to J & R Music World during my lunch break today and purchased two new releases hitting this week:

Zombieland

This is just a damn fun movie about Zombies taking over the entire planet and a bunch of human survivors trying to keep one step ahead of becoming their lunch. Good family entertainment for all. Actually, gratuitous violence, gore, and brief nudity (zombie nudity at that!) aside, this is actually quite humorous and accessible even to people who are not big fans of zombie movies. I liked it so much, I saw it twice in theaters! And I've read that the Blu-ray version is so good as to be demo quality. Not like I wasn't going to buy it anyway, but that's a nice bonus.

She-Wolf of London

OH. MY. GOD!!!! I can't believe this show has finally seen the light of day! It's about an American grad student who travels to England to study mythology, when she ends up lost on the moors one night and is attacked by a lycanthrope. As you can see, the story draws a parallel more with the cult film An American Werewolf in London than it did the original She-Wolf of London movie from the 1940s.

But original premise or not, I still loved the hell out of this show. I never missed it. The series only lasted one season back in 1990, but I was a tried and true fan at the tender age of 14 (yes, I just dated myself I know). I bring up my age in order to explain my next point: Kate Hodge!

I had a MASSIVE huge crush on this actress at the time. She plays the grad student, Randi Wallace. I don't quite know why today, but she simply drove me crazy! Ah, the thoughts I would go to sleep with (wouldn't YOU like to know?)

And it's not like I had any weird werewolf fantasies or anything. In fact, the werewolf is my least favorite horror trope, down their with zombies (bet you could never have guessed that last, but it's true).

But, yeah, a completely un-hairy Kate Hodge was something I enjoyed looking at on a weekly basis. And at the time I was willing to overlook the whole "turning into a monster every full moon thing." Which, of course, is a not too clever allegory to another womanly transformation once every 28 days, and something men have had to deal with since time immemorial. Although my wife's never actually tried to rip my head off and drink my blood during this delicate time.

Not yet, anyway.

But yeah, Kate Hodge. I wonder, where is she now?

I remember there was another show like this airing around the same time. It was called Dracula: The Series. Does anyone remember this? Like She-Wolf, this was also filmed in Europe (Germany instead of England), which gave both shows such a distinctive visual edge over other factory-cranked genre tv shows coming out of Hollywood at the time. And also like She-Wolf, it dealt with another shopworn horror trope: Vampires! But it was a cool show. One that I miss very much. Now that She-Wolf is finally on DVD, dare I hope Dracula might be coming next? All Google searches come up foggy on this point. Along with Kung-fu: The Legend Continues, I might be waiting a LONG time to add this to my home library.

Oh, poo!

The Downfall of HD-DVD

Around 2 years ago this time there was a heated war brewing: with the camp of HD-DVD supporters on one side, and Blu-ray-backed studios on the other. Both were battling it out over who would reign supreme as the number one high-definition format after DVD eventually phased out. At the time, many likened the war to the VHS vs Betamax conflict of the early 80s. But few could predict how the tables would suddenly turn, nor how swiftly the war would end by one decisive act.

In January of 2008, just weeks before the industry's annual showcase, CES, Warner Brothers announced they were now putting their support behind Blu-ray, abandoning what many HD-DVD adopters had arrogantly assumed was a surefire feather in their cap.

But the numbers did not lie. Due to Sony having the foresight to equip all their PlayStation 3 consoles with built-in Blu-ray players right out the box--and since the home console was just beginning to hit its stride in sales--Warner and many other previous diehard HD-DVD supporters could no longer ignore the truth. Blu-ray was gaining, and all the top analysts were predicting an eventual lead over HD-DVD in the year to come. Warner, in actuality, only precipitated what had already been apparent on the books for months.

But many HD-DVD owners were too stubborn to admit defeat. So, when the Warner announcement came, it was to profound shock to Microsoft supporters and Xbox 360 owners alike, both of whom had aligned all their hopes behind an HD-DVD dominated market not so much for personal stake (unlike the PS3, the 360 had foolishly not come equipped with an HD-DVD player), but because they wanted to see Sony and its much hyped Blu-ray format fail.

Warner's capitulation changed all that. Blockbuster soon followed suit, announcing an abrupt reversal to a statement it had made just a month prior putting its support behind HD-DVD only. Now Blockbuster was singing a different tune, stating that while it would still stock current HD-DVD titles, its future high-def video rental offerings would involve Blu-ray releases solely.

Rather than the war taking another year and change to end, this back-to-back blow effectively crowned Blu-ray king within just a few short months into 2008. Today, HD-DVD is but a mere memory soaked beneath the bitter tears of fanboys who still refuse to believe their dreams of a Sony and Blu-ray humiliation have not come to fruition.

To commemorate this blessed changing of fortunes, I have reposted a parody video below which was first released when the news of Warner's defection was still fresh in the ears of Blu-ray naysayers. The video takes a pivotal scene from the excellent German film, Der Untergang, and replaces the original English subtitles with scripted text devoted to the downfall of HD-DVD -- to hilarious effect! It takes a scene which is orginally depicting Hitler's reception of the news that his top generals have either been defeated or defected beneath the approaching advance of Russian troops, and turns it on its head. LOL! The thought of Hitler calling in his top advisers to discuss something as mundane as the high-definition movie market just tickles me to no end.

But, honestly, nothing can top the actual words some genius scripted to go along with the real movie dialogue (spoken in German). The reaction and the expressions on the actors' faces just matchup so perfectly with the parodied subject matter. You have to check it out for yourself and keep in mind the atmosphere that was prevailing in late 2007/early 2008:

Double Dip Time - Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut

Well, well, the day has come. I knew when I purchased the Director's Cut DVD of my favorite film of 2009--Watchmen--that I would most likely be double dipping when they eventually released an even longer version jam-packed with even more supplemental goodies. And sure enough, that day has arrived:


I hate doing it, but I just had to double dip this time. I mean, come on! Just look at it. How could I resist? To make it a more justifiable purchase, I decided to splurge on the Blu-ray version this time. In that sense it will be like watching the movie new, this time on my HD-TV.

This four-disc box set includes both the original Theatrical Release (in standard format) as well as the Director's Cut (blu-ray), with what seems to be an additional 40 minutes tacked on to the latter. The reason? This time, in addition to a few minor extensions, we're finally getting the graphic novel within a graphic novel--Tales of the Black Freighter--which will be woven into the story line the way it was always intended.

The metacomic "Tales of the Black Freighter" was released as a standalone DVD a few months back, gorgeously drawn and narrated by Gerard Butler. But I've never seen the product, so it's going to be nice to have it included within the actual movie for the sake of purists like myself.

The other 3 discs include the aforementioned bonus features, a copy of the "motion" comic--which is basically a moving version of still frames taken from the original graphic novel and set to a narrator and basic sound effects/music--and the now ubiquitous digital copy of the film. You'll also be able to connect to Facebook through BD-Live, though I don't see much use for that particular function. Maybe I'll change my mind.


*Note:* The standard DVD version of this same box set includes 5 discs instead of 4, only because they could not fit the entirety of the motion comic on 1 DVD-ROM disc the way they can with the more spacious BD-ROM disc. Yeah, it's that HUGE. Run time for the motion comic is a whopping 5 and a half hours (325 mins) long! Holy Christ, folks! Again, like "Tales of the Black Freighter," the motion comic has been previously released on DVD. It's just nice for me to have it in one place with this box set since I never did get around to purchasing the standalone version.

If you're a huge fan of Watchmen (the movie or the comics, or both) you owe it to yourself to have this in your collection. Especially if, unlike me, you were more patient and refrained from purchasing the Director's Cut a few months back. If I had known that an even bigger release was destined to hit shelves so soon, I would have waited, too. Oopsie on my part!