Ok, so let's get this out of the way first:
1-Yes, it is an absolute disgrace that they ran away with Bruce Lee's idea and refused to cast him. It was a stupidly retrogate sentiment to believe the show wouldn't succeed with an asian lead, and the sheer coolness of a TV series featuring Bruce Lee kicking ass in the wild west - with all his skills - is almost too awesome to contemplate.
2-This is a 50 minute episode series. And like just about every old television show with that running lenght, there is a lot of time-filling going on with scripts that could have been satisfyingly tackled in 30 minutes. I just sort of accept that as a given with TV from that era, though I am not aware of the exact context as far as production and advertising went that made things be so.
But that being said - wow, man. Dated though it may be, I think Kung Fu is a truly remarkable show, from the stirring opening theme on down. It works its archetypal western storylines well, and if the philosophy being put on display isn't exactly innovative, it does stay true to buddhism admirably (uh, I think - I'm no expert on the religion and its many offshoots.) Carradine's laughable martial arts skills are actually an asset, in a weird way - it forces the writers to come up with plot developments that don't hinge exclusively on having the good guy kick some ass.
Kung-fu aside Carradine is great, obviously, and the show had some pretty high quality guest stars - I'm going through the first season and John Saxon and Jodie Foster have dropped by!
Any other pebble snatching enthusiasts here?
1-Yes, it is an absolute disgrace that they ran away with Bruce Lee's idea and refused to cast him. It was a stupidly retrogate sentiment to believe the show wouldn't succeed with an asian lead, and the sheer coolness of a TV series featuring Bruce Lee kicking ass in the wild west - with all his skills - is almost too awesome to contemplate.
2-This is a 50 minute episode series. And like just about every old television show with that running lenght, there is a lot of time-filling going on with scripts that could have been satisfyingly tackled in 30 minutes. I just sort of accept that as a given with TV from that era, though I am not aware of the exact context as far as production and advertising went that made things be so.
But that being said - wow, man. Dated though it may be, I think Kung Fu is a truly remarkable show, from the stirring opening theme on down. It works its archetypal western storylines well, and if the philosophy being put on display isn't exactly innovative, it does stay true to buddhism admirably (uh, I think - I'm no expert on the religion and its many offshoots.) Carradine's laughable martial arts skills are actually an asset, in a weird way - it forces the writers to come up with plot developments that don't hinge exclusively on having the good guy kick some ass.
Kung-fu aside Carradine is great, obviously, and the show had some pretty high quality guest stars - I'm going through the first season and John Saxon and Jodie Foster have dropped by!
Any other pebble snatching enthusiasts here?
