Kung Fu
I have this strange memory. I was nine or ten years old, and I’m sitting on the floor watching TV. I was at one of my mom’s friend’s house because she had a son that was my age. It was the only time I ever visited their home, but I remember seeing commercials for two new television shows: Babylon 5 and Kung Fu: The Legend Continues. Why is that all I remember from that day? I don’t know, but it’s stood out because we must have been watching PTEN (Prime Time Entertainment Network) a short-lived television channel which two most successful shows were Babylon 5 and Kung Fu: The Legend Continues. I don’t recall ever watching anything else on PTEN, but that memory has lingered in my head for the past thirty plus years.
I’d eventually become a huge Babylon 5 fan in the late 2000s, but I still haven’t seen an episode of Kung Fu: The Legend Continues. In fact, I’d never seen an episode of Kung Fu, until just a few weeks ago.
It’s strange that I haven’t ever watched Kung Fu, because it was on in reruns when I was a kid, and it played a huge role in my mother’s career. As a child, she was infatuated with the show, and that led her to want to participate in martial arts. I recall her finding a childhood book, where she ranted and raved within the pages because her parents wouldn’t let her participate in Karate.
Things changed when I was born. My fascination with martial art movies led her to take me to a Tae Kwon Do demonstration and eventually a class. I enjoyed it, but she loved it, and she earned several degrees of her black belt, taught classes and eventually opened her own school. Her career trajectory began because of this 70’s TV show, and despite hearing about it often, I never took a chance on watching it until it was put on sale for $15 on iTunes a few weeks ago.
Desperate for something different to watch, I decided I could do worse than Kung Fu. I mean, my favorite Buddhist teacher, Ajahn Brahm tells a great story about a lesson he learned from Kung Fu before he became a monk, and I love Westerns. So, it seemed like a safe bet.
The pilot episode, which aired as a movie, was better than I expected. The fight cinematography was progressive for it’s time, and they used quick cuts and first person angles to hide the actor’s lack of ability. I thought David Carradine did a wonderful job encapsulating the character of Caine and his quiet, dangerous demeanor is so easy to enjoy.
I’ve only made it through five or six episodes, but the stories have remained strong, in an old school Western type of way. Each week, Caine ends up somewhere new, where he ends up needing to help or get himself out of trouble using his wit and his martial arts training. The stories are fleshed out with an incredible use of flashback, which shows a connection to this week’s adventure to Caine’s development in Shaolin Temple. Random quotes from the Tao Te Ching and various other Eastern philosophies are used from time-to-time, and it works as a great introduction into Eastern philosophy. Taking that Eastern philosophy and smashing it against the harsh realm of the American Old West makes for a surprisingly deep show at moments, and I wish we had something similar on television these days. I think it could help a lot of people.
I do feel like the fight choreography does take a step back from the pilot, but it still makes for a fun watch. The slow pace would definitely be a turn-off for a lot of new fans not familiar with the pacing of a 70’s TV drama, but I am actually enjoying it. I appreciate the actors and the scenery being given time to breathe, and enough of the world being shown to feel lived in.
Kung Fu has been a surprise. So far, it’s lived up to the hype, and I look forward to continuing my journey with Caine in his attempt to find his half-brother.
Caine: Is it good to seek the past, Master Po? Does it not rob the present?
Master Po: If a man dwells on the past, then he robs the present. But if a man ignores the past, he may rob the future. The seeds of our destiny are nurtured by the roots of our past.