Cover of The Karate Kid (Special Edition)
The 80’s provided the world with numberous things. Some of the things that they 1980’s gifted upon the world, was good music, and even better movies. In fact, one of the best movies from the 80’s in my opinion is The Karate Kid. Please be aware, that I am referring to the original, not the horrible remake with Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith.
For those of you not in the know, The Karate Kid was about this wimpy Italian kid who got beat up by a gang of children who happened to be kung-fu masters, however his janitor, which apparently was a super-ninja decided to step in, beat the other kids up. In the end, the wimpy italian kid, had to end up learning karate by doing chores around his janitors house, and then beat the kung-fu bully up in some kind of karate championship.
Now, when I explain it like that, the movie sounds a little hokey, but at the time it was pretty kick-ass, and was apparently cool enough to spawn 3 more sequels, granted each got progressively worse, but that’s beside the point! Hell, most don’t even count “The Next Karate Kid” as part of the series.
However, the 80’s were good at more than just producing good movies, and cranking out some keen tunes. The 80’s was also very skilled at milking a good thing. If something was popular, you were guaranteed to see a cartoon, a set of toys and probably a comic book series. That’s just how the 80’s rolled! They kept milking a good thing until they killed it.
The Karate Kid was no different. I had most of the Karate Kid action figures, and to be honest, I thought they were pretty cool. The kicked and even Karate chopped! However, they really ruined the movie franchise when they release an Animated series. Unless you have actually seen an episode of this cartoon series, you will never truly know how horrible it was. Sure, I can paint a picture, but it just wouldn’t be the same!
Although, thinking back, at least Daniel Son isn’t an 80’s movie icon that went on to fight aliens like Indiana Jones! Well, come to think of it, he might have! I never watched all the cartoon episodes, but that seems like it would be a plausible plot for an episode. Kung-fu martians invade earth, and the karate kid has to stop them. Yea, it was probably done.
