Plot: What’s it about?
Television shows that became feature-length films weren’t exactly a novel concept. It seemed like a natural move to take a popular show and turn it into a film. It might be argued that one of the first (and arguably the best) to do this was 1993’s The Fugitive. The success of that film, along with its Best Picture nomination and Best Supporting Actor win for Tommy Lee Jones, paved the way for countless others to come. And why not? It’s a rather easy route to take a pre-existing work, condense it down to two hours and make a film out of it. Likely this trend will continue. But it was another ball of wax to take a film and turn it into a television show. Again, arguably, one of the most successful to do this was M*A*S*H*. The television show was highly-regarded, even more so than Robert Altman’s film adaption. But, in 1984, director John G. Avildsen gave us The Karate Kid (he’d also directed Best Picture winner Rocky a decade prior). The story focused on a mother and her son who left New Jersey to head to Hollywood. Trouble soon followed, but the feel good story was an inspiration. It inspired several sequels, a reboot in 2010 and, now, a spinoff show that reunited the two stars of the movie: Ralph Macchio and William Zabka. If you ever wondered to yourself: “I wonder what the two characters from The Karate Kid are doing now” (and who hasn’t) – your wait is over.
It should go without saying that if you’ve not seen the show, spoilers are below.
Season One
Daniel (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny (William Zabka) are now middle-aged and dealing with various life problems: Namely, Johnny is a down-on-his-luck drunk with an estranged son, Robby (Tanner Buchanan). Daniel, meanwhile, owns a successful car dealership. But he’s emotionally dragging the weight of Mr. Miyagi’s death and struggling to find the balance in his family and work lives.
Johnny’s karate passion gets a new kickstart when he uses his skills to defend a teenage Miguel (Xolo Maridueña). He then agrees to teach Miguel in the ways of the Japanese martial art, and reopens the Cobra Kai dojo (otherwise known as an honored place where masters and newbies come together to practice). The season culminates with the, you guessed it, All Valley Championship.
Season Two
If you remember John Kreese (Martin Kove), the old sensei from the films he re-emerges. Johnny nervously allows him back into Cobra Kai, the dojo he founded and we all know this is a bad decision. Meanwhile, Daniel starts his own dojo, Miyagi-Do, in honor of his late, great sensei. Robby and Samantha (Mary Mouser), aka Sam, join. Eventually, Robby and Sam fall in love and start a relationship. A new Cobra Kai student, Tory (Peyton List), starts dating Miguel, who used to date Sam. It’s messy. Tory is pissed when she catches her guy Miguel and his former flame Sam kissing at a party. A violent brawl breaks out in the kids high school, and Robby kicks Miguel off a balcony. Miguel suffers a spinal injury and is in a coma.
Season Three
The school fight and Miguel’s health crisis hit Johnny hard. So he once again hits the bottle. Robby is a pariah after sending Miguel off a balcony, which begins to hurt Daniel’s car dealership business. Robby disappears. Daniel and Johnny work together to find the kid despite their differences, but it doesn’t last. Robby turns up and enters juvenile detention. Fuming at both his dad and Daniel, he’s tempted by Kreese’s offer to join Cobra Kai. Because what’s one more troubled sensei? And in the “we knew it had to happen and we’re glad it did” department, we get a glimpse of Ali (Elisabeth Shue) reprising her role from the movie (and, yes, she still looks amazing).
Season Four
Kreese, who absolutely must beat Daniel and Johnny at the All-Valley at any cost, calls upon his Cobra Kai co-founder Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith). Having quit karate after The Karate Kid Part III, he’s lured back but butts heads with Kreese over tactics. Aghast at the reemergence of Silver, Daniel doubles down and asserts more control over the Miyagi-Fang alliance, which upsets Johnny, who yet again feels like he’s being outshined by his rival. But, sadly, Cobra Kai is ascendant once again and manages to win the All-Valley tournament. Silver frames his partner Kreese in a brutal assault on Stingray (Paul Walter Hauser), a former Cobra Kai student, which lands the innocent Kreese in prison.
Season Five
Daniel and Johnny are still determined to bring the pain to Cobra Kai, which is quickly expanding under Terry Silver. To thwart that, Daniel brings out the big guns: his own crazy colleague and former villain, Chozen (Yuji Okumoto), straight from Japan. Silver’s manipulative influence, however, starts to unravel Daniel’s mostly happy life. Amanda briefly leaves him. And Silver pulls out the big bucks in an attempt to make his Cobra Kai a global empire. He greets karate masters from abroad, convincing them to further boost the dojo.
Season Six
In the final season, broken up into three parts, we pick up with Cobra Kai eliminated from the Valley, our senseis and students must decide if and how they will compete in the Sekai Taikai – the world championships of karate. With Tory switching back to Cobra Kai, Miyagi-Do will be competing in the Sekai Taikai tournament while having new rivals and old enemies to deal with as they battle to become world champions — can they stay united as internal rivalries bubble back to the surface? There’s one final chance to finish the Sekai Taikai, Daniel, Johnny and the team lay it all on the line in the ultimate championship showdown.
Video: How’s it look?
Each of the show’s six seasons look essentially the same. And as we all know, Sony’s Blu-ray’s are second to none when it comes to their video quality. Shown in a 1.78:1 AVC HD encode the shots range from sunny, exterior shots to evenly lit indoor shots. In essence, it’s everything that we’d think the wonderful world of Hollywood looks like on a TV show. Does that make sense? Probably not. But it makes sense to me which is all that really matters. Moving on, flesh tones are warm and natural, detail is spot on as well – as of this writing both Ralph Macchio and William Zabka are both in their 60’s and, to their credit, look pretty good but grey hairs and crows feet have a nasty way of showing but then again – we all age. Suffice it to say that the video presentations alone are worth their merit.
Audio: How’s it sound?
The included DTS HD Master Audio mix more than gets the job done. While the lion’s share of the series is dialogue driven, there are some sequences that really surprised me at how robust the sound was. Surrounds abound (say that five times fast), there are plenty of directional effects that put you right in the middle of the dojo. This isn’t a “wake the neighbors” type of soundtrack, but it’s more of a very subtle and balanced sound mix that’s sure to please. I could go on, but it’d just be redundant – a nice effort.
Supplements: What are the extras?
Season One
- Audio Commentary – The pilot episode gets a commentary track with the film’s creators: Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg who give us the skinny on the show, the concept and do an awful lot of reminiscing.
- Deleted Scenes – Two total, though it’s uncertain as to where they came from.
- Music Featurettes – Three total that explore some of the musical aspects of the show.
- Chemistry Reads with the Cast – I think it goes without saying that Ralph Macchio didn’t have to audition for the part, but he reads with some of the other cast members (who obviously made the cut as well).
Season Two
- Deleted Scenes – Four total, adding up to nearly five minutes.
- Easter Eggs – Eagle-eyed viewers might recognize some callbacks to the original film(s). Those who aren’t – won’t.
- Fists & Fury: Fight Choreography – Basically that. A look at some of the training that went into some of the fight sequences.
- Into the Dojo: The Characters – Zabka and Macchio reflect on some of the new faces seen in the series.
- Gag Reels – Again, pretty self-explanatory.
Season Three
- Deleted Scenes – Four total, running nearly 9 minutes.
- Blooper Reel – I don’t know how they differentiate bloopers from gags, but nevertheless…
Season Four
- Deleted and Extended Scenes – Several this season totaling nearly 10 minutes.
- Blooper Reel – More bloopers. Whoops.
- Karate Dad – Ralph Macchio and Mary Mouser talk about the father/daughter relationship on screen.
Season Five
- Deleted and Extended Scenes – More deleted and extended sequences that run nearly 9 minutes.
- Blooper Reel – A plethora this season running nearly as long as the extended sequences.
Season Six
- Audio Commentary – I suppose it’s only fitting that the same three who gave us a commentary on the pilot episode wrap it up. Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg seem a bit more emotional here, but their work is done as they give us some anecdotes from the show.
- Deleted and Extended Scenes – There must have been a lot of stuff on the cutting room floor as we’re treated to nearly 30 minutes’ worth of deleted and extended scenes.
- Blooper Reel – More of the same as previous seasons – another 10 minutes’ worth.
The Bottom Line
I walked out of The Karate Kid in 1984 punching and kicking like I was a black belt (I wasn’t) and I find it hard to believe that four decades later we’re still looking inside the lives of Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence. The series has some misses, but they’re more hits. Anyone wanting to continue their journey with this franchise certainly has a plethora of content. Sony’s set gives us most of what we’re looking for with loads of bonus content and a good looking/sounding box set. For fans of the show or the film series in general – recommended.
