Kung Fu

After watching the pilot, I must say I had higher hopes. This is aimed at a young audience, more pre-teen than young adult, but for that genre, it's a decent watch. I had hoped it would be a contemporary spin on the original series, but, then again, I was a young teen when I was a fan of it, so maybe it is the same audience. The plot is simplistic, the fights are engaging, it will appeal to young Asian viewers, and, despite the dumbing down of some of the dialogue, I'm going to give it a passing grade. I give this series a 6 (fair) out of 10. {Action Adventure}

The original "Kung Fu" TV series was about morality. Yes, the fight scenes were fun and brought something new to Western audiences that amazed us all, but at the heart of the series was a map for how to live a moral life; how to connect with all things.

This series is a disgrace to the "Kung Fu" name. It is written for a young audience and it appears to center around a sword with magical powers (Holy Green Destiny, Batman) and only its rightful owner can hold it (shades of Thor's hammer).

The first episode hints at magical powers to come, and it implies that the charismatic young heroine has developed amazing kung-fu skills in three short years at a monastery. At least in the original series, Caine grew up learning kung-fu and the ways of their Taoist. Zen philosophy.

Apparently the producers of this new series believe young people are not interested in thinking deeply. The plot is as thin as a bad kung-fu movie where the plot centers around, "You killed my teacher!" And of course, they threw in a Tong war. So far, there is no hint of the series that might have been -- a wise and skilled young woman coming back home and helping people not only with her fists of fury, but also helping teach them to accept others and live a more balanced life. As a result, the producers have ripped the heart out of the "Kung Fu" series and shown it to us, beating in their hands, before the series dies.

Yes, I watched the original Kung Fu and while the story takes a very different Generation Z young female approach to the story, I find it VERY watchable. If you want the same mold as the original, sorry; this will not be your show. But if you can revisit a discipline from a modern Chinese American approach, I think you will appreciate the struggles this young woman is going through. But if ONLY a David Carradine clone will do, then don't bother. I certainly find this show to be above average. I'm not going to say "stellar" in the 8-10 range. As I have gotten further into the series I'm liking the main character even more. The plot line about her aunt is a nice twist.

How can you pass such extreme judgement after 1 episode? Give things a chance! I like that the cast is almost all Asian - heck let's remember David Carradine was a white man playing a half-Chinese man and while he was good in the role it could never be authentic. I find the show enjoyable and I look forward to more episodes. Rating a 7 for now. Not a fan of filming in Canada pretending to be San Francisco but that's not the actor's fault.

Kung Fu appears to have been created by someone who hated every single element of the original except the Kung Fu part. Old west to modern day, Man to woman, last-resort fighting to ready-to-rumble, real-word to supernatural elements, isolated loner to deep family connections. If there is any feature you remember from the original besides a monastery premise and a bunch of fight scenes, you can be assured it's not in this version.

It's really hard to understand why they bothered to say this is based on the original, since it's clearly not.

Some changes are good. The lead character is played by an Asian instead of a white guy who doesn't look remotely Asian. Even as a white kid in the 70s that made zero sense to me. And while it's been years since I saw the original, I think the fight scenes are probably better in this one, although no less gratuitous (in the original, Kaine always said he didn't want to fight, but he fought in every episode).

But let's ignore comparisons to the original and just think about this series as though it is a totally new creation. Is it good on its own terms?

Not really. This is your basic CW teen/early adult drama, with annoying pop songs, a bunch of annoying, attractive young people with dubious acting skills, a hey-kids-let's-put-on-an-investigation approach to crime, and a high annoying quotient. As always, I feel obligated to note that I'm an old man who has a lower tolerance for these series than a youngster - if I'm going to watch a teen show, it needs to be as smart and original as Impulse or Sweet/Vicious.

I wish this were an Asian/female version of the original show, with the same Daoist philosophy and unusual approach. But it's not, it's just another CW show that I can do without. But if you like stuff like Riverdale maybe it's the show for you.