Remo Williams: The Prophecy

The TVM must have been shown somewhere in the US, as I have seen a very poor quality video which came from there - I don't think it's ever been shown in the UK.

The TVM picks up where the movie left off, with McDowall very obviously enjoying himself as the Korean martial arts guru. There is obvious chemistry with Meek, who has sufficient martial arts training to carry the role (I read somewhere it was McDowall who requested he be given the part). Briefly, Chen is about to return to Korea when he realizes Remo fulfills the requirements of a prophecy. His efforts to toughen his difficult pupil, however, nearly lead to disaster.

The finished effort cannot be mistaken for anything but a TVM, although it entertains.

i have seen this pilot and have a poor copy videotaped off the t.v.i am hoping it will eventually be released, as i would like to own a better copy for my martial arts library i think Roddy Mcdowell did a good job as Chiun i believe Dick Clark had something to do with the project.Jeffrey Meek, who played Remo, went on to star in raven another martial arts t.v. show. i think the t.v. version was better than the theatrical one Meek did a better job than Ward as Remo.i think the biggest problem with both versions is that they didn't bother to include Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir, their advice would have improved the quality of either project, but then again that would have made sense and Hollywood usually can't figure that out. thanks

I'm a longtime fan of The Destroyer series. I started reading the books when they first came out and have collected most of them and re-read them often.

The movie "The Adventure Begins" was a worthy effort considering that Hollywood can't leave any successful characters as they are and has to try and make everything P.C. and squeaky clean but this piece is entirely another matter.

Roddy McDowall was an excellent choice for Chiun and did his usual excellent performance. Smith was also done very well. The rest of it makes me wonder if the writers ever even bothered to look at the covers, let alone read any of the series of books this is supposed to be based on. Granted someone did glance through "The Day Remo Died" for the story line.

This is another example of the kind of lifeless writing and lack of imagination that is permeating most of television programming today. It's no wonder that "reality" shows are so common. They take no writing skill.

The only reason I gave it a rating of 7, and not the 4 I wanted to, was Roddy Macdowell's portrayal of Chiun. I found the head-wrap annoying, but he does not sport Chiun's wispy quaff. If you're a fan of the movie or book series, you really need to see the pilot.

It's based on the Novella "The Day Remo Died." This short story was part of "The Assassin's Handbook," later reissued as "Inside Sinanju." Warren Murphy recently reissued a new version of "The Assassin's Handbook" and "The Assassin's Handbook II." Both are available at warrenmurphy.com.

I managed to procure a copy of the TV pilot through the generosity of the DestroyerClub.com website (the official site.) They produced a FREE DVD that is yours for the asking. All I had to do was send them a mailing label and a few stamps, and my free DVD arrived. What was cool was the extras – the TV promo spot and movie bloopers! I have also seen very poor quality bootlegs for sale on eBay (don't but this trash!)

I never knew this existed! But I do know that the cover pic is from the movie, not the TV show.

I have read many of the books and seen the original movie. I was surprised that they had to get another WHITE GUY to play a Korean - what's the matter? Not enough Asians to play Asian roles? Mako would have been perfect. I love Roddy McDowell, but I do think that you should get a good Asian actor for the part of Chiun - there are so many and there were so many even then.

This should hopefully show up on one of the Action channels or maybe as a bootleg.