Remo Williams: The Prophecy

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 saw this one, and I'm not quite sure how--it aired once and then disappeared without a trace. As an avid Destroyer book reader, I felt the concept of a television series based on the books was a can't-miss prospect. Then I saw this. When it comes to re-creating the books, the movie may have missed the boat, but this series missed the water entirely. The biggest problem is the lead actor. The grinning, poofed-hair goofball they brought in to play Remo almost certainly never read any of the books. He missed the dark, brooding persona that even Fred Ward managed to capture in the movie.

The next problem is similar to that of the movie--it tries to create a new plot line instead of just using one of the 120+ available in the books. This deteriorates quickly into some nonsense about a hit man trying to kill Remo to take his place and some kind of a fight with a photon-torpedo shooting robot guarding a chemical weapons plant (I'm not making this up). The Sinanju training and Chiun's hilarious antics were kept inexplicably in the background for the whole episode.

Surprisingly, the supporting cast isn't too bad. McDowell does an admirable job as Chiun, although he doesn't quite lose himself in the role the way Grey did. It's hard to imagine anyone being more Harold W. Smith than Wilfred Brimley, but the seasoned vet they brought in for this role did a fairly nice job (a little more gruff than he needed to be, but not bad). There were also a few funny lines like "There has never been a Master of Sinanju named Big Mac" (okay, I thought it was funny). All in all, a bad series based on the Destroyer is better than most good series based on other subject matter, but this one comes nowhere near the potential of the concept. It's not quite "The droppings of a diahrettic duck" as Chiun would say, but not really good, either.

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.

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

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.