The Karate Kid

The Karate Kid (1989) was a cheesy saturday morning cartoon that

debuted on N.B.C. The cartoon was real hokey and I didn't stick with it (the phony voices had something to do with it). The plots made part three

look innovative. Man, I thought I was dreaming that this show ever existed

until I saw it on this site. I knew I wasn't hallucinating! Like most 80's

nostalgia nothing was worth remembering and this series is one of them.

Bad cartoon spun off of a dead in the water franchise. Nothing to

recommend (unless you're a masochist).

To think I forgot about this cartoon from my beloved decade - the 1980's! Loosely based on the hit film franchise of the same name, it starts with Daniel staying in Okinawa, Japan, after fighting Chozen, for a while. One adventure after another with Mr. Miyagi and this cute Temple girl makes for what was to be expected as an exciting series. Sadly, it did not quite garner a following as hoped, like the movies did. I cannot say anything bad about this series, however.....like the 90's campy Street Fighter movie with Van Damme....more could've been done with this series to make it where it could've formed a cult following. Plus, the voice-actors sounded almost like they weren't quite into this colorful attempt. Well-animated for the 80's, though. To me, what kept this series from disappearing after just an episode or two was the appearance of Pat "Mr. Miyagi" Morita during the opening scenes.

LONG LIVE THE 1980's!!

Don't pay attention to these snotty know or all with their low scoring. It's a cartoon show you nerds.

The 80's were a time when things looked great, everybody was making money hand over fist and cartoons were everywhere. It didn't matter what the subject matter was. Take a product that was popular and make a cartoon about it. So what happens when you take a popular enough movie franchise that is gearing up to release a third movie? Why make a cartoon about it of course. And this is where we get "The Karate Kid".

It takes place sometime after the second movie. Daniel has decided to stay in Okinawa with Mr. Miyagi and learn karate. Well at the local museum a magical thingie is stolen and Mr. Miyagi, Daniel and some Japanese girl that was created for this series go all over the world trying to track it down and bring the treasure home. Along the way they use their karate powers to defeat bad guys and do incredible stunts like seeing Daniel surf a torpedo. I guess if it wasn't for his karate skills he'd be shark bait.

The cartoon itself is bad. What else needs to be said? Nobody seems to remember it, there are no petitions for it to be put on DVD and that's about it. As I said it's a product of the times that really needs to be left where it was.

So there was an animated series of Karate Kid. I knew this, because my older brother is always saying that the animated series is better than Karate Kid III and Cobra Kai. What? I do not agree. This show seems like it is best to keep you entertained for a half an hour each Saturday in 1989, and that's it.

Instead of seeing characters like Johnny Lawrence and John Kreese. We are stuck with Taki. A horrible replacement for Kumiko with a name based off of a chip snack you find at your local Walmart. Yeah, "Takis"? No tournaments and they are after a magical shrine with powers, that they lose the end of every episode just to get another episode. No wonder this got only 13 episodes!! I can't recommend this show at all. You're better off watching the original movies.