'Kung-Fu' (CW)

They had me at "Kunf-Fu reboot series".


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They immediately lost me with "Berlanti".

 

This has been kicked around for a while. I'm kind of interested, but I'd need to see more.

 

The standard of fighting better be way better than David Carradine's efforts. I'm guessing the lead (if still called Kwai Chang Caine) will be fully Chinese this time since both parents are played by Asians.

The parents were never really a major part of the show in the original, if they even featured at all. I think he was just an orphan who ended up at the Shaolin Temple under the tutelage of Master Po.

 

And of course this has a female lead... She'll probably also be a lesbian (not that there's anything wrong with that )

Oh well, at least we got Warrior.

 

Female lead, male, alien, transgender, dog, cat, ficus or inanimate carbon rod... I have no faith in Berlanti to create a show at this point that doesn't waste the potential of whatever concept he's been handed.

 

I'm mildly interested. Actual Asian lead is a step in the right direction from the previous version on one hand. On the other hand I always feel kind of iffy with the whole "Asian kung fu master" thing since that was almost the only role an Asian actor could get in Hollywood for a long time. But there has been some improvement in that area in the last few years. Also I hope the fight choreography will be worth a damn this time around lol.

 

I wonder if Keith Caradine will guest star. He's the half brother of David Carradine, and apparently played the young version of Kwai Chang Cain in a couple of episodes (but not the main actor who played the young Cain in most of the series). He could be an old man that the new Cain meets and offers sagely advice.

 

‘Kung Fu’: Olivia Liang Cast As The Lead Of the CW Reboot Pilot

 

This looks like it's set in modern day and more like one of those spin off Kung Fu series. Doesn't seem to have much in common with the original.

 

Modern day? Like “The Legend Continues”? Ugh, no thanks.

 

Her name isn't even Kwai Chang Cain but Nicky Chen. She could've been any random Chinese woman who decided to join the Shaolin temple. They are just trading on the Kung Fu name but not really taking anything from it. Why not make it an original series?

 

Because they want to capitalize on the brand name even if the actual contents has little to do with it.

 

Obviously, it's one of these millennial remakes that has to make changes to the concept of the show to cater to an increasingly fragile, triggered audience (e.g., Beauty and the Beast, Dynasty). That being said, this show is at least attempting to map some of the traits of a traditional Wild West Western; the protagonist comes back to their home town from far away, discovers that the town is rife with corruption, meanwhile a second enemy from their past follows them home, etc.

 

When did Kwai Chang Cane come back to his home town from far away in the original? I thought he was wandering throughout the whole of the US in the wild west. He was a fugitive after killing an emperor or member of the royal family with a spear after Master Po was murdered by one of the royal guards.

 

He only wandered around in the western part of the United States (and only in a few of the states). And it was season 1 episode 2 "DARK ANGEL" where he went to the town that his father was from and met his grandfather.

 

The return of Kung Fu?

CW + Berlanti?

 

They could've gotten Finn Jones to play Kwai Chang Cain.

 

Anyone expecting this to mirror the Carridine version(s) at this point are the same that expect Star Trek Discovery to look like TOS, with unlabeled Jolly Rancher buttons as the presentation of future technology shown on a screen for entertainment in the 21st century.

 

Might as well. The acrobatics they will pull to not have an Asian male in a lead role in anything are astounding, even in this case.

 

Well, particularly in a regular series or film which doesn't involve martial arts. Sure, they will get someone of mixed race like Henry Golding, but when do you really see someone who is fully Asian playing a role that could easily have been the lead role that a white or black guy could've played?

For example, did we ever get the lead of a CSI or NCIS franchise who was Asian and who was simply the head of that task force rather than some martial arts master or nerd techie? Or do we get Asian actors who are the romantic lead of a film - eg a romcom or drama?

 

Because they hate us, that's why. It's that simple. Seeing an Asian man on screen just doing **** brings bile to people's throats. Black and white, conservative and liberal, even a lot of Asian-American women feel this way.

 

Doesn't help with the Corona virus either, which just adds another excuse to ostracise Asians and view them with suspicion.

 

Well, times like these are when we learn the difference between being Asian and being Oriental. Just like Chris Rock and Eddie Griffin point out the difference between being African-American and being, the other word. Asians are all skinny hot girls who'll **** any white guy, and Orientals are the backward dog-eaters who can't drive and spread disease.

 

Because making it an "original" series was already done in 1994/5 with a violinist instead of flute playing wanderer. Vanishing Son starring Russel Wong. With him and a short time brother being chased by China because of Tienanmen Square instead of killing a relative of the emperor.

Of course given current economic power China can't be a bad guy for a Kung Fu hero to run from in fear that anything else that studio produces would be black listed by the People's Republic.