The Failure of The Karate Kid Cartoon & The Collapse That Preceded It
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5 ай бұрынTo buy the shirt that Dan is wearing and get 30% OFF your entire order use code "TOYGALAXY": www.80stees.com/collections/k...
Embark on a nostalgic journey as we delve into the failure of "The Karate Kid" cartoon!
In our exploration, we'll uncover how the idea for "The Karate Kid" cartoon was conceived and the creative minds behind its development. We'll discuss the challenges faced in bringing the iconic film franchise to the animated world and the changes that needed to be made as the syndicated market collapsed as a result of too many shows.
We'll explore its connections to "The Karate Kid" film series, the reboot and "Cobra Kai".
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@wstine79 5 ай бұрын
Is it me or did this show feel like a proto type for The Jackie Chan Adventures?
@Dynaman21 5 ай бұрын
In that there was a supernatural story with a celebrity/IP bolted on? At least in Chan’s case it was just a guy named Jackie, sort of like the Spartan X comics.
@frigginresulrum 5 ай бұрын
I was about to say the same thing. Magical McGuffins that cause mayhem around the world, the trio who chase them down and learn life lessons, martial arts, magic. Really does seem like Jackie Chan Adventures learned from Karate Kid's mistakes
@tonepotproductions5825 5 ай бұрын
Fun fact, they wanted to use Jackie Chan for the main character in that show, but couldn't, because they wanted the audience to be able to actually understand what he was saying.
@leroypowell3 5 ай бұрын
I thought that when Jackie Chan adventures came out.
@AstonishinglyVon 5 ай бұрын
I said the exact same thing
@Author_Jason_Waguespack 5 ай бұрын
The sheer tenacity of DIC to adapt anything that was popular with kids into a cartoon will always impress me. They did a New Kids on the Block cartoon at one point!
@coldsnap5742 5 ай бұрын
There was a Rambo cartoon. Freakin' RAMBO. As a kid, I had sandals based on said cartoon. Not the movies.
@BugRib 5 ай бұрын
@coldsnap5742 - They should've made a Death Wish kids cartoon. That would've been badass.
@leesherman5192 5 ай бұрын
They made a cartoon about every Nintendo game at once and I loved it.
@S-T-E-V-E 5 ай бұрын
3:17 Wow look at all of the amazing movies released in 1984! I'm so glad I was a kid in the 80's!
@juniorjames7076 5 ай бұрын
The '80s were an underrated Golden Age of film and music.
@chungkingexpress94 5 ай бұрын
Cartoon adaptations often added magical elements where there were none originally. Punky Brewster is another one that comes to mind. In the cartoon she has a magical troll friend lol. Bizarre
@BlackburnBigdragon 5 ай бұрын
All my life, I had known and loved, Saturday Morning cartoons. They were an absolute staple in my life every Saturday. And every year, in September, they gave us new shows. I still remember the day that I woke up on Saturday morning, eager to see what new animated Saturday morning shows there were going to be, only to not have a SINGLE kid's show on other than Saved by the Bell and Saved By the Bell knockoffs. And I hated Saved By the Bell. That was a DARK DARK day in my life. The day Saturday morning's died. I've been bitter ever since.
@jinpei05 5 ай бұрын
They actually managed to recover the shrine in the 8th episode, then it immediately gets lost again, never to be returned. Made me think it was the pilot and aired out of order. A very odd series.
@ffreed 5 ай бұрын
It was surprisingly common for ‘80s cartoons to have a pilot episode later in the run. Bionic Six, Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends, Chip & Dale’s Rescue Rangers, and more had an episode during the run where the viewer is like, “wait, is this the FIRST episode?” And that was because, thanks to broadcast airings, TV stations were seldom expected to air episodes in any kind of order, and syndicated shows were often discouraged from doing so. So for the cartoons that even bothered to have origin story episodes, more often than not they weren’t produced or aired at the start.
@leesherman5192 5 ай бұрын
I.I.R.C. the shrine was accidentally destroyed in the final episode, which made me sad. It was also just weird to see a series actually resolve its plot.
@geardog24 5 ай бұрын
I guess now they’ll be trying to make a Cobra Kai cartoon, where old Johnny teaches kids lessons while saving the world from the Zombie King.
@MrBeardsley 5 ай бұрын
I had a couple Karate Kid figures back in the day, the spring-loaded action features broke almost immediately. My mom tried returning them for a refund and they refused, which was the last time we ever went back to that store (the Woolworths in Portland, ME as I recall).
@bizznackywhirle5437 5 ай бұрын
I love how the action in the intro becomes increasingly implausible as it goes on. The torpedo surfing bit gets all the attention, but the last scene is Miyagi, the world's best stunt driver, catching monster air in the world's toughest kei car.
@goranisacson2502 5 ай бұрын
I agree, but if you asked me if I thought Miyagi couldn't do all those things and if I dislike that Karate lets you surf torpedoes... then I'd have to say no, do MORE of that.
@mattr75 5 ай бұрын
I didn't know there was a cartoon for Karate Kid. You learn something new every day
@chubzero7342 5 ай бұрын
The theme song has been stuck in my head for over 30 years
@wstine79 5 ай бұрын
"Put 'em in a bodybag! Yeah!" That sums up the Karate Kid cartoon.
@BonusEggs4Sale 2 ай бұрын
The cartoon seems way better than Part 3
@i.am.not.herbert 5 ай бұрын
Remember how after DIC cartoons, or I guess sometimes before I don't know, they would show that DIC logo can you hear a little girl's voice say "deek"? I can still remember like way back when when I guess before they figured out the pronunciation was offensive to some Americans or something and that little girl's voice would say "dick" straight up.
@Jason_Bryant 5 ай бұрын
There's one thing I noticed about the voice cast. Tamlyn Tomita, who played Kumiko in the second movie, is listed as "additional voices". However, she's only listed for one episode. It's the first episode, which IMDB says has a plot about going to the Amazon. What part did she play? Was it weird having such a minor role in something that her character could have been a big part of?
@ffreed 5 ай бұрын
There was even a short period of time in which I had just assumed Taki was Tomita's character in Karate Kid Part II. I didn't remember that the character in the movie was named Kumiko, so I remember thinking, "oh wow, she's different in the cartoon."
@mah7961 5 ай бұрын
Like it or not that saban guy is one shrewd businessman. Dude knows how to make money. Especially the way he did with the power rangers.
@daviddalrymple2284 5 ай бұрын
I didn't think I had ever seen the Karate Kid cartoon, but that opening title sequence brought it all back. But yeah, by 1989 there wasn't much room left for mediocrity in the animation sphere. Classics like DuckTales and TMNT were in their prime, Saved by the Bell had just debuted, and video games were being widely adopted.
@eddiejoewalt7746 5 ай бұрын
TMNT WAS AT IT PRIME? ARE YOU F'IN NUT!
@frankieseward8667 5 ай бұрын
It really was bad timing. It didn't help that soon after channels like Nick and Cartoon Network would come soon after
@eddiejoewalt7746 5 ай бұрын
@@frankieseward8667 Cartoon Network at the 90s was Hanna-barbera 2.0
@eddiejoewalt7746 5 ай бұрын
no by the time the 90s hits DISNEY AND WB SHOWS like Darkwing Duck, Talespin, Tiny Toons Adventures/ Batman TAS, Animanaiacs, and others shows they were quality!
@eddiejoewalt7746 5 ай бұрын
plus Fox Kids was one of the first programing that did weekday afternoon
@ceno10101 5 ай бұрын
2:56 Ok, I didn't say anything last video when it happened. But I love the clever slip in of Jason Vorhees clips just in the other movie footage. A+ to the editor.
@michaellomax6353 5 ай бұрын
Never knew about the glut of cartoon productions in the late 80s. Would be a very interesting subject to look into. Just to get a list year by year of all the kids shows and cartoons. To see much programming was out there.
@SecretGalaxyTV 5 ай бұрын
It's on Wikipedia
@xabungle5192 5 ай бұрын
It's a bit overwhelming
@Author_Jason_Waguespack 5 ай бұрын
In the 80s, toy companies thought their products portrayed on cartoon shows = $$$. That was mostly true at first, but by the late 80s there were too many shows and not enough good time slots, plus slapping a TV cartoon on the air didn't mean it was going to work as a toy advertisement anyway even if kids liked the show. By 1988, most toy companies said "Nyet!" and refused to back any more cartoons, hence the toon crash in the weekday syndicated market. (Of course Disney was doing swimmingly with DuckTales and realized, hey maybe we can do something with the afternoon market that everyone's pulling out of, maybe make the whole afternoon a *Disney* afternoon...)
@JohnClark-tt2bl 5 ай бұрын
I mean, Gary Coleman had a cartoon in the 80s. Let that sink in.
@paulguthrie4857 5 ай бұрын
🤣🤣🤣@@JohnClark-tt2bl
@btetschner 5 ай бұрын
I have trained a lot in martial arts, mostly in wrestling, Taekwondo, kickboxing, and Krav Maga. I train at Longoria's in Lincoln, Nebraska.
@averybryant6997 5 ай бұрын
while we are sitting here WAXING NOSTALGIA..👊
@littlekidinredcoat 5 ай бұрын
That's two in a row for having a Jason tidbit and a Taskmaster clip inserted in the edits. Two things I love!
@Belgand 5 ай бұрын
I had no idea that Danny Cooksey was in this! He practically deserves an episode of his own considering how large of a role he would play in my childhood: Salute Your Shorts, Terminator 2, Mom and Dad Save the World, Tiny Toons... he was everywhere for a crucial period of two or three years.
@ChainsGoldMask 5 ай бұрын
It's ridiculous how good your videos are. You guys should be on cable.
@cavemanbum 5 ай бұрын
3:44 - Now, I love Rodney Dangerfield's "Back to School", but how in the HELL did it end up at #4 in 1986 beating out Aliens, the Color Purple, Out of Africa, and Ferris Bueller's Day Off?
@JohnClark-tt2bl 5 ай бұрын
That triple Lindy, man.😅
@orinanime 5 ай бұрын
I've spent nearly half my life studying martial arts. Primarily because of the influence of martial arts in pop culture and my enthusiasm for it. I grew up on Bruce Lee, Van Damme, The Karate Kid, Power Rangers, and much more. I've studied multiple forms of Karate. As well as Muay Thai, Jeet Kune Do, I was the President of The Martial Arts Club at my highschool and even taught some lessons after receiving my Black Belt at my Dojo in my late teens.
@LoneTiger 5 ай бұрын
Miyagi says, you need hobby. 😸
@orinanime 5 ай бұрын
@@LoneTiger I have several.
@LoneTiger 5 ай бұрын
@@orinanime 👍
@benwasserman8223 5 ай бұрын
Apparently there's a version of the cartoon's shrine in Chozen's house in Cobra Kai. Which makes it even more hilarious if this cartoon ended up being canon.
@laughitupfuzzball 5 ай бұрын
🎶It was Carmen San Diego all along🎶
@btetschner 5 ай бұрын
Hilary Swank is from Nebraska, she was born in Lincoln (actually at the same hospital Teena Brandon was born). I graduated my Master's degree program in Sociology on her birthday and later obtained a couple community college associate degrees on the day Million Dollar Baby was released.
@teamstone4639 5 ай бұрын
"Everybody's so creative" lady made me laugh out loud. 😂😂😂
@mamunestor 5 ай бұрын
I’ve been in martial arts for 25 years. Competing , Teaching, traveling the world. I have a seminar that I am attending this weekend. 😂 I started when I was in my 20’s. Judo, karate, jujutsu/kenjutsu, western fencing, boxing and wrestling.
@alexpayne5914 5 ай бұрын
3:26 compare with what we get now. That looks like an all-time list, but it was just one year.
@cavemanbum 5 ай бұрын
3:48 - Chozen, the Karate Kid's nemesis in KK2, was actually Sato's nephew, not his son. Sato never had any children because he refused to marry anyone but Yukie, who herself refused to marry Sato. 🤔
@clintwarren7031 5 ай бұрын
What's truly hilarious, as evidence by her absence in Karate Kid 3, is that despite her clearing pining for Miyagi, he refuses to take her back to the states with him and just ghosts her ass lol.
@mightyfilm 5 ай бұрын
This one should have been a slam dunk. It certainly had more reason to be made than the kiddified Rambo. Not being able to become a syndicated program must've really hurt the series. Even if it had one season, it would have reran for years. Plus, networks wouldn't have allowed the same level of mild violence syndication did. Seems Beetlejuice and Ghostbusters were the only movie to kid's TV show series that survived at the time.
@ElectricIguana 5 ай бұрын
DIC stands for Diffusion, Information et Communication. It was the name of an international film and television production company that produced many children's cartoons in the 1980s and 1990s.
@huntercoleman460 5 ай бұрын
13 episodes was actually pretty common at the time for a cartoon. The Get Along Gang and The Legend of Zelda cartoon only got 13 episodes too. While Daniel and Mr. Miyagi aren’t the same without Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita, the voices aren’t too bad for them. Even though it has the Karate Kid theme there really isn’t anything that makes it stand out from other cartoons at the time.
@tolfan4438 5 ай бұрын
I just saw this guy on history channel talking toys , way to go dude. From utube host to respected authority.
@richarddresden6869 5 ай бұрын
Your content is amazing. Keep it up!
@kobrakitsch877 5 ай бұрын
Taki Tamurai should make a special guest appearance in the last season of Cobra Kai.
@PhillipGuyton 5 ай бұрын
the rifftrax for The Karate Kid Part III is one of the most fantastic things ever
@danielherrin 5 ай бұрын
Still waiting on the Mr T, Karate Kid, Scooby Do cross over.
@adrian_veidt 5 ай бұрын
Please cover Beakman's world or Video power next 😊
@PistonsProps 5 ай бұрын
I owned a bunch of mopeds in college 15 years ago. Watching your channel makes me want to pick another one up. You put out some great information.
@Markimark151 5 ай бұрын
The opening theme song for the Karate Kid cartoon is cool! The cartoon was so mistreated by DIC, because they mostly try to cheapen their cartoon adaptions of movies!
@shaoranmidencey2595 5 ай бұрын
Dear handsome man, always a joy to see a new video, and hearing your dad jokes
@sheraldhill2728 5 ай бұрын
“The best around” not “the best karate kid he can be” I expect more from you and your greatness Dan.
@Dark.Shingo 5 ай бұрын
2:20 It's been so many years and just today, watching this video, I realize they are in Mexico on this scene, lol. Thanks for the video!
@btetschner 5 ай бұрын
A+ video! LOVE IT! Another classic by Secret Galaxy!
@jayluck8047 5 ай бұрын
3:42 - I’m astonished Rodney Dangerfield’ “Back to Schoo” beat out “Aliens”, and many others.
@masterpainter72 5 ай бұрын
The character of the Karate Kid was created in 1966 for the DC Comics' Legion of Superheroes...
@burtbackattack 5 ай бұрын
I had the Karate Kid action figure with the breakable ice block. I loved that toy!
@Interitus1 5 ай бұрын
You missed how the intro has Daniel surfing a torpedo that Miyagi saves him from while hanging upside down from a plane with a sick synth beat in the background.
@gundambassexe31 5 ай бұрын
Karate kid cartoon ?! Never saw it before but awesome info
@Crasher1982 5 ай бұрын
Karate kid CARTOON?! I thought Just KK1, KK2 and the new Cobra Kai tv series about them as adults is all we need.
@LoneTiger 5 ай бұрын
Daniel: _"I'm not by myself. I'm with you."_ Miyagi: _"To make honey, young bee need young flower, not old prune."_ 😹
@AdamaSanguine 5 ай бұрын
I haven't been this early to a SG Video, since Dan did an action figure review!
@melasn9836 5 ай бұрын
This sounds exactly like the kind of thing that's catnip for me - animated adventure show, globe-trotting heroes, the works. But I can definitely see why it fell through the proverbial cracks.
@chartaiwan 5 ай бұрын
That end of the video was pure perfection. You are really funny mate!!
@Allean_Adkins 5 ай бұрын
When I was ten my family moved to Pipestone MN. My neighbor there was a black belt and he trained me and my brother for free for years. Most of the training was in weapons. To this day, 30 years later, we're pretty awesome with swords and nunchucks and ect
@TerryTurner 5 ай бұрын
Your next video should be about the rise and fall of DIC animation.👍
@ismaelalvarez1569 5 ай бұрын
I noticed two moments where normal gags were averted. No "is it cannon?" And no "that's Alf and Mr T, two different series, but can you imagine?". What's up with that?
@specter707 5 ай бұрын
🎼Doot. Doo doot. Doot doot. KARATE KID.🎶 I remember watching this on NBC on Saturday mornings. Think Saved By The Bell was slotted right after. There were like, break dancing dinosaurs for commercial re-joiners. My experience with martial arts was a semester of Judo at the community college. Dropped it before the deadline. It was known to be tough to stick with.
@Dr.Quarex 5 ай бұрын
Oh my god, I had ATTACK ALLEY despite not having any Karate Kid figures, I bet my mother's love for exotica convinced her to get me that playset for my G.I. Joes, haha. I always wondered what that set even was. I assumed it was some generic knock-off action figure thing
@doomedhuh 5 ай бұрын
i actually remember the cartoon. i never had any of the remco figures but i stared at them for hours in the wishbook
@jesusromanpadro3853 5 ай бұрын
Didn't know there was a 4th movie. I was one of those kids that took karate because of the movie. That said, for me it was mos like an exercise.
@bazanime 5 ай бұрын
Used to watch this before school while having breakfast. Wow the nostalgia!
@Marc_Araujo 5 ай бұрын
The Karate Kid for the NES is a really underrated game...I enjoyed the crap out of it as a kid.
@randymerrick3347 5 ай бұрын
Was there a Friday the 13 part something in the karate kid movie reel. Looked like Jason was driving a truck trying to run over somebody
@mccallosone4903 5 ай бұрын
good video bud. still waiting on my Wizards and Warriors" tv show retrospective. that show was dope, it had good humor, some dnd style action, nd it actually sorta kinda holds up. made me fall in love with julia duffey pre-newhart too
@i.am.not.herbert 5 ай бұрын
Cobra Kai is so badass dude
@BonusEggs4Sale 2 ай бұрын
8:07 oh hey Tamlyn Tomita was in one episode. She was Kumiko in Part 2
@mekman4 5 ай бұрын
I did see this cartoon as a kid, great coverage!
@leesherman5192 5 ай бұрын
I used to watch this, but couldn't remember what it was called. I discovered the "Karate Kid" movies years later, and never made the connection.
@80severythingbru23 5 ай бұрын
I did a tv episode review on this.
@jonathanbynoe4375 5 ай бұрын
That animated TV series adaptation was almost forgettable because it lasted one season. I remember watching that show before watching any of the four live-action films. I watched an episode of the Karate Kid on youtube, I'm not sure if it's still there.
@Axiom-ug3js 5 ай бұрын
Great video as always, but it would’ve been hilarious ti somewhere plug in Conan and Schalanski’s “ I can get to Macchio”😂
@richardreynolds13 5 ай бұрын
I remember seeing one commercial for the toys and Mr Miyagi saying "Santos!"
@Jason_Bryant 5 ай бұрын
I had the NES game! It was infuriating!
@dylanfgarrison 5 ай бұрын
I’m almost 45… I’m watching this thinking, “how the hell did I NEVER see this?” Saturday mornings? 13 episodes? And then at around 8:40… “it was cancelled because it couldn’t compete with The Real Ghostbusters.” Ahhhhh. Well yeah, that makes sense then. I never missed an episode of TRGB.
@kutulukutu 5 ай бұрын
The only thing I remember from this cartoon is Miyagi singing "The Bear Went Over The Mountain" while they crossed a snowy range. That has stuck with me for the last 100 years, for some reason...
@tkskagen 5 ай бұрын
So this show was a Karate Version of "Carmen Sandiego"?...
@yowatchie 5 ай бұрын
Damn no shoutout to How I Met Your Mother? Ralph Macchio and William Zabka doing an appearance (and Zabka doing a great recurring role) definitely factored into Cobra Kai being a thing,
@snifflindrake3283 5 ай бұрын
I actually got “free” training by maintaining a dojo. I took on some maintenance work specifically to train and not pay. Money was tight. I liked martial arts. I wanted to become proficient. I had an opportunity to do just that. It wasn’t as magical as Karate Kid. The whole time I was very aware that my sensei was taking a hit from my lack of cash payment. It was an interesting time.
@edwardburek1717 5 ай бұрын
Just as I was never aware that there was a Karate Kid animated series, I was also never aware that Hornby - a company more well known for their model railways, of all people - produced a set of action figures via Remco. Oh by the way - the outro was pure gold. I tried watching it with the closed captioning on, but the subtitles waved the little white flag.🏳🤣
@JGreen-le8xx 5 ай бұрын
Did you know the Karate kid cartoon has the same opening sequence as Sherlock Hound with the plane and the car jumping up to it and landing on a cliff.
@castironchaos 5 ай бұрын
My favorite gripe about Karate Kid II: why did Miyagi and his rival speak to each oither in broken English when Daniel-san wasn't around? 😏
@Dorian_sapiens 5 ай бұрын
😆Great question!
@juniorjames7076 5 ай бұрын
The late 1980s was a sad time for animation, particularly for Saturday mornings. Even though I was older (finishing High School) I still looked forward to something of quality, if childish, being made but everything was turning to crap. CBS (or NBC) was all news at this point, and I mostly remember terrible cheap looking CGI 3D cartoons from Asia or poorly drawn, poorly written projects (Rambo? Chuck Norris? Karate Kid, even the Garfield and The Peanuts was low quality). I took this as a hint to grow up and find other hobbies to do but I still missed my old Saturday morning routine. Funny enough, when I got to college I was nurse my hangovers by watching this crap.
@RyanRead 5 ай бұрын
I watched it but the cartoon fell into the classic plot armor trap. How the shrine was always just being lost and found by evil or selfish. The inner city kid who shrank them was the dumbest lot idea around.
@LostInTheFarmersMarket 5 ай бұрын
I remember the movies and the cartoon series. The Karate kid sequel in the 90's was played in a weird kind of way then, maybe others will not remember but the cumulation of the advertisements that I saw while in NJ were that of the main character being surprised and then jumping on a car about to hit her. Not exactly a captivating reason to go see the movie.
@rustyshackleford8882 5 ай бұрын
just a heads up, in your 80s tees commercial you mention they have robotech. They do not
@sdelmonte 5 ай бұрын
So where does the final fatal fight between Karate Kid and Nemesis Kid fit in?
@Sci-Fi-Mike 5 ай бұрын
I studied martial arts over about 16 years. I've likely forgotten most of my training after all these years.
@robanah 5 ай бұрын
I remember this cartoon from way back! But I also remember not liking it much because it had a new character instead of Kumiko
@HellOnWheel 5 ай бұрын
Does anyone else recite aloud the 80's Tees ad starting at "the 70's, the decade that..."
@Morgil27 5 ай бұрын
I had no idea the legendary DIC did such shady things, let alone ruin the market like that.
@freddyvidz 5 ай бұрын
I loved the theme music from this show.
@derekstein6193 5 ай бұрын
6:50 ....Cho Zen? Cho-sen? Real subtle, guys.
@cyfkilla 5 ай бұрын
Tamlyn Tomita was the love interest in Karate Kid II but relegated to “Additional Voices” on the cartoon 🤦🏻♂️
@Snikit 5 ай бұрын
Never saw this, like the theme though. 🎶
@markmyers6756 5 ай бұрын
Oh Daniel San I thought I smelled failure that toilet isn't going to clean it self.
@jamesmoss3424 5 ай бұрын
The Karate Kid animated series is great and I wish that a second season would happen. 😀👍
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