Some twenty-odd years after the original series helped jumpstart interest in martial arts in this country, David Carradine returned to his star making role as Caine in Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, which aired in syndication for four years (1993-7) before moving to cable for a rerun cycle on TNT.
This time, the series is set in the then-present day, and Caine (Carradine) is the great-grandson of Kwai-Chang Caine, whom Carradine portrayed in the original series. This Caine has a son, police detective Peter Caine (Chris Potter), who now mixes the lessons his father taught him with police work.
There were the requisite flashbacks, just like the original series, this time to Peter's formative years. This plot device is used today by WB, with their DC Comics family of dramas on CW.
I find it disturbing that not even ABC, which was home to the original Kung Fu in the 70's, was interested in the sequel series, and, oh, did they miss out.
I'm not going to take a chance on posting a full episode, knowing that WB's copyright enforcement unit will eventually take it down. Instead, we'll go with the open. Richard Anderson (ex-The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman, Dan August) is the narrator.
I have fonder memories of seeing the weekday repeats on TNT than I do of the first-run airings. Meh. You'd think that El Rey, which has been running "classic" kung fu movies, would pick this show up, along with the original, but so far, they haven't.
Rating: A.
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