Search - Kung Fu: The Complete Second Season on DVD

Kung Fu - The Complete Second Season

cyclista | the Midwest | 11/24/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Caine, a Chinese-American immigrant, conflicts with a violent 1870's American West as he seeks a way of peace. The conflict that he feels within himself as a peaceful man who practices martial arts is portrayed excellently. The flashbacks that he has of conversations and lessons in a Shaolin temple are a glimpse into another world. An outstanding series.

The series has been criticized because Bruce Lee, an American actor of Chinese descent, was passed over in favor of an actor not of Chinese descent.

[...]
I've read that the extras are:
--Zen and Now: A Dinner with David Carradine & Friends featuring Carradine's Kill Bill co-stars Vivica A. Fox and Michael Madsen, Kung Fu series co-star Radames Pera and Technical Advisor Kam Yuen and more!
--David Carradine commentary tracks on 2 key episodes

The series is presented in the original aspect ration of 1.33:1, rather than the widescreen effect artifically created for Season 1. The running time is 1167 minutes and the soundtrack is the original 1.0 soundtrack. Reportedly, Closed Captioning and subtitles in English, French, and Spanish will be provided.

1. The Well: Caine drinks contaminated water and must rely on help from a reluctant ex-slave.
2. The Assassin gs: Dana Elcar: Caine gets in the middle of a life and death feud between two families.
3. The Chalice: A gold chalice must be return to the mission from which it was stolen.
4. El Brujo: A male witch casts a milicious spell that frightens everyone in a small town.
5. The Squawman: A farmer married to an Indian woman shoots the son of an outlaw.
6. The Spirit-Helper: Caine mentors an Indian boy who wants to rescue his kidnapped mother from the men who killed his father.
7. The Tong: The Chinese mafia targets Caine after gives refuge to an orphan.
8. The Soldier: An army lieutenant finds out that he is unable to shoot anyone.
9. The Salamander: A young man cannot tell illusion from reality.
10. The Hoots: A pacifistic religious group allows their water to be taken from them.
11. The Elixir gs: Diana Muldaur, Richard Caine: A medicine hawker's obsession for independence hurts those around her.
12. The Gunman: A man murders a man in the act of killing his wife, and the woman comes to his defense.
13. Empty Pages of a Dead Book: gs: Slim Pickens, Bruce Carradine: Caine and a former sheriff are accused of murder.
14. A Dream Within a Dream: gs: Tina Louise: Caine discovers a corpse hanging in a marsh and is accused of murder.
15. The Way of Violence Has No Mind: Caine is mistaken for being a member of a vigilante group of miners, robbing coaches to punish those stole their mine.
16. In Uncertain Bondage (a.k.a. The Pit): Caine tries to prevent a woman from being kidnapped by her servants and is injured.
17. Night of the Owls, Day of the Doves: A madam and her girls who have been bequeathed some valuable land are attacked by robbers.
18. Crossties: gs: Barry Sullivan, Denver Pyle, Harrison Ford: Railroad detectives are assigned to bring in a group of angry farmers whose land was taken by the railroad.
19. The Passion of Chen Yi: Two women try to con Caine out of his ivory carvings, and Caine is accused of murder.
20. Arrogant Dragon: gs: Richard Loo: Caine defends a former leader of the Tong sentenced to die by them because he wanted to return home to die.
21. The Nature of Evil gs: John Carradine : A blind man tries to revenge a murdered friend.
22. The Cenopath (1) gs: Nancy Kwan: Caine gets involved with an eccentric Scotsman in a burial odyssey. Caine remembers his relationship with a concubine.
23. The Cenopath (2) gs: Nancy Kwan: Continuance of Part 1."

One of the best seasons from classic 70's show

Wayne Klein | My Little Blue Window, USA | 01/22/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Kung Fu" catapulted actor David Carradine to fame. He didn't even know it because he didn't have a TV and was living in what he describes as a "shack" (my guess is a very nice one) in Southern California according to the commentary track on "The Well". The classic 70's TV series had an impact on many kids (including this one) when it aired giving us our first taste of Kung Fu, eastern philosphy set in the wild west.

Carradine plays Cane a half Chinese Shaolin priest searching for his half brother Danny in America. On the run when he causes the death of a member of the royal Chinese court, Cane has a bounty on his head. The second season consists of 23 episodes and is presented in its original 1.33:1 full screen format (unlike season one which was cropped for a widescreen format of 1.78:1). The image quality is exceptionally crisp and clear with solid blacks and exceptionally good color given the fact that the series is over 30 years old. The images have been cleaned up and there's little in the way of dirt and hair to mar the images. The sophisticated storytelling in every episode feature a plot involving Cane as a man contrasted to Cane being trained at the Shaolin temple by his teachers. This unusual use of flashbacks as a "subplot" enriched and made the series unusual and memorable. This device hasn't been used in a series since and, while it could easily have become a gimmick, most of the writers and directors used it to compliment the more modern stories they were telling. With stunning cinematography and sharp direction that frequently used unusual camera angles, "Kung Fu" sadly only lasted three seasons (Carradine left when it became successful to pursue a film career).

The extras are particularly fun. We get rambling but fascinating commentaries from Carradine on two episodes; "The Well" where Cane drinks contaminated water and must be nursed back to health by an African-American family and "A Dream Within a Dream" in which Cane discovers a body in a marsh. When the body mysteriously disappears, the tension escalates in the town. Carradine relates a number of interesting stories including his habit of NOT reading the script (he would study it just before he needed to do his scenes learning the lines and picking up a general idea of the plot). Carradine claims that this helped foster the idea that the foreign Cane couldn't understand the culture or what was truly going on around him a lot of the time. Carradine also points out that only two directors in three years ever figured out he was doing this (although I suspect he probably did read the two hour pilot).

The only extra is a great featurette wittily entitled "Now and Zen" where Carradine has a dinner with friends from the series and castmates from "Kill Bill". They discuss the series, the character and the impact "Kung Fu" had in its day. We also get hear from Kam Yuen one of the technical advisors on the show and Radames Pera the man who played Cane as a child in the flashback episodes of the series.

Kudos to Warner Brothers for returning the series to its original format and for doing a great job of delivering this classic series. Unlike many companies (are you listening Universal?)that put out series as so much "product" a lot of care went into putting this set together. A note about the packaging. The package designer Paul Lanner did, indeed, spell the title of the the cenotaph correctly but it was changed without his consent for the domestic release. While I'm not a fan of the two sided dual layer discs (we have 23 episodes spread over four discs as a result) because they can easily get damaged or scratched, the exceptional package design works well at protecting the discs and providing key info on each individual episodes."

A Cult Classic

Pierre de Courcy | Montreal,Canada | 11/06/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Only once, in cinematic and television history has one character ever been so completely different, original, believable and constant such as Kwai Chang Caine. The Temple Teachings from the famous flashback sequences are now a part of the american heritage, as Finally, East meets West and both philosophies complement each other as Humanity should; each and every regular character (actor) in this series could not possibly improve on their performances; actors, writers, directors, producers, all were at the top of their art during those memorable three years. David Caradine, Keye Luke and Philip Ahn have inspired me as a young man and will live on and inspire future generations thanks to their colossal performances. I am gratefull to Warner Brothers for having the guts to distribute this landmark series and to Amazon Com to offer it online!"

The evolution of Caine

Greenfire | California | 01/19/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Oddly, the second season seems more antiquated than the first, and relies more on dialogue and character development, than action to capture the audience's attention. It does this well. These episodes have a simplicity, innocence, and an uncanny way of drawing you into the sense of distant place and time. "The Brujo" is in my opinion one of the greatest episodes of the series, beautifully directed, acted, and with Carradine in top form. The contrast of Carradine in the special feature informal dinner chat, with Caine, confirms that Caine was a character that Carradine seem to channel, as evasive as the melancholy notes from his flute, the graceful and clumsy slow motion ballet, the simultaneously unfocused and penetrating vision. No episode stands alone. Each season gives us a chance to see that unique character in cinematic history, Caine, evolve, and it captures the imagination, is life affirming, and empowering."