The Karate Kid (TV series) Season 1
SPOILERS TOTAL. You've been warned.
101: My Brother's Keeper 1989 September 9
(First watched 2025-04-18) A lot less exposition than I was expecting. We're just dumped right into Daniel, Mr. Miyagi, and new character Taki traveling a South American river. Through their speech and the intro animation we get the gist that they're chasing some sort of little magic shrine stolen from Taki's village.
Not particularly bad looking for 1989 Saturday morning cartoon, but nothing special either. Too bad it's still stuck in SD.
Familiar voice actors for guest characters, like Cam Clarke and Jim Cummings pretty notably.
At the end of the episode the shrine is lost by having it float down the river. Fair to assume the rest of the series is just them dredging South American rivers, right?
Best line of the episode: "This not jury of my peers!" as Miyagi is dangling over alligators from a vine being chewed on by ants in a survival test of innocence from the bad guys.
102: The Greatest Victory 1989 September 16
(First watched 2025-04-26) So... from the jungles of South America to Hong Kong. I'll excuse the magic artifact getting there somehow, as it IS a magic artifact. But how do our protagonists know the _general_ idea of where it's got to without knowing the _specific_ location? Does someone just contact them with a message like "Sure feels like there's a magic shrine around recently."
Also, who is funding these worldwide adventures? They seem to be traveling light, but still flying around the world can't be cheap. And these are the kind of bozos who can't afford to keep a run-down bonsai shop going. Do the people of Taki's village have a shrine rescue fund they're feeding off of?
As to this specific episode... Daniel is trying to be helpful and put Miyagi's lessons to use by finding nonviolent ways to fight the local gang, but he sure does come across like a know-it-all American who thinks he has all the easy answers for these people's entrenched issues.
103: The Homecoming 1989 September 23
104: The Tomorrow Man 1989 September 30
105: All the World His Stage 1989 October 14
106: The Paper Hero 1989 October 21
107: Over the Rainbow 1989 October 28
108: The Return of the Shrine 1989 November 4
109: Walkabout 1989 November 11
110: East Meets West 1989 November 18
111: The Hunt 1989 December 2
112: The Gray Ghosts 1989 December 9
113: A Little World of His Own 1989 December 16