Fantastic Four (1994-1995) animated series review. 26 episodes. 2 seasons.

Overall verdict: 5/10

The Good: Generally all of season 2's superior art and animation, spot on voice acting, faithful adaptations of the comic stories, thorough and gradual character development, insightful explorations into each character's personality and struggles.

The Bad: Season 1's low quality animation, constant off model art, generic background music, juvenile tone, corny humour, shallow narrative.

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Ah! the corny chorus of the 1994 Fantastic Four Theme song. To the untrained ear of a five year old, it is a catchy upbeat little piece that brings a quaint smile. "Just call for four!. Fantastic Four! Don't Need No more. That's ungrammatical!".  But listening to it years later, that smile is one of bemused disgust; an uncomfortable smile to hold back the disbelief that one ever considered this "cool" back in his younger days.

Debuting in 1994 as part of the "Marvel Action Hour" along side "IRON MAN", FANTASTIC FOUR boasted two seasons of wildly varying quality to the point where they were almost like two wholly different shows. Other than the voices, everything from the music to the art and animation changed drastically between seasons and thankfully for the better.

The first season of the 90s Fantastic Four animated series can only be described as dismal. First you had the low quality animation courtesy of a Taiwanese Animation studio Wang Film and the Manila based Kennedy Cartoons. Weird poses, clunky character motion and a mediocre frame rate; a few fluid shots here and there could not make up for the generally horrid quality. It looked like something 15 years behind the times! A relic from the worst days of Hanna Barbera!. Art-wise, the designs lacked detail, the colors used were bright and cheery and characters continually went "off model" ending up looking silly. Obvious compositing gaffes pop up occasionally leading me to question the quality control department.

On the bright side, the voice cast do an impeccable job of becoming their characters. Particularly noteworthy is Chuck McCann whose pitch perfect Brooklyn accent captures the spirit of the ever lovin blue eyed Thing, Ben Grim. For comic books fans, The stories within this season were faithful recreations of the classic 60s fantastic four comic tales by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. The coming of Galactus, the Skrull invasion, adventures in the Negative Zone, and more.

However the execution of those great stories was nothing short of terrible. Silly dialog and Random humor was added particularly in the form of the FF4's new landlady who was continually trying to evict them. That, coupled with unforgettable (for all the wrong reasons) moments like a rapping Ben Grimm, The great Galactus hungrily licking his lips and Stan Lee himself pausing the show to break the fourth wall, all of it adds to the utter silliness of the first season.

>Season 2 in 1995 to 1996 saw a vast improvement in the overall quality. The most obvious change was in the animation. A higher level of detail, darker colors, actual shading and more consistent artwork complemented the smooth animation courtesy of a new Production studio "The Philippines Animation Studio". Surprisingly, this same studio that turned in some of the worst looking episodes of X-MEN THE ANIMATED SERIES have stepped up their game for FANTASTIC FOUR. The writing also takes a darker turn, adapting stories from the 1980s Fantastic 4 comic book run, particularly the work of John Byrne. 

The humour is toned down, replaced now by more mature narratives and actual human drama. No matter what foes the FF4 must face, their greatest conflicts comes from within themselves and among each other. Reed's inner guilt over the ill fated experiment, Ben's ongoing quest for acceptance and coming to terms with his monstrous exterior, Sue's feelings of inadequacy being the only woman in the team, even Johnny's broken heart and repeated tragic romances, all of them very real themes that people can relate to. Themes that a family faces. These were the episodes where the FF truly shine and came together as a real family. Some did get a little angsty but no more angsty than those Japanese anime saturating the internet nowadays. 

Guest stars abounded in season 2, building up the world of the Fantastic Four and giving shape to a shared cartoon universe where all the 90s Marvel Animated series characters co-existed. 

Daredevil, 

The Inhumans

Black Panther

Ghost Rider

Thor

Even the Incredible Hulk

Stories expanded in scope and scale leading up to titanic struggles against Ego the Living Planet, Psycho Man, and a new sinister Doctor Doom. A palpable sense of peril is prevalent in the many conflicts where our heroes just barely scrape by a victory for a bittersweet ending. Threads of continuity allow our characters to grow with each episode that by the end of season 2, the FF are fully fleshed out individuals who went through trials and tribulations together, a family that stayed together and emerged stronger.

Owing to the vast differences in quality in the respective seasons, the rating above reflects the averaged rating between the two. I would rate season one as a disappointing 2/10. But season two is the quintessential translation of the FF4 into animation so it gets at least an 8/10

Casual viewers should just sit through season two but long time fans of the comic books could check out both seasons and see their favorite stories faithfully translated into animation.

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Season 1

Entertainment: B-

Art (season 1): D

Animation (season 1): D+

Story: C-

Voice Acting (English): B+

Characters: C-

Music: D

Replay value: D+

"Brains": D-

Season 2

Entertainment: A

Art (season 2): B-

Animation (season 2): B

Story: B+

Voice Acting (English): B+

Characters: B+

Music: C

Replay value: B+

"Brains": B+

Terminator Genisys (2015) movie review

Overall verdict: 7/10

The Good: Strong cast chemistry, filled with homages to the previous films and TV series, top notch special effects, continues themes of James Cameron's original films, actualises scenes and concepts that were previously cut in prior films.

The Bad: Mediocre music, stale lead characters, uses the "alternate universe" concept as a cop out, lacks any sense of tension despite the "chase" plot, 

3D Readiness: Post filming 3D conversion.

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"An unknown future rolls towards us". This was a quote from the award winning classic science fiction movie TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY. But if poor Sarah Connor could only look further into the future, maybe she might not be facing it with a sense of hope. In THE TERMINATOR (the first movie), we end off the ominous quote "There's a storm coming"; an insanely accurate self-prophesy about the multimedia franchise that Terminator would become. A storm of half baked sequels, cliche ridden comic books, meandering novels, and a TV series cut down in its prime. Come 2015, the latest downpour in this storm rears its noisy head: TERMINATOR GENISYS.

With TERMINATOR GENISYS, the franchise goes back to basics. You know the drill: The future war ends in victory, the defeated machines send a killer back through time, good guys send a protector, killer and protector die while young protagonist accepts destiny and prepares to fight the future. But wait, there is a twist! That twist begins with this wooden piece of man named Jai Courtney as Kyle Reese, the guy destined to be sent back through time to protect Sarah Connor. Courtney, looking bored and buff, lacking all sense of intensity and nuance that Michael Biehn had, tumbles into 1984 with mysterious new memories more unexpected twists. He is pursued by a shapeshifting liquid metal creature in the form of some Korean dude and is saved by......Sarah Connor and her pet robot Arnold Schwarzenegger.

I want a robot Arnold Schwarzenegger too, just not one that looks like a grandfather and grins like a moron. This is not your grandfather's Terminator. This craps all over your grandfather's Terminator. GENISYS shows us that James Cameron's first two films could have ended in a fraction of their run time. It does this by having our protagonists dispatch the terminators, who for the longest time were the epitome of "unstoppable killing machines", within this movie's first act.

Does that make this a bad movie? Not exactly. It is genuinely enjoyable, both for new fans and for followers of the franchise. For the latter, you have more references and homages to all past Terminator media, in some form or another. I admit, picking out all those homages was part of the fun of watching this. Adding to that is how this movie finally brings to the big screen scenes and concepts that were left on the cutting room floor in the past movies. 

Think of this as "Terminator: The Deleted Scenes". We get to see the final future battle with humanity capturing Skynet's time machine (cut from Terminator 1), we get to see two Arnold Schwarzenegger Terminators duke it out (original concept for Terminator 2), we get to see a terminator made out of cybernetic nano particles (a "gaseous" terminator which was a planned concept for T3 to continue the theme of "solid" in T1 and "liquid" in T2).

Emilia Clarke and Schwarzenegger shine here. They share good chemistry between a joyless Sarah Connor resigned to her fate and an increasingly human Terminator cyborg dubbed "Pops". Kudos to the writer for continuing the strong theme of "family" that James Cameron had in his movies. Pops is the over-protective dad, Sarah is the rebellious teen daughter and Kyle Reese is the new boy who is destined to date and bed daddy's little girl. That chemistry between the cast gives their characters' relationship a good deal of weight and lends itself to some genuinely humorous scenes. The same can't be said for the wooden Jai Courtney or Jason Clarke's hammy over-the-top John Connor who looks like his face met the wrong end of a rake.

Story-wise, the whole "alternate universe" thing is such a cop-out, ripped from JJ Abram's STAR TREK. Yes it invalidates T3 and T:Salvation, but it also invalidates T1 and T2: Judgement Day. The direction by Alan Tylor is a bit of a mess here. Action gets a little hard to follow and the erratically paced plot never maintains its sense of tension. Unlike previous films, you don't really feel like our protagonists are in any real peril. In the past films, the protector is barely able to knock down the killer, and gets nearly killed each time they go one-on-one. The obsolete "old" Pops seems able to hold his own perfectly well against the new deadlier killer cyborg.(which thanks to a retarded advertising campaign, everyone knows is John Connor himself).

Where the director does nothing special with the camera, the writers at least try to continue the theme of blurring the line between man and machine. This theme is actualised in the new John Connor cyborg himself; a machine who is 100% the human it is designed to mimic. Then you have Pops. The most inhuman, rigid, machine-like cyborg who can't even mimic a proper smile. Slowly but surely, his knowledge of humanity grows right up to a simple but emotionally powerful climax where you realise that a machine, a Terminator, could finally learn to love.

I would rank this just ahead of Terminator Salvation and right behind TERMINATOR THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES. It is by no means as groundbreaking as the first two movies, but it is not as insipid as the third nor does it deviate from established themes like the fourth. A director that favours spectacle over character development and a musical score that remixes Brad Fiedel's original music in the style of Steve Jablonsky makes TERMINATOR GENISYS a slight disappointment for me. Until a worthy successor to the Terminator brand comes along, I'm going back through time and I am going to watch James Cameron's Terminator 1 and 2 all over again.

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Entertainment: B+

Story: B-
Acting: B+

Characters: B+

Music: C-

Replay value: B+

"Brains": B+

Batman Unlimited: Animal Instinct (2015) direct to video animated movie

Overall verdict: 5/10

The Good: occasional smooth animation, superb voice acting, a touch of nostalgia

The Bad: generally sub par production values for a direct to video movie, juvenile script, laughable art and designs, forgettable music, animation short cuts,

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Remember those 1970s and 80s cartoons that were created just to con kids into buying toys? Well the trend is back, and Batman is jumping on the bandwagon. Sporting a brighter coloured new suit, a colourful supporting cast and equally multi coloured villains, BATMAN UNLIMITED: ANIMAL INSTINCT is based on the recent colourful toy line by Mattel. Very colourful.

You all know the drill: hero team vs villain team. In this case, heroic Batman and pals vs the evil "Animalitia" in a citywide caper that sets the "kindness to animals" campaign back by a decade or so. The Penguin, Silverback, Cheetah, Manbat and KillerCroc are evil and want to.......no cheating now, that would be a spoiler. They want to do crime, so enter Batman N Pals Nightwing, Robin, Green Arrow and the Flash. Each one sporting a sharp pointy new look with "cool" spiked hair and diamond sharp chins. Not exactly a kid friendly toy design but.........kids seem to like this sort of thing.

A lighter tone and story for Batman can work if done well (see BRAVE AND THE BOLD). Unfortunately this is not done well. Whether intentional or not, the script sounds like it fits right in with the worst episodes of the 80s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sans the pizza. They might as well have left the pizza in though because the script is cheesy as heck. Jokes aren't funny, humour feels out of place, but the excellent cast do a fantastic job with the sub par material at hand.

Roger Craig Smith reprises his role of Batman after having played the character in some of the "Arkham" series of video games. I like his batman voice. Almost like a young Kevin Conroy. What I did not like was the horrible character design of Batman (or most of the characters for that matter).

Looking like some bad Gatchaman cosplay made with Power Ranger pyjamas, this new batman design is hilarious! The supporting cast ain't any better either; Everyone looks "stretched" and I already mentioned the silly hair. Batman has got multiple suits (and no doubt a toy for each suit "each sold separately"), everyone gets a cool weapon or gadget and the "money shot moment" where they get to show it off, while daddy gets another toy or two to add to junior's "Christmas wish list". Maybe it's not the production team's fault for the silly designs. Blame Mattel.

It is the production team's fault for the sub standard art and animation. Characters barely have any shadowing or shading on them except in the extreme close-ups, just lazy flat colouring otherwise. The backgrounds have this techy futuristic vibe that reminds me of BATMAN BEYOND but they are equally flat and look worse off than Batman Beyond's lower quality episodes. The animation is barely better with its inconsistent nature. You have scenes that are smooth moving, an easy feat thanks to the simplistic artwork. But you have a good number of scenes that look like a flash animated Internet browser game. Robot animals don't transform much less "melt" from animal to motorbike. And i absolutely hate that cheapskate tactic of blurring key frames to create the illusion of movement! Some parts seem to be drawing from the worst excesses of Japanese anime with the speed lines and freeze frames, just more lazy animation at work.

Just because kids don't mind doesn't mean you give them animation on the cheap. If JLA TRAPPED IN TIME was the new millennium's "Superfriends", then BATMAN UNLIMITED is this decade's rehash of the 1970s "adventures of Batman with Robin the Boy Wonder". With production values of a TV series episode, perhaps this movie would be more suited as a pilot for a Saturday morning cartoon. Compared to other direct-to-video animation, this is ignorant fun for kids and a Cheesy, sub-par curiosity for adults who yearn for the nostalgic days of cartoons that sell toys.

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Entertainment: B-
Art: C-
Animation: C+
Story: C+
Voice Acting (English): A-
Characters: B-
Music: C
Replay value: D+
"Brains": D-

Jurassic World (2015) movie review

Overall verdict: 6/10

The Good: Epic soundtrack that pays tribute to the original by John Williams, maintains a sense of tension, numerous homages to Steven Spielberg's original Jurassic Park film, clever parody of the modern blockbuster movie.

The Bad: forgettable characters, instances of sub-par special effects, cliched story premise, falls back on messy shaky-camera action, much untapped potential.

3D Readiness: Post filming 3D conversion.
IMax-ability: Fast paced shots of combat and intense action may not lend well to imax viewing

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Dinosaurs. They filled me with wonder in the innocent childhood days and still continue to do so even though scientists have claimed the Tyrannosaurus looked like a giant chicken. No, really I could name at least 30 dinosaurs by the age of 4 and tell you the difference between an Allosaurus and a Megalosaurus. They are supposed to have feathers. But kids do not want to see Big Bird with teeth. They do not want to see dinosaurs as they were many million years ago, they want to see dinosaurs as we think they should be seen.

Enter Jurassic World. The culmination of a dream that began with the ill fated Jurassic Park. Technology has allowed scientists to extract DNA and clone the once extinct thunder lizards. Where Jurassic Park was an old school safari, Jurassic world is the highly commercialised Disneyland with Dinosaurs, where paying customers could kayak down a river of feeding Brontosaurs, ride a gyro-sphere among the Triceratops,  pay a fortune for a cola, and just bask in the awe of these great creatures. But test audience did not want raptors the size of a turkey or T-rex with feathers so in cam frog DNA to make them look like how they do in the books and minds of people. People did not just want to "bask in awe" so the dinosaurs were turned into sideshow freaks and made to entertain with their babies being molested in petting zoos, their basic mealtimes making the Facebook page of a hundred gawking audience members. Heck, some even tried training them to do tricks but even that is not enough. Enter the Indominus Rex, a genetically spliced mutant dinosaur.

What we have here is something that would split the audience. Some would call it an abomination, others would call it awesome. It is bigger, louder, fiercer, faster, yet it feels hollow and incomplete; all style and less substance. It's got teeth, its got a ferocious roar, but it lacks bite. A creature whose traits were dictated by focus groups and market research instead of a respect for the originals. A creature made of borrowed elements from the originals yet the guys who made it forgot what it was that made the originals so great and memorable.

I am talking about the movie here. The very movie which the Indominus Rex acts like a parody of. No one are impressed with old school animatronic effects the same way people in the movie are not too impressed with the old school Tyrannosaurus Rex. So in came modern technology, in the movie's case in came 3D CGI, and the creators went wild with it. Some say they went overboard with it the same way scientists went overboard with the predatory trails of the Indominus Rex.

 Someone is making a point here it seems. Very clever. Whether it was intended or not, Jurassic World is exactly the kind of blockbuster movie that the indominus Rex was meant to parody. It is bigger in scale, with CGI special effects used to portray the fully functioning theme park and creatures within. It is fiercer, with more on screen deaths, there is more gore to push the PG13 rating and we finally get to see what would happen when soldiers fight dinosaurs. It is definitely faster; though clocking in at 124 minutes, I felt that the movie just flew by like Pterodactyl.

Somewhere in there there is this kid and his teenage brother. Their aunt runs Jurassic World and starts off as an obnoxious "corporate adult too busy for the kids" type. There's is this funny Indian billionaire who loves flying helicopters, and then there is Star-Lord! Look it's Peter "StarLord" Quill and he's training Velociraptors instead of hanging out with a talking racoon and his alien tree. Wait.......he's not Star Lord? Owen Grady, you say? But he is the exact same Star Lord character, right down to the mannerisms, the body language, except that instead of a laser gun, "Owen" here has a hunting rifle. You're not fooling anyone Star-Lord.

Simple statement: If I can't even remember your characters names, then those characters are not at all interesting. We do get some archetypes that many can relate to such as the aunt character who is your typical family member who was always too busy for the children. Caught up in the corporate world, she was never there for her nephews as they were growing up, never got to know them. And though they visited her, she'd rather make a sales pitch to executives relegating baby sitting duties to an assistant. This I like. Strong family themes were a staple in previous JP movies and it is nice to see that they kept something right. This, alongside Michael Giacchino's musical tribute to John Williams, saves this movie from becoming just another mindless modern monster flick.

Sadly the rest of what made Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park great gets lost in messy frantic CGI action. Spielberg allowed the camera to linger on the dinosaurs, keeping things out of frame to ramp up the tension then delivering full on, clear and steady dino fighting action. Colin Trevorrow, on the other hand, seems to have taken reference from Michael Bay and JJ Abrams. Frantic camera shots neuter the dinosaur action, wide shots are so wide that you can't make out much detail, and keeping the dinos out of frame just feel like those old low budget cheats to save on the special effects budget. You even have wholly unnecessary lens flare on jeep headlights.

Not that the CGI was perfect, it is not. Industral Lights and Magic (ILM) does great effects for technology (see Star Wars, Transformers, Iron Man etc) but when it comes to creatures, they fall short from the standards set by studios like WETA or MPC. It shows in the overly saturated shots of dinosaurs in the daytime. For example, the initial appearance of the velociraptors seemed a tad unfinished with the raptors looking a little out of focus from the rest of the scene.

I give this thumbs up for the music, the acting and jab at the state of modern blockbusters. The family theme was good though underdeveloped and that CGI could use some work. Re-watching Jurassic Park immediately after this only brought a sense of disappointment to my heart. Even judged by modern standards, Jurassic Park stands the test of time. While Jurassic World may never achieve that timeless classic standard, it entertains it jolts, and it gives the modern blockbuster audience exactly what they want. Sadly.

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Entertainment: B-

Story: C+
Acting: A-

Characters: D+

Music: B

Replay value: C

"Brains": B+

Mortal Kombat Legacy (2011 - 2013) Web Series review. 9 Episodes Season1, 10 Episodes season 2

Overall verdict: 6/10

The Good: Many brutally choreographed fights, decent special effects in season one, fresh interpretation of an established mythos, feature film-like quality (season one)

The Bad: indecisive directing style that rips off other more established directors, overly dark lighting, cheap special effects in season 2, some fights seem overly choreographed, choppy editing, extreme close ups, inconsistent continuity, recasting of most of the actors between seasons.

3D Readiness: None

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The famous ultra-violent video game franchise gets a "Dark Knight" styled make-over. This is Mortal Kombat revised. Mortal Kombat redone.......as yet another live action iteration of the fantasy fighting game. Originally conceived to be realistic remake which cleverly replacing the more out-of-this-world concepts with gritty real world explanations, MORTAL KOMBAT LEGACY drops that ball right into its second episode where we have mercenaries firing plasma weapons.


Two episodes later, we are right back in familiar fantasy territory of other realms, monsters and magic. This is Mortal Kombat rehashed, Mortal Kombat repeated with merely cosmetic changes, and Mortal Kombat recast in such a haphazard way between its two seasons.

This web series, originally debuting on the Machinima youtube channel, consists of 6 story arcs over 9 episodes for season one. Season two comprises an ongoing story arc of the tournament plus three origin stories told in flashbacks for a total of 10 episodes. Each episode is so distinct in tone, style and entertainment value that they are almost like mini-movies unto themselves.

Just two things that permeate the both seasons seems to be director Kevin Tancheroen’s indecisive directing style and the annoying music. Tancharoen seems to be copying the style of other directors like Zack Snyder’s slow motion speed ramping, Neveldine and Tylor’s high speed shaky cam digital photography, Paul Greengrass’s hyper fast cuts. All these stylistic touches seem thrown in at random and overdone in many instances.
For ease of reading, I will have short reviews for each arc.

JAX / KANO / SONYA

The first two episodes of season one go into the back story of Sonya Blade, Jax and crime boss Kano presented in a familiar “Cops and Crime boss” setting. Sonya is taken prisoner and Jax leads a special forces team to take down Kano’s gang. This is a strong start, with a look not unlike modern Hollywood action movies and a realistic gritty tone.

The fights are brutal and bloody, even if they do seem a bit too unrehearsed. The only downside would be director Kevin Tancheroen’s insistence of copying Zack Snyder’s slow motion ramping.

JOHNNY CAGE

Next we get the tale of washed up action star Johnny Cage trying to pitch his latest production. Again, realistic and right in place in our real world, done very creatively in the form of a TV documentary. The constant jitter-cam is a nice touch to convey the feel of a reality show. Generally, this is a smart, tongue-in-cheek jibe at the action film industry with a good dose of humour tinged with a sense of pity for poor Mr Cage.

KITANNA / MILEENA

Now after that, in comes some hokey fantasy. Kitanna and Mileena: a tale of sibling rivalry and teenage identity set among the CGI mountains of Edeina and the dark Canadian-looking woods of Outworld?

Our first dud of season one, the Kitanna / Mileena arc spans two episodes and has the look and production design of those 1990s fantasy TV series such as HERCULES: THE LEGENDARY JOURNEYS or XENA only filmed in digital. More like a live reading of a fairy tale than an actual episode, most of the tale is told through beautifully drawn but badly animated flash animation.

Its weak story is further marred by choppy action, one too many quick cuts and cheap special effects. The half of the second episode in this arc is a flashback to events in the preceding episode, making the actual runtime of content a lot shorter.

RAIDEN

Thankfully the subsequent episodes return to the more realistic setting and more ambiguous fantasy. Take Raiden for instance. How would people, realistically in today’s world, react to some dude claiming to be a thunder god? Simple, they’d commit him to the insane asylum!

Where this episode lacks in action, it makes up for in its fresh and unexpected approach to an established story paralleling an almost christ-like journey for its protagonist.

SCORPION

The highlights of the season are of course Scorpion Vs Sub-Zero arc and the final episode about the Lin Kuei Cyborgs. Scorpion’s backstory and ensuing vendetta against ninja leader Sub Zero is explained via a beautifully shot period piece, seemingly set in feudal Japan.

Characters speak Japanese, authentic asian actors play the roles, even the costumes seem true to the feudal period. Therein lies a tragic tale about one good man betrayed and robbed of everything he held dear.

The most eagerly awaited and spectacularly choreographed fight in the entire season…..and our dear director had to go overboard with the erratic camerawork, quick cuts and ripping off more established directors styles like Paul Greengrass and Neveldine ad Tylor. To top it off, we get some really out of place dubstep music accompanying the fights.

CYRAX / SEKTOR

Lastly, the Lin Kuei cyborg segment. This is real eye candy here, featuring cutting edge CGI and motion capture work, creating one of the more brutal bouts in the series. Movie fans will see hints of Universal Soldier and Robocop. Again, Kevin Tancheroen fails to find his own style and instead rips off other directors.

SEASON 2

So after a generally enjoyable season one, disregarding some missteps here and there, season two comes around. Season two showcases a little more backstory of other characters like Kung Lao and Liu Kang, as well as finally showing the start of the titular Mortal Kombat Tournament.
It may have well been a completely new show altogether as only a couple of returning faces and story elements bear a resemblance to season one.


More than half of the roles have been recast with new actors, there are many continuity inconsistencies, the special effects look cheaper, and so do the costumes. The tone and style is more consistent now, hence making it easy to review the season as a whole. Alas, its consistency is in its mediocre presentation and general step down from the quality of season one.


For an example of cheapskate costumes and inconsistencies just compare the stories of Scorpion and Sub Zero across the seasons. Season one was simple yet effective, giving a production design of outfits that may have been plausible during feudal Japan.

Season 2 reveals that our feudal japan period piece actually takes place in modern day; a modern day where Japan never outgrew its swords, samurais and shoguns and everyone suddenly speaks American English! Season 2 also downgraded the ninja outfits from realistically plausible to ripoff Power Rangers and pyjamas.

Lacklustre fights which lack the gritty brutality of the previous season lead up to one disappointing conclusion that is all build up without any payoff.


Running concurrently with the tournament is the cliche ridden back stories of blind Samurai Kenshi and the brother Liu Kang and Kung Lao. Ripped from the pages of some manga, Kenshi (played by Power Rangers actor Daniel Southworth) flashes back to his younger days as he embarks on a quest to steal a mystical sword from an evil demon known as Ermac.

A close shave with death left Kenshi blind and this tournament is his last chance to destroy the demon who robbed him of his eyes. In this story, Ermac is a joke. He looks like some guy in a Halloween costume and face paint.


Liu Kang and Kung Lao is a typical “Cain and Able” tale. Kung Lao is the virtuous goody two shoes played by the guy who plays Iron Chef America’s Chairman and Double Dragon’s Jimmy Lee.

Liu Kang is the angst ridden, bad tempered hoodlum who shoots poorly rendered fire effects from his hands played by Brian “Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift King” Tee.


Their story goes nowhere, lost amidst the need to move the tournament forward. Possibly one highlight of season two was re-casting Johnny Rico aka Casper Van Dien, a washed up action star, as Johnny Cage the washed up action star.



With season three set to veer off into adapting characters and concepts from the recent Mortal Kombat X video game, MORTAL KOMBAT LEGACY’s first two seasons ends off on a low note. The episodes of Sonya/Jax/Kano, Johnny Cage, Raiden, Scorpion/Sub-Zero and the Lin Kuei Cyborgs Cyrax and Sektor stand as true gems. Featuring feature film-like production quality and design, brutal fight choreography, as well as cleverly reinterpreting the established mythos in a fresh manner. Downer episodes include the Kitanna/Mileena and most of season two (except perhaps the Kenshi Vs Ermac episodes).

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Entertainment: B

Story: B+
Acting: C+

Characters: B+

Music: D

Replay value: C-

"Brains": D+