Martial artsTV shows often go bitterly underappreciated, with many excellent series focusing on Eastern hand-to-hand combat falling by the wayside over the years. Thebest martial arts moviesprove the genre as one of the most ubiquitous in the entire medium of cinema, with legions of excellent installments coming out of both the East and West. However, TV shows are often under-represented when it comes to martial arts, with the best of them often being tragically obscure.
Granted, somegreat martial arts TV showshave managed to arrive at a nearly mainstream level of success. But the difficulty of consistently arranging impressive hand-to-hand fight scene choreography on an episodic basis can prove to be a taxing challenge, especially to keep up in the long run. To this day, far too many amazing series featuring harrowing displays of martial arts mastery and athleticism have gone woefully under-appreciated.
7Kung Fu: The Legend Continues
A modern reboot of a 70s classic
It was still early on enough in the popularization of martial arts media in the West in the 70s that the originalKung Fuwas able to nab such a generic title. Pulling double duty as aWestern TV seriesas well as a martial arts show,Kung Fufeatures David Carradine ofKill Billfame as a former Shaolin monk wandering around the Wild West. In his adventures, he puts his impressive kung fu skills to good use against a variety of weekly bad guys.
Despite the poorly-aged element of David Carradine, a white man, playing a half-Chinese martial artist in a time period in which East Asians were maliciously oppressed in the United States,Kung Fuwas rebooted in 1993 withKung Fu: The Legend Continues.Here, a descendant of the original protagonist, Kwai Chang Caine, undergoes similar adventures as his predecessor in the modern day. Just as full of philosophical musings and thrilling unarmed combat,Kung Fu: The Legend Continuesis certainly worthy of the legacy it inherits.
6Wu Assassins
A shining example of a movie actor transitioning into TV
Despite airing relatively recently,Wu Assassinsis still an undersung martial arts show that needs more attention. Martial artist and actor Iko Uwais ofThe Raidfame stars as Kai-Jin, a simple chef in San Francisco’s Chinatown district. Jin learns he is destined for combat due to his hidden heritage as a Wu Assassin, imbued with the power and skill of 1,000 monks who place their collective consciousness in a mystical amulet. It’s up to Jin to stop the five Wu Warlords, modern-day criminals using ancient powers of classical Chinese elements to wreak havoc on the world.
As always, Iko Uwais is thrilling here, leveraging his very real martial arts skill to its full advantage with many thrilling fight scenes. The supernatural elements also allow for some larger-than-life superhero-scale battles that get creative with the environment and stakes. The plot might not be much to write home about, butWu Assassinsdeserves more credit for the excitement of its action setpieces alone.
5Xiaolin Showdown
Should have become a beloved cartoon
It isn’t only live-action martial arts series that go unfairly overlooked by the general pop culture zeitgeist. EnterXiaolin Showdown, a creative Western cartoon that took heavy inspiration from Wuxia martial arts movies, combining their appeal with traditional pop culture. LikeWu Assassins, the show revolves around a group of elemental warriors imbued with powerful gifts.
Omi and the rest of the Dragon Warriors battle the forces of Heylin evil over the Shen Gong Wu, artifacts that grant a wide variety of different powers. These battles were often in the form of a Xiaolin Showdown, a mystical sort of game that would trigger upon two sides claiming a Shen Gong Wu at the same time. Between the creativity of the contest-oriented fights, the worldbuilding, and the ahead-of-its-time humor, it’s a crying shame thatXiaolin Showdownis one of themost underrated animated showsever released in the West.
4The Master
Proved an old dog can learn new tricks
The famous Western star Lee Van Cleef might be better known as the steely Angel Eyes in Sergio Leone’sThe Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, but his TV career took a far different route.The Masterposits Lee Van Cleef as a ninja master teaching a promising student the arts of ninjutsu. Not unlike then-contemporary seriesThe A-Team, most episodes featured the duo driving around in a secret van base helping out those in need and taking out bad guys.
It’s incredibly fun to see Lee Van Cleef in a more heroic role, passing on his knowledge to a younger, more impulsive hero. The series isn’t just low-brow action either, focusing on a wide variety of philosophical concepts that come with the territory of martial arts. But it’s the master-student dynamics between Van Cleef’s character and his protege that keepThe Masterrelentlessly entertaining, even if it is a tad derivative of other popular shows at the time of its conception.
3Street Justice
An underrated showcase for an action movie legend
The iconicfilmography of Carl Weathers, sporting such gems asPredatorandRocky, might be the far more recognizable place to find the beloved action film star. However, few are privy to Weathers' slick martial arts seriesStreet Justice, which ran from 1991 to 1993. The show features Weathers as Adam Beaudreaux, a mysterious vigilante cop who doles out his own idea of justice to criminals using his impressive martial arts skills.
With so many crime procedurals coming out in the early 90s, it’s no wonder thatStreet Justiceisn’t better known. This is a real shame considering just how charming Weathers is in the role, navigating tense cases and chopping up bad guys with his impressive physique. Still exciting even by modern standards,Street Justiceis a great watch for anyone seeking some adrenaline-fueled martial arts action on a TV scale.
2Highlander: The Series
Fixed the ruination of a franchise
It isn’t just hand-to-hand combat that falls under the umbrella of martial arts, with swordplay being another valuable facet of the genre. After the release of the disastrous sequel,Highlander II: The Quickening, the famously blade-heavyHighlanderseries desperately needed a win. Luckily,Highlander: The Serieswas there to pick up the pieces, wiping away the damage done by the cinematic sequel and starting a new continuity following the end of the first film.
Christopher Lambert’s immortal Connor MacLeod briefly appears in the first episode to pass the reigns to his relative, Duncan, who is secretly revealed to be a younger immortal of about 400 years of age. After living in hiding among the humans, Duncan is finally forced into the deadly game of cat-and-mouse swordfights across history that the other ancient warriors revel in. Perhaps there should have been only oneHighlandermovie, but the TV show is a worthy follow-up that features some impressive bladework and captivating drama.
1Chop Socky Chooks
A lesser known kung fu comedy from Aardman Animations
Though theworks of Aardman Animationsare often more popularly represented by adorable English stop-motion films likeFlushed Awayand theWallace & Gromitseries, the studio actually stepped a good deal out of its comfort zone with a little-known 3-D animated martial arts series.Chop Socky Chooksis a bizarre series that takes place in a giant city-sized shopping mall called Wasabi World, owned and operated by the evil Dr. Wasabi.
The Chop Socky Chooks themselves are a plucky trio of chickens who fight with various styles of kung fu, putting a stop to Dr. Wasabi’s insidious schemes whenever they can, as well as battling various other villains. The animation style and nonsensical world ofChop Socky Chooksmay be far from focus-group-tested, but that doesn’t stop the show from being a fun and exciting celebration of various martial arts movie tropes. It’s safe to say there will never be anothermartial artsseries quite like it.
