Cobra Kai-Karate Kid Sequel Series Starring Ralph Macchio and William Zabka

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Encuentro, Feb 16, 2018.

  1. Jason Manley

    Jason Manley Senior Member

    Location:
    O-H-I-O
    I was sooooooooo skeptical at how this was going to play but I was pleasantly surprised how sucked in I was to the series. I saw THE KARATE KID in the summer of 1984 with my mom, and I think every kid around my age wanted to be Daniel. The creators of the series are all roughly my age, maybe a little younger, and you can tell it played a big part in their youth as well.

    All I can say is...it's so weird to actually kind of like Johnny. You're not supposed to like Johnny. Would Miyagi approve? I guess it's true "no such thing as bad student, only bad teacher".
     
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  2. Encuentro

    Encuentro Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Well, there was a minor moment of redemption for Johnny at the end of The Karate Kid when he hands Daniel the trophy and says, “You’re all right, Larusso.” Earlier, he is clearly upset with Kreese. He glares at him for having Daniel taken out of commission. Johnny wasn’t all bad, certainly not as bad as Mike Barnes in Part III.
     
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  3. Yeah, I remember thinking in 1984 (after sneaking back into the film several times) that it was a cool move by Johnny at the end. After getting kicked in the face, Johnny was actually one of the first ones there to greet Danny, trophy in hand. That was a class move for a high school kid.

    Danny wasn't all bad either in 1984. Yeah, he sucked, but what kid doesn't suck when they're feeling their way around life?

    I have a 15 year old son who is moody as hell, even 5 minutes after something cool happens to him. Ha!

    What's funny about this film is that these two guys are still going at it, after what was certainly a minor high school event, over a chick that neither one of them has right now. :)
     
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  4. Encuentro

    Encuentro Forum Resident Thread Starter

    I was hoping that she would make an appearance this season. It would have been a cool, little twist if she showed up at the tournament to support Johnny. With the success of this season, maybe she can be talked into reprising her role for season 2.
     
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  5. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    I definitely liked this a lot. I liked the fact that Johnny was redeemed a bit in this one. Zabka definitely has the funniest lines in the show.

    One thing, though: Johnny is broke, down and out for most of the season, yet when he decides to shape up after talking with Miguel's mom, he's all of a sudden remodeling his apartment and able to get a ton of cash to pay back Sid. Where did that money come from?

    The second season is set up well. I hope Johnny doesn't become a jerk again, but maybe he sides with LaRusso against Kreese. In any event, a fun series and I certainly recommend it. It's a bit predictable, but doesn't go exactly where you think it's going a lot of the time.
     
  6. Karnak

    Karnak "81, 82, 83, 84..."

    Never gonna happen - she's married to some bartender in New York and now has three grown up kids, remember?;)
    [​IMG]
     
  7. Dr. Bogenbroom

    Dr. Bogenbroom I'm not a Dr. but I play one on SteveHoffman.TV

    Location:
    Anchor Point
    Hehe, never would have made that clever connection. Nice. :tiphat:
     
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  8. Deesky

    Deesky Forum Resident

    Wow, for a show no one ever asked for, this turned out to be a complete blast! I mean, doing such a remake, and a TV series to boot, had disaster written all over it (like many hackneyed revivals), but I gotta say, they knocked this out of the park!

    It's just so well done, respecting the original movie and building on the legacy. It's also interesting to note how the characters of Daniel LaRusso & Johnny Lawrence are almost flipped. In this version Johnny comes across as the more sympathetic character while Johnny is shallow and smarmy with a weird comb-over hair style (even though he's not balding).

    Also, Johnny seems to have retained some Karate-foo, while Daniel is clearly soft and doughy and can't really pretend to be able to do any Karate moves (when he kicked that drink from a person's hand, it looked really bad - bent knee and all).

    But the storyline was fantastic and felt completely organic. Miguel turning from a bullied good guy into somewhat of a thug at the end, due to Johnny's mantra of striking first with no mercy, was a poignant development that speaks to Johnny's own training and ties in with the final scene of the series.

    Loved the flashbacks to the original movie. They were so well done and helped to enhance the story being told. Great acting all around. Samantha LaRusso (Mary Mouser) is a total cutie as is Moon (Hannah Kepple). Also some funny bits ans a rockin' soundtrack. Loved it!
     
  9. keifspoon

    keifspoon Senior Member

    Location:
    New Jersey, USA
    Funny as it was that movie I saw in the theater. I didn't get to see The Karate Kid until it came on cable. But of course by that time in 1988 I had moved on and was more into Gina Gershon than Elizabeth Shue. :)
     
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  10. Daniel Plainview

    Daniel Plainview God's Lonely Man

    I had to wait until my schedule was clear before I could activate the free 30 days YouTube Red trial and watch the remaining episodes. I was concerned about not being able to knock all the shows off within the 30 days period but shouldn't have been. I stayed up until 2 a.m. last night and watched episodes 3-9. I couldn't stop watching. This show is so much fun.

    "I think my buddy Tommy might have gotten brain damage from the fight" was a hilarious throwaway line (and didn't we all suspect Tommy was brain damaged? :)).

    Anyway, I'm entering the final stretch tonight. I hope this gets a blu-ray release as this is the kind of show I could see myself wanting to revisit for the rest of my life!
     
  11. Daniel Plainview

    Daniel Plainview God's Lonely Man

    Great ending. I was on the edge of my seat! And a cliffhanger ending! Like a dope dealer they'll lure me back for season 2, and next time I'll have to pay!
     
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  12. Daniel Plainview

    Daniel Plainview God's Lonely Man

    One subtle joke I enjoyed was when that guy was picking up Johnny's ex at the bar and he's going on about internal and external audits and boring her. I do a little auditing on the side at my job (against my will) and really appreciated this joke.
     
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  13. Michael Rose

    Michael Rose Forum Resident

    Location:
    Davie,Fl
    The show was great. It subverted most of my expectations and flipped the scripted so many times I lost count.

    Positives: Johnny the old school grump and some fun one liners.
    Miguel is a great character that has a good arc so far.

    Bad: (minor stuff)
    not a fan of Daniel's wife. For example; being waaay too cool about her 16 yr old throwing a huge pool party in ep 1, then getting on Daniel for getting upset and kicking the teens out of his house and embarrassing his daughter. Then Johnny's "man out of time" lines about not knowing how to internet or anything about Facebook
     
  14. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    I had no idea who Gershon was until "Showgirls"!

    Looking at her filmography, I see that I'd seen her in some movies pre-1995, but the name didn't stick! :shrug:
     
  15. Daniel Plainview

    Daniel Plainview God's Lonely Man

    I agree with you on Daniel's wife. She seems too lax in her parenting at times, though she did take the girl's phone away when she found out about the car accident. That younger son needs to be straightened out, though. And she's way too defensive of Johnny,who as far as she knows is a bum vandal who hates her husband. She locks horns with Daniel's mother fast enough, though. I think living the good life for so long has taken it's toll on her judgement. There's something about her I don't quite like. I don't know if it's the actress or the character.

    As far as Johnny being a "man out of time", Johnny doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would waste time or money on the internet and social networking. He's been poor, so maybe computers are a luxury he couldn't afford. It also seems like the only thing he has to watch on TV is "Iron Eagle". I actually envy him a little for not being a part of all this modern day nonsense. He's better off. It makes things funnier, at least, and let's him get away with saying things you aren't supposed to say these days.

    And the Firebird is still a cool car. At least it was. Those bastards!

    I liked his line about driving a Forester.
     
  16. czeskleba

    czeskleba Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    Johnny would definitely fit in perfectly on this forum, with his preference for old music and his nostalgia-drive "things were better in the good old days" attitude. :D
     
  17. "www period cobra period kai period C O M"
     
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  18. Daniel Plainview

    Daniel Plainview God's Lonely Man

    Cobra Kai

    Has anybody tried calling the number? Or sending Johnny an email? I'm tempted to try to see what happens.
     
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  19. Ha! That's funny! That's not the address he gave in the show, though.

    I just called the number. Awesome!

    EDIT: Oh snap! I left a message and Johnny called me back!
     
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  20. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    I don’t like Daniel’s wife that much but, for me, she’s the stereotype of a lot of dramadies/comedies. The woman usually is the more rational, voice of reason compared to the husband.

    Here, it’s no different: she smirks/shakes her head at Daniel for his ideas/beliefs, and has a cooler, more level head in business and other aspects. It’s always kind of the same thing. Dumb/hothead guy + levelheaded/calm woman.

    Some of Johnny’s technology ignorance is a bit tough to believe, but he’s a dude that checked out of life some time ago; it’s somewhat viable.

    I always laugh when Johnny yells “QUIET!” at his students or others. It’s really funny and displays his intolerance well.

    Zabka does such a good job in this. You’re actually rooting for Johnny whereas he’s the heel in the first movie. Even his version of the events of the first TKK is halfway believable though after watching the movie again just recently he’s far more jerky than his version suggests.
     
  21. Daniel Plainview

    Daniel Plainview God's Lonely Man

    I was rooting for Cobra Kai, naturally, but then they started fighting a little dirty, especially Hawk, so I was unsure how to feel about things at the end. Johnny didn't seem to support this behavior, even though it was his teachings that led his students to this point. And with the return of a certain someone... where do we go from here?

    I hope Miguel goes back to being the nice guy in all this because I certainly liked his character much more than Robby. I don't want to see him go all Kylo Ren on us. It's obvious the next season will have Daniel's daughter go into training and probably dethrone the champ at next year's tournament.

    One other thing... are we really supposed to believe these kids are karate tournament ready so quickly? A couple workouts with Mr. Larusso, balancing on a log and suddenly Robby's a finalist? I'll let it go since "it's just a TV show, dammit!"
     
  22. soundboy

    soundboy Senior Member

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  23. BluesOvertookMe

    BluesOvertookMe Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston, TX, USA
    I'm not even sure I saw the original Karate Kid, but frankly the trailer pulled me in for this, and I really enjoyed the sequel series! I thought Zabka did great.
     
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  24. keifspoon

    keifspoon Senior Member

    Location:
    New Jersey, USA
    I had no idea "Kokomo" was by The Beach Boys! :hide: Though to be fair I was on a date and they weren't exactly on my radar in 1988. :D
     
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  25. Encuentro

    Encuentro Forum Resident Thread Starter

    I’m really hoping that both the series and Zabka get Emmy nods in the comedy series category.
     

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