Into the Badlands review by Sir Kent Said

By Sir Kent:

Sir Kent

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In her memoirs, Bruce Lee's widow, Linda Lee Cadwell, asserts that Lee created the concept for the series, which was then stolen by Warner Bros.[9] There is circumstantial evidence for this in a December 8, 1971 television interview that Bruce Lee gave on The Pierre Berton Show. In the interview, Lee stated that he had developed a concept for a television series called The Warrior, meant to star himself, about a martial artist in the American Old West (the same concept as Kung Fu, which aired the following year), but that he was having trouble pitching it to Warner Brothers and Paramount.

In the interview, Pierre Berton comments, "There's a pretty good chance that you'll get a TV series in the States called 'The Warrior', in it, where you use what, the Martial Arts in Western setting?"

Lee responds, "That was the original idea, ...both of them [Warner and Paramount], I think, they want me to be in a modernized type of a thing, and they think that the Western type of thing is out. Whereas I want to do the Western. Because, you see, how else can you justify all of the punching and kicking and violence, except in the period of the West?"

Later in the interview, Berton asks Lee about "the problems that you face as a Chinese hero in an American series. Have people come up in the industry and said 'well, we don't know how the audience are going to take a non-American'?"

Lee responds "Well, such question has been raised, in fact, it is being discussed. That is why The Warrior is probably not going to be on." Lee adds, "They think that business-wise it is a risk. I don't blame them. If the situation were reversed, and an American star were to come to Hong Kong, and I was the man with the money, I would have my own concerns as to whether the acceptance would be there.

SOURCE: Wikipedia

Let's call a spade a spade, shall we? F...Beep YES the concept was stolen by
Warner Brother's! F...Beep YES
David Caraddine was put into the lead role because America simply WAS NOT ready to see a barely known (At the time) Asian in the lead role on a T.V. series. People tend to forget that Warner Brothers was also the company that told the Wachowskis brothers, during the casting stages of The Matrix trilogies that, there were " Too many" Black people in leading roles! They didn't want
Lawrence Fishburne in the role of Morpheus. The Wachowskis brothers fired back.



"We like him, he's a perfect fit for the vision we have of this movie. Either we get him or you don't get the movie!" The rest is cinematic history. So just look how far Hollywood and society as a whole have come... Since March 31, 1999 when the first Matrix movie was released! I don't know if creator's Alfred Gough and Miles Millar had this in mind when they created
INTO THE BADLANDS.

I don't know if they were trying to make a social statement or right the wrongs of Hollywood past when they cast Asian American actor Daniel Wu in the leading role. Somehow, I think, the show simply wouldn't be the same without him.
Into The Badlands tells the story of Sonny. The Clipper for a baron who controls the opium trade throughout the badlands after the last great war. There simply are no guns left and all conflicts are dealt with by using sword, Knife and fist. Clippers ate the right hands if the barons who go out and enforce and kill in the barons name.

Sonny has begun to have a crisis of conscious after discovering that the woman he is seeing (The striking Madeline Matock) is pregnant. Which is forbidden by order of the Baron. This is amplified by the discovery of a boy (Aramis Knight) who has the incredible power of a "Dark Chi" within him. Plus, he has a medallion that Sonny had on him when he was found as a baby. This is billed as an "Action/Adventure" and it is.

It is also a bloody wonderful guilty pleasure. So, if you want to see a modern telling of how the "Kung Fu" series may have looked with an Asian in the lead role, you might want to check it out. If you love action, not only with dudes but a hot red head in heels (Emily Beecham) then DEFINITELY check it out.

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Sir Kent

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