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Anbo-Jyutsu: THE ULTIMATE EVOLUTION OF MARTIAL ARTS

NewHeavensNewEarth

NewHeavensNewEarth

Commodore
Commodore
1989 was quite a year. The Berlin Wall fell. Taylor Swift was born. Will Riker and his dad faced off in brutal combat on TV. "American Gladiators" debuted.

Watching Will and his dad, I can't help feeling like I'm watching one of those episodes of "American Gladiators." It's interesting that so many people in the late '80s considered padded sticks to be such remarkable weapons that we hear Kyle Riker declaring the whole thing to be "the ultimate evolution of martial arts."

But since it helped lead to the washing away of decades of resentment between the Rikers in a few minutes, maybe it should make a comeback. At least "American Gladiators" should.
 
:lol: I love how in that episode, Pulaski is grilling Riker Sr. about the potential harms of getting bumped around by Will, but she says next to nothing to Worf in the same episode when he gets a dose of pain sticks that make Worf shriek like he's about to lose all bodily functions. It was a very physical episode in the last 20 minutes or so, as those folks went a little wild by Enterprise standards.
 
Forbin said:
Who even starts a match by declaring what sport they're about to do, and it's place in the history of it's genre?? That line always makes me cringe.
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In real life? Nobody, especially when kids learn about it at school instead of useless things like math, noting college algebra nowadays is akin to high school algebra circa 1988...

In TV of the time, introducing something that my guess is would hopefully be well-received and take off in later episodes*, that the first time incident would hand out a description. Like how the warp core breath nadir was introduced in "Contagion" with a set of details that was meant to prevent it from becoming an overused cliche of a cliche, of which afterward, everyone promptly ignored and used ad nauseum -- yay...

* like how Reeses Peanut Butter Squares or whatever that game was in the tight firm spandex clothing was hinted at but nobody bothered to explore, after which point even redressing a video game kiosk of "Q*Bert" would have appeased somebody...

Ultimately, TNG would just standardize on "skeet shooting rotating color virtual sphere things in the holodeck while standing on the dais on the color you're supposed to hit" as any game with details puts audiences to sleep and there are better ways to do that. The instructions were conveyed visually instead of dreary old dialogue, but I'd still wager 5 quatloos that half the audience didn't pick up on the color changes either...
 
Cutie McWhiskers said:
In TV of the time, introducing something that my guess is would hopefully be well-received and take off in later episodes*, that the first time incident would hand out a description.
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Reading the production notes about the episode, it sounds like it was just something random that they threw together simply as a means for father & son to duke it out in some futuristic way. There wasn't serious thought put into it, or into taking it beyond that episode. It was a means to an end. But at least they hugged it out at the end.
 
Mojochi said:
Clearly, you're overlooking the awesome potential of being dressed like Tron characters. It's what makes it an entirely different sporting challenge, without question.
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If only they'd lit up, yes. For not being able to see, though, it would've been just as easy/easier to flip off the lights. Of course, that would make it a little difficult for the viewing audience.
 
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