RetroBlasting reviews the classic Ruby Spears cartoon, Chuck Norris Karate Kommandos from 1986. It's the cartoon the Boogeyman checks his closet for before he goes to bed! #RetroBlasting #ChuckNorris #KarateKommandos
Sadly I remember this cartoon. My father was a big Chuck Norris fan while I was growing up and he would take me to see a bunch of his movies during Chuck Norris’s run with Cannon film. I think my dad was more excited to watch Chuck Norris Karate Commandos than I was. He couldn’t understand why I didn’t like the cartoon. Your RU-vid video brought back some funny memories. You are definitely right with thinking that this cartoon started the base line for Chuck Norris becoming an urban legend and that the man can do no wrong because he is Chuck Norris.
They where born out of a great running gag from Late Night with Conan O'Brien involving Walker Texas Ranger clips. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Norris_facts
This series is literally all the revenge that G.I. Joe's writing staff (the majority of which previously worked at Ruby-Spears) ever needed. As Flint Dille and Buzz Dixon have told the story, someone high up at Ruby-Spears snidely commented the writers were unimportant and interchangeable. Beginning with Steve Gerber, they all left, and were enthusiastically hired by Joe Bacal at Sunbow. The result is obvious: G.I. Joe is a stone cold classic, and Ruby-Spears' shows only got worse and worse, even after luring back Ted Pederson to story edit Centurions.
How does someone who *runs a TV studio* not understand the difference between good writing and bad writing? I mean, gimmicks and fads and popular actors can have their benefits to a show, but surely the writers have *some* impact...surely...? Well, I guess that guy learned his lesson.
Script writers tend to be looked down upon by people in the animation industry because the traditional way of "writing" stories was by storyboards and story meetings where the animators all added their input to the story. Script writers for years couldn't even join the animation union, and the WGA couldn't cover them for years (now cartoons can fall under the WGA's jurisdiction, but rarely do). The guy at Ruby-Spears might have gotten away with his comments had Steve Gerber not been working there around the same time as his lawsuit against Marvel Comics over Howard the Duck and brought along guys like Roy Thomas and Jack Kirby to work there with him.
koshar44 Only one thing came to my mind: If you can see Chuck Norris, Chuck Norris can see you. If you can’t see Chuck Norris, you may be only seconds from death.
I love how absolutely no creativity whatsoever went into this cartoon. "We need another villain." "Um...a ninja?" "That's it? Just a ninja?" "N-no. A super one. Super Ninja." "BRILLIANT!"
In my circle, This toyline definitely didn't fail to light fires. Everybody I knew had these figures! We all couldn't get enough martial arts in the 80's! One of the coolest things about the cartoon was that unlike many shows from the time (He-Man/She-Ra, Thundercats, G.I. Joe, etc.) the toys and the TV characters look the same. So similar in fact that the animation looks like the toys came to life. As a kid, I really appreciated stuff like that.
Always delivers a well placed chuckle outta me...kudos! Now for the action figures...and you know..I remember off the wall, barely know toy lines...but I never remember seeing Chuck's...😝
I liked this show and toys when I was a kid. But the strange thing, never noticed it was only 5 episodes back then. In my child mind, it was far longer.
Here in England I don't remember seeing this show growing up. I think if you looked up the word male in the dictionary it would just say see Chuck Norris. I'm sure it was shown here but with only 5 episodes it must have slipped me by. Great video Michael and all the best to you all.
Oh I remember this one. I actually caught this show on Cartoon Network in the 90's. There used to be a segment called "Look What We Found!", where Cartoon Network would showcase an obscure cartoon show like "Mr.T" and "Roman Holidays". And this show was one of those shows. Yeah this show was pretty stupid, there was one clip I've seen of this show where Chuck was fighting some ninjas, and there was a moment where two ninjas jumped in the air and were closing in on him, but then Chuck ducks and the ninjas collide into each other, but then they fly like they were in space. Only Chuck Norris can defy the laws of physics. Also got to dig those titles like "Deadly Dolphins" and "Menace from Space", they sound more like titles to Z-Grade monster or action/suspense movies. Had this show lasted more episodes (and thankfully it didn't), I can only imagine the titles getting more cheesy, like episode 6 would've been called "Attack of the Killer Toy Soldiers" and episode 7 would be "Electric Boogaloo". Great video, can't wait to see what you thought of the figures. I kinda wonder how Chuck Norris himself feels about this show.
Even as a kid I got a chuckle out of them spelling Commandos w/a K. I get it when they're trying to make an acronym fit, like the "K" in "M.A.S.K." standing for "Kommand", but here...
Pretty sure I saw my favorite Bond villain, Baron Samedi (Live and Let Die), when ol' Chuck was "hiding"! 💀 Hilarious stuff...watching the lag animation reminds me of playing the first Street Fighter 2 on the slowest setting (no offense to an awesome game like SF2)...in fact, I think I saw E. Honda and Vega as well! 😎🕹
I received a Chuck Norris action figure for one of my birthdays. It was kind of fun, I guess, but I had never seen the show. Now I know why--only 5 episodes! And was that a Baron Samedi knockoff in the jungle "hiding" scene?!
You gotta be careful when putting Chuck Norris and Mr T in a video together. The Internet might explode because it can’t withstand that level of awesome. 😉
Every time you said "Chuck Norris" I flinched. Please don't laugh, it's Chuck fucking Norris. I don't want you to be telapathically struck by............ OUCH!!
Would it surprise anyone to learn that the voice of Super Ninja is Keone Young AKA the voice of Storm Shadow? So within two years he had played the best 80's ninja and arguably the worst. Oh and that's Neil Ross doing the intro. He had better things to do tonight than die........or voice this cartoon anymore
So how does something like this work? Did they intend to do a full season, see the first five episodes and run for the hills? Or was Chuck too busy doing stuff like Walker:Texas Ranger and didn't have time for this tripe? Or would there be some reason to intentionally have just the five episodes? O
I will give Ruby-Spears some limited credit, they didn't do syndication often. When they did, they at least had the sense to do a pilot or mini-series. Yes, this show was clearly bad, but the schedule wasn't stuck with a bad show for 65 episodes come what may. Only exception would be Police Academy, but then Warner Bros was probably paying them a relative fortune to do that.
I'm surprised how my taste as a kid holds up as an adult. For example, I was drawn to Dungeons & Dragons, and I instantly hated this show. Your video about it was fantastic. As I recall, in my market, they preempted a good afternoon show to show this like a miniseries. In that way, it was off to a bad start. But I also hated it for the live-action intro and quality of the animation and writing. I didn't have any interest in Chuck Norris. And I never forgot it over the years as it was a low point in my cartoon watching. Glad to see an entertaining look back that confirms my initial thoughts on it.
You always entertain, but this time, you outdid yourself. Great work, human! P.S. - what is your favorite toy? Not "if your house was burning down, what's the ONE toy that you'd grab?"(That might be the rarest or most expensive one in your collection, but that's not necessarily your "favorite"...) So, What is your favorite? If you've already said this, please point me to the video. Thanks! -Volt
Was hoping to hear your take on this....thing. Something has always made me hope that even Chuck Norris doesn't know what to think about this. Awesome video, your quality always impresses.
My dad was a Chuck Norris fan since he saw him fought Bruce Lee, but he never really want me to watch this when we first saw it as he deemed everything about it is so ridiculous.Same thing goes when the Rambo animated series was also shown. Oh,by the way,that's a very large screen.
kirby march Barcena I will never forget that when Chuck fought Bruce Lee, Bruce ripped a huge chunk of chest hair from Chuck. That guy was so manly that he had more hair on his back than most men have on their entire bodies.
It’s possibke I did see at least 1 episode, because I do remember Chuck talking to you at his gym. I seem to have forgotten anything about the actual cartoon though, I just remember the live part.
I remember watching the show, and having one action figure, but I don't remember anything about the episodes. Also, I didn't actually want the Chuck Norris figure. I ask for Daniel from the Karate Kid because I only had Johnny, but my parents got me Chuck instead.
