Written by Jennifer
June 20, 2011
It's hard to imagine the execs at Hanna-Barbera thinking this was suitable fare for kids, but you've kind of gotta love it.
Sometimes you look back at cartoon shows of your youth, shake your head, and say, "Who the hell thought this would be good for kids?" Chuck Norris Karate Kommandos falls solidly in this category, though I remember thinking nothing of it when it aired in 1986. It was just one more show to dismiss as boys' stuff and skip over.
Indeed Karate Kommandos is jam-packed with boys' stuff: gadgets, karate kicks, chases, bad guys, and convoluted storylines. It also features weird lines like, "Chuck, you can't get in there! Sea Labs is impregnable!", which could account for odd new additions to your nine-year-old's vocabulary. It's pretty typical good vs. evil fare with basically no back-story as to why Chuck and his pals (a karate kid named Too Much, a chick named Pepper, and a Sumo Wrestler) might be battling deadly dolphins, a terror train, a menace from space, or the walking dead. The one thing we know for sure is that the VULTURE organization (headed up by the evil Claw) is bad news.
I'm not sure I've known any hardcore Chuck Norris fans, but men of a certain age (i.e. boys who grew up in the 80s) are bound to enjoy revisiting this series' epic five episode 110 minute run simply for the camp value. Also, each episode is introduced by Chuck Norris himself and he offers up vague advice on how to be a winner. Again, it's hard to imagine the execs at Hanna-Barbera thinking this was suitable fare for kids, but you've kind of gotta love it.
