Very much a work in progress, colaborating with Phrost.
Should have enough material for a worst of and best of and another piece besides for Star Trek/Wars- thus their conspicuous absence here.
Science fiction is the fine trick of taking something we know or think we know, skipping all the hard parts involved in learning more about that thing and then pretending to know how it works which, usually, is really awesome and involves a giant robot. In good film and television, books and comics, video games and, occasionally, music, science fiction can be used to explore aspects of our humanity yet undreamed of or force us to examine ourselves our society and the world around us in a new light.
On the flip side, in bad art, science fiction is an ugly transparent excuse to have a shark orgy in a tornado destroy a volcano during ragnarok while Bruce Campbell cracks out one-liners
Now take science fiction and apply it to the martial arts and see what you get.
Step 1: punch
Step 2: ???
Step 3: HADOKEN!!!
No touch knock outs, the dim mak, ninja mind control, aikido- the fact is, here at Bullshido we�ve talked about science fiction- sometime even outright fantasy- in the martial arts for a decade.
Mosh-T: An Occidental Improvement on the Martial Arts (Time Trax, 1993)
In the proud tradition of Sherlock Holmes’ martial orientalist bullshit fighting style, baritsu (cry harder, WMA enthusiasts! [i]Cry hard), this Australian/American two season TV train wreck brings us “Mosh-ti, an occidental improvement on the martial arts”- I honestly can’t stop typing that and giggling like an idiot.
If I were better qualified to comment on the racial/cultural/whatever cluster fuck that that line is- oh, why not?
So, in this narrative, as part of this clever, little throw-away explanation of how the hero kicks so much ass, martial arts are an inherently oriental thing. I guess there are no western martial arts prior to the 22nd century. However, when the occident does finally decide to go in on the whole martial art thing though it obviously- cause white people- improves upon it. Yet, in all that improvement, the creators of Bosh-T still feel compelled to apply an absurd, made-up, quasi-exotic nonsense phrase?
This makes no sense.
This could be more easily laughed off if the prologue from the above video didn�t continue to say these actual words of world building some clever writer wrote:
At West Point, Lambert excels; he learns Mosh-T an occidental improvement of martial arts. He becomes expert with the Pellet Projection Tube, the standard police weapon of the day. He graduates first in his class and is commissioned a Detective, Junior Grade. He is a marshal at last. The years that follow are turbulent to Lambert. He learns the eternal lesson of his trade; a policeman stands alone. Nor is his isolation made easier by being a member of a minority race. [The crowd chants ‘blanco’.] It is the 22nd century’s most abrasive racial slur. His experiences have made him strong, yet by decade’s end, a series of events have begun to shake his confidence.
Hey guys, guys, guysguysguys- the lily white hero understands the black man�s struggle! I�m sure this is handled perfectly in this syndicated TV series from 1993.
Anyways, so if you didn�t stay all the way to the end to see the few seconds of Bosh-T demonstrated, I don�t blame you. However the first minute or so should tell you the important things you need to know; Darian is an average, ordinary 22nd century superman who runs the mile in under 4 minutes, holds his breath for six minutes, has an IQ over 200 and through beta wave training can alter his perception of time such that he can react with super human speed�
Effectively, our hero could beat everyone around him senseless with rhythmic gymnastics- not Gymkata- if he wanted to. So when it becomes evident that Bosh-T is more or less the worst choreographed, hands down, Black Belt Magazine circa 1990 one-step sparring choreography with cat growling noises thrown in for no apparent reason, well, of course it works, silly!
Gun Kata: The Art of Standing Dramatically in the Middle of a Gun Fight (Equilibrium, 2002)
Kosho: The Gentleman�s Sport of Double Bouncing Into the Pool (The Prisoner, 1967)
Arena, Bloodsport iiiiiiinnnnn SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE! (Arena, 1989)
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MAX VIDEOS 5
Padar, multi-dimensional artificial gravity American Gladiators -
MAX VIDEOS 5
Den Sha, The Art of Hitting Your Opponent’s Stick (Babylon 5, 1993) -
MAX VIDEOS 5
The Weirding Way- wait, “weirding module”? That wasn’t in the book?! (Dune, 1984) -
Bablyon 5, season 1 ep 17 TKO, the mutai arena bloodsport episode- must be video somewhere
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Babylon 5 Legend of the Rangers, worst control system ever MAX VIDEOS 5
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Shield fighting, Dune- come back around admit Herbert did well (style adapts out of technological shifts very well), stay tuned next time for best examples MAX VIDEOS 5