WARNING: Some items on this page may contain graphic content. Remember: it's just computer animation.
MORTAL KOMBAT: DEFENDERS OF THE REALM
(USA Network, September 21-December 14, 1996)
Film Roman Productions, Threshold Entertainment, USAStudios, New Line Television
MAIN CAST:
In 1992, MortalKombat ushered in the age of mature gaming.
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Mortal Kombat ad. |
Originally intended as an adaptationof Universal Soldier starringJean-Claude Van Dammefrom Midway Games, Ed Boon, John Tobias, John Vogel and Dan Forden turned toChinese mythology and kung-fu movies for inspiration when the licensing dealfell through. They came up with the concept of six realms created by Elder Godsand a tournament held to maintain the freedom of one of the realms. Visitingpinball designer SteveRitchie, upon noticing someone had written “combat” with a “K” on theiridea board, suggested they call the game “Mortal Kombat.” The name stuck, and Mortal Kombat was born.
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The Kombatants: Johnny Cage, Kano, Sub-Zero, Sonya Blade, Raiden, Liu Kang and Scorpion. |
What made the game different fromthe other prominent fighting game at the time, StreetFighter, was the fact thatinstead of using animated character sprites, they used motion capture to placeactual actors into the game. That, and the fact that the game was the goriestat the time-- from the amount of blood spilled during combat to the fatalfinishing moves dubbed “Fatalities” (although, compared to the characters thegore seemed a bit cartoony at times). The brutality shown in the game led toseveral controversies and public outrage, ultimately resulting in the creationof the Electronics Software RatingsBoard which provides age ratings for all video game releases.
The game was a hit, and spawned twosequels: Mortal Kombat II in 1993 and Mortal Kombat 3 in 1995, which was later updated and re-released as Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3; all of which were eventually portedto home systems. Midway produced a seriesof comics tying into the official story of the arcade games, while Malibu Comics securedthe license and published severalseries between 1994 and 1995. Hasbroalso produced a line of action figuresin the same style as their G.I. Joe line (in fact reusing some of those molds). In 1995, thepopularity of the games reached the notice of Hollywood and a movie deal wasstruck.
Mortal Kombat was directed by Paul W.S. Anderson from a scriptby Kevin Droney and producedby Threshold Entertainmentfor NewLine Cinema. It followed the basic plot of the first game (while addingbits from the first sequel), where chosen warrior and former Shaolin monk LiuKang (Robin Shou), actionstar Johnny Cage(Linden Ashby) and SpecialForces officer Sonya Blade (BridgetteWilson) end up on a ship bound for an island to engage in sorcerer ShangTsung’s (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa)Mortal Kombat tournament. As it was the 10th tournament, if Tsung’sforces won the dimension known as Outworld would lay claim to Earth under therule of its despotic emperor, Shao Kahn (FrankWelker). Overseeing and guiding Earth’s champions was Raiden (Christopher Lambert), the god ofthunder and Earthrealm’s protector. Opening in August, the film spent threeweeks at number one and earned $122 million worldwide. Several months prior,Threshold released a direct-to-video animated prequel called The Journey Begins, alsowritten by Droney, which offered background on the film’s main characters andfeatured a 15-minute documentary about the movie. It was released to VHS andLaserdisc by TurnerHome Entertainment and featured the characters in their MK2 outfits.
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The Defenders of the Realm in their secret base. |
Based on the film’s success, Threshold and New Line Televisioncommissioned Film Roman Productions tocreate an animated series set in the movie’s continuity, although it alsoincorporated elements from both versions of MK3.The series focused on Raiden (Clancy Brown) assembling a group of warriors todefend Earthrealm from invaders that entered through portals from otherdimensions. They would detect the openings in their hidden base and fly out indragon-shaped jets to kombat the threats.
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Nightwolf, Liu Kang, Sub-Zero, Kitana, Jax and Sonya. |
Carried over from the movie were main characters Liu Kang (Brian Tochi)and Sonya Blade (Olivia d’Abo), as well as Blade’s partner Jax (DorianHarewood), who had bionic arms; Lin Kuei ninja Sub-Zero(Luke Perry), who possessed ice powers; and Kitana (Cree Summer), long-livedprincess of Outworld who used deadly Japanese war fans. Joining them from MK3 was Stryker (Ron Perlman), leader ofan NYPD SpecialRiot Control division, and Nightwolf (Todd Thawley), a Native American shamanand historian who could tap into spiritual energy. Nightwolf, althoughoccasionally joining in battles, served as the team’s tech support. All of thecharacters’ designs were taken from the MK3games, except for Kitana who featured elements of her MK2 outfit.
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Shao Khan towers over Shang Tsung. |
Shao Khan (John Vernon) remained theprimary antagonist, allowing the other realms to invade Earthrealm while onlyactually appearing in four episodes. Other Kombatants made appearancesthroughout the show’s run, including the undead warrior Scorpion (Perlman);Kitana’s ex-fiancé Rain (Rino Romano) who served theEmperor; Sub-Zero’s fellow ninja and friend, Smoke (Jeremy Ratchford); Lin Kueicyborgs Cyrax and Sektor(Harewood); Sonya’s arch-nemesis Kano (Michael Des Barres); and the four-armedSheeva (Dawnn Lewis). Filmvillain and first game boss Shang Tsung (Neil Ross) also made severalappearances. The series was notable for being the debut of sorcerer Quan Chi (Nick Chinlund) who went on tobecome the villain in Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat 4 in1997.
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Rain hasn't learned that "no" means "no." |
Mortal Kombat: Defenders of theRealm debuted on September 21st as part of USA Network’s Action Extreme Team programmingblock. It was developed and primarily written by Sean Catherine Derek, withadditional scripts from SteveGranat, Cydne Clark and Mark Hoffmeier. The music was composedby Jonathan Sloate. Someepisodes were inspired by the games, but largely the series treaded its ownpath with original stories and content. Because of its being a Saturday morningcartoon, the violence was significantly toned down from the source material andthe gore none-existent. Although some deaths were shown in episodes, theirdepictions were made as light as possible. As a result, the series was widelypanned by both critics and fans of the games, feeling that neutering the verything that made MK a success was arecipe for disaster. The series only lasted a single season of 13 episodesbefore it was quickly cancelled.
As with the other entries in the Extreme Team—WingCommander Academy, SavageDragon, and Street Fighter—Mortal Kombat tookpart in “The Warrior King” crossover event on November 16. Developed by Will Meugniot, the titularbarbarian (Michael Dorn)crossed between dimensions to find and acquire the Orb of Power, which couldcontrol the weather of any planet. While The Warrior King was seen in all fourshows(albeit in anunspeaking silhouette cameo here), their respective characters didn’t cross over. It was coordinated sothat each episode would air on the same day, resulting in each series beingshown outside of their regular timeslots. However, the event received little tono promotion, and outside of the rearranged schedule there was no indicationthat there was anything special about that day.
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One of the DVD covers. |
In the United States, several episodes only saw individual release on VHS.All but one episode was released across three volumes in the United Kingdomwhile Australia saw all episodes across six volumes. The complete series wasreleased on DVD inRussia and Brazil, each containing a language track specific to that country.
Defenders of the Realm wouldbecome the franchise’s last attempt at a cartoon. In 1997, MK returned to theaters with the widely-panned Annihilation, followedby a new short-lived live-action series called Konquest. The nexttime MK would be successfully adaptedinto a program would be in the 2010 web-series Legacy, which so farhad two short seasons. In the meantime, new entries in the franchise continuedto be produced for arcades and later for home systems. The franchise, whosepopularity became diluted through the introduction of clones and even moreviolent games trying to emulate its violence and gain its audience, got amuch-needed reinvigoration when Midway was purchased by WarnerBros. Interactive and 2011’s Mortal Kombat wasreleased.
EPISODE GUIDE:
“Kombat Begins Again” (9/21/96) – The warriors face a pack of invadingcybernetic units while Sub-Zero tries to warn them of a threat from Scorpion.
“Sting of the Scoprion” (9/28/96) – Scorpion amasses a legion ofundead warriors and travels to the Outworld with the intent of resurrectingShang Tsung.
“Acid Tongue” (10/5/96) – The Reptile-led Raptors attack, resulting inJax’s arms being damaged. Sonya attempts to help repair them while the othersdeal with Sheeva’s Shokan warriors.
“Skin Deep” (10/12/96) – Kitana’s ex-fiance Rain returns to warn ofShao Kahn seeking a powerful scimitar, but he turns out to be a traitor andkidnaps Kitana.
“Old Friends Never Die” (10/19/96) – Sub-Zero reunites with his friendSmoke to find out if his friend still exists or if he was turned into asoulless killing machine by Oniro.
“Familiar Red” (10/26/96) – Kano and the Black Dragon gang open falseportals all over, making Nightwolf’s detection system unreliable and forcinghim to rely on the magic within.
“Fall From Grace” (11/2/96) – Sonya’s overconfidence results inStryker being wounded, and the consideration of suspending her from the teamdue to her inability to use teamwork.
“The Secret of Quan-Chi” (11/9/96) – Quan Chi uses a magic crystal toturn the warriors against each other, leaving Nightwolf alone to stop Quan Chifrom conquering the world.
“Resurrection” (11/16/96) – Shao Khan resurrects Shang Tsung and giveshim a sphere that controls the elements, allowing him to severely weaken Raidenand trap the warriors.
“Sword of Ilkan” (11/23/96) – Kitana’s old enemy Zara returns, holdingJax hostage in order to force Kitana and Sonya to retrieve the other sword ofIlkan for her.
“Amends” (11/30/96) – Former Black Dragon Kabal returns to aid thewarriors in defeating Kano and the Black Dragons’ latest scheme.
“Abandoned” (12/7/96) – Jax attempts to retire from the constantfighting, but is entangled in Shao Khan’s latest attempt to discover thewarriors’ base.
“Overthrown” (12/14/96) – The warriors prepare for a finalconfrontation with Shao Khan, but the battle is fought from all sides thanks toold rivalries and subterfuge.
Posted in 2015. Updated in 2023.