Prior to "Conquest", "Mortal Kombat" enjoyed a brief foray in the animated realm with the series "Mortal Kombat: Defenders Of The Realms". While I never watched the show completely, I do remember catching an episode here and there, and one of the most notable things about this series (at least to me) is that this show features the first and (only time) where Rain is seen without his mask. "Defenders Of The Realms" lasted for 13 episodes before being canceled. "Defenders Of The Realms" wasn't well received considering the show was animated for children and while having a large child fan base (after all I was 8 when I played "Mortal Kombat"), "Mortal Kombat" is NOT meant for children. The brutal nature of the game could never be reflected in a Saturday morning cartoon style.
"Conquest" was live action and instead of being about Liu Kang and the story we're familiar with, "Conquest" would tell the story of The Great Kung Lao, Kung Lao's ancestor and his journey to become the 1st Earth Realmer to win Mortal Kombat. "Conquest" aired on TNT and was featured after WCW Monday Nitro. "Conquest" oddly enough did enjoy popularity despite in latter years being called a "wire-fu disaster". TNT ultimately made the decision to pull the plug on "Conquest" and from research it looks like it was primarily for budget reasons rather than the over all quality of the show. There are very few things I can speak on authoritatively, "Dragonball Z", Writing, Quentin Tarantino and a few others but "Mortal Kombat" is definitely on that list. I've seen a few episodes here and there but never watched it entirely.
One of my main reasons for avoiding this series is the fear of the brain aneurysm I'd have with the glaring continuity errors of the series fall out of sync with the actual "Mortal Kombat" timeline. As an example, there is an episode titled "Noob Saibot", however we know Noob Saibot wasn't created until the current Mortal Kombat timeline as he was the 1st Sub-Zero, Bi-Han. Bi-Han fought in the tournament during Liu Kang's time and was turned into Noob Saibot after his defeat. The series takes place a good 500 years BEFORE Liu Kang, which would either mean that Bi-Han was never Sub-Zero and always Noob Saibot or that Bi-Han managed to die as Noob Saibot, come back as Sub Zero and then die and become Noob Saibot again. Both are dumb.
Likewise characters like Scorpion are mentioned and while on the surface it may seem like that's no big deal considering Scorpion's a specter, what you're missing is the fact that Bi-Han was a grown man prior to killing Scorpion, which would mean Bi-Han would have to be upwards of about 600 years old for Scorpion to have been killed 500 years prior to Liu Kang. In Mortal Kombat Scorpion's been dead for roughly 2 years before the tournament. So while his being in the series is nice fan service, in actual continuity this makes absolutely NO sense by anyone's imagination. But you see the level of care I have for "Mortal Kombat" so no need to press that further.
"Conquest" lasted for 1 Season of 22 episodes (a full order) and enjoyed more success in The U.K. & Australia, which is odd considering Australia bans "Mortal Kombat"...and "Power Rangers" for that matter. So for Project Canceled we're gonna dive into the entire series of "Mortal Kombat: Conquest" and see what's what.
So here we go with the pilot episode "Warrior Eternal" and surprisingly it does an excellent job (through narration by Raiden) explaining what Mortal Kombat is and what's happening at the moment. Kung Lao defeats Shang Tsung within the first 10 minutes of the show and thus his legend is established and now the series entire premise begins after his victory with Kung Lao seeing visions and Raiden telling him that his vision are of a future unwritten and that Kung Lao must train the next generation of fighters. Within 12 minutes of the first episode I know who's who, I know what's going on and I know where the series is going, this is better than I expected. Right away we understand Kung Lao's plight, despite his victory and saving Earth Realm his true desire lies in being with his girlfriend Jen but his responsibilities as Earth's Champion ultimately gets in the way of his eventual happiness.
We meet our next few characters Siro, Jen & Taja and here is where "Warrior Eternal" gets a touch hairy. The actress playing Jen is AWFUL with soap opera levels of acting. I swear the vast majority of her lines were ADR'ed and the inflections don't fit the context of the scene. But regardless of that she's serviceable. Siro shows him a capable a fighter when Taja and her group attempt to rob Siro & Jen. Production note here, Kristanna Loken plays Taja and this was one of her early TV roles and one of her first as a main cast member. This episode does a good job of setting up the world of Earth Realm at this point in time and like the real world not everyone believes in Mortal Kombat or The Elder Gods or believes that Earth Realm is in any danger. I guess that's an occupational hazard of doing your job so well no one believes you have a job.
Granted Raiden is seen walking around and conversing with Kung Lao but I doubt Raiden is just going to pop in and show himself to everybody who's curious which; which shows Raiden has a purpose for his appearances. This episode also establishes Shang Tsung as a main character much to my surprise and his motivation as a character to not only get revenge on Kung Lao for defeating him (thus making him persona non grata in the eyes of Shao Kahn) but his ambition to overthrow Shoa Kahn. This episode also introduces Scorpion through a literal scorpion that merely houses the soul of a warrior, oddly enough Shang Tsung unleashes the soul of the warrior inside of a guard (oddly enough named) Takeda (who in "Mortal Kombat X" is Scorpion's protege' & Kenshi's son). This first episode does an excellent job of establishing the characters their motivations and even showcasing Raiden as the sarcastic but wise mentor with a spark of dark humor that made Christopher Lambert so enjoyable in the role in the films.
All in all, "Warrior Eternal" is a good start to the series, it gives you everything you need to know about the characters to get the story moving where it needs to go. It's action packed the fights are fun and engaging. But again this introduction of scorpion sets up the idea that the concept of "Scorpion" merely a symbiote that attaches it's self to host and fills them with wrath. I'm okay with this as it establishes the difference between Hanzo Hasashi and the Scorpion persona. Well done integrating a well known character into the series without ruining the established character. In keeping with the 1st film's continuity the harpoon used by Scorpion is indeed a living creature.
Episode 03 "Cold Reality" introduces us to The Lin Kuei and the character Sub-Zero, but this isn't the previous incarnation of Sub Zero, this isn't Bi-Han or Kui Liang, this is an entirely new character given the name Sub Zero. It should also be noted that while current Mortal Kombat lore established that Sub Zero family are descendants of Outworld cryomancers, "Conquest" makes it seems that there are students who can advance in the dark arts to learn the ability of cyromancy. I like this better because then it makes it Sub Zero less of a character and more of a title similar to Iron Fist, also this keeps in line with Kui Liang using his brother's name upon Bi-Han's death.
Episode 06, "Noob Saibot" is the start of the inaccuracies with the introduction of the eponymous character Noob Saibot. However, in "Conquest", Noob Saibot was formerly a servant of Shoa Kahn that was locked away for failure, however anyone who knows anything about Mortal Kombat knows that Noob Saibot was formerly Bi-Han the original Sub Zero for the 1st "Mortal Kombat" turned into Noob Saibot by Quan Chi to serve The Brotherhood Of Shadows. How they did Noob Saibot is not how they did Scorpion (once again, making "The Scorpion" similar to Spawn where the man remains but the powers can be passed on. No, Noob Saibot is his own entity with his own backstory. Furthermore, his appearance in this episode leaves much to be desired, rather than invoking fear or looking badass, he sadly looks like The Gimp from "Pulp Fiction" with an upgrade.
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| Tell me I'm wrong, you can't do it. |
Despite having Sung Hi Lee's & Tahitia Hicks' flesh on display in a less than modest fashion in (what appears to be) a lesbian relationship, I found this episode far weaker than the previous entries simply because of it's misrepresentation of Noob Saibot. The ONLY thing I can say to save this episode is that maybe in the future Quan Chi acquires the soul of Noob Saibot and resurrected it in Bi-Han rather than just creating a new being entirely. That has it's holes but it's the only thing I can think of to salvage this episode.
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| Although, a little flesh didn't hurt... |
The Black Dragon make an appearance in "Debt Of The Dragon" and once again I have a little bit of a beef with this. The Black Dragon Clan formed out of The Red Dragon Clan (therefore making The Red Dragon Clan older), however continuity wise, The Red Dragon Clan is much older considering it was formed by Daegon. However, considering this is retconned information, I certainly can't read it into this Mortal Kombat continuity, but nonetheless this is a beef that I have. That being said, we're introduced to Quan Chi in Episode 9 and Quan Chi is GREAT! I love this interpretation of the character and he's a lot of fun to watch. The good continuity here is in the following episode "Unholy Alliance" where Quan Chi & Shang Tsung team up to takedown Kung Lao. The good thing about this is that out of their alliance Shang was going to teach Quan Chi how to steal souls.
This is good continuity because despite being a merchant of souls Quan Chi cannot steal them, he merely corrupts them, this is made known in every "Mortal Kombat" game Quan Chi has appeared in, most notably "Deadly Alliance" where it was Shang Tsung who was tasked with using stolen souls to revive The Dragon King's army. In Episode 11 we see Scorpion once again and he's forming a clan, however it should be noted that this is NOT the Shirai'Ryu as this Scorpion is NOT Hanzo Hasashi. "Shadow Of A Doubt" Episode 12 marks the first second live action appearance of Rain (the first being "Mortal Kombat: Annihilation") and he actually gets to fight here, however Rain is not the centerpiece of this episode, instead we're introduced to my favorite femme fatale Mileena and boy oh boy do we have problems!
For starters Mileena in this continuity is not a creation of Shang Tsung's magic but some random Outworld girl who was hideous, Shoa Kahn then tasked her with killing Kung Lao...only after sending Rain...? This episode makes Kahn look like a dumb ass, let me explain: for starters if the champion of Mortal Kombat Shang Tsung couldn't defeat Kung Lao, what chance did Kahn think Rain had? Secondly, if Rain was one of his best fighters, why not send Rain to start with? Furthermore, if you're aware that Kung Lao trusts Kitana why not send Mileena sooner? All that aside, Mileena's origins as a random Outworld girl just sours her character. Mileena has always had blind loyalty to Shoa Kahn and this just calls into question her loyalty to him. Kahn has always considered Mileena his true daughter as Kitana could not be trusted.
This series came out in 1998, by that time "Mortal Kombat Gold" was out and it was already well established who and what Mileena was and what her motivations are. To butcher her character this much in this episode is really off putting. That being said, Raiden ribbing Kung Lao for having slept with Mileena like a Frat Brother was hilarious. "The Serpent And The Ice" Episode 15 begins the rivalry between Scorpion & Sub-Zero and once again more problems. Once again Shirai'Ryu has not yet been formed...after all this Scorpion is NOT Hanzo and this Sub-Zero is NOT Bi-Han. This episode was basically fan service and while I'll admit the fight between these two was good, the continuity errors were just too much. Also introduced in this episode was Smoke, who has been tasked with killing Sub-Zero after he killed The Grand Master.
Side note but why the hell would The Lin Kuei only have a select few with special abilities and not The Grand Master himself? After all The Grand Master had no way to defend himself when Sub-Zero betrayed them. Just saying relying on others to defend you is an extremely poor business model. Shao Kahn has guards not entirely for his defense but mostly because the man can't be bothered with every little thing, and he needs someone to say "Take them away!" to. That being said, Smoke's appearance in this episode is again inaccurate, but I digress. Untangling this mess of continuity errors is an article in and of it's self. Reiko makes an appearance in episode 16 and this just hurts my heart. Reiko is such an awesome and underrated character (much like Rain who's finally getting a little shine).
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| Also, why they make him look like a punk? |
For starters, Reiko shouldn't even be here, let alone with Shao Kahn. According to established "Mortal Kombat" lore (again only going off of the games present at the time of "Conquest's" release) Reiko was a general for Shinnok and after his defeat at the hands of Raiden, Reiko was never seen again (until "Mortal Kombat 4"). So his appearance here raises MAJOR questions, secondly, Reiko didn't become a general to Shao Kahn until after "Deadly Alliance" so technically "Conquest" is ahead of it's self. That being said the episode in question titled "Kreeya" sees a few things: an alliance between Shang Tsung & Kung Lao, Reiko's first appearance as I've mentioned, the true intentions of Vorpax (a character I'll get into much more when I cover characters) and the introduction of a character named Kreeya.
Here's the thing, I wish "Mortal Kombat: Conquest" was made much later, as late as now because Kreeya is revealed to be something of a Bee like character. Granted she doesn't go through any transformation but all of her children (all female) are revealed to come from hives and mature at a rapid rate. The reason I wish this series was produced now is because she almost seems like the precursor to the character D'Vorah. Isn't it strange that "Mortal Kombat: Conquest" managed to make (albeit, indirect) references to future characters without being aware of it? Think about it, there's a character named Takeda who becomes Scorpion and in "Mortal Kombat X" the character Takeda is trained by Scorpion and now we have a D'Vorah like character.
That being said Kreeya becomes something of a rising threat after her initial appearance. In Episode 17 "The Master" we see Vorpax unleashing Shang Tsung's old Master to kill him and in Episode 18 "In Kold Blood" (which you'd expect to be about Sub-Zero), features Kreeya forming an alliance with the Saurians, more specifically their leader Reptile. And Kung Lao and co. are still in a seek and destroy mission for Kreeya's hives. This episode also reveals Kiri & Ahnika (Sung Hi Lee & Tahitia Hicks) are Saurians. In Episode 19, Quan Chi after being framed for an attempted assassination on Shao Kahn decides to join forces with Kreeya. The decision to make Kreeya a rising threat I greatly question because she's not a legacy Mortal Kombat character and if they wanted to build up a new threat other than Shang Tsung, they could've saved Quan Chi for later and made his main goal trying to raise Shinnok.
The Kreeya Arc finally comes to something of a conclusion in Episode 19 "Balance Of Power" where Vorpax (upset with Kreeya's willingness to allow massive casualties for victory) decides to have her killed by using Kung Lao and friends. However, having Kreeya killed was merely so Vorpax could assume control of Kreeya's army. Having Vorpax darkhorse both Kreeya & Shang Tsung is something I'll get into later but Vorpax's reign as queen doesn't last long considering that there are only 2 episodes left and the penultimate episode "Stolen Lies" seems to come out of nowhere and brings the over arching narrative to something of a sudden stop.
In a previous episodes we've seen old friends of the main characters drop by, Siro's ex-fiancee' Hannah (in one of Eva Mendes' first roles) & his brother Cassar in "Thicker Than Blood", Taja's father (sort of) in "Undying Dreams", Lori in "Festival Of Death" but having a friend of Taja's show up and be the catalyst to the penultimate episode (especially considering what follows) doesn't do the narrative building we've seen thus far any justice. "Balance Of Power" was a far more pivotal considering we now see where everyone stands: Kreeya allied herself with Reptile in order to defeat Shao Kahn, Shang Tsung framed Quan Chi for an assassination attempt on Shao Kahn, now unable to ally himself with Shao Kahn, Quan Chi likewise allies himself with Kreeya. Vorpax kills Kreeya and nullifies the deal with Reptile and allies herself with Shang Tsung (wanting his seed more than him). While all of this is happening, Shao Kahn is going mad and torturing everyone he can get his hands on under the suspicion that they're traitors.
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| SIDE NOTE: Reiko in this series could not be farther from the actual Reiko. This Reiko is a bitch, the actual Reiko is a cold-hearted, low-down, ruthless vato. |
What follows, however in "Stolen Lies" is Taja's friend Dion leading Kung Lao and friends into a hidden city where the villagers there worship Shao Kahn as a god (under the name "Shaka"...as in "Shaka Kahn") and has a secret portal prepared for his return. His return never happens but what does happen is even more eyebrow raising than the narrative shift. In the final episode "Vengeance", Shao Kahn prepares to cross over into Earth realm only to be stopped by Raiden and they have a quick brawl (with Raiden uncharacteristically wielding a hammer of all things) but it turns out the brawl was a time buying ploy. Unbeknownst to Raiden, Shao Kahn's Shadow Priest (who in "Balance Of Power" have been shown to be unable to determine whether or not a person is lying.) suddenly becomes the badasses to end all badasses and (quite literally) kill EVERYBODY...and when I say everybody, I mean EVERYBODY!
{SIDE NOTE: It was shown that Shang Tsung could not only steal souls but feels them as well in "The Master" Shang was able to determine a man was being unfaithful to his wife. Both Shang Tsung & Shao Kahn have the same ability, so naturally it'd follow that Shao Kahn would be able to determine if someone was lying as well...continuity much?}
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| My Emperor, we can't use our magic to determine traitors, the writers haven't given us that ability yet. |
What's more egregious is that the fights between the characters and The Shadow Priests aren't even actual fights they're absolute curb stomp battles with the character's offense being shrugged of and completely ineffectual. Kreeya was considered an incredibly powerful character (her army gave Shao Kahn considerable pause), Vorpax now has Kreeya's power and The Shadow Priest didn't even spend 2 seconds on her. Quan Chi is an even more deadlier sorcerer than Shang Tsung and The Shadow Priest walk through him like he's nothing. Which makes me wonder why Shao Kahn didn't send these guys to kill Kung Lao in the first place? Would've saved him a lot of time. Needless to say the jarring deaths of EVERYBODY (Quan Chi, Shang Tsung, Siro, Taja, Kung Lao, Kitana, Vorpax, and Reptile) leaves a WHOLE HOST of continuity errors!
For starters Kung Lao, in cannon dies at the hands of Goro in the next Mortal Kombat tournament, thus giving Outworld it's 9th victory before Liu Kang stops them at 10. None of the other characters die AT ALL (Siro & Taja not included because they're original characters and can die whenever). So unless the finale was merely a ruse on behalf of someone EXTREMELY clever (and I think not because in the end Raiden was held prisoner by Shao Kahn in Outworld where Raiden has no power) I fail to see where the 2nd Season would've gone. If the series had ended with Kahn's forces going to war with Vorpax with Earth Realm caught in the middle that'd have left a good story to continue in 2nd Season. But this finale comes literally out of nowhere as The Shadow Priest have never been shown to be fighters and suddenly they're able to do anything and everything deus ex machina style. After seeing fighter after fighter on this show The Shadow Priests are the ones that kill EVERYBODY. Not only is this jarring but incredibly sloppy.
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| Yeah, these guys...The Ultimate Bad Asses... |
Now that we're done with the series in general, let's talk about the characters. Kung Lao is an easily likeable character, he's calm and collected when he needs to be and shows himself to be an excellent fighter. He serves more or less as an everyman character and his personality goes where the plot needs him to go without making him a Gary Stu. He's generally easy going and the character who tends to be more trusting and level-headed than Siro & Taja. Case in point, in the episode "The Serpent & The Ice", Kung Lao wanted Sub-Zero to stay with them to help them fight for Earth realm. There was an overarching conflict with Kung Lao being made ageless and having to deal with not aging while everyone else did, however, this doesn't last very long and isn't addressed again. which is unfortunate because they could've gotten quite a bit of mileage out of that concept.
Siro is the bruiser of the group and easily the most out-going. He tends to be the man about town having been in Zhu Zin all his life and knows the town inside and out. Because of his connection to the town Siro doesn't took kindly to when friends are harmed (specifically a two barmaids in Episode 13 "Twisted Truths"). At times he can be seen as a bit of a meat head but ultimately he has a good heart and is an honorable guy.
Taja is the weakest of the group but the craftiest, she's the most logical and the quickest to point out inconsistencies in certain situations. That aside, like Kung Lao she's pretty trusting but given her history as a thief her trust can be pretty fair weather. In Episode 13 "Twisted Truths", Taja wanted to trust Tomas despite not having evidence to trust him (granted they were starting to become romantically involved and she was vindicated in the end, Tomas was innocent). Taja is a good balance between Kung Lao & Siro because while Siro is all in guns blazing and Kung Lao is patience and learn, Taja is more let's listen and if we don't like it, knock'em out kinda girl.
Shang Tsung is a character whose backstory in "Mortal Kombat" lore is largely unknown, but what is known is that Shang was originally from Earth Realm and "Mortal Kombat: Conquest" actually provides him with a legitimate backstory that I can accept as cannon. That origin story is explored in Episode 16 "The Master" where a character named Master Cho arrives and offers to teach Kung Lao fighting techniques. The origin story of Shang Tsung is revealed to be that originally he was like Kung Lao, training to fight in Mortal Kombat to defend Earth Realm. During a fight Shang cheated and was removed from combat, however Shao Kahn seduced him and taught him the ability to steal souls in order to prolong his own life. Shang essentially betrayed Master Cho because he refused to teach him the secret to immortality.
"Mortal Kombat: Conquest" did a great job in turning Shang Tsung into an actual cold and calculated badass. Having him be the overlining villain of the series (Shao Kahn being the underlining) was a good job as it showed how and why Shang Tsung has lasted for so long. He's crafty and intelligent and having a character like Vorpax with him to bounce ideas off of and banter with really showed his thought processes. While he's not a sympathetic character at all, he has a great deal of charisma that makes him a likeable villain and a big enough threat to warrant concern. That being said, let's talk Vorpax.
Shao Kahn is an interesting character in "Mortal Kombat: Conquest", he's ruthless and intimidating but at the same time his decisions are strange and his interactions with Kitana are even more interesting. It appears in that Shao Kahn is actually romantically (or physically more likely) interested in Kitana, and I can't say that I blame him. Considering the fact that Shao Kahn has conquered numerous realms and killed several people and (essentially) raped Sindel...so what's a little incest between father & adopted daughter? I like this dynamic actually as it makes Kahn more of a disgusting character that just being bloodthirsty. Jeff Meek does a good job of differentiating between Kahn & Raiden. The only problem I have with Kahn is that for whatever reason he doesn't wear his iconic helmet and I'd have loved to see the full get up and hammer before the series is done.
Scenes like this showcase the fact that Raiden is NOT playing when it comes to defending Earth Realm. He does a good job of maintaining how serious Raiden is while keeping the character light-hearted and well-intentioned. Not to mention there is a scene in "Stolen Lies" where Raiden was actually drinking and engaging in sexual activity with a barmaid. While I don't object to this, seeing this side of Raiden was hilarious and again, in line with Christopher Lambert's "Hahahaha...sorry." Raiden.
Last but not least let's talk about Quan Chi, Adoni Maropis does an EXCELLENT job playing Quan Chi as a delightful ham while still maintaining the character's awesome menacing aura. His staccato cadence and gravely voice makes him fun to listen to. Despite being in the series a good deal, I wish we would've got more Quan Chi as he certainly had the makings to take the spotlight from Shang Tsung at any given moment. The fact that they could've done so much more with his character, let alone his connection to Shinnok (not to mention his history with Sub-Zero) and didn't will be forever beyond me.
In conclusion whoever called this a "wire-fu disaster" was SORELY mistaken, not only are the fight scenes good but they're not given to the unfortunately shakey cam non-sense we see in today's action movies. We can actually tell who's getting hit, who's doing the hitting, and we see stunt work, flips and kicks and it's all pretty fun. The series takes it's self seriously without being too serious and the overall story is easy to follow without having to watch previous episodes. Also this series doesn't have a Freak Of The Week format to it, with Shang Tsung or Shao Kahn unleashing new horrors every week, sometimes the threat is a plan set in motion by other characters who have a grudge against each other.
"Mortal Kombat: Conquest" was a fun ride but I can't consider this cannon in Mortal Kombat lore. The continuity errors and the finale left an extremely bad taste in my mouth. Had this series been made later and given "Game Of Thrones" treatment this could seriously be a pretty badass show, but as it stands it's a nice throwback to the 90s that thanks to it's time period aged well enough. It didn't rely to heavily on CGI, the make up and effects are practical and it really establishes it's world. I enjoyed it and I wish this series would've seen a 2nd Season, if for no other reason than to tie up some loose threads. That being said my next series will be ABC's 8 episodes canceled show "The River". So let's leave Zhu Zin, get in a boat and I'll meet you there!
Thanks for putting me onto this, love MK and 80's/90's cheese, so might have to check it out!
ReplyDeletethanks for summary, i wish smoke and reiko could be given a fight, didnt care about reikos look since it was might first time seeing him
ReplyDeleteI was a fan of this show. As for concepts like Noob Saibot, unfortunately, he wasn't confirmed to be Bi-Han until MK Deception (2004). So the creators of the show didn't know about that. There were other issues I agree with you but I think this was a show that benefitted from multiple episodes that focused on characterization. That is why Annihilation failed. Too little screen time for the new characters to develop.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting read. Just a small correction - we cannot really hold the show accountable for getting Noob's backstory 'wrong' because it was not until Mortal Kombat Deception (2004) that his true identity as the original Sub-Zero was revealed.
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