1984-1989

THE NEXT KARATE KID just wasn't a good movie; it was made in a different era, with a different audience...; it's weird what a difference 5 years can make (TNKK came out in 1994), but really, the atmosphere of 1994 was a totally different one than that of 1989 (the release year of THE KARATE KID III). I actually haven't seen KK3, but I remember going to the theater to see GHOSTBUSTERS II, which I didn't know what was what we were going there to see (my parents wanted it to be a surprise...) and so, unaware of there being anything to really look forward to other than an advertisement for GBII, I was disappointed that they had taken this really neat looking stand-in that had the poster art w/ the 4 guys WITH an image of Slimer, moving from behind the stand-in to out from the stand-in...I guess that doesn't SOUND exciting, but it was a lot neater than just a regular poster; I always thought those cardboard stand-ins were cool. I've looked on e-bay for it several times and no success...

But back to the karate kid; when I got to the theater to see GBII, I saw an ad for The Karate Kid III, which I think I had somehow been aware of, and I was pretty much like "they replaced an ad for GB2 with an ad for Karate Kid III??? Why???". It looked like a ripoff to begin with, I mean, how many things can you do with a story about a new kid in school who learns karate? I don't even know if all of this was going on in my head at THAT time, but it seems like it was...

But just the artwork for the ad was in itself appealing; it had a red sun blaring over the main characters. Now that a mini-lifetime of cover-art for VHS tapes have been replaced with an era of heartless DVD cover-artwork (to go along with the movies that Hollywood keeps pumping out I guess...), that memory rings sweetly in my mind, probably b/c it goes along with a bigger memory, which I guess you could say was part of an even bigger memory, the "collective unsocncious" of the 1980's, perhaps? I mean, I'm probably the only one who remembers the ad so fondly, but how many people living outside of a rock in the 1980s could not know THE KARATE KID and GHOSTBUSTERS? Oh, and did I mention this memeory took place just a month or two after we went to see INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE (at my father's insistance)? That's another pivotal 80's movie, or at least a sequel to a pivotol 80's film...

Well, they've had THE KARATE KID I II & III available in two different ways for awhile now; either individually ($30? Yeesh!) or in a box set including that half-hearted 1994 sequel. But just yesterday I saw THE KARATE KID TRILOGY at Target for a highly attractive price (under $15 w/ tax). I hope I can go grab it before I run out of $...I get my monthly check tomorrow...although most of the personal spending portion of it has already been spent on a DVD/(SA)CD player that arrived a couple days ago - seemingly defective, unless it's just not compatable with my TV or something...they're supposed to receive it back on the 3rd (Wednesday), not sure if they'll send another out right away or if they'll need to take a couple days or more inspecting what I sent back...but when/if it comes back in good order, that'll be well worth what I paid for it, I think. Just about everybody has nothing but priase for the unit, except for this one lady who apparantly rec'd a lemon and couldn't get Denon's warranty dept to treat her nice enough...