The Learning Channel's Martial Arts program

[ss29515]

Did anyone catch the The Learning Channel's Martial Arts program on Friday night? It featured commentary by Joe Svinth. Great Job, Joe! It's good to have a face to put to the name. The program featured a lot of judo. Much more than I've seen in a long time. You could see a lot of judo type moves in many of the wrestling scenes. I'd like to know what everybody else thought of the program. As for me, I enjoyed it.

[MarkF]

Hi Mel,
It looks as if the critiques are just coming in. On a historical note, with what you can get ov TV, it was nice. I had seen a cut of the program a couple months ago, and while it was slightly different (Visitacion got more on time in this cut which is good), it was nice to see something closer to the truth. Footage of Jon Bluming, Chris Dolman, and Meik Skoss was particularly good (did you catch Dolman in the ring against the karateka and taking him down by catching a leg during a kick and taking him down with a leg sweep?) No, judo is just a sport. We don't do anything which is a martial art, do we?). Bluming was, well, Bluming great! I missed the show on Bruce Lee. What was that like?

[Yamantaka]

Originally posted by MarkF
Hi Mel,
It looks as if the critiques are just coming in. On a historical note, with what you can get ov TV, it was nice. I missed the show on Bruce Lee. What was that like?

I agree with you. Considering the limitations of commercial TV, the show was quite good. And we must remember that it wasn't a "show for conoisseurs". It was directed to the general public. For my taste, I wouldn't include many parts.
And I believe that guy WASN'T Bruce Lee, but one of his clones (Bruce Le, Bruce Li...).
Congratulations to Joseph Svinth! Good work, Joe!
Yamantaka

[MarkF]

If that wasn't Bruce Lee. then why would they do it? It seems there is enough history of Bruce, from his widow, and now following the death of her son. What must she be going through. I didn't see that one as I fell asleep and woke just in time to see the last forty-five or fiftie minutes of Joe's show. I looked at the cut I had had before the show was aired and it was the exact same cut. Shows what can happen to one's memory when you begin to assume things. The judo stuff is just dandy so I hope everyone who has a vcr was able to tape it. If not, I will be offereing a two tape box set (JUST KIDDING FOLKS JUST KIDDING! I COULDN'T DO IT EVEN IF I WANTED TO.)

I remember those incarnations of Bruce Lee, eg, Bruce Le, Li, Lo, and they keep on coming even today. If that show was not with film of the real Bruce, just who was it? Does anyone else think it is not Bruce?

[MarkF]

originally posted by YAMANTAKA

I agree with you. Considering the limitations of commercial TV, the show was quite good. And we must remember that it wasn't a "show for conoisseurs". It was directed to the general public. For my taste, I wouldn't include many parts.
And I believe that guy WASN'T Bruce Lee, but one of his clones (Bruce Le, Bruce Li...).
Congratulations to Joseph Svinth! Good work, Joe!
Yamantaka
__________________
The moment of greater darkness, heralds the beginning of the first light"

So what would you do to change the show? I am, at least, recently, a fan of Jon Bluming and I am now reading a R. Smith book. Chris Dolman was one of the better judoka and I loved the clip of him catching the kick in mid-flight and sweeping out the only other leg which was holding the guy up.;) Granted, Mike Finn is not on my 'A' list, but since not much money was generated, I would think a couple of judan were necessary. But even so, in this film, Finn was just a talking head and what he said was OK. The biggest critique so far is that the show was not long enough and the preference would have been to interview people like Martial Musings author Rogert W. Smith and also with Jon Bluming, and of course, Meik Skoss. So let's go at it TV fans, what would you change or do differently?

[Mitch Saret]

I'm no Roger Ebert, but I am from Chicago originally. I give the show a BIG THUMBS UP! Nice job Joe!

[Walker]

Hello, my name is Doug and I don’t have cable...
=HELLO DOUG=
I had to get my parents to tape it for me and just got it. I thought it was very nice. Joe, you freaked me out, you look and sound like the missing twin of my best friend from grade school. I think it was a good intro, but I’ll give my reactions.

I got the point of most of the artists presented, but was a little lost with the New York Karate guy (Sonny?). Was he an example of american karate, the influence of MA in children’s lives, I didn’t find him a stand out.

We need a bio of Don Draeger!!!! I could have watched an hour about him alone.

A lot of territory was covered and my mother got lost in what was history and what was contemporary and didn’t understand the significance of some of the figures presented. A wish list would be a 3 hour format 1. history, philosophy, ma around the world 2. Chinese systems/practitioners 3. Japanese systems/practitioners

A better exposition of the various types/choices/strategies of MAs. More arts presented and the relationships between and differences from other arts. A (not complete) list of arts I would add:
kyudo, mounted archery, various japanese weapons esp. sword (there was more than I would have expected, but even more), kendo, sumo, non judo jujutsu, aikido, chinese weapons, tae kwon do (shudder, but it will be an Olympic event......), survey of wrestling around the world esp. mongolian, Indian, Turkish (saw the footage), Islamic, freestyle, Grecco Roman, fencing, boxing.

A discussion of the push pull of tradition vs. modernization in contemporary practice would be interesting.

An off the top critique with the understanding that it was much better than anything I have seen for a long time and maybe ever on TV.
Good job Joe.

[Joseph Svinth]

Making an entire show about Donn Draeger would be a nightmare, as neither film nor stills are easily available. As for the people involved, well, let's just say some folks worked better than others. And be happy -- I'm told that one of the folks they cut in the British version to make room for Mike Finn was Donn Draeger. Eek.

Meanwhile, we ARE pitching TLC and Discovery in hopes of doing future shows on more narrowly defined aspects of the MA. The big problem with this one was trying to do everything in one show. That was what TLC/Discovery wanted, so of course it was attempted, but focus is easier.