Mortal Kombat Legacy (YouTube) 2011 - 2013

MORTAL KOMBAT: LEGACY was web series consisting of two “seasons” released in 2011 and 2013. This web series originally debuted on the Machinima youtube channel and consisted of 6 story arcs over 9 episodes for season one, mostly serving by as origin stories for some of the notable Mortal Kombat characters . Season two comprised an ongoing story arc of the tournament plus three origin stories told in flashbacks for a total of 10 episodes.

MK LEGACY originated as a concept trailer by up and coming tv director Kevin Tancharoen. He made a fan film titled MORTAL KOMBAT: REBIRTH which took a similar approach with the games’ story as Christopher Nolan took with his Dark Knight Trilogy (ie: a grittier realistic style, darker tone, changing fantastical elements to more grounded reinterpretations). In this fan film, , undead ninja Scorpion is now an assassin for hire. 

 He is brought in by police captain Jackson Briggs to participate in an underground fight tournament where he is to kill Baraka (now a human surgeon turned criminal with self-sharpened teeth and blades surgically attached to his arms, instead of a monstrous creature from another world) and Reptile (who instead of being a reptilian humanoid from another world, is now a human mass murderer with a scaly skin condition and an MO of devouring victims’ heads.) It garnered significant fan interest and led to WB green lighting MK LEGACY. 

I for one loved MK REBIRTH. The “nolanising” of the fantastical elements were done quite creatively as was its dedication to a grounded realistic tone. When it came to MK REBIRTH though I get a sense that the studio got cold feet and did not want to commit fully to the realistic style. Instead of a clever modern reinterpretation, I felt we ended up with just another safe remake of the same old story from the games with more fantastical elements replacing the grittier elements, but without the budget to back it up. 

It is difficult to give an overall review as each story was so distinct in tone, style and entertainment value that they are almost like mini-movies unto themselves. 

Season one started off just like MK REBIRTH did. Gritty, grounded, well shot, tight paced. It was a cops and crooks crime thriller with Michael Jai White and Jeri Ryan as Detectives Jax Briggs and Sonya Blade, hot on the tail of smuggler Kano. As the season moved along I could clearly see opposing creative forces at worK.

You had one side who really wanted to go all in with the Nolanising and it gave us the ultra violent Jax, Sonya and Kano two parter, the Raiden episode where it is left ambiguous whether a man claiming to be a thunder god was real or merely delusional, Johnny Cage’s documentary style recap giving us a comedic change of pace about a has-been action star, and Scorpion’s story that feels like a period piece in feudal Japan.

 On the other side you had the ones who got cold feet and wanted to bring back the fantastical elements of the game. The realms of Edenia and Outworld end up looking like a Chinese garden setup and a stage play set in Princess Kitana’s story.

By season 2 however, the ones who got cold feet seemed to have won. The gritty tone is gone, all pretense of grounded realism is abandoned and we are right back in familiar fantasy territory of other realms, monsters and magic. Unfortunately this is where the show’s modest budget soon became very obvious, unable to keep up with the ambitions of the plot. This became Mortal Kombat rehashed but cheaply, Mortal Kombat repeated with inferior cosmetic changes. 

Season two gives backstory of other characters like Kung Lao and Liu Kang, as well as finally showing the start of the titular Mortal Kombat Tournament. Many Returning characters like Johnny cage, Raiden, Shang Tsung etc have been recast with new actors though the return of Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Shang Tsung was a welcome surprise. 

Instead of a mystical island of elaborate fight locales, ancient temples, and other worldly formations, the tournament took place on a rather mundane looking patch of land. There’s an uninteresting cave and rocky terrain, a regular looking forest too, someone’s field perhaps?

Everything just looked cheaper in season 2 from the fight choreography, the jittery handheld filming, to even the costumes. Of particular note is Sub Zero and Scorpion who donned relatively real-ish looking ninja garb in season 1, but now look like a knockoff power rangers. 

By the end of it I was left with a deep sense of disappointment at MORTAL KOMBAT LEGACY. What started with ambitious and promising devolved into a show at odds with its own creative direction, cobbling together elements from other sources but unsure of its own identity. 

The episodes of Sonya/Jax/Kano, Johnny Cage, Raiden, Scorpion/Sub-Zero and the Lin Kuei Cyborgs Cyrax and Sektor stand as true gems. Featuring feature film-like production quality and design, brutal fight choreography, as well as cleverly reinterpreting the established mythos in a fresh manner. Downer episodes include the Kitanna/Mileena and most of season two (except perhaps the Kenshi Vs Ermac episodes) which swing back into the fantastical elements that they show never had the budget or the expertise to realise on screen.