Corrections & Omissions: Mortal Kombat

[riddler645 4]

I'm sure plenty of people will write about all the character storylines the HDTGM gang didn't get, but to be honest even though I've played every game I still never quite understood the mythology.

 

What I wanted to bring up is that there is a somewhat interesting series of connections I discovered between the Mortal Kombat and the Street Fighter movies and games. This takes a few steps, but bare with me.

 

* Midway Games highers Ed Boon and three other programmers to create a fighting arcade game that will beat out the popularity of the arcade classic Street Fighter II. Boon came up with the idea to make a fighting game based on the Jean Claude van Damme film Bloodsport which would featuring digitized versions of van Damme and other actors. Van Damme did work with Boon's team for a short time but ultimately backed out to work for another video game that was never released, causing the team to shift focus and ultimately create Mortal Kombat with the work they had already put into the Bloodsport game. On a side note Johnny Cage is actually a parody of van Damme as Boon said that van Damme was an huge arrogant asshole.

 

* Mortal Kombat becomes a huge hit and spawns a film franchise. Van Damme is offered a part in the film, but takes a role in the Street Fighter movie, possibly as a fuck you to Boon for the Johnny Cage character, though it's probably unlikely.

 

* As a tie in to the Street Fighter movie, an arcade game based on the film was made. The game featured the same gameplay as Street Fighter II but featured digitized actors from the Street Fighter film in place of the usual characters, and yes Van Damme portrayed one of the digitized fighters.

 

So van Damme's refusal to be in a video game cause him to inadvertently create Mortal Kombat which featured a parody of himself and then he ended up actually being a playable character in a tie game for Mortal Kombat's then biggest competitor. Wrap your head around that.

[imhatch 271]

another correction, can't believe it hasn't been corrected over the years: it is actually spelled "combat." god bless

[Rattrap007 52]

CORRECTION: Jax was Sonya's Cop partner back in the raid and on the docks. The other black guy on the island was merely another well known martial artist Johnny knew.

[IHugKittens 53]

I would AGAIN like to point out that the popular Mortal Kombat main theme that you all love is actually a rip off of a 1992 Eurodance song by 2 Unlimited called Twilight Zone:

 

 

Come on, at least give these guys SOME credit...

[SteveLeBlanc 41]

I loved Mortal Kombat, since I was like 13 when it came out, but I had a hard time with this one even for nostalgia purposes. The thing for people who didn't play the game much is that the story was just a basic shell to provide some backdrop. It is not like the game relied on the story, or it played much more than providing some context to their look or finishing moves. What I didn't expect is how much the call backs to the game bothered me (and I even think teenage me had a similar thought). Shang Tsung saying "fatality" or Scorpion yelling "Get over here!!" just seemed so forced and awful.

 

PS, I have no idea how Paul was able to not get the pronunciation for Shang Tsung right, it was only said in the movie about 2.7 million times.

[BlueYonder 1]

I think you guys are giving the video game way too much credit. I've seen plenty of video games get maligned by Hollywood (including the aforementioned Final Fantasy), but Mortal Kombat stays relatively close to the source material - it's all one big cheesy fight scene after another. Still, I liked this movie a lot better than Street Fighter.

 

Here's one fun fact though: this isn't the director's only video game franchise. After the success of Mortal Kombat, director Paul W.S. Anderson went on to do the "Resident Evil" film franchise, which unlike "Mortal Kombat", does have gamers in an uproar for straying from the source material.

[loneislander 1]

In regards the Goro's suit; the costume was not just two guys standing on top of each other. The top half was a very intricate 120 pound puppet. The top arms were also not linked to the suit performers arms, but controlled remotely by a separate puppeteer using telemetry controls where the puppet would mimic their movements.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVi2klX_feE

 

http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/nailbiter111/news/?a=69710

[RikkiHo 84]

A few notes on the portrayal of Sonya Blade:

• In the beginning scene where she and Jax raid the dance club, they gun-butt nearly 80% of the people there. For dancing.
  
• Bridgette Sampras' choreography for the pool fight in Billy Madison was more convincing than her battle with Kano. She falls on her ass after throwing a high kick and is standing completely sideways the entire time. Doesn't she look uncomfortable? I'm not just referring to the shorts and the abundance of sand.
  
• PAUL: I think a spin-off of NTSF:SD:SUV needs to be ordered: USSFOWI:IFL:SUV - US Special Forces Outworld Investigation: Island from Lost: Sport Utility Vehicle.
  

Was Goro that doubled-over in pain because he has four balls and two dicks?

[Bub Rub 1]

My two favorite things that were missed:

 

1) Raiden's haughtily chuckles at everything he says and then quickly apologizes. Touched on the "sorry" on the podcast, but the laugh is golden! Never underestimate a god who can laugh at his own jokes before realizing how dumb they sound.

 

2) Goro's biggest fans were two shirtless identical twins who shout in unison "GORO" while staring into each others eyes. They are front row to all of his fights.

[Wien 401]

Correction: Mortal Kombat was an awful game. A step above Pit Fighter.

[Ninja Terror 0]

One omission I would have liked to hear about was when Johnny Cage broke out some Gymkata moves when fighting Scorpion on the catwalk. How is it ever a good idea to run towards someone spinning around a high bar?

[SneedleVision 2]

I might have missed this, but if not, I can't believe it was omitted. So you're gonna laugh and then apologize at your own weird joke/prophecy?!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6fpHhpnQ-w

[IMAHUGEHDTGMFAN 1837]

 

I might have missed this, but if not, I can't believe it was omitted. So you're gonna laugh and then apologize at your own weird joke/prophecy?!

 

 

 

Woah!!!

!!! Now I know where Tommy Wiseau from "The Room" learned it from...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yhrd1R8-dBg

[PlanBFromOuterSpace 3138]

• In the beginning scene where she and Jax raid the dance club, they gun-butt nearly 80% of the people there. For dancing.
  

In 1995, some places were still taking the Footloose Initiative very, VERY seriously, and it wasn't uncommon for the Feds to shake down these illegal dance speakeasies on a regular basis.

[Hotfuj 4]

Can someone with internet saavy GIF Sonya cocking the shotgun?

 

Also from IMDB:

 

Chris Casamassa was to reprise his role as Scorpion, but he was committed to do stunt work in Batman & Robin (1997).

WORLDS COLLIDING

[Smigg 1488]

The guy who played Sub-Zero (Francois Petit) can also be seen in the documentary "Beyond the Mat", as the head doctor for WWE.

[jarrycanada 2483]

 

 

Woah!!!

!!! Now I know where Tommy Wiseau from "The Room" learned it from...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yhrd1R8-dBg

 

it's uncanny how much that laugh is like Christopher Lamberts, maybe he modeled it after him.

[Dumesday 3]

I apologize if this has been brought up already but I haven't seen it yet. The creators of the game Mortal Kombat based Raiden off of a character from John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China.

 

 

 

 

[IronMaiden4892 10]

Is there a way to qualify for this tournament, or do you just show up? Obviously Tsung tricks Johnny Cage into entering. But Liu Kang enters/shows up to avenge his brother. And in Sonya Blade's case, she just chases Kano onto the ship and simply shows up to this Island and randomly is in the competition. This competition is supposed to hold some world changing significance yet people that just seem to show up are a part of it!?

[Kickpuncher 5012]

I'm pretty sure they did discuss that.

[Lucario 2]

This, Paul Scheer, this entire episode is the reason I told you, when you came to NY, to SKIP the first movie and do an ep on Mortal Kombat: Annhilation.

Mortal Kombat 1 is exactly what Street Fighter: The Movie was. Fanservice. It was made spefiically for fans of the game and placated to our senses. Watching either as a real movie with a real plot and characters with goals or arcs is an excersize in futility.

 

Why did Goro keep raising his arms making his fake arms raise along with them? Becauase that is Goro's victory pose in the game. That is teh only reason

 

Why did Kano seem to be in cahoots with Goro and the bad guys? Because Kano is a terrorist and pyscopath and of Earth's Champions he is one the ones fighting just to take out his opponents (Sonya, who arrested him to begin with)

 

Were they on LOST island? Who are those kids? No,they are in Outworld. A paralell dimension to Earth, that has been populated by various peoples and beasts for millions of years. The realm is under the rule of the Emporer, Shao Kahn and many peoples are disenfranchised and are naught more than property to him. So yes, the kids are basically the kids of slaves who worked for the ruling class. - also yes, Kitana is over 10,000 years old. She is an Edenian, similar to humans but with a magical powers and a much longer life span.

 

Why is Sonya tied up in a sexy outfit? Because in the final stage of the game she is tied up in the same outfit because this game was made by straight men.

 

Who's that guy? SHANG TSUNG, NOT SANG SUM

 

Maybe next time you do a video game movie, have your interns play it for you? Or just look at the IMDB to find the name of the characters?

[Joven 373]

 

Were they on LOST island? Who are those kids? No,they are in Outworld. A paralell dimension to Earth, that has been populated by various peoples and beasts for millions of years. The realm is under the rule of the Emporer, Shao Kahn and many peoples are disenfranchised and are naught more than property to him. So yes, the kids are basically the kids of slaves who worked for the ruling class. - also yes, Kitana is over 10,000 years old. She is an Edenian, similar to humans but with a magical powers and a much longer life span.

 

Actually they aren't in Outworld, the island is between Outworld and Earth. They aren't in Outworld until they go through the gooey portal.

 

And no, the kids are not slaves of the ruling class of Outworld, the kids aren't even in Outworld, they're not even on the island...(also if they were, why would they be celebrating? They clearly didn't set Outworld free, that wasn't even the point of the tournament, it was to protect Earth from invasion.)

 

I posted this in the other thread but I'll copy it here:

correction on the Ending with children: that was back at the "Temple of Light" where Liu Kang is from, not on the island, which means they got back on the magic boat off the island, back to the scummy dock in Hong Kong, then over to that temple in China and THEN reunited with Raiden, and in the meantime Sonya has not changed out of her prisoner dress.

 

 

 

[Smigg 1488]

Oh yeah, one that hasn't been brought up, the name of the "Black Guy" who dies was named 'Art Lean", he wasn't in the games.

[imhatch 271]

This, Paul Scheer, this entire episode is the reason I told you, when you came to NY, to SKIP the first movie and do an ep on Mortal Kombat: Annhilation.

Mortal Kombat 1 is exactly what Street Fighter: The Movie was. Fanservice. It was made spefiically for fans of the game and placated to our senses. Watching either as a real movie with a real plot and characters with goals or arcs is an excersize in futility.

 

Why did Goro keep raising his arms making his fake arms raise along with them? Becauase that is Goro's victory pose in the game. That is teh only reason

 

Why did Kano seem to be in cahoots with Goro and the bad guys? Because Kano is a terrorist and pyscopath and of Earth's Champions he is one the ones fighting just to take out his opponents (Sonya, who arrested him to begin with)

 

Were they on LOST island? Who are those kids? No,they are in Outworld. A paralell dimension to Earth, that has been populated by various peoples and beasts for millions of years. The realm is under the rule of the Emporer, Shao Kahn and many peoples are disenfranchised and are naught more than property to him. So yes, the kids are basically the kids of slaves who worked for the ruling class. - also yes, Kitana is over 10,000 years old. She is an Edenian, similar to humans but with a magical powers and a much longer life span.

 

Why is Sonya tied up in a sexy outfit? Because in the final stage of the game she is tied up in the same outfit because this game was made by straight men.

 

Who's that guy? SHANG TSUNG, NOT SANG SUM

 

Maybe next time you do a video game movie, have your interns play it for you? Or just look at the IMDB to find the name of the characters?

but it's funny when they jump in without knowing much because it inevitably leads to these posts, also i think most of those questions are rhetorical like "what's the deal with airline food" because The Joke Is That We All Know It's Bad Already

[Wien 401]

Somewhere around the 19 min mark, Paul declares that Jax wasn't the black guy, but was the guy with the metal face. This is incorrect, the metal face guy is Kano. Jax was in the movie for about 2 seconds, storming Normandy (the dance club) with Sonya. The black guy who was killed in the tournament was actually a character named Art Lean. He wasn't in the game, but guys.... he was totally in the MORTAL KOMBAT NOVEL.

 

THATS RIGHT THE NOVEL

 

In Mortal Kombat: A Novel, based on the movie's original script, Art Lean plays a bigger role in the story. His fight at London (mentioned by Cage) is shown, as well his invitation to the tournament. He far outclasses most Earthrealm warriors, making it past the extremally big stairway without resting. When waiting for the tournament to start he engages in battle with four Earthrealm warriors who were mocking his kata, even though he didn't want to fight between them but with them against Outworld. Art Lean also witness the fight between Cage and Scorpion and at the end of it asks the actor to teach him the Shadow Kick, but is killed by Goro before having the chance to learn it. It is mentioned Art Lean was granted the right to fight Goro because he was the resident of Earthrealm with most victories up to that point. Goro also shows respect for him, congratulating the warrior for the fight before killing him.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQVM_pMhcQo