Mortal Kombat: Legacy

Mortal Kombat: Legacy is an American web series from 2011–2013 based on the Mortal Kombat game series. It was directed by Kevin Tancharoen, who followed up on his short film Mortal Kombat: Rebirth from 2010. The series was made jointly by NetherRealm Studios, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Warner Premiere Digital and was released on YouTube's Machinima channel. It has two seasons with 19 episodes in total, and one episode runs roughly 9 to 12 minutes. The first season is a prequel to the first game from 1992, the second covers the tournament itself. In the second season, Matt Mullins replaced Casper Van Dien as Johnny Cage, and Shang Tsung was played by Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, who had already played him in the 1995 film. In martial arts terms, the series is interesting mainly for its cast. Jax Briggs is played by Michael Jai White and Kung Lao in the second season by Mark Dacascos; both are long-time martial arts practitioners. We have not been able to document which specific martial arts their characters demonstrate in the series itself. According to the criticism cited by the sources on the series, the strengths were the action scenes and the cinematography, while the objections targeted the alternation of realistic and supernatural tone in episodes 4 and 5.

Origin

The series grew out of the short film Mortal Kombat: Rebirth, which Kevin Tancharoen shot in 2010. The first season was filmed in Vancouver in February and March 2011 and was released from April to July 2011. The second season, released from September 2013, employed approximately 90 to 100 crew members. YouTube initially censored the episodes because of violence and vulgarity; the uncensored versions came out a few days later with viewer age verification.

Fight choreography

The stunt and fight coordinator was Larnell Stovall, who had already worked with Kevin Tancharoen on the short film Mortal Kombat: Rebirth. We did not find his own martial arts background in the sources. Michael Jai White, who plays Jax Briggs, holds seven black belts; besides Kyokushin, which he emphasizes, he trained in the karate styles Goju-ryu and Shotokan, taekwondo, tang soo do, kobudo and wushu. Mark Dacascos, who plays Kung Lao in the second season, holds a 4th dan in wun hop kuen do, a style founded by his father Al Dacascos, and also practiced muay thai, capoeira and wushu.

People and martial arts

• Kevin TancharoenDirector
• Michael Jai WhiteActor — as Jax Briggs· Kyokushin (real practitioner)
• Mark DacascosActor — as Kung Lao· Kung Fu (real practitioner)
• Larnell StovallStunt coordinator

Details

Status

Completed

Seasons

2

Episodes

19

First published / aired

YouTube (Machinima)