There was no one more important in middle school than Sho Kosugi. In retrospect, we should have worshipped him even more, because without him bringing the weapons and skills to Cannon’s Enter the Ninja, we would not have the ninja elements that have been used in everything from G.I. Joe to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, video games and a million Godfrey Ho movies.
You can’t imagine the literal madness when the idea that Sho would be on TV every single week became common knowledge.
From January 20 to August 31, 1984, NBC aired thirteen episodes of the adventures of John Peter McAllister (Lee Van Cleef). Let me just quote the narration at the beginning of each episode: “John Peter McAllister, the only Occidental American to achieve the martial arts discipline of a ninja. Once part of a secret sect he wanted to leave, but was marked for death by his fellow ninjas. He’s searching for a daughter he didn’t know he had; pursued by Okasa, once the Master’s student, now sworn to kill him. That Master found a new student. That’s me, Max Keller. But we knew Okasa would be behind us, in the shadows, ready to strike again.”
Max Keller may have been the unexciting Timothy Van Patten but the evil Okasa? That’s Sho Kosugi. Actually, Sho also was Van Cleef’s fight double, the series’ fight choreographer, ninja technical advisor and stunt coordinator.
While the show was cancelled in less than a year, seven movies were made out of the episodes. In the U.S., they had the simple title of The Master Ninja, but in Europe they got rad names like Ninja – The Shadows Kill and The Ninja Man.
When these aired on Mystery Science Theater 3000, the credits have an orange colored martial arts scene which seems to have come from someone videotaping people practicing karate. It really looks like the credits come from a home VHS labeling program and not the kind of company that could license a movie.
Master Ninja (1984): The first film is episodes one and two of the series. In the first, Peter meets Max and together they help the Trumbulls (Claude Atkins and Demi Moore) save their airport from the sheer evil that is Clu Gullagher. And if you wondered, does Gene LeBell show up, you have seen more than enough American kung fu movies. This was directed by Robert Clouse, who certainly understood how to shoot martial arts thanks to being the director of Enter the Dragon, Game of Death, Golden Needles, Battle Creek Brawl, Gymkata and Deadly Eyes (actually, that was has chihuahuas dressed as killer rats). It was written by series creator Michael Sloan, who also created The Equalizer and wrote for the reboot of Kung Fu in the 90s.
The second part, “Out-of-Time-Step” finds the Master and Max helping a dance club as he searches for his daughter. Lori Lethin (Bloody Birthday), Brian Tochi (Takashi from Revenge of the Nerds; more to the point of ninjitsu the voice of Leonardo the ninja turtle) and Swamp Thing Dick Durock all are on hand. This portion was from director Ray Austin, who directed the 80s returns of the Man from U.N.C.L.E. and the Six Million Dollar Man and written by Susan Woolen, who acted in both of those reboots.
Isn’t it strange that in order for western audiences to accept ninjas that we needed Italian western heroes to ease the transition, with Franco Nero battling Kosugi in Enter the Ninja and Lee Van Cleef here? Did no one want to see Jack Palance wear those cool ninja shoes?
Master Ninja 2 (1984): The second movie of The Master — it’s really episodes 3 and 4 of the show — is probably best known for airing on Mystery Science Theater 3000. Yet for those alive in 1984 who loved all things ninja, the idea that we could see Sho Kosugi on NBC once a week was a big deal.
The first part, taken from the episode called “State of the Union,” has McAllister (Lee Van Cleef) and Keller (Timothy Van Patten) dealing with union issues. This may point to my issues as a kid with this series. I had no interest in the human world of this show. I wanted ninja fights. If you read this site on any basis, you will realize this has not changed.
So if you want to see a ninja help Crystal Bernard from Wings then this would be the movie for you to watch.
This section is directed by Alan Meyerson, who also directed Police Academy 5: Assignment: Miami Beach and Private Lessons. The script was from staff writer Susan Woolen.
Woolen would also write the script for “Hostages,” directed by Ray Austin, which has our ninja master and his young student save a senator’s daughter. Randi Brooks (Cherry from TerrorVision), George Lazenby and David McCallum show up as this turns into an espionage film when again, all we want is ninja on ninja.
Of course, I wanted to be Sho Kosugi as a kid.
I still do as an old man.
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