"Martial Law" (1998) TV series 1998-2000

Creator:

Carlton Cuse

Seasons:

1 | 2

Release Date:

26 September 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Action

Plot:

A Shanghai cop who is a master of martial arts fights crime in the Los Angeles Police Dept.

Plot Keywords:

Martial Arts | Police | Interracial Friendship | Cult Favorite | Beautiful Woman

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Sammo Hung Kam-Bo	...	Sammo Law (44 episodes, 1998-2000)
Kelly Hu	...	Chen Pei Pei (44 episodes, 1998-2000)
Arsenio Hall	...	Terrell Parker (36 episodes, 1998-2000)
Louis Mandylor	...	Det. Louis Malone (22 episodes, 1998-1999)
Gretchen Egolf	...	Amy Dylan (22 episodes, 1999-2000)
Tom Wright	...	Capt. Benjamin Winship (22 episodes, 1998-1999)
Melissa Weing	...	Det (22 episodes, 1998-1999)

Runtime:

45 min (44 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Certification:

Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

20th Century Fox Television

Trivia:

Sammo Hung Kam-Bo's first starring role as well as his first English-speaking role in an American production.

Quotes:

Sammo Law: [on hiking in the woods] Be careful where you step or you will fall into a trap. It is an old trick in Japan.
Terrell Parker: Fine. If we're hiking in Japan, I'll remember that. But we're in LA now and the only thing you can get out here is tetnus from stepping on a rusty na...
[falls into a trap]
Sammo Law: I tried to tell you. Why didn't you listen to me?
Terrell Parker: I don't know! I feel like Charleton Heston in 'Planet of the Apes' and believe me, no black man wants to be Charleton Heston!

Movie Connections:

Featured in "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: (1999-02-09)" (1999)

First series great, second series painful

I loved this show, espically the first series - it was a great way of watching a "Jackie Chan / Sammo Hung" -esque movie without paying the hefty price tag for the cinema ticket / video rental.

The show had lots of action in it. Sure it didn't have as much action as say the big budget action movies, but it tried hard and it was a real hoot...

The plot lines were sometimes done very well - one time there was a plot about a drugs baron wanting to see his son - and they were dealt with quite well...although other times they were very painful...most of the time it had Sammo tracking down his arch-nemesis from China.

But unfortuently it soon went downhill, the introduction of Arsenio "Coming to America" Hall didn't help the show, however sexy Kelly Hu defintley did...the action was still good - but it sometimes went to the extremes of blowing things up for no reason with the storylines left the casaulty...

With all TV shows like this you have the obligitary ninja epsiode, the obligitary duel to death with arch-nemesis episode (to be honest, once the arch-nemesis was gone, the show ran out of steam), and other episodes which may have you thinking "am I watching Batman (1966) or a cool 1998 TV show?"

Anyway, there were brief returns to normality such as Sammo looking for his son - but it came to nothing, as half way through the second series, the plug was pulled...its a shame we never got good strong plots, and its a shame that in the plots Sammo never seemed to get hurt in fights or even looked like he was going to lose.

I guess all that doesn't matter, its a very entertaining show, and I guess that's all that counts.