[HQ] The History Of Mortal Kombat - Episode 06 - Soul of a Warrior

For 5 years, Mortal Kombat has been a name associated with blood, Fatalities, and controversy. But most of all, it has been a name associated with success, with a very small amount of hiccups along the way. One of the low points of the franchise was reached on November 21st, 1997. It took six days to create the Earth, It will take six more to destroy it. Get ready... for Armaggedon. Following the box office success of the original movie, preparations began for a sequel, called Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. With a budged of 30 million dollars, the movie successfully ranked first at the box office during its opening weekend earning 16.8 millions. However, it quickly managed to annihilate the enthusiasm of the fans, and ended its run in theaters worldwide, earning only about 51 million dollars. The story picks up right after the events of the first film, with the emperor Shao Kahn starting an open invasion of Earth Realm, ignoring the sacred rules of the Elder Gods. Elements are adopted from the third game, but are heavily altered changing characters and stories in an unexpected way. This widening of the story drift between movies and games confuses and even angers many of the fans. Shooting locations in Thailand were chosen for the scenes that include the temple of the Order Of Light. Scenes with the ancient temple of the Elder Gods were shot among the ruins of the archeological city Petra, in the country of Jordan. The strange appearance of the Paris Mountain in Wales made it a perfect location for the movie. With the exception of two all of the returning characters are portrayed by new actors. The attempt to introduce as much characters as possible left the movie with poor character development. Several fan favorites appear on the screen only for a few minutes. They have no actual purpose in the movie and some were even left nameless, while others were only mentioned by name. Michael Jai White was offered the part of the Special Forces agent Jax but was unable to portray the character due to scheduling conflicts. Several versions of the script were created, with each version omitting important elements, and even fighting scenes. This led to the creation of a simple and flat plot, resulting in an unengaging movie According to the rumors, this was due to the different vision of the director and the studio, with the latter often interfering during development. Upon its release, Mortal Kombat Annihilation faced mostly negative reviews and managed to disappoint even the hard-core fans of the franchise. The story, the character development, the fighting choreography, and the special effects did not meet the expectations of the public. Throughout the years, the movie has been released on VHS, Laser Disc, Blu Ray, and DVD. Extras, including character biographies, sketches, models, trailers, set designs, and hidden content, were only available as part of the DVD version. The movie was accompanied by two books, an official soundtrack, and several additional albums, all of which hit the market in 1997. A deleted and never shown to the public final scene, was supposed to be a prelude to a third movie. In the scene, Shinnok is banished to the Netherrealm for his transgressions, where he encounters the sorcerer Quan Chi. Both of them briefly discuss the situation and prepare for revenge against their enemies. The sorcerer was played by an actor, who was originally only an extra in the film, and could not speak English at all. Production on the third movie was originally planned to start shortly after the release of Annihilation This was however prevented by the poor box office performance of the sequel, and Mortal Kombat: Devastation remained in development hell for years, until it was unofficially canceled. In June, 1998, shooting began for the new life action series, called Mortal Kombat: Krusades The theme park Splendid China in Florida was chosen as a shooting location, with visitors being able to witness the filming and even take pictures. Production continued for about nine months, and required approximately 16 million dollars. In September, the show was renamed to Mortal Kombat: Conquest, due to a title conflict with another new series. Debuting in October, the series initially ran only in syndication, until it was picked up by TNT. It was broadcasted right after the WCW Monday Nitro, which led to two special guest appearances by famous wrestlers. Feel my wrath! In each of us there burns a soul of a warrior. In every generation a few are chosen to prove it. Centuries ago, in a time of darkness and fury, that fate befell three strangers. A monk Kung Lao, an exiled guard Siro and a thief Taja. Who have to defend our earth realm from the forces of Outworld. By fighting for their lives, by fighting for their honor and by fighting for their realm. In a tournament called Mortal Kombat. The story takes place 500 years before the events of the first movie and follows the adventures of the great Kung Lao, a noble fighter, destined to protect his world. He becomes champion of Mortal Kombat by defeating the sorcerer Shang Tsung. After the tournament, the savior of Earth, his friends, and the god of thunder have to deal with the vengeful Shang Tsung. The angered Shao Kahn. The evil sorcerer Quan Chi, and his army of undead assassins. The recently freed Scorpion. Reptile and the lizards of Zaterra. Empress Kreeya and her daughter Vorpax. Several additional story-lines were also explored: The Lin Kuei and the creation of Sub-Zero. The Black Dragon. Kitana and her fight against the emperor. The creation of Mileena. The introduction of the purple ninja Rain. The mystery of Noob Saibot, and the origin story of Shang Tsung and Omigis, mistress of the dark arts. In addition to the content borrowed from the games, the show also introduces several original characters, story-lines, and even creates a whole new world. Shang Tsung's teacher is believed to be the prototype for a character that would later appear in the game, so is a story-line that involves an alliance between Shang Tsung and Quan Chi. Several actors from the movies return for the series, but only one of them to portray the same character. The episode 'Vengeance', which is the final episode of the series and the episode 'The Serpent and the Ice' are two of the most beloved by the fans and are well remembered even today. 'The Serpent and the Ice' shows Scorpion and Sub-Zero teaming up to serve the emperor of Outworld. It is remembered not only for the inclusion of the most beloved characters of the franchise but also for the well written story and superb fighting choreography. Mortal Kombat: Conquest was popular among the viewers and well received by the fans. Unfortunately, the show was too expensive which led to a cancellation only after 1 season and 22 episodes. Many story threads remained unfinished and worst of all, the final episode ended with a cliffhanger. A second season was going to resolve everything, and align the series with the two feature films. The attempt to continue the show on a different network was unsuccessful, and an official timeline was released to fill the gaps and to resolve the ending of the final episode. The show was partially released on VHS, DVD and video CD in several countries. However, the complete series is only available in Australia, where it was released on DVD. I am Raiden, God of thunder, protector of Earthrealm. And I am Shao Kahn, conqueror of realms and Emperor of Outworld! In spite of its short life, Mortal Kombat: Conquest managed to succeed where the second movie failed. With its dynamic cast of talented actors, interesting story lines, and good special effects, the show captured the hearts of the fans, and they were left disappointed when it was surprisingly cancelled. On September 9th, 1999, Sega released the first console of the sixth generation, the Sega Dreamcast. As part of Sega's strategy to have a strong launch lineup, they secured an exclusive version of Mortal Kombat. Mortal Kombat Gold, an updated version of Mortal Kombat 4 was released. In addition to offering a near recreation of the arcade graphics as well as all the features of the previous home versions, the title includes new characters, backgrounds and weapons. No new fighters are introduced, but several fan favorites return to expand the previous roster. These characters mostly retain their original design, special and finishing moves. New full motion endings were created for them in addition to the videos adopted from the disc versions of the previous game. A familiar face from the past returns as a hidden fighter alongside Meat, Goro and Noob Saibot. Screenshots of a new fighter were accidently released to Game Informer and made their way online. Belokk was developed by Eurocom exclusively for Mortal Kombat Gold. Unfortunately the developers did not have enough time to finish the character. Rotating Tanya's icon on the select screen reveals a fourth, unused question mark. Fans have long since speculated that he was going to be accessed through this icon. The gameplay remained true to that of Mortal Kombat 4. However, the additional characters were too powerful, resulting in an unfair advantage and imbalance. A select weapon feature is introduced to expand the gameplay experience and bring additional diversity to it. Mortal Kombat Gold was a launch title for Sega Dreamcast. Its fixed release date is probably one of the reasons for the existence of several different versions. The original game that was released on September 9th has a gold disc and contains many glitches of serious restraints. Version 2.0, known as the red disc version was released to address several of these issues and to include a saving feature. Although good, the graphics could not reach the quality and smoothness of the original. These problems prevented the game of reaching the standard established by the arcade version of Mortal Kombat 4. Sega Dreamcast was the first console to include a build in modem. Unfortunately, Mortal Kombat Gold could not take advantage of this new feature. The game was written using a low level API which offered great performance but did not include the modem features at the time. Fans of Mortal Kombat 4 were craving a perfect port of the game for the home systems. Although close to the original, Mortal Kombat Gold was not satisfying enough and their wish remains unfulfilled even today. In the nineties Mortal Kombat turned from a quick project into a multi million dollars franchise, influencing the entire gaming industry. At the end of this incredible 8-year run, several releases with questionable quality threw a shadow on the once shining like a beacon Dragon Logo. As the world prepared to enter the new millennium, more and more competitive products appeared on the market, trying to claim its crown. With the fate of the franchise at stake, decisions for its course throughout the next decade had to be made. But before the light at the end of the tunnel reveals itself, Mortal Kombat will have to face its darkest moment.