The Master (TV series)
Encyclopedia
The Master is a short-lived ninja-themed action-adventure
TV series created by Michael Sloan which aired on NBC
. The show focused on the adventures of John Peter McAllister, an aging ninja master (Lee Van Cleef
), and his young pupil, Max Keller (Timothy Van Patten
). Most episodes focused on the mismatched pair driving around in a custom van
, helping people in need along the way, similar to its more well-known contemporary, The A-Team
. The Master lasted only 13 episodes before cancellation.
following World War II
and became a ninja master. At the beginning of the series, McAllister, now an old man, leaves Japan for the United States
in search of a daughter he did not know he had. This flight from his ninja life is seen as dishonorable by his fellow ninja, including his former student, Okasa (Sho Kosugi
), who attempts to assassinate him. Escaping with a minor wound, McAllister finds himself in the small town of Ellerston, where he believes his daughter resides. Along the way, he meets a drifter named Max Keller, who aids the ninja master in a bar fight, but is subsequently thrown through a window, a recurring event for the hot-headed Keller. Max desires to learn to fight like a ninja, but McAllister is reluctant to train him, feeling him to be too emotional. When Max gets involved in a dispute between Mr. Christensen (Clu Gulager
), a ruthless developer, and the Trumbulls (Claude Akins
, Demi Moore
), a father and daughter who run an airport targeted by Christensen, McAllister decides to train him to survive.
The pair goes on to have many adventures traveling the country in search of McAllister's daughter, although the show is cancelled before she is ever found. Keller and McAllister often get sidetracked by oppressed people, and invariably McAllister uses his ninja skills to help save the day, hopefully teaching Max at the same time.
A recurring enemy is Okasa, the rogue pupil of McAllister, who continually tracks his old master down and tries to kill him. In the first episode, the two duel and McAllister wins. However, the old master refuses to kill his opponent, preferring to renounce his ninja ways. Of course, this leads to Okasa's future attempts.
1. Max (1/20/1984) - see above, under "Premise."
2. Out-of-Time Step (1/27/1984) - a ninja-guarded crime lord mistakes Max and McAllister for bodyguards hired by a nightclub owner the crime lord is trying to control.
3. State of the Union (2/3/1984) - Max befriends a "biker chick" who is trying to organize a union at the cannery where she works; he and McAllister strike back when the cannery owner tries to strong arm the girl and the union.
4. Hostages (2/10/1984) - McAllister is accused by a secret agent of helping a band of terrorists; to prove his innocence, he must help rescue the hostages that the terrorists have taken.
5. High Rollers (3/2/1984) - a former girlfriend of Max's becomes a pawn in a Las Vegas heist when her daughter is held hostage to insure her cooperation. The resulting adventure leads Max and McAllister to a deserted western movie set, where the Master makes himself very much at home.
6. Fat Tuesday (3/9/1984) - during Mardi Gras in New Orleans, a reporter uses Teri McAllister's name as a cover for her own sources, hoping to bring down a respected local citizen who is secretly running guns to Arab terrorists. Max and McAllister become entangled as a result.
7. Juggernaut (3/16/1984) - Max and McAllister help a mother and daughter organize the local farmers against an evil land baron. McAllister has more success romancing the mother than Max does with the daughter, and the old man's "pre-ninja" background as a military pilot is emphasized.
8. The Good, the Bad and the Priceless (3/23/1984) - Caught between a criminal mastermind and an FBI agent posing as McAllister's daughter, the two leads find themselves forced to steal the Crown Jewels of England.
9. Kunoichi (4/6/1984) - With the help of a female pupil, Okasa puts in motion a plan to frame McAllister for the murder of an old friend, who is now a prominent government official in Washington.
10. The Java Tiger (4/13/1984) - Max and McAllister take a break from the search for Teri to help out a friend of McAllister's: a bumbling PI, based in Hawaii, who is on a quest for a legendary tiger made of gold. Unfortunately, a Bond-villain-like crime lord with a penchant for karate is also interested in the Java Tiger.
11. Failure to Communicate (5/4/1984) - Max reunites with his estranged father Patrick, who is a pawn in a kidnapping scheme. Max is so preoccupied with family affairs that McAllister ends up chaperoning the two "damsel in distress" characters, played by Ashley Ferrare and Rebecca Holden, just about everywhere.
12. Rogues (8/10/1984) - a high school friend of Max's is now a cop, on the run from a band of crooked cops. A woman who runs a gym harasses McAllister about being out of shape.
13. A Place to Call Home (8/31/1984) - Max and McAllister protect an orphanage from greedy land developers, with Max playing surrogate father to a troubled teen.
who stayed in Japan and became the first Occidental
ninja. Trained Okasa in the ninja arts. Took on Max Keller as his student upon arriving in America. A self-described "cantankerous old man who's lived alone a lot of years." He is a stern but fair teacher, and a skilled fighter, though his age is catching up with him. Often grumpy and sarcastic towards other men, both friend and foe, but somewhat more mellow around Max, and politely flirtatious or self-consciously "charming" towards women. Several pieces of his colorful history come out during the series: he flew P-40s during WWII ("Hostages", "Juggernaut"), visited New York in 1938 ("The Good, the Bad and the Priceless"), and attended a sort of conference of secret assassin organizations in the Far East in 1972, where he gave a martial arts demonstration ("The Good, the Bad, and the Priceless"). He met Brian Elkwood in Washington DC in 1948, and the two men were subsequently imprisoned together in North Korea, but escaped by using a motorcycle ("Kunoichi"). He has apparently visited Hawaii about twenty years ago: a friend who lives there has a daughter Max's age, whom McAllister remembers seeing when she was a baby ("Java Tiger"). He denies having filmed westerns in Almeria, Spain with actor Saul Robbins circa 1969 ("Rogues"), but his reactions to Robbins's claim to remember him seem to suggest otherwise-he was perhaps on some kind of secret mission for which the movie project(s) made a good cover. He "always wanted to be a cowboy" ("High Rollers"), but makes not wanting to dress up as one an excuse to turn down an ad exec who wants McAllister to shill for him ("The Good, the Bad, and the Priceless"). There are several recurring trains of thought that show up in his conversation, e.g. Eastern mysticism, but the closest thing he has to a catchphrase is probably "no kidding", said in an exasperated tone to people's more obvious statements.
Max Keller (Timothy Van Patten): A drifter who spends most of his time driving around in his custom van and taking odd jobs wherever he can find them. He has a pet hamster
(or possibly a gerbil
) named Henry who lives in a dash-mounted, wheel-shaped cage. There are several indications that he has some money to fall back on: his van's customizations (hamster cage, souped-up engine, semi-bullet-proofing), the fact that he keeps an expensive-looking dirt bike ("State of the Union") and can afford to rent an ultralight plane ("Hostages"). He often gets thrown out of bar windows. He has a bit of a temper, but is learning to keep that in check due to McAllister's training. Max never passes up a chance to get friendly with a pretty woman of his own age. Max is initially estranged from his father-a lawyer who sank into alcoholism ("Failure to Communicate") after Max's mother and older brother died in a plane crash ("High Rollers") -but the two men reconcile late in the series. Max's mother wanted Max to be an accountant. Max went to the high school prom with a girlfriend who wanted to be a dancer on Broadway but ended up working in Vegas and having a child by someone else ("Hostages", "High Rollers"). At the prom, he danced one dance with the class nerd, who he meets again in the course of the series and become involved with ("Rogues"). He grew up on the East Side of New York ("The Good, The Bad, and the Priceless"), though his father lives in California ("Failure to Communicate").
Okasa (Sho Kosugi): A deadly ninja warrior once trained by McAllister. He has sworn to kill his former master due to his abandonment of the ninja code. Has engaged McAllister on several occasions with different levels of success. He is also a master of disguise. By the end of the series, he has himself trained at least one "Occidental" as a ninja. In his last duel with McAllister, he believes he is winning, and even manages to break the Master's ninjato, but loses when McAllister turns his overconfidence against him. He sometimes takes espionage-related "jobs" while pursuing his former master, but is more often working at cross-purposes to the villain of the episode.
Teri McAllister: the "MacGuffin
" that triggers McAllister's return to America by writing a letter to him. She is constantly on the move, and has been spotted in New Orleans (about six months to a year before she contacted her father; she was already using his surname at the time) Ellerston, Atlanta, and New York-working briefly but very successfully as a fashion model in the last city. She is secretive about her personal information, never giving out an address or a phone number. In her modelling career, she rebuffed the villainous fashion designer and jewel thief Simon Garrett when he tried to romance her, and was on friendly terms with Gina, an FBI agent posing as an executive at the modelling agency. After Teri moved on, Gina impersonated her in order to trap Garrett, becoming entangled with Max and the Master in the process. Teri does not appear to have been aware of Gina's profession, and Gina's impersonation is aimed at people who don't know Teri well, so her behavior in the role should not be taken as necessarily typical of the other woman's. Teri herself is only seen in photographs: she appears as a strikingly attractive woman, somewhere in her mid or early twenties (despite dialogue in "Fat Tuesday" indicating her to be 28 or 29), with dark blue eyes and heavy black hair. She is the result of a two-month affair between McAllister and a woman called Laura Kennedy, at the end of the Korean War. McAllister asks Gina with sincere curiosity about Teri's mother, in a way that suggests he still has some interest in the mother of his daughter (even though "nobody could live with Laura Kennedy" for long) and believes her to be alive. In addition to her brief modelling career, she was also a pilot of racing planes for a time (circa her visit to New Orleans). Most information about her comes from "Fat Tuesday" and "The Good, the Bad, and the Priceless", both stories about women who know her vaguely and use her name to trap a villain.
of popular mythology rather than a realistic portrayal of contemporary or historical ninjutsu
, but the series also has some surprising nods towards the actual practices of ninjutsu. For instance, most of the series (except the first two episodes) have the heroes using shuriken
s for a variety of nonlethal tasks-throwing them to disarm an enemy, or using them as hand-held knives to cut through window latches-rather than the more stereotypical and lethal uses of popular mythology. There is also some emphasis on the spiritual or character-building aspects of "ninjitsu", as the series calls it, using the older romanization.
The first few episodes hint at a complicated and intrigue-filled ninja mythos, but this was largely dropped as the series progressed, perhaps out of fear that giving McAllister a constant stream of Asian ninja adversaries (as opposed to just Okasa, whose business with the Master is personal) would be seen as racist.
The series makes reference to the ninja as a "sect" with different "Houses", apparently corresponding to dojo
s. The only two Houses represented in the series use a butterfly
and a snake
as their respective emblems. The former animal symbolizes the human soul in authentic Japanese tradition, the latter has no consistent significance. "Master", the title McAllister has, seems to mark him out as a high-level teacher and the head of a House, as does the silver medallion he wears. One succeeds to the headship of a House, by killing the current Master and taking his medallion (this is Okasa's objective throughout the series), but there are presumably less violent methods of succession as well. McAllister's tendency to end duels prematurely by feigning injury or luring adversaries to charge through windows or into dangerous electrical equipment always takes his duelling partners by surprise, implying that his methods are not entirely "honorable" by their standards.
Ninjitsu is represented as having had a dark and violent history, which it had turned away from during the time McAllister was involved. It is implied that the ninja are reverting to this darker and older tradition as of the series' time frame, and this may have been a factor in McAllister's departure from the "sect". Lika, a character from "Out of Time Step" is the only "Snake" ninja encountered in the series, and he preaches a kind of anarcho-nihilism that uses this fictional ninja history as a justification for committing crimes.
All the other ninja seen in the series are trained by McAllister or his pupils, and so belong in a sense to his House, which uses the butterfly emblem. The symbolism of this House's emblem (see above) and McAllister's heavy emphasis on the KI (or chi
) and the process of character-building seem to indicate that this House specializes in Seishin teki kyoko, the ninja discipline of spiritual refinement.
, with two-episode VHS tapes
being sold under a new title, Master Ninja, followed by a volume number. No official, Region 1 DVD release has been made. However, the first two episodes (Max and Out Of Time Step) have made it to the Martial Arts DVD 50-movie pack produced by Treeline Films.
, a show which features a man and two robots forced to watch cheesy B movies. The show featured the first two volumes of the re-edited Master Ninja tapes on episodes 322 (originally aired January 11, 1992) and 324 (originally aired January 25, 1992). Notable jokes included jabs at Lee Van Cleef's obvious stunt double and Timothy Van Patten's muffled speech pattern.
The third installment of the Master Ninja series was scheduled to air as episode 624, but it was eventually replaced by Samson vs. the Vampire Women
. Both episodes were released on Mystery Science Theater 3000, Volume XX on March 8, 2011.
which is hosted by Ed the Sock
, Liana K
, and Ron Sparks. Shown as part of the season two opener and shown as a double feature
alongside the film Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter
, the showing was notable for Sparks' "Roninja" gag, which quickly became a favourite among fans.
. Some of the stunts and pyrotechnics were quite spectacular, while others were of a lesser quality. For example, one episode has McAllister performing a backflip
onto the top of a semi-trailer truck
, in which it is clear that the stuntman
did a frontflip off of the truck and the film was simply reversed.
Also, Anders, Van Cleef's double, was of a noticeably slimmer build than the aging actor, making the two performers easy to distinguish from one another. Many of the stunts and fighting sequences featured Kosugi in a skull cap doubling for Van Cleef. Kosugi's motion and martial arts skill is easily spotted when he doubled for Van Cleef. The show also occasionally uses doubles for closeups on Van Cleef's hands, apparently to hide the actor's damaged right middle finger. A close review of some episodes (like "Kunoichi") indicates that Van Cleef was allowed to do modest amounts of swordplay and fist-fighting.
The series was part-buddy movie
, and part-martial arts film
. The series shares elements in common with the well-known film, The Karate Kid, also released in 1984: Both are stories in which a young American male is mentored by a wise, old martial arts master following some type of scuffle. The show's storylines often resembled those on The A-Team with the heroes going to different places and helping those in need. There is also a mild paranormal element to the show in the form of McAllister's mystical abilities: he can for instance go into a trance state to simulate death or withstand torture; and he seems to have low-level empathic/telepathic abilities that allow him to gauge the honesty and emotional state of people he is talking with, unless they too have been trained in the ninja arts.
Besides Okasa and a couple of one-shot ninja adversaries, the series mostly featured corrupt businessmen, and the occasional spy or terrorist, as villains. The writing styles of the show's several scribes are fairly easy to distinguish, with, e.g., Sue Woollen tending to write less violent episodes that emphasized relationships between the guest stars and regulars and portrayed the usual damsels in distress as relatively strong personalities. Injokes referencing Van Cleef's career in westerns appear in several episodes. The most frequently used weapons in the series are the shuriken or throwing star (which doubles as the series logo), the "sword" (the show's modern ninjakens it uses as the ninja dueling weapon of choice), the caltrop
, the smokebomb and a type of chain with weighted ends called a kusari fundo which was commonly used as a flail or occasionally thrown.
Adventure (genre)
The adventure genre, in the context of a narrative, is typically applied to works in which the protagonist or other major characters are consistently placed in dangerous situations...
TV series created by Michael Sloan which aired on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
. The show focused on the adventures of John Peter McAllister, an aging ninja master (Lee Van Cleef
Lee Van Cleef
Lee Van Cleef was an American film actor who appeared mostly in Western and action pictures. His sharp features and piercing eyes led to his being cast as a villain in scores of films such as High Noon, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and The Good The Bad and the Ugly.-Early life:Van Cleef was...
), and his young pupil, Max Keller (Timothy Van Patten
Tim Van Patten
Tim Van Patten is an American television director, actor, screenwriter, and producer. As a director, Van Patten has directed episodes of The Sopranos, The Wire, Deadwood, Boardwalk Empire, Rome, The Pacific, Game of Thrones, Ed, and Sex and the City. Van Patten is perhaps best known for portraying...
). Most episodes focused on the mismatched pair driving around in a custom van
Van
A van is a kind of vehicle used for transporting goods or groups of people.In British English usage, it can be either specially designed or based on a saloon or sedan car, the latter type often including derivatives with open backs...
, helping people in need along the way, similar to its more well-known contemporary, The A-Team
The A-Team
The A-Team is an American action adventure television series about a fictional group of ex-United States Army Special Forces personnel who work as soldiers of fortune, while on the run from the Army after being branded as war criminals for a "crime they didn't commit". The A-Team was created by...
. The Master lasted only 13 episodes before cancellation.
Cast and crew
Notable cast and crew members include:- Lee Van CleefLee Van CleefLee Van Cleef was an American film actor who appeared mostly in Western and action pictures. His sharp features and piercing eyes led to his being cast as a villain in scores of films such as High Noon, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and The Good The Bad and the Ugly.-Early life:Van Cleef was...
: John Peter McAllister aka "The Master" - Timothy Van Patten: Max Keller
- Sho KosugiSho KosugiSho Kosugi is a Japanese martial artist with training in shindō jinen-ryū karate who gained popularity as an actor during the 1980s, usually playing a ninja. He is the father of Kane Kosugi and Shane Kosugi. After taking a hiatus from film, he started a taiko group in California...
: Okasa - Demi MooreDemi MooreDemi Guynes Kutcher , known professionally as Demi Moore, is an American actress. After minor roles in film and a role in the soap opera General Hospital, Moore established her career in films such as St...
: Holly Trumball (episode "Max") - Claude AkinsClaude AkinsClaude Marion Akins was an American actor with a long career on stage, screen and television.Powerful in appearance and voice, Akins could be counted on to play the clever tough guy, on the side of good or bad, in movies and television. He is best remembered as Sheriff Lobo in the 1970s TV series...
: Mr. Trumball (episode "Max") - Clu GulagerClu GulagerClu Gulager is an American television and film actor. He is particularly noted for his co-starring role as William H. Bonney in the 1960–62 NBC TV series The Tall Man and for his role in the later NBC series The Virginian...
: Mr. Christensen (episode "Max") - Crystal BernardCrystal BernardCrystal Lynn Bernard is an American actress and singer, most widely known for her seven-year-long role on the situation comedy Wings. While her main work has been on television, she has appeared in some films, and also attempted to pursue a music career as a songwriter/performer.-Early...
: Carrie Brown (episode "State of the Union") - David McCallumDavid McCallumDavid Keith McCallum, Jr. is a Scottish actor and musician. He is best known for his roles as Illya Kuryakin, a Russian-born secret agent, in the 1960s television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E., as interdimensional operative Steel in Sapphire & Steel, and Dr...
: Castile (episode "Hostages") - George LazenbyGeorge LazenbyGeorge Robert Lazenby is an Australian actor and former model, best known for portraying James Bond in the 1969 film On Her Majesty's Secret Service.-Early life:...
: Mallory (episode "Hostages") - Diana MuldaurDiana MuldaurDiana Muldaur is an Emmy-nominated American film and television actress.-Career:Born in New York City, but raised on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, Muldaur started acting in high school and continued on through college, graduating from Sweet Briar College in Virginia in 1960. She studied acting...
: Maggie Sinclair (episode "Juggernaut") - Stuart WhitmanStuart WhitmanStuart Maxwell Whitman is an American actor.Stuart Whitman is arguably best-known for playing Marshal Jim Crown in the western television series Cimarron Strip in 1967...
: Mr. J. Hellman (episode "Juggernaut") - Janine TurnerJanine TurnerJanine Turner is an American actress who starred on the prime time television show Northern Exposure from 1990 to 1995. From 2000 to 2002, she appeared on the Lifetime original series Strong Medicine...
: Gina/Teri (episode "The Good, the Bad, and the Priceless") - George MaharisGeorge MaharisGeorge Maharis is an American actor who portrayed Buz Murdock in the first three seasons of the TV series Route 66...
: Simon Garrett (episode "The Good, the Bad, and the Priceless") - Jack KellyJack Kelly (actor)Jack Kelly was an American film and television actor most noted for the role of "Bart Maverick" in the TV series Maverick, which ran on ABC from 1957 to 1962...
: Brian Elkwood (episode "Kunoichi") - Kabir BediKabir BediKabir Bedi is an Indian television and film actor. His career has spanned three continents including India, the United States and many European countries in three mediums: film, television and theatre. He is noted for his role as Emperor Shah Jahan in Taj Mahal: An Eternal Love Story...
: Kruger (episode "The Java Tiger") - Doug McClureDoug McClureDouglas Osborne "Doug" McClure was an American actor whose career in film and television extended from the 1950s to the 1990s...
: Patrick Keller (episode "Failure to Communicate") - Marc AlaimoMarc AlaimoMichael Anthony "Marc" Alaimo is an American actor, known for his villainous roles. He is known to Star Trek fans for his role as recurring villain Gul Dukat in the TV series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.-Career:...
: Straker (episode "Failure to Communicate") - Mark GoddardMark GoddardMark Goddard is an American film actor who has starred in a number of television programs. He portrayed Major Don West, the space adversary of Dr. Zachary Smith in the cult 1960s CBS series, Lost in Space, and Detective Sgt...
: Paul Stillwell (episode "Failure to Communicate") - Rebecca HoldenRebecca HoldenRebecca Holden is an American actress and singer.-Early life and career:Born in Dallas, Texas, Holden was discovered in New York City by an agency and started appearing on magazine covers and did commercials...
: Laura Crane (episode "Failure to Communicate") - Edd Byrnes: Lt. Ryan (episode "Failure to Communicate")
- Sho KosugiSho KosugiSho Kosugi is a Japanese martial artist with training in shindō jinen-ryū karate who gained popularity as an actor during the 1980s, usually playing a ninja. He is the father of Kane Kosugi and Shane Kosugi. After taking a hiatus from film, he started a taiko group in California...
: Stunt coordinator - Michael Sloan: Creator/Writer
- Robert ClouseRobert ClouseRobert Clouse was an American film director and producer, known primarily for his work in the action/adventure and martial arts genres. He died on February 4, 1997 in Oregon of kidney failure....
: Director (episode "Max") - Duncan Shiels: Stunts
Premise
The Master follows the character of John Peter McAllister, an American veteran who stayed in JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
following World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and became a ninja master. At the beginning of the series, McAllister, now an old man, leaves Japan for the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in search of a daughter he did not know he had. This flight from his ninja life is seen as dishonorable by his fellow ninja, including his former student, Okasa (Sho Kosugi
Sho Kosugi
Sho Kosugi is a Japanese martial artist with training in shindō jinen-ryū karate who gained popularity as an actor during the 1980s, usually playing a ninja. He is the father of Kane Kosugi and Shane Kosugi. After taking a hiatus from film, he started a taiko group in California...
), who attempts to assassinate him. Escaping with a minor wound, McAllister finds himself in the small town of Ellerston, where he believes his daughter resides. Along the way, he meets a drifter named Max Keller, who aids the ninja master in a bar fight, but is subsequently thrown through a window, a recurring event for the hot-headed Keller. Max desires to learn to fight like a ninja, but McAllister is reluctant to train him, feeling him to be too emotional. When Max gets involved in a dispute between Mr. Christensen (Clu Gulager
Clu Gulager
Clu Gulager is an American television and film actor. He is particularly noted for his co-starring role as William H. Bonney in the 1960–62 NBC TV series The Tall Man and for his role in the later NBC series The Virginian...
), a ruthless developer, and the Trumbulls (Claude Akins
Claude Akins
Claude Marion Akins was an American actor with a long career on stage, screen and television.Powerful in appearance and voice, Akins could be counted on to play the clever tough guy, on the side of good or bad, in movies and television. He is best remembered as Sheriff Lobo in the 1970s TV series...
, Demi Moore
Demi Moore
Demi Guynes Kutcher , known professionally as Demi Moore, is an American actress. After minor roles in film and a role in the soap opera General Hospital, Moore established her career in films such as St...
), a father and daughter who run an airport targeted by Christensen, McAllister decides to train him to survive.
The pair goes on to have many adventures traveling the country in search of McAllister's daughter, although the show is cancelled before she is ever found. Keller and McAllister often get sidetracked by oppressed people, and invariably McAllister uses his ninja skills to help save the day, hopefully teaching Max at the same time.
A recurring enemy is Okasa, the rogue pupil of McAllister, who continually tracks his old master down and tries to kill him. In the first episode, the two duel and McAllister wins. However, the old master refuses to kill his opponent, preferring to renounce his ninja ways. Of course, this leads to Okasa's future attempts.
Episode list
What follows is a list of episode titles and their original air dates, with synopses added where possible.1. Max (1/20/1984) - see above, under "Premise."
2. Out-of-Time Step (1/27/1984) - a ninja-guarded crime lord mistakes Max and McAllister for bodyguards hired by a nightclub owner the crime lord is trying to control.
3. State of the Union (2/3/1984) - Max befriends a "biker chick" who is trying to organize a union at the cannery where she works; he and McAllister strike back when the cannery owner tries to strong arm the girl and the union.
4. Hostages (2/10/1984) - McAllister is accused by a secret agent of helping a band of terrorists; to prove his innocence, he must help rescue the hostages that the terrorists have taken.
5. High Rollers (3/2/1984) - a former girlfriend of Max's becomes a pawn in a Las Vegas heist when her daughter is held hostage to insure her cooperation. The resulting adventure leads Max and McAllister to a deserted western movie set, where the Master makes himself very much at home.
6. Fat Tuesday (3/9/1984) - during Mardi Gras in New Orleans, a reporter uses Teri McAllister's name as a cover for her own sources, hoping to bring down a respected local citizen who is secretly running guns to Arab terrorists. Max and McAllister become entangled as a result.
7. Juggernaut (3/16/1984) - Max and McAllister help a mother and daughter organize the local farmers against an evil land baron. McAllister has more success romancing the mother than Max does with the daughter, and the old man's "pre-ninja" background as a military pilot is emphasized.
8. The Good, the Bad and the Priceless (3/23/1984) - Caught between a criminal mastermind and an FBI agent posing as McAllister's daughter, the two leads find themselves forced to steal the Crown Jewels of England.
9. Kunoichi (4/6/1984) - With the help of a female pupil, Okasa puts in motion a plan to frame McAllister for the murder of an old friend, who is now a prominent government official in Washington.
10. The Java Tiger (4/13/1984) - Max and McAllister take a break from the search for Teri to help out a friend of McAllister's: a bumbling PI, based in Hawaii, who is on a quest for a legendary tiger made of gold. Unfortunately, a Bond-villain-like crime lord with a penchant for karate is also interested in the Java Tiger.
11. Failure to Communicate (5/4/1984) - Max reunites with his estranged father Patrick, who is a pawn in a kidnapping scheme. Max is so preoccupied with family affairs that McAllister ends up chaperoning the two "damsel in distress" characters, played by Ashley Ferrare and Rebecca Holden, just about everywhere.
12. Rogues (8/10/1984) - a high school friend of Max's is now a cop, on the run from a band of crooked cops. A woman who runs a gym harasses McAllister about being out of shape.
13. A Place to Call Home (8/31/1984) - Max and McAllister protect an orphanage from greedy land developers, with Max playing surrogate father to a troubled teen.
Recurring characters
John Peter McAllister (Lee Van Cleef): Veteran of World War II and the Korean WarKorean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
who stayed in Japan and became the first Occidental
Western culture
Western culture, sometimes equated with Western civilization or European civilization, refers to cultures of European origin and is used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts and...
ninja. Trained Okasa in the ninja arts. Took on Max Keller as his student upon arriving in America. A self-described "cantankerous old man who's lived alone a lot of years." He is a stern but fair teacher, and a skilled fighter, though his age is catching up with him. Often grumpy and sarcastic towards other men, both friend and foe, but somewhat more mellow around Max, and politely flirtatious or self-consciously "charming" towards women. Several pieces of his colorful history come out during the series: he flew P-40s during WWII ("Hostages", "Juggernaut"), visited New York in 1938 ("The Good, the Bad and the Priceless"), and attended a sort of conference of secret assassin organizations in the Far East in 1972, where he gave a martial arts demonstration ("The Good, the Bad, and the Priceless"). He met Brian Elkwood in Washington DC in 1948, and the two men were subsequently imprisoned together in North Korea, but escaped by using a motorcycle ("Kunoichi"). He has apparently visited Hawaii about twenty years ago: a friend who lives there has a daughter Max's age, whom McAllister remembers seeing when she was a baby ("Java Tiger"). He denies having filmed westerns in Almeria, Spain with actor Saul Robbins circa 1969 ("Rogues"), but his reactions to Robbins's claim to remember him seem to suggest otherwise-he was perhaps on some kind of secret mission for which the movie project(s) made a good cover. He "always wanted to be a cowboy" ("High Rollers"), but makes not wanting to dress up as one an excuse to turn down an ad exec who wants McAllister to shill for him ("The Good, the Bad, and the Priceless"). There are several recurring trains of thought that show up in his conversation, e.g. Eastern mysticism, but the closest thing he has to a catchphrase is probably "no kidding", said in an exasperated tone to people's more obvious statements.
Max Keller (Timothy Van Patten): A drifter who spends most of his time driving around in his custom van and taking odd jobs wherever he can find them. He has a pet hamster
Hamster
Hamsters are rodents belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae. The subfamily contains about 25 species, classified in six or seven genera....
(or possibly a gerbil
Gerbil
A gerbil is a small mammal of the order Rodentia. Once known simply as "desert rats", the gerbil subfamily includes about 110 species of African, Indian, and Asian rodents, including sand rats and jirds, all of which are adapted to arid habitats...
) named Henry who lives in a dash-mounted, wheel-shaped cage. There are several indications that he has some money to fall back on: his van's customizations (hamster cage, souped-up engine, semi-bullet-proofing), the fact that he keeps an expensive-looking dirt bike ("State of the Union") and can afford to rent an ultralight plane ("Hostages"). He often gets thrown out of bar windows. He has a bit of a temper, but is learning to keep that in check due to McAllister's training. Max never passes up a chance to get friendly with a pretty woman of his own age. Max is initially estranged from his father-a lawyer who sank into alcoholism ("Failure to Communicate") after Max's mother and older brother died in a plane crash ("High Rollers") -but the two men reconcile late in the series. Max's mother wanted Max to be an accountant. Max went to the high school prom with a girlfriend who wanted to be a dancer on Broadway but ended up working in Vegas and having a child by someone else ("Hostages", "High Rollers"). At the prom, he danced one dance with the class nerd, who he meets again in the course of the series and become involved with ("Rogues"). He grew up on the East Side of New York ("The Good, The Bad, and the Priceless"), though his father lives in California ("Failure to Communicate").
Okasa (Sho Kosugi): A deadly ninja warrior once trained by McAllister. He has sworn to kill his former master due to his abandonment of the ninja code. Has engaged McAllister on several occasions with different levels of success. He is also a master of disguise. By the end of the series, he has himself trained at least one "Occidental" as a ninja. In his last duel with McAllister, he believes he is winning, and even manages to break the Master's ninjato, but loses when McAllister turns his overconfidence against him. He sometimes takes espionage-related "jobs" while pursuing his former master, but is more often working at cross-purposes to the villain of the episode.
Teri McAllister: the "MacGuffin
MacGuffin
A MacGuffin is "a plot element that catches the viewers' attention or drives the plot of a work of fiction". The defining aspect of a MacGuffin is that the major players in the story are willing to do and sacrifice almost anything to obtain it, regardless of what the MacGuffin actually is...
" that triggers McAllister's return to America by writing a letter to him. She is constantly on the move, and has been spotted in New Orleans (about six months to a year before she contacted her father; she was already using his surname at the time) Ellerston, Atlanta, and New York-working briefly but very successfully as a fashion model in the last city. She is secretive about her personal information, never giving out an address or a phone number. In her modelling career, she rebuffed the villainous fashion designer and jewel thief Simon Garrett when he tried to romance her, and was on friendly terms with Gina, an FBI agent posing as an executive at the modelling agency. After Teri moved on, Gina impersonated her in order to trap Garrett, becoming entangled with Max and the Master in the process. Teri does not appear to have been aware of Gina's profession, and Gina's impersonation is aimed at people who don't know Teri well, so her behavior in the role should not be taken as necessarily typical of the other woman's. Teri herself is only seen in photographs: she appears as a strikingly attractive woman, somewhere in her mid or early twenties (despite dialogue in "Fat Tuesday" indicating her to be 28 or 29), with dark blue eyes and heavy black hair. She is the result of a two-month affair between McAllister and a woman called Laura Kennedy, at the end of the Korean War. McAllister asks Gina with sincere curiosity about Teri's mother, in a way that suggests he still has some interest in the mother of his daughter (even though "nobody could live with Laura Kennedy" for long) and believes her to be alive. In addition to her brief modelling career, she was also a pilot of racing planes for a time (circa her visit to New Orleans). Most information about her comes from "Fat Tuesday" and "The Good, the Bad, and the Priceless", both stories about women who know her vaguely and use her name to trap a villain.
Ninjutsu mythology in The Master
The Master is an exemplar of the ninjaNinja
A or was a covert agent or mercenary of feudal Japan specializing in unorthodox arts of war. The functions of the ninja included espionage, sabotage, infiltration, and assassination, as well as open combat in certain situations...
of popular mythology rather than a realistic portrayal of contemporary or historical ninjutsu
Ninjutsu
or may be:*the arts associated with espionage and assassination in feudal Japan, see Ninja*modern schools of martial arts claiming to be based in these traditions, see Modern Schools of Ninjutsu*fictional depictions, see Ninja in popular culture...
, but the series also has some surprising nods towards the actual practices of ninjutsu. For instance, most of the series (except the first two episodes) have the heroes using shuriken
Shuriken
A shuriken is a traditional Japanese concealed weapon that was generally used for throwing, and sometimes stabbing or slashing...
s for a variety of nonlethal tasks-throwing them to disarm an enemy, or using them as hand-held knives to cut through window latches-rather than the more stereotypical and lethal uses of popular mythology. There is also some emphasis on the spiritual or character-building aspects of "ninjitsu", as the series calls it, using the older romanization.
The first few episodes hint at a complicated and intrigue-filled ninja mythos, but this was largely dropped as the series progressed, perhaps out of fear that giving McAllister a constant stream of Asian ninja adversaries (as opposed to just Okasa, whose business with the Master is personal) would be seen as racist.
The series makes reference to the ninja as a "sect" with different "Houses", apparently corresponding to dojo
Dojo
A is a Japanese term which literally means "place of the way". Initially, dōjōs were adjunct to temples. The term can refer to a formal training place for any of the Japanese do arts but typically it is considered the formal gathering place for students of any Japanese martial arts style to...
s. The only two Houses represented in the series use a butterfly
Butterfly
A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...
and a snake
Snake
Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...
as their respective emblems. The former animal symbolizes the human soul in authentic Japanese tradition, the latter has no consistent significance. "Master", the title McAllister has, seems to mark him out as a high-level teacher and the head of a House, as does the silver medallion he wears. One succeeds to the headship of a House, by killing the current Master and taking his medallion (this is Okasa's objective throughout the series), but there are presumably less violent methods of succession as well. McAllister's tendency to end duels prematurely by feigning injury or luring adversaries to charge through windows or into dangerous electrical equipment always takes his duelling partners by surprise, implying that his methods are not entirely "honorable" by their standards.
Ninjitsu is represented as having had a dark and violent history, which it had turned away from during the time McAllister was involved. It is implied that the ninja are reverting to this darker and older tradition as of the series' time frame, and this may have been a factor in McAllister's departure from the "sect". Lika, a character from "Out of Time Step" is the only "Snake" ninja encountered in the series, and he preaches a kind of anarcho-nihilism that uses this fictional ninja history as a justification for committing crimes.
All the other ninja seen in the series are trained by McAllister or his pupils, and so belong in a sense to his House, which uses the butterfly emblem. The symbolism of this House's emblem (see above) and McAllister's heavy emphasis on the KI (or chi
Qi
In traditional Chinese culture, qì is an active principle forming part of any living thing. Qi is frequently translated as life energy, lifeforce, or energy flow. Qi is the central underlying principle in traditional Chinese medicine and martial arts...
) and the process of character-building seem to indicate that this House specializes in Seishin teki kyoko, the ninja discipline of spiritual refinement.
Cancellation
While the early to mid-1980s may have been a great period for action movies, TV shows, and video games, particularly ninja or general martial arts-themed ones, The Master did not attract a large enough audience to remain on the air. The series was later edited into a format similar to that of the TV-movieTelevision movie
A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
, with two-episode VHS tapes
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
being sold under a new title, Master Ninja, followed by a volume number. No official, Region 1 DVD release has been made. However, the first two episodes (Max and Out Of Time Step) have made it to the Martial Arts DVD 50-movie pack produced by Treeline Films.
Mystery Science Theater 3000
The series was featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000 is an American cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains, Inc., that ran from 1988 to 1999....
, a show which features a man and two robots forced to watch cheesy B movies. The show featured the first two volumes of the re-edited Master Ninja tapes on episodes 322 (originally aired January 11, 1992) and 324 (originally aired January 25, 1992). Notable jokes included jabs at Lee Van Cleef's obvious stunt double and Timothy Van Patten's muffled speech pattern.
The third installment of the Master Ninja series was scheduled to air as episode 624, but it was eventually replaced by Samson vs. the Vampire Women
Samson vs. the Vampire Women
Santo vs. las Mujeres Vampiro is a 1962 horror film starring the wrestling superhero Santo. The film was featured on a 1995 episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. The film was also featured on the television show Cinema Insomnia.-Plot:Vampire women are awakened by their leader in order to find...
. Both episodes were released on Mystery Science Theater 3000, Volume XX on March 8, 2011.
This Movie Sucks!
The pilot episode of The Master was also featured on the similarly oriented show This Movie Sucks!This Movie Sucks!
This Movie Sucks! is a Canadian comedy television series hosted by Ed the Sock, premièring on May 28, 2010, two years after Ed's Night Party went off the air. The show is similar to another former Ed the Sock series, Ed's Nite In...
which is hosted by Ed the Sock
Ed the Sock
Ed the Sock is a puppet, created and voiced by Steven Kerzner, that became a Canadian television personality in the 1990s, best known for his appearances hosting programming on MuchMusic and his own talk show, Ed's Night Party, later renamed Ed & Red's Night Party...
, Liana K
Liana K
Liana Kerzner , better known by her stage name, Liana K, is a Canadian television entertainer who co-hosted the talk show Ed & Red's Night Party and is a well-known cosplayer.-Biography:...
, and Ron Sparks. Shown as part of the season two opener and shown as a double feature
Double feature
The double feature, also known as a double bill, was a motion picture industry phenomenon in which theatre managers would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which one feature film and various short subject reels would be shown.The double feature, also known as...
alongside the film Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter
Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter
Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter is a low-budget western/horror hybrid film filmed in 1966, in which a fictionalized version of the real-life western outlaw Jesse James encounters the fictional granddaughter of the famous Dr. Frankenstein. The film was originally released as part of a...
, the showing was notable for Sparks' "Roninja" gag, which quickly became a favourite among fans.
Influences for each episode
- Episode 2, "Out-of-Time Step", borrows its plot from the Bruce LeeBruce LeeBruce Lee was a Chinese American, Hong Kong actor, martial arts instructor, philosopher, film director, film producer, screenwriter, and founder of the Jeet Kune Do martial arts movement...
film Return of the Dragon. Guest star Charles Collins was in fact an old-time Hollywood dancer who starred in a movie called The Dancing Pirate, just as his character did. This is also one of the few times Henry the hamster is seen outside of his cage. - Episode 3, "State of the Union", is heavily influenced by Norma RaeNorma RaeNorma Rae is a 1979 American drama film that tells the story of a factory worker from a small town in North Carolina, who becomes involved in the labor union activities at the textile factory where she works...
, with Crystal Bernard in the Sally Fields role. The use of a Catholic church for union activities seems to be a nod to On the WaterfrontOn the WaterfrontOn the Waterfront is a 1954 American drama film about union violence and corruption among longshoremen. The film was directed by Elia Kazan and written by Budd Schulberg. It stars Marlon Brando, Rod Steiger, Eva Marie Saint, Lee J. Cobb and Karl Malden. The soundtrack score was composed by Leonard...
. A longish scene which showed Van Cleef playing with Henry the hamster was used as a "stinger" on the second of the two MST3K episodes to feature this show. It is probably the most interaction any human character has with the hamster in the course of the series. This episode also features McAllister's ability to "play dead", and his use of a cross-shaped throwing weapon (apparently an alternate shurikenShurikenA shuriken is a traditional Japanese concealed weapon that was generally used for throwing, and sometimes stabbing or slashing...
design) otherwise only seen in the show's opening credits. - Episode 4, "Hostages", is a tribute to the spy films and TV shows of the '60s, with David McCallumDavid McCallumDavid Keith McCallum, Jr. is a Scottish actor and musician. He is best known for his roles as Illya Kuryakin, a Russian-born secret agent, in the 1960s television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E., as interdimensional operative Steel in Sapphire & Steel, and Dr...
of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.The Man from U.N.C.L.E.The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is an American television series that was broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1964, to January 15, 1968. It follows the exploits of two secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for a fictitious secret international espionage and law-enforcement...
playing a sinister but morally ambiguous villain, and George LazenbyGeorge LazenbyGeorge Robert Lazenby is an Australian actor and former model, best known for portraying James Bond in the 1969 film On Her Majesty's Secret Service.-Early life:...
playing a spy who infiltrated McAllister's ninja sect in the past and drives a customized Aston MartinAston MartinAston Martin Lagonda Limited is a British manufacturer of luxury sports cars, based in Gaydon, Warwickshire. The company name is derived from the name of one of the company's founders, Lionel Martin, and from the Aston Hill speed hillclimb near Aston Clinton in Buckinghamshire...
ala James Bond. Monte MarkhamMonte MarkhamMonte Markham is an American actor. During his career, Markham has appeared in film, in television, and on Broadway.Markham was born in Manatee County, Florida, the son of Millie Content and Jesse Edward Markham, Sr., who was a merchant.Of his television roles, Markham is perhaps most famous for...
also appears as a counterterrorist chief referred to only as Control, possibly a nod to the novels of John le CarréJohn le CarréDavid John Moore Cornwell , who writes under the name John le Carré, is an author of espionage novels. During the 1950s and the 1960s, Cornwell worked for MI5 and MI6, and began writing novels under the pseudonym "John le Carré"...
. Producer Michael Sloan's fascination with espionage would reappear in his work for The EqualizerThe EqualizerThe Equalizer is an American television series that ran for four seasons, initially on CBS, between 1985 and 1989. It starred Edward Woodward as an aging New York vigilante with a mysterious past...
. - Episode 5, "High Rollers", climaxes on an abandoned movie set meant to look like a Wild West town: the climax uses stereotypical "western" shots (tracking shots from Anders's/Van Cleef's ninja boots up his body, extreme closeups on Van Cleef's face), and McAllister talks a great deal about enjoying himself on the western set and feeling at home. A character refers to Revenge of the NinjaRevenge of the NinjaRevenge of the Ninja is an action movie starring Shô Kosugi as a ninja. It is considered part of a ninja trilogy, starting with Enter the Ninja and ending with Ninja III: The Domination , but the stories are not directly related...
(starring Sho Kosugi) repeatedly. Art HindleArt HindleArthur Hindle is a Canadian actor and director.Hindle was born in Halifax. His family moved to Toronto while he was a child. Although shy as a youngster, he grew to be a rebellious and independent teenager...
, playing the villain, also appeared in one of the first ninja-centered movies to reach America: The OctagonThe Octagon (film)The Octagon is a 1980 action film with Chuck Norris in the leading role. It was directed by Eric Karson and written by Paul Aaron and Leigh Chapman. It was filmed in Los Angeles, California and released on August 14, 1980. It is notable for its inventive use of 'voice over' effects to portray the...
, starring Chuck NorrisChuck NorrisCarlos Ray "Chuck" Norris is an American martial artist and actor. After serving in the United States Air Force, he began his rise to fame as a martial artist and has since founded his own school, Chun Kuk Do...
and Lee Van Cleef. This episode is also the start of a running gag, continuing through "Fat Tuesday" and "Rogues", about middle aged or older women fixating on McAllister and 'comically' stalking him. The episode's plot borrows from Ocean's 11. - Episode 6, "Fat Tuesday", features a woman who keeps getting McAllister confused with someone named "Leroy". The actor's full name was Clarence Leroy Van Cleef Jr., with "Lee" being short for Leroy. A scene where McAllister's arm is being bandaged shows off Van Cleef's anchor-shaped tattoo, a relic of his WWII service in the Navy.
- In episode 7, "Juggernaut", Lee Van Cleef and the villain played by Stuart Whitman form a romantic quasi-triangle with the female guest lead. The two men had played a similar storyline together (with Carroll Baker instead of Diana Muldaur) in the film Captain Apache in 1971.
- Episode 8, "The Good, the Bad and the Priceless," is a reference to The Good, the Bad and the UglyThe Good, the Bad and the UglyThe Good, the Bad and the Ugly is a 1966 Italian epic spaghetti western film directed by Sergio Leone, starring Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach in the title roles. The screenplay was written by Age & Scarpelli, Luciano Vincenzoni and Leone, based on a story by Vincenzoni and Leone...
(1966), which starred Lee Van Cleef as "The Bad". The episode also features an ad exec obsessed with McAllister's "look" (as Sergio LeoneSergio LeoneSergio Leone was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter most associated with the "Spaghetti Western" genre.Leone's film-making style includes juxtaposing extreme close-up shots with lengthy long shots...
briefly was with Van Cleef's) and with hiring McAllister as a cowboy-themed spokesman for his product, in an apparent nod to Van Cleef's western-themed commercials for Midas MufflerMidas MufflerMidas, Inc. is a chain of automotive service centers headquartered in Itasca, Illinois. In the main markets of the United States and Canada, Midas stores are company-owned or franchised...
and others. George MaharisGeorge MaharisGeorge Maharis is an American actor who portrayed Buz Murdock in the first three seasons of the TV series Route 66...
, who played the villain of this episode, starred on Route 66Route 66 (TV series)Route 66 is an American TV series in which two young men traveled across America. The show ran weekly on CBS from 1960 to 1964. It starred Martin Milner as Tod Stiles and, for two and a half seasons, George Maharis as Buz Murdock. Maharis was ill for much of the third season, during which time Tod...
, where Van Cleef had played a guest villain; Maharis is also, as Van Cleef was, an avid painter in his free time. - Episode 9, "Kunoichi", loosely borrows from The Manchurian CandidateThe Manchurian Candidate (1962 film)The Manchurian Candidate is a 1962 American Cold War political thriller film starring Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh and Angela Lansbury, and featuring Henry Silva, James Gregory, Leslie Parrish and John McGiver...
, using the idea of an ex-Korean War POW who is supposed to assassinate a political figure, a Communist sleeper posing as an anti-Communist (Okasa's employer is an America-hating mole codenamed "The Hawk"), and a sweet-seeming but manipulative woman. Guest star Jack Kelly is best-known for MaverickMaverick (TV series)Maverick is a western television series with comedic overtones created by Roy Huggins. The show ran from September 22, 1957 to July 8, 1962 on ABC and stars James Garner as Bret Maverick, a cagey, articulate cardsharp. Eight episodes into the first season, he was joined by Jack Kelly as his brother...
, which Van Cleef had guested on a couple of times; the two men had also appeared together in an Italian-made WWII movie called ComandosComandosFor the denomination of "commando" see commando; for the Argentine special operations unit see Amphibious Commandos Group; for other special forces with "Commando" in their names see list of special forces units....
. The episode also features a rare scene of Van Patten interacting with the hamster. Kunoichi is a Japanese word for a female Ninja. - Episode 10, "The Java Tiger," features a villain played by Kabir Bedi. Bedi had been launched as an international star when directed in SandokanSandokanSandokan is a fictional pirate of the late 19th century, who first appeared in publication in 1883, created by Italian author Emilio Salgari. He is the protagonist of eleven adventure novels and is known throughout the South China Sea as "The Tiger of Malaysia".-Sandokan novels:Emilio Salgari...
(1976) by Sergio Sollima. Ten years before Sandokan, Sollima had helped launch Van Cleef on a similar path with The Big GundownThe Big GundownThe Big Gundown is a 1966 spaghetti western directed by Sergio Sollima and starring Lee Van Cleef and Tomas Milian...
. The plot is an Indiana JonesIndiana JonesColonel Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr., Ph.D. is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Indiana Jones franchise. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg created the character in homage to the action heroes of 1930s film serials...
homage (and perhaps a Magnum, P.I.Magnum, P.I.Magnum, P.I. is an American television series starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a private investigator living on Oahu, Hawaii. The series ran from 1980 to 1988 in first-run broadcast on the American CBS television network....
homage, given the setting), but the Java Tiger macguffin may be a nod to Sandokan, whose emblem was a tiger. - Episode 11, "Failure to Communicate", borrows its plot from Akira KurosawaAkira Kurosawawas a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, Kurosawa directed 30 filmsIn 1946, Kurosawa co-directed, with Hideo Sekigawa and Kajiro Yamamoto, the feature Those Who Make Tomorrow ;...
's film High and Low, and its guest stars from all over (see list in earlier section). Ashley Ferrare had appeared with Sho Kosugi in Revenge of the Ninja, Doug McClure was a veteran of western TV shows, like Van Cleef, Edd Byrnes-though most famous for "Kookie" on 77 Sunset Strip77 Sunset Strip77 Sunset Strip is an hour-length American television private detective series created by Roy Huggins and starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Roger Smith, and Edd Byrnes....
-had made westerns in Europe, Rebecca Holden would be a regular on Knight Rider the following TV season. Marc Alaimo, who plays a villain here and would go on to Star Trek: Deep Space NineStar Trek: Deep Space NineStar Trek: Deep Space Nine is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe...
, is one of two guests who tie this series to Star TrekStar TrekStar Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
, the other being Diana Muldaur. Mark Goddard is best remembered for Lost in SpaceLost in SpaceLost in Space is a science fiction TV series created and produced by Irwin Allen, filmed by 20th Century Fox Television, and broadcast on CBS. The show ran for three seasons, with 83 episodes airing between September 15, 1965, and March 6, 1968...
and as one of Robert Taylor's men in the TV series The DetectivesThe Detectives Starring Robert TaylorThe Detectives Starring Robert Taylor is an American crime drama series which ran on ABC during its first two seasons, and on NBC during its third and final season...
. - Episode 12, "Rogues", features the character of Saul Robbins, a hippieHippieThe hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
-like actor who meets Max and McAllister at a party, and (in another homage to Van Cleef's career) becomes firmly convinced that McAllister made spaghetti westernSpaghetti WesternSpaghetti Western, also known as Italo-Western, is a nickname for a broad sub-genre of Western films that emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's unique and much copied film-making style and international box-office success, so named by American critics because most were produced and...
s with him in AlmeriaAlmeríaAlmería is a city in Andalusia, Spain, on the Mediterranean Sea. It is the capital of the province of the same name.-Toponym:Tradition says that the name Almería stems from the Arabic المرية Al-Mariyya: "The Mirror", comparing it to "The Mirror of the Sea"...
, SpainSpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. McAllister also shows off his skills with a gun on a police firing range, and the woman who nags him about being out of shape is probably a nod to Van Cleef's inability to do much of his own stunt work. - The villain of Episode 13, "A Place to Call Home" is played by Jock MahoneyJock MahoneyJock Mahoney was an American actor and stuntman of Irish, French, and Cherokee ancestry. Born Jacques O'Mahoney, he was credited variously as Jock Mahoney, Jack O'Mahoney or Jock O'Mahoney. He starred in two television series, both westerns...
, here credited as Jock O'Mahoney. One of Van Cleef's very first roles had been on Mahoney's TV series Range Rider, and the two men died only a few days apart in late 1989. They had also appeared together in the movie Joe Dakota, together with Claude Akins, who had appeared in the first episode of The Master. The budding martial artist named Bobby in the episode is played by Kane KosugiKane Kosugiborn in Los Angeles, California is a American martial artist and martial arts actor. He is the son of martial arts star Sho Kosugi. In Japan, Kosugi is considered gaijin tarento due to his Nisei heritage....
, son of Sho Kosugi, and the last moments of the episode—and the series—feature Sho, doubling Van Cleef as McAllister, sparring with Kane and letting him win. Dialogue from McAllister about ninjas being able to shape their bodies to fit through narrow spaces is perhaps another in-joke about the show's stuntwork. Writer-Producer Sue Woollen, after creating a number of strong-willed female guest characters who admire the male leads but see themselves as the equals of the two ninjas, not their inferiors, finally plays one: the woman who runs the orphanage.
Recurring elements
The Master was an almost non-stop action show. From brawls to high-speed car chases to explosions, the series was defined by its action content. As mentioned, Max Keller often got thrown through glass windows, and this was a sort of running gagRunning gag
A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling....
. Some of the stunts and pyrotechnics were quite spectacular, while others were of a lesser quality. For example, one episode has McAllister performing a backflip
Somersault
A somersault is an acrobatic exercise in which a person does a full 360° flip, moving the feet over the head. A somersault can be performed either forwards, backwards, or sideways and can be executed in the air or on the ground...
onto the top of a semi-trailer truck
Semi-trailer truck
A semi-trailer truck, also known as a semi, tractor-trailer, or articulated truck or articulated lorry, is an articulated vehicle consisting of a towing engine , and a semi-trailer A semi-trailer truck, also known as a semi, tractor-trailer, or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) articulated truck...
, in which it is clear that the stuntman
Stunt double
A stunt double is a type of body double, specifically a skilled replacement used for dangerous film or video sequences, in movies and television , and for other sophisticated stunts...
did a frontflip off of the truck and the film was simply reversed.
Also, Anders, Van Cleef's double, was of a noticeably slimmer build than the aging actor, making the two performers easy to distinguish from one another. Many of the stunts and fighting sequences featured Kosugi in a skull cap doubling for Van Cleef. Kosugi's motion and martial arts skill is easily spotted when he doubled for Van Cleef. The show also occasionally uses doubles for closeups on Van Cleef's hands, apparently to hide the actor's damaged right middle finger. A close review of some episodes (like "Kunoichi") indicates that Van Cleef was allowed to do modest amounts of swordplay and fist-fighting.
The series was part-buddy movie
Buddy cop film
The "buddy cop" is a subgenre of buddy films and crime films with plots involving two men of very different and conflicting personalities who are forced to work together to solve a crime and/or defeat criminals, sometimes learning from each other in the process...
, and part-martial arts film
Martial arts film
Martial arts film is a film genre. A sub-genre of the action film, martial arts films contain numerous fights between characters, usually as the films' primary appeal and entertainment value, and often as a method of storytelling and character expression and development. Martial arts are frequently...
. The series shares elements in common with the well-known film, The Karate Kid, also released in 1984: Both are stories in which a young American male is mentored by a wise, old martial arts master following some type of scuffle. The show's storylines often resembled those on The A-Team with the heroes going to different places and helping those in need. There is also a mild paranormal element to the show in the form of McAllister's mystical abilities: he can for instance go into a trance state to simulate death or withstand torture; and he seems to have low-level empathic/telepathic abilities that allow him to gauge the honesty and emotional state of people he is talking with, unless they too have been trained in the ninja arts.
Besides Okasa and a couple of one-shot ninja adversaries, the series mostly featured corrupt businessmen, and the occasional spy or terrorist, as villains. The writing styles of the show's several scribes are fairly easy to distinguish, with, e.g., Sue Woollen tending to write less violent episodes that emphasized relationships between the guest stars and regulars and portrayed the usual damsels in distress as relatively strong personalities. Injokes referencing Van Cleef's career in westerns appear in several episodes. The most frequently used weapons in the series are the shuriken or throwing star (which doubles as the series logo), the "sword" (the show's modern ninjakens it uses as the ninja dueling weapon of choice), the caltrop
Caltrop
A caltrop is an antipersonnel weapon made up of two or more sharp nails or spines arranged in such a manner that one of them always points upward from a stable base...
, the smokebomb and a type of chain with weighted ends called a kusari fundo which was commonly used as a flail or occasionally thrown.