K is for a Show which taught as well as entertained

Some TV shows seem to have been aired longer than they were from the impact that they made on you.

KUNG FU is one of these.

Kwai Chang Caine (David Carradine) is the orphaned son of an American man, Thomas Henry Caine,

and a Chinese woman, Kwai Lin, in mid-19th century China.

After his maternal grandfather's death he is accepted for training at a Shaolin Monastery,

where he grows up to become a Shaolin priest and martial arts expert.

In the pilot episode Caine's beloved mentor and elder, Master Po,

is murdered by the Emperor's nephew.

Outraged, Caine retaliates by killing the nephew.

With a price on his head, Caine flees China to the western United States,

where he seeks to find his family roots and, ultimately, his half-brother, Danny Caine.

Although it is his intention to avoid notice,

Caine's training and sense of social responsibility repeatedly force him out into the open,

to fight for justice or protect the underdog.

DID YOU KNOW?

* The show's creators picked Caine as a last name to reference the Biblical Cain.

* David Carradine only shaved his head once (when shooting the pilot) --

So you can gauge when an episode was shot by looking at Caine's hair.

* David had no martial arts experience,

but he was a skilled dancer. 

He only studied Kung Fu aggressively during the last season.

* In one scene in the Pilot,

Master Kan asks young Caine to snatch a pebble from his palm. 

That shot was filmed over 15 times because the young actor was always faster than the man!

Finally he was told to snatch it with his left hand, farther from the grown actor. 

This time Master Kan foiled young Caine.     :-)

* Philip Ahn, who played Master Kan, later opened a successful restaurant, Moongate,

and children would shyly approach him, asking if they could try and snatch a pebble from his hand. 

He always obliged.