Daniel Wasn’t the Villain — He Was Just Annoying | Original Geek | S1E16

The Karate Kid is one of the most iconic Gen X movies ever made — and somehow, it’s still starting fights 40 years later.

In this episode of Original Geek, we break down why The Karate Kid refuses to stay a simple underdog story. From the now-viral “Daniel LaRusso is the real bully” theory to the infamous crane kick controversy, we follow the chain of events that keeps fans arguing decades after the credits rolled.

We take a hard look at the moments that fuel the debate: the first encounter on the beach, the bathroom prank, the escalation of every major fight, and whether Daniel actually throws the first punch more often than people remember. We also unpack the so-called “15-Minute Movie Theory” — the idea that a single competent adult could have ended the entire conflict before it ever became a tournament.

We dig into whether the crane kick was actually illegal (spoiler: the tournament rules are a mess), how Cobra Kai reframed the franchise, and why characters like Johnny Lawrence feel very different when you rewatch the story as an adult. Along the way, we also ask the uncomfortable question: how many adults in this movie completely failed at their jobs?

This episode is packed with Geek Court energy, 80s nostalgia, training montages, and just enough sarcasm to keep things honest — without gatekeeping or hero worship.

If you grew up quoting Mr. Miyagi, practicing crane kicks in your driveway, or binge-watching Cobra Kai and suddenly questioning everything you thought you knew — this one’s for you.

Topics include: The Karate Kid, Daniel LaRusso, Johnny Lawrence, Cobra Kai, 1980s movies, pop-culture fan theories, nostalgia rewatch debates.

🎙️ Original Geek — Gen X geek culture from people who lived it.
Hosted by Steve Scarfo and Jeff Shaw.

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Transcript

Steve Scarfo (00:00)
The theory online is if all of the adults had been ⁓ adulting at all throughout this movie, it would have been like 15 minutes long, right? Because Daniel goes to the beach and gets into a fight with a kid and then he gets the older guy who teaches him karate. He tells him he's gotta stand up for himself and then those two guys get into it and suddenly there's a tournament on the line.

Right, had the parents stepped in, anyone, there's fights at school, nobody steps in. Like at any point in time, an adult figure could have been like, hey, cut the crap.

All right, welcome to Original Geek, the all-fandom podcast where we dig into sci-fi, fantasy, comics, and every pop culture obsession that built the multiverse we live in today, served with nostalgia, sarcasm, and zero gatekeeping. So whether you're Gen X, millennial, or just geek curious, grab your dice, grab your snacks, welcome to the basement. I'm Steve Scarfo.

Jeff (01:18)
and I'm Jeff Shaw and we'll be your wax on, wax off for today's essential life lesson. But before we get to our topic.

Alright, and this is a quick one. In our last episode with Stranger Things, I talked about nosebleeds and referenced Carrie twice. In my mind, I was picturing Firestarter, that's where it released the same year. So, I mean, there's that. I got that going for me. But ⁓ it was in Firestarter that ⁓ the psychic powers and overuse of led to nosebleeds. And that's it. So what's our topic today, Steve?

Steve Scarfo (02:03)
Well, we will be waxing philosophical. Oh God, I can't even believe I made that joke. That was horrible. sorry, it's gonna stay in though, because it was just that bad. We're talking Karate Kid. If you got the wax on wax off reference, then that's great. If not, then now you know where we're at. So I'm gonna start us with a question. I was gonna do it as like a statement, but more of a question. So here's the question for you, Jeff.

Jeff (02:14)
Hmm.

Yeah.

Steve Scarfo (02:30)
The theory online is if all of the adults had been ⁓ adulting at all throughout this movie, it would have been like 15 minutes long, right? Because Daniel goes to the beach and gets into a fight with a kid and then he gets the older guy who teaches him karate. He tells him he's gotta stand up for himself and then those two guys get into it and suddenly there's a tournament on the line.

Right, had the parents stepped in, anyone, there's fights at school, nobody steps in. I don't know what you think of that, but I don't know if I agree, but I was like, damn, that's a good point. Like at any point in time, an adult figure could have been like, hey, cut the crap.

Jeff (03:14)
⁓ Yeah, if only that actually worked with kids that would be true But I'm afraid as my 18 years as a high school English teacher and I'm sure you're learning as a parent that ⁓ You don't get to tell your kids what to do you get to try? But in the end they're making their own decisions and you certainly can't control what other kids are doing so if they're being bullies and they have

Steve Scarfo (03:17)
True. ⁓

Jeff (03:44)
bully parents and bully mentors in their lives, then yeah, the only thing you can do is be the Mr. Miyagi in the situation. And I think you are.

Steve Scarfo (03:54)
Yeah, let's be honest.

John Kreese was like, he was like throwing oil on the fire at that point. There was no backing down for him. ⁓ And as the movies move on, he becomes even more, as you understand his character more, you're like, holy crap.

Jeff (04:13)
Well, and there's a scene in Cobra Kai, which we're also referencing, because it's part of the whole Karate Kid ⁓ milieu, if you will, ⁓ where the kid with the ⁓ Eli, or Hawk, who has ⁓ the lip, what is it? He has the hair lip, and he's getting bullied, and his mom's had enough, so she calls the school.

Steve Scarfo (04:22)
The Pantheon.

hair lip.

Jeff (04:43)
and the school's gonna make an announcement across the school to not to stop picking on, well, kids for what they look like. And he's like horrified, because he knows now he's just gonna get more crap. So there's a parent trying to step in, trying to fix the problem, but it's just gonna get worse. So I disagree. ⁓

Steve Scarfo (05:00)
Right.

I just think ⁓ it made me think, and I agree of course, being on our local school board here, I've heard of all these situations and how things get dealt with and most, just having lived through high school, most of it is not gonna work. But it would have been nice to see a parent try, and maybe in Cobra Kai we see ⁓ why they never did that apparently, because hey, you're just gonna get your kid picked on even more.

It's like being the kid who tells, like, you know, and I tell my kid, if you're getting picked on, just tell a teacher. And I don't think I would have told a teacher, to be honest with you, you know, just cause you know, back in the day, that's, you know, was just, it was licensed to be more mad at you than it was.

Jeff (05:55)
Yeah, and as Mr. Brady from the Brady Bunch said, you don't want to be a tattletale. Because the tattle you're telling is that you're a tattletaler. Is that the tale you want to tell? I don't think so.

Steve Scarfo (06:00)
That's right.

What's it really like that? God that's awesome, but we're talking karate kid just in general too. So ⁓ You know the first movie ⁓ I think of course back when we were kids. I didn't get him. I think it's 85 You know, this was a this was a time when movies like Rocky were coming out there were always these ⁓

Jeff (06:07)
It's from the Brady Bunch movie, not the show.

Steve Scarfo (06:36)
these underdog sort of movies where, you in the first movie, Rocky became such a phenomenon, people forget Rocky was the underdog. He was a guy who was just an up and coming boxer and him winning that battle, he didn't even win in the first one, he just fought a good fight and he got through it. And so the idea that the underdog can come out was a lot of the themes of a lot of movies in the 80s. So I think this one hit, and of course it being about a teenager hit with us, of course, more than for most, but.

Jeff (07:04)
Well, yeah, and Rocky came out in 76 and I see the karate kid is our Rocky, our 80s Gen X Rocky. You know, ⁓ not that we didn't watch Rocky as well when we were kids, but and like that and got into that. But you were a teenager right when Daniel San is a teenager like it like it really ⁓ we were pretty much the same age ⁓ as as that. And so we could really identify.

Steve Scarfo (07:30)
yeah.

Jeff (07:33)
with this movie, especially those of us who were Gen X geeks, you know, who might've been experienced a bit of bullying, not to the extent that he did. I mean, this is an extreme case. I mean, the Cobra Kai guys were such jerks. And the actors who played those roles were perfect. I hated Dutch, Tommy, Bobby, and ⁓ Johnny. They were...

Steve Scarfo (08:00)
Johnny yeah

Jeff (08:01)
Like the looks on their faces, they were the most punchable, hateable guys ever. my God.

Steve Scarfo (08:12)
there's one guy,

I think he ends up like a sad story in Cobra Kai. But he was the guy, is that Tommy? When he went in the original Karate Kid movie, when he does the sweep the leg movie, he's the guy on the side with the, yeah, that's right. Like he's so excited that Johnny just like did a cheap shot and possibly broke this kid's knee. Like he's like such a douchebag. ⁓

Jeff (08:19)
Mm-hmm. Yes, that's Tommy, played by Rob Garrison.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yes.

Yeah,

they played those roles so well.

Steve Scarfo (08:41)
⁓ Original Karate Kid was 84.

So, yeah, we were, it was.

Jeff (08:45)
And I do

wonder because this has happened allegedly ⁓ to like another actor who played Joffrey in Game of Thrones. When you're such a hated character, it almost ruins your acting career because people like literally hate you and you can't get past it. Like it's hard to take on a new role and do something different.

Steve Scarfo (09:00)
It can't help your life much either.

Jeff (09:11)
And the same can't be said for Draco, because in Harry Potter, even though there's a, you know, obviously people don't like that character, but there's a bit of redemption for him that isn't for Joffrey.

Steve Scarfo (09:11)
⁓

And I think, no, no, no.

Jeff (09:21)
Sorry, I know we're talking, but

the point is like these actors did not get another major role that I know of, but they played those roles really, really well. I hated them so much.

Steve Scarfo (09:34)
Yeah, the ⁓

The connection, of course, and I agree, is can and I think those characters got redeeming arcs in Cobra Kai, but that's, know, years and years later, they get those redemption arcs. But yeah, I agree, especially Kreese, ⁓ who actually gets a little bit of a redemption arc himself in the later seasons of Cobra Kai, but the, holy shit, in those first two movies, you just want him punched in the face. And there's nothing more satisfying

Jeff (09:44)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. True.

Yeah.

Steve Scarfo (10:05)
than at the end of, actually, I don't even remember. It's not at the end of Karate Kid. I think it's the beginning of Karate Kid 2, because it picks up right as the tournament's over, and they go out to the parking lot, and Kreese is berating Johnny. He's like, you're such a loser, why are you doing this? And Miyagi, of course, feeling bad, steps in, and Kreese tries to punch him, and all he does is step out of the way, and Kreese puts his hand through two car windows, and...

And it's such a satisfying moment. Fuck you, dude. You know what I mean? ⁓ it's just good. ⁓

Jeff (10:41)
The,

⁓

It kind of made me think about this being the wicked of the karate kid. Like Wicked did for the Wicked Witch. For Wizard of Oz, know, just this kind of redemption, like telling that side of the other side of the story. Cobra Kai does that for, well, all of those Cobra Kai jerks. They get their bit of redemption, yeah.

Steve Scarfo (11:07)
Yeah, yeah, and we have a geek court coming up and I think they actually address some of that ⁓ geek court question in Cobra Kai. ⁓ So yeah, I mean it's movies like like Maleficent and ⁓ there was actually a Dracula movie that actually paints him not as a victim per se, but you you understand the circumstances behind why they became the douchebag they were when you saw them in that.

Jeff (11:17)
Mm-hmm.

Steve Scarfo (11:38)
But you know, ⁓ the original movie had some great quotes ⁓ too. ⁓ One of my favorites was when Daniel-san asks him what kind of belt you have and he looks down and he goes, JCPenney 398. You know what I mean? Just so stupid throwaway lines like that were great.

Jeff (12:02)
Let's flash back. Let's do it.

Steve Scarfo (12:03)
Let's do it.

Jeff (12:12)
Nice. So Steve, did you want to do karate after watching the Karate Kid?

Steve Scarfo (12:13)
Hmm

I did, I actually did karate as a kid. And now I honestly, I honestly don't remember if we were doing karate before or after karate kit. What'd I say, 85 for karate kit one, 84. ⁓ So, I mean, we graduated at 87. I think I had done karate a little bit. ⁓ My brother had gotten into it before I did and he was taking karate classes. ⁓

Jeff (12:23)
⁓ not because of it? You were doing it before? ⁓

84.

Alright.

Steve Scarfo (12:48)
I took some, I never stuck with it. I'm wearing this shirt from my kids' dojo. It's Kaizen here in Raymond, New Hampshire. So a little shout out to the folks over at Kaizen. This is their doji kai for their black belts. So I got a shirt for having a kid who's black belt. But I did some karate. But I mean, it's just like when you came out, I mean, we talk, we go back to Rocky one, two, whatever, Rocky, whenever they did their.

And they did the same kind of training montage in both of those movies, right, where you see them getting stronger, better, faster. Who didn't come out of those movies wanting to kick, cut, or fight, you know what I mean? I mean, I don't know a kid who didn't try to freaking crane kick after that movie. What about? If done right, no defend. Or no defense, I don't know how I said it. That's another great quote. What about you?

Jeff (13:18)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

yeah, of course. There's no defense. There's no defense.

Yeah

Steve Scarfo (13:44)
You guys did some, I know your brother.

Jeff (13:46)
Yeah, well, no. So, yeah, so my brother, ⁓ who actually listens to the podcast sometimes, so I'll be careful with what I say, he, ⁓ I don't, well, who knows, maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think he was ever went professionally, but my uncle was a black belt, and I think he did some training with my uncle, I think, ⁓ but he also,

Steve Scarfo (13:47)
No, said he did cry.

Hi Mark, we love you.

Jeff (14:16)
famously told one of our friends, Bill Dunbar, who put it as his yearbook quote, I come from a long line of ninjas. So Mark Shaw, I come from a long line of ninjas. So, I mean, there's that is a that's part of apparently my family history is where American ninjas. But but no, I never I never went into a dojo. No, that was never.

Steve Scarfo (14:38)
American Ninja

Jeff (14:47)
Did I try the crane kick? Of course. mean, that's just, yeah, that looked easy.

Steve Scarfo (14:52)
If I tried the crank kick now, I'd fall over and be on the floor for a week. But that's 40 years later, almost literally. Yeah, I mean, it's 2025, so it would have been 40 years ago, 41 at this point.

Jeff (14:54)
no, no, not now. No, I'll be dead.

I'd dead.

Ha ha.

Yeah, exactly.

Steve Scarfo (15:10)
Also, again, there were so many moments from this movie that get parodied throughout history from that point forward, right? The wax on, wax off. I made the stupid joke at the beginning of the show, but, you know, how many kids were over there doing this, trying to learn how to block a punch? Do you know what I mean? If you're not watching, I'm doing the circles with my hands. And then there's always, you know, we're teenage boys. It was wax on, wax off. You know, it was...

Jeff (15:31)
Yes.

Steve Scarfo (15:40)
⁓ one day my kids are going to watch that and go, dad, really?

Jeff (15:44)
Yeah, I mean, there were so many things I identified with from this movie. Like I didn't have a car, I didn't have a license. And ⁓ I had have, if I wanted to go on a date, had to get my mom to drive us to the movies or to the mall, just like in Karate Kid. I mean, it really, it seemed to capture, it was this geek flashback, self-help nostalgia. ⁓ I could really identify with them all except for the karate part. I couldn't do that.

Steve Scarfo (15:59)
Yeah.

Jeff (16:13)
So I was just the nerdy kid who couldn't defend himself. But other than that, same thing. Without the karate, I was just a kid.

Steve Scarfo (16:19)
It was like karate kid without the karate. So you were just the kid.

And this has a lot of the same elements from when we talked about last week with Stranger Things too, all the typical 80s mall and the beach stuff. Now we didn't have, I guess, well, we were in Wells, so we had some beach stuff, but not everybody lived near the beach. But there was always the beach stuff.

Jeff (16:39)
Yeah, we're the beach.

Steve Scarfo (16:45)
The karate tournament to me, I know it's the basis of the movie, right? It's the whole, from about 15 or 20 minutes in, it's the reason the rest of the movie exists. It's them trying to get him prepared and strong enough. But what surprised me ⁓ in looking back at it is it seemed to me, and I never understood why I never saw it in our area, but karate,

in this movie, and maybe it really was in Southern California at the time, it was like high school football in Texas, right? Everybody was into it. Who was the best? Like, they had crowds of people in the stands and it was, you know, they played it off as if it was like a professional level sporting, this teenage, you know, karate tournament. ⁓ Now, my kids have done some tournaments and they are not attended like that at all. You know what mean?

Jeff (17:25)
Mm-hmm.

Well, and I think that's why in Cobra Kai, they say this used to be a really big deal back in the eighties. Like, just so you know, was it really? I don't know. But I do like that in Cobra Kai, they do try to explain some things. They try to do a little retro fix.

Steve Scarfo (17:40)
There are family there, of course, people cheering.

Yes.

I don't think it was.

Yeah, it was, it just surprised me. was, they loved it and they were rabid. ⁓

But yeah, we never saw that effect. There was never karate tournaments that were, like I'm sure there were. Do you know what mean? I'm sure people who were actively studying in a dojo were going to tournaments. Tournaments aren't new, but it wasn't like, it made it feel in the movie like it was this Super Bowl. Like it was this larger than life event. And really it was probably in a gym at the high school.

Do you know what I mean?

Jeff (18:37)
Yeah,

well, speaking of tournaments, I challenge you to a fight in the Geek Court Dojo.

Steve Scarfo (18:43)
and I will crane kick your butt across

the court.

Jeff (18:56)
And our case today was Daniel LaRusso, the real bully all along, arguing that he was Stephen James Scarfo

Steve Scarfo (19:09)
Yes, I think Daniel was partly his own worst enemy ⁓ I think Daniel ⁓ He escalates at the beach, right? He's trying to impress this girl and you know, listen Johnny comes in like a douchebag But that's just Johnny and you know what I mean? He they used to date so Daniel sees this girl really likes her Johnny comes in sees her with another dude and starts being a jerk but

It's Daniel who throws the first punch. Daniel's the one that instigates the fight. He could have just let the guy be a douchebag and walk away, but he felt like he had to stand up for this girl and impress her. And so he sort of causes all of the events that happen from that point forward. When Daniel throws that punch, he brings on, ⁓ you know, they were already, we talked about it Jackass before. So you've turned a whole.

gang, I'm gonna call them, of guys who are already dickheads, ⁓ against you because you've attacked their leader. And with zero skill and zero backing. And then he gets his ass kicked and then he's all upset that he got into a fight he shouldn't have been in to impress a girl he didn't know. And then it becomes a vendetta. And so I never thought about it like this in the moment, during when it was, because you know, they

They push him up as the hero, but I do think, Jesus, maybe if he hadn't, if he'd never thrown that first punch, I mean, granted, we wouldn't have had decades of great entertainment, but I don't think there's any more movies after that. Prove me wrong, prove me wrong.

Jeff (20:48)
Yeah, easily. So just in case anyone's wondering why are we even arguing this is actually a theory out there. This is floating out there in the interwebs as a theory that Daniel LaRusso is the real bully. And that actually is part of what Cobra Kai was influenced by was this idea, this stupid, stupid idea that Daniel LaRusso is the real bully.

Steve Scarfo (20:56)
Yes.

Jeff (21:18)
So that, yes, so he did throw the first punch because he was defending, you know, ⁓ Ali who played by, ⁓ Elizabeth Shoe, who was the ex-girlfriend of Johnny and Johnny was trying to steal her radio. And so yeah, there was that first punch, okay, but still he was doing it to defend Ali. And then,

Steve Scarfo (21:29)
Elizabeth shoe.

Jeff (21:47)
Johnny and his gang run over the radio, destroying it. They beat him up and ⁓ they were the aggressors in that moment. And even though physically he threw the first punch, I think that's okay. And everything after that, there is no redeeming qualities to Johnny until the very end of the movie.

So at the very end, just to show you that Johnny knew he was the bully and he was wrong and being pushed into this by John Crease and Cobra Kai mentality, when Daniel wins with that illegal kick to the face, Johnny gets kicked in the face, loses to an illegal kick and is handing the trophy over and going, you're a good guy. This is for you, buddy.

He's like, know what? It's cool. I deserve it. I've been a jerk this whole time and you have been the victim. Here you go, buddy. Here's your trophy. So there it is. That's all the freeze frame on that moment. You can see Johnny, he's like, you know, punched in the, kicked in the face. It's all yours, buddy. You deserve it.

Steve Scarfo (23:07)
It's funny, because we could

have had two different geek courts, because that's another big controversy. Was it actually an illegal kick? Because a punch to the face was, I mean, a punch or kick to the face was a good point. There was no face contact, right? There was no rule that said they couldn't hit in the head. I don't remember that.

Jeff (23:14)
100 % it was

What?

So that

confused me. It seemed like at times that you couldn't punch someone in the face. And other times they got a point. So you're right. I guess that is debatable. But in Cobra Kai, Johnny says it was an illegal kick and Danny doesn't defend it.

Steve Scarfo (23:37)
yeah, not by me.

Jeff (23:44)
So.

Steve Scarfo (23:44)
⁓ It's funny, I've never heard anyone call him Danny.

Jeff (23:47)
Hahaha

Steve Scarfo (23:49)
It's funny how the names work, right? Cause anybody named Dan, you would likely call Danny, but because he's been Daniel LaRusso for 40 years. Yes. No, no, it's just funny. It struck my ears. ⁓ I don't think anyone ever calls him Danny, but it's just funny. Cause I mean, it's it's a, it's a legit nickname for Dan. And no one calls him Dan either. It's always Daniel. There's no nicknames. ⁓

Jeff (23:51)
You

Okay, so Daniel doesn't defend it, sorry. So my buddy Danny, you're right, he's probably never called Danny, I don't know where.

That's true.

Steve Scarfo (24:16)
But yeah, it's one of those, and obviously like Jeff said, we're bringing these up because these are true arguments online about whether or not this was, I don't know. I do think it could have short.

Jeff (24:28)
Well, cause the thing is like, cause I

know what they say like, cause he poured the water, the hose on Johnny in the bathroom and that was escalating an issue. But then the five of them chased him down and were going to beat him, what seemed to death. ⁓ And the thing is like, didn't need, it could have just been Johnny and like Johnny still would have won cause he's a trained black belt.

Steve Scarfo (24:36)
Yes, he instigated that one. Yeah.

Yes, it's certainly the implication.

Jeff (24:57)
Daniel was not, but it should have just been one-on-one. ⁓ then when they were on their motorbikes and he was on his bicycle and they knocked him off down what he calls the Cobra Kai cliff, but it's really just a really steep hill. And that's bullying behavior. that's not, he was just trying to stand up for himself and bullies don't like that. So I win. I win.

Steve Scarfo (25:10)
Down the hill.

Well,

I find that you feel like you win a lot of these. Well, listen, if you agree or disagree, send us an email, original geekpodcast@gmail.com, comment on one of our videos, tell us, ⁓ was Daniel really the bully or is that theory full of shid Whichever way you feel. I'm interested to hear what you guys think. But for now.

Jeff (25:30)
I do, I do.

Right. So my basement treasure, I wish I still had it. and I came up with this because in Cobra Kai, Johnny drops his son off at school. It's his first time when the, after they reconnected, he's like, bought you some paper and pens, but I couldn't find a trapper keeper. I'm sorry. Are those still a thing? They were super cool when I was a kid and, ⁓ his son's like, I don't know what a trapper keeper is.

Steve Scarfo (25:58)
digging in.

Jeff (26:26)
So for those of you who don't look it up, Trapper Keeper, it's this three ring binder with a Velcro enclosure. And Velcro is like the newest thing. That was like high tech for us back in the 80s. I had Velcro sneakers, Velcro, Trapper Keeper. It was just a three ring binder with a, least mine had like this 80s abstract design on it. But some people had,

Steve Scarfo (26:39)
god, it was space age technology.

Jeff (26:56)
like tigers and rainbows and unicorns and yeah, if you had a cool trapper keeper, man, you were, you were the shit.

Steve Scarfo (27:04)
It was the way to go. I do remember the Trapper Keeper. We could have a whole segment on fucking Velcro. Velcro itself was everywhere. Velcro pants, Velcro shoes, Velcro on lunch bags. I mean, they still use it in a lot of places, but it was, you know, that was the selling point. Get a Trapper Keeper with Velcro. You know I mean? It was ridiculous. ⁓ So for me, ⁓

Jeff (27:07)
So that's mine.

Steve Scarfo (27:35)
It sticks with the first movie and I think just the just the Mr. Miyagi of it all, right? He became this iconic character pretty quickly.

all those fun, like I mentioned the quote about the JC Penney 3, he was such an understated character, but he had that quiet power of someone who just knew how to do things. He didn't take any credit for fixing the bike when the bike got trashed. He's in there trimming a bonsai tree, which is not an easy thing to learn, but does it with all this great skill, but he always understates.

you know, when he talks about how power, you know, what's your belt? And he makes a joke instead of that bravado. Like the polar opposite, quite literally of the Kreese character who's all about bravado and showing everybody how powerful he is. And it turns out that really the power dynamics are reversed. And I mean, of course there's the iconic wax on wax off stuff that he pulls and trains him without training him, which is sort of the first time I remember seeing a character be that subtle. So. ⁓

You know, we talked about this before we started recording. It's not always something physical, because I don't often have the things that we're talking about anymore. But in this case, it was truly just Pat Morita being Mr. Miyagi. And the funny part is I knew Pat Morita from the old Happy Days TV show. He was Arnold, who owned Arnold's, ⁓ the restaurant all the kids in Happy Days went to, if that's even older for the rest of you guys who are listening. But I knew him as a goofy, ⁓

He was the wisecracker. He usually got the fun punchlines in that show. And then to see him as Mr. Miyagi was such a cool transformation. I don't think I recognized it like that at the time, but it was so, it was cool. So that's my treasure for that is his portrayal and his character. He created an iconic character, you know, in one movie in 1984 that's obviously stood the test of time even after his passing, Cobra Kai.

revolves around the teachings of Mr. Miyagi.

Jeff (29:47)
And I know when we talk about evolution, sometimes I think about impact. And I think about the like the impact of Top Gun on recruitment into naval aviation. And ⁓ I think Karate Kid was like the Top Gun for karate. Like there was an explosion. I know I didn't get into it, but there was a ton of that explosion of karate and ⁓

You know I you know in in your your kids have like not maybe because of the karate kid But I think there I think that legacy lasts to today that there are a lot of kids who get into Karate and maybe because of a bit of that legacy, so you know

Steve Scarfo (30:34)
Well, and I gotta think at the time, and I like that view of it, ⁓ I think at the time when Karate Kid hit, I think probably a lot of kids did jump into karate. You know what I mean? It was, it definitely had that sort of a cultural impact. And honestly, even at the dojo today, they always do these movie nights during the winter and stuff. ⁓ Sometimes they'll have like special things. And nine times out of 10, they'll.

they'll watch like an old karate movie and they've watched a couple of the karate kid movies at the dojo so that it still has that impact 40 years later because the people who were running the dojo remember the movie and bring it forward and so, you know, and again, and all the times we talk about how technology ⁓ and the sharing of media becomes so simple in 2025 that it's easy to say, I'm just gonna go stream this movie, you know.

not going to dig too far into having to find a rental place. actually had a copy when you ever wanted to watch it. ⁓ Now we just put it up on our phone. ⁓

Jeff (31:28)
Yeah.

Yeah,

and I know it wasn't, I think, at least the first one I remember is the training montage trope of, and I know in Credit Kidd it's Joe Esposito's song, you're the best around, nothing's ever gonna keep you down. And then in Rocky it was, you know, gonna fly now I think, and that it was just this.

Steve Scarfo (31:55)
Yes.

I have a tiger. gonna fly now in the first one,

Jeff (32:05)
you know, this training montage, but the best around, like after that, it's just, think that one had more even lasting impact, at least imitation wise, ⁓ because like it's been in South Park, Futurama, it's always done in Philadelphia, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, the Goldbergs, they all chose more of that, you know, the best around, literally that song.

or they made fun of it. I know in Team America, World Police, know, it's a montage. They actually called it, It's a montage, was the song. A training montage. And they used more of an 80s sound, not that 70s, you gotta fly now, so.

Steve Scarfo (32:41)
Yeah

Hehehehe

I think that's that's a.

think it's a good indicator of the level of impact. We're talking about impact, right? The level of impact that any, I'm gonna call it piece of media, because I don't wanna limit it to movies, right? Anything that has an impact so far ago to today, where people are still using it, whether for reinforcement or to make fun of it, because it means it's still relevant. Like the training montage is a trope that's still relevant. ⁓

Gonna Fly Now, ⁓ Eye of the Tiger, ⁓ the idea of the crane kickin', Wax on Wax off, these are elements of movies that still live in pop culture 40 years later. That to me is, that's a clear indication of you hit that shit out of the park, right? You had a movie, you had a piece of storytelling, is what it all comes down to, that was so impactful that people go, holy shit, that was awesome. And they,

They pick a side, whether they wanna goof around with it or make it serious, but they always find a way to bring it back. So I love that when you see that. To me, today they would be considered Easter eggs, right? When you see something happen and you go, holy shit, not everybody gets that. And those are more fun for me, I think, because I know people see it and don't think about it, but folks like us who are like, my God, that's from that. I can't think of a great example, but you know I'm talking about.

Jeff (34:05)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely.

Steve Scarfo (34:22)
so.

In the, we're in the evolution, we're talking about the series of films. So, ⁓ Karate Kid, of course, we've talked about Karate Kid 2, they go to ⁓ Okinawa, ⁓ and he loses his old girlfriend and gets this new girlfriend in Okinawa, played by Tamlin Tamita, who is,

I had a huge crush on this girl, because we were all teenagers at the same time. And I remember seeing her in a bunch of stuff. But then we jump into 1989 for Karate Kid 3. the question I have, because there were two things that happened before Cobra Kai. And I guess there might even be three. I have a list here that only has two others. So the first three movies are all Daniel.

Jeff (35:23)
Mm-hmm.

Steve Scarfo (35:24)
It's all this straight through storyline. that's, you know, that makes some sense. You have a popular character, you keep telling stories.

In the fourth movie, which came out five years later, 94, so what, 10 years after the original, not a Daniel story. Hillary Swank, the next Karate Kid, ⁓ and then they did a remake in 2010 with Will Smith's Kid, ⁓ and tried to call it The Karate Kid, and... ⁓

Jeff (35:52)
Jaden, yeah.

Steve Scarfo (36:00)
It wasn't a bad movie, but it was not the Karate Kid. I ⁓ think it was even Jackie Chan was the mentor and it was a different kid and they went from America to China. It was like literally a reverse Karate Kid.

Jeff (36:09)
Mm-hmm. Yes.

I almost wondered of what they were trying to do because of the emerging Chinese market for American films is try to create something that would, ⁓ you know, sell in China. That's what I, yeah, like, cause I know, I think Will Smith is one of the producers of Cobra Kai. So I think that family was already interested in the Karate Kid.

Steve Scarfo (36:34)
Just a straight marketing ploy.

Jeff (36:44)
And maybe this was an idea and they thought, well, hey, maybe we could create a new franchise and see some sales in America. But because it's in China and there's Chinese speaking characters and Chinese actors that we're going to get a market there too. Didn't work, but that's, I think that's what they're trying to do.

Steve Scarfo (37:02)
No,

it wasn't a great movie. And I don't think Jaden Smith is a great actor. I think if he didn't have a Will Smith as a dad, he wouldn't be leading any movies like he's okay. ⁓ And he's not like a whore like he wasn't like unbelievable or like it wasn't like a trash trip B or C movie. It was it was a good movie. But I don't think he Yeah.

Jeff (37:16)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, and Jackie Chan's great and it didn't work, right?

Steve Scarfo (37:29)
Yeah, like he couldn't carry that story, with Jackie Chan especially. ⁓ He makes entire goofy movies where he's just him, bouncing off walls and climbing shit and flipping around and he couldn't keep that movie alive. ⁓ But then in 2018,

Cobra Kai starts on YouTube. It was, yeah, it was just a little project that they decided, oh, let's make it and we'll stream it on YouTube, very low budget. And again, we start to hear the story of Johnny and we hear about Daniel being a bully from his perspective. And we start to get all this other stuff we've talked about for these other characters, but.

Jeff (37:51)
Yeah, for two years.

Steve Scarfo (38:12)
They just released, it's not even in my list, it's called Karate Kid Legends. I think I watched it on Netflix, ⁓ if not Free Plug for Netflix. ⁓ It's on one of the streaming ⁓ channels. And it is to me like a very cool like double crossover almost because it takes.

a new story and crosses it over with the kid, there's a kid being trained by Jackie Chan. So they do tie in that 2010. He is being trained in China, he's a Chinese kid, his mother moves to America and he's in New York City and he starts getting involved with a girl there and of course this.

troubles because of her old boyfriend who's a karate guy, very similar to the original karate kid story beats. ⁓ But they merge the two worlds because they take the Jackie Chan character in that part of the story and they bring in the Cobra Kai because they bring in Daniel LaRusso, they bring in Ralph Machio as Daniel LaRusso and they train this kid together. ⁓

Jeff (39:12)
Yeah.

Steve Scarfo (39:32)
and meld the two styles and they, ⁓ know, there's a, it's a 2025 style. It almost reminded me of a video game kind of set where it was like random fights at random spots around the city. So they had all these kinds of unique, it reminded me of like a street fighter game where it was like, you're fighting in the basement or you're fighting on the top of the building. Like ⁓ it was still fun to watch. Not a, not a superb movie, but a good movie. ⁓

Jeff (39:58)
Yeah.

Okay.

Steve Scarfo (40:02)
but they, I just think it was a cool, and I don't know if it'll be a button on the whole thing. I don't know if they're trying to start something new or if it was sort of like, let's wrap all this together and make one final push.

haven't seen it, Karate Kid Legends. It's worth the watch. It's fun.

Jeff (40:20)
Is that your message to the new generation?

Steve Scarfo (40:20)
I'll give it one and a half thumbs up.

Yeah, don't know if it's ⁓ really the message to the new generation so much as it is just a message to everybody. If you liked any of the Karate Kid's, it's sort of a, it combines the new with the old. There's some nostalgia, there's some new fun stuff, but it's everything you expect and want in a Karate Kid movie. Like it promises to be a Karate Kid movie and it delivers. definitely I'd say go watch it. Karate Kid Legends, it's fun.

about you.

Jeff (40:57)
Nice.

I don't have a message today. I'm ready to move on to critical hits and epic fails though, because I got a critical hit I want to share. And an epic fail.

Steve Scarfo (41:05)
All

right quickest message ever

Jeff (41:11)
Ha

ha ha.

Steve Scarfo (41:11)
All

right, you got a hit ready to go. Let's hear it.

Jeff (41:18)
All right.

I yeah, I think the choice of Bananarama's Cruel Summer montage in Karate Kid was perfect. They I think they used the whole song and it just showed how crappy Daniel's life was as he moved from New Jersey to California. It was a cruel summer all here on his own. It was perfect. And then I love that they brought it back for Cobra Kai.

and he made his banana-rama pancakes. That was like his big thing. I make banana-rama pancakes. So a callback. And then they brought it back in Curver Kai, beginning of season three, the whole cast, all the characters are kind of at a low point. It's a cruel summer. It doesn't land quite as well as it did in the movie, but ⁓ I did appreciate the callbacks. I think using banana-rama as cruel summer was a critical hit.

Steve Scarfo (42:16)
Yeah, I'll say, I remember it from the first movie. Now I've watched all this stuff over time, so I didn't catch the callback. So I'm glad you pointed that out. ⁓ Because I still love that song too. It was a hit in the 80s, it's a good song. ⁓ I think I started saying a little bit earlier, but the hit for me is Mr. Miyagi, right? The creation of this character who is the ultimate good mentor.

He's a tortured soul. You see he had a kind of checkered past and you find out more of that in Cobra Kai. But the more you learn about this character of Mr. Miyagi, like to me, the better, more iconic he became and becomes. You know, he took in a kid who was having trouble and yes, he didn't always want him to fight, but he trained him to be able to defend himself. He found a way to do it, like as much as we were talking about it before, in the tournament, like it wasn't just go kick his ass and beat his.

You know, it wasn't a thing about hurting the kid for real. It was a, let's settle it in a structured way. ⁓ And I think that character ⁓ was awesome. I still do, obviously. ⁓ What about for epic fails? I think we focused a little bit on the one movie.

Jeff (43:31)
So

after actually my epic fail, so I am enjoying ⁓ Cobra Kai. did enjoy Cobra Kai that that show ⁓ but ⁓ I do understand now why ⁓ none of those actors except for ⁓ Pat Morita had much of a Elizabeth shoe. I had much of a career after the movie. The acting is not always the best. So ⁓

Steve Scarfo (44:00)
In Karate Kid the original. Cobra Kai.

Jeff (44:00)
I no, Cobra Kai. So I think

at times, so I started watching it with my wife and she's like, this is so bad. I did not agree that it was that bad, but at times it did come across as kind of after school special. then, but I was willing, definitely willing to let it go because I was really enjoying the Nostalgia of the Doll and I think it is a good show and a good watch. But in season,

Two, at the end of it, the high school drama part of it became very soap opera for me. ⁓ And I felt like that subplot, as we got more into the teens characters and less into Johnny and ⁓ Daniel, that I felt like, ⁓ man, come on, I just need to get me through the teenage drama stuff. Let's get back to Daniel and Johnny. yeah, ⁓ so that, was a little...

For me, that was a bit of a fail for the Cobra Kai series, but overall, definitely entertaining, full of nostalgia, and ⁓ generally a great redemption story for a lot of those characters. So definitely worth a watch still. I don't mean to totally cast aspersions, but I have to agree that at times, some of the acting was a bit after school special for those of us who Gen X and remember those. ⁓

Steve Scarfo (45:27)
He

Jeff (45:29)
and or soap opera as we all know what those are.

Steve Scarfo (45:32)
Yeah, I think there's a lot of inconsistency in the series, ⁓ just to stay with Cobra Kai, but again, the first season was shot on a shoestring budget for YouTube, so it wasn't like they had a budget to pull top name actors, right? I think, I forget the kid's name who plays Johnny, but he and Macchio,

Jeff (45:54)
Mm-hmm.

Steve Scarfo (46:01)
were like the drivers behind it. They wanted to continue telling the story. And so they found a way to do it. And they, you know, I say shoestring budget, God knows it was probably a couple million dollars the way they shoot things in LA. But ⁓ yeah, they, I'm sure we're going for new actors. ⁓ Peyton List, who plays, ⁓ God, I can't remember her. She's in School Spirits, but she was a Disney kid. She was on,

Jeff (46:06)
Yeah.

She's in school spirits. ⁓

⁓ yeah.

Steve Scarfo (46:31)
the TV show, Jessie, my kids love that ⁓ Jessie show. She was one of the kids. And then there was a show called Bunked, which came after. So she was, she's a kid that's been acting her whole life, but I don't know that she was beyond a Disney kid and it was an ensemble show. So it wasn't like it was Hannah Montana where she was the star of the show. ⁓ And I'm exposing way too much of how much I know about Disney shows. But the fact is they didn't have a lot of like actors.

Jeff (46:53)
Ha

Steve Scarfo (46:59)
who people would recognize and I think that comes from they didn't have a lot of budget. But now it blows up in season one. Season two gets picked up by Netflix and now they have a budget but they have these established characters. I felt it was probably the right way to go to not replace people. They ended up adding more characters who were real actors and stuff too. There was definitely an inconsistency. ⁓ In true epic fail,

Jeff (47:18)
Mm-hmm.

Steve Scarfo (47:29)
As much as I love the fact that they blended it into the most recent movie, I don't know if I liked the 2010, the Jaden Smith. ⁓ I think it hurt, I love Jackie Chan, and I love the fact that they didn't bring Jaden Smith back for this last movie, but they brought Jackie Chan back. They found what worked and kept it, but they got rid of Jaden Smith. ⁓ I just think it didn't, they tried to turn the.

I think I agree with you. They were trying to create something new and it just totally hit a brick wall. So that's a fail for me for sure. ⁓

But as we wind down, I do have some questions for our listeners.

Did you try to learn karate after you saw the Karate Kid? I think that's important. Jeff. No, honestly, did Karate Kid prompt you to want to learn karate any more than Rocky made you want to learn how to box or is it just fun to imagine kicking someone in the face?

Jeff (48:19)
going through my katas. Don't interrupt me.

Steve Scarfo (48:31)
All right, well, thanks for joining us today. ⁓ As always, answer our questions about Karate Kid. Do you think the crane kick was illegal? Did it make you want to learn karate? ⁓ Then or now, Cobra Kai, if you're just a Cobra Kai person, did you go back and watch the original movies if you never saw them? But let us know your thoughts. OriginalGeekPodcast@gmail.com. Check us out on OriginalGeekPodcast.com slash merch for all our great episode-inspired shirts. Get a great new Stranger Things-inspired shirt that just dropped.

We will have a Karate Kid inspired shirt coming up soon and follow us on Twitter, Instagram. Please do all the likes, interactions, comments. Everything that you do out there helps us boost our audience and get more folks listening into our goofy and fun conversation. So thanks for joining us today.

Jeff (49:23)
Strike first, strike hard, no mercy OGs.



00:00 Welcome to Original Geek Podcast
01:27 Canon Correction
02:02 The Karate Kid: A Philosophical Dive
12:05 Geek Flashback
18:46 Geek Court: Daniel LaRusso as the Real Bully?
25:50 Basement Treasures
40:28 Geek Rant
41:12 Critical Hits and Epic Fails
49:27 Full Video End.mp4