Customer Reviews

Fight Quest

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ever since I was a kid I've always been fascinated by the martial arts. (thanks Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!) My parents enrolled me in Karate when I was in middle school and I've studied off and on for years. So needless to say I was drawn to this show when I caught an episode while channel surfing. The show follows two fighters(jimmy Smith and Doug Anderson) as they travel around the world and practice the native fighting style for five days. At the end of the five day training period they have a traditional sparing match with a advanced student of that art. The show takes them all over the world to places like India, Japan, Mexico and Brazil where they learn both hands and weapon based styles. Both Smith and Anderson are skilled in their own rights. Anderson was a army bodyguard and Smith has fought pro MMA so when they get the snot beat out of them(and they often do) it's a true testament to the effectiveness of the arts they are studying. The styles they study and places they travel to are as follows.

PHILIPPINES: KAILI- A weapons based fighting style involving lighting fast strikes with knives and sticks.The guys get some nasty lumps and bruises. Plus we get to see Anderson get baptized in chicken blood! That's right..chicken blood.

CHINA: KUNG FU- The guys hike deep into the mountains of China to learn the ancient art of Kung Fu. They receive both a physical and spiritual education and the episode really gets into the history of the art.

JAPAN: KYOKUSHIN KARATE- A very brutal style of Karate. The training leaves Anderson almost enable to compete and both guys get knocked out several times. Very fascinating episode

SOUTH KOREA: HAPKIDO- A style thay incorporates dazzling kicks and throws. The boys endure intense training and face true masters of the art.

FRANCE: SAVATE- A variation of Kickboxing that involves blazing fast footwork and devastating head kicks. Nether of the guys are good at kicks and it shows as they fight some of the top flight "Savatetors" in France. Their trainer is pretty mean(but funny) in this episode.

INDONESIA: PENCAK SILATE- A very strange style that has unorthodox strikes, throws and weapon techniques. The guys are put though some of the most brutal training yet(sprinting though waist high water, punching trees for minutes at a time, running up hills with someone on your back) Anderson injures himself while training and doubts if can compete.

MEXICO: BOXING- through out the show both Smith and Anderson display impressive striking skills but both look like amateurs when they spare against some of the best boxers in Mexico City. Not only that, they must train in a environment 10,000 feet above sea level.

BRAZIL: JIU-JITSU: The boys go to beautiful Rio(lucky!) where they are trained by the legendary Rickson Gracie(undefeated) in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, a style that uses joint locks and leverage to defeat opponents. Anderson leans a valuable lesson when he is beaten by a girl that is much smaller than him. It's skill and discipline. Not size and strength that matter.

ISRAEL: KRAV MAGA- I've always heard of Krav Maga but I've never really seen it in action. After watching this episode I'm very impressed. Krav maga is a style that the Israeli army learns to disarm and kill their enemies as effectively and quickly as possible. using pure aggression, throws and nasty strikes, Krav Maga is one of, if not the deadliest style shown on the show.

USA: KAJUKENBO- the best thing I can compare this style to is a mix of MMA and just strait up street brawling. Anything goes in this episode and the guys must train by fighting up to 5 people at a time. Fight hard, Take out your enemy and live to tell the tale.

THAILAND: MUAY THAI- A type of kick boxing that allows knee and elbow strikes(In Muay Thai a punch is considered the weakest strike you can throw) Vastly popular in Tailand, Muay Thai is considered the national sport. The boys learn that is can be as poetic as it is deadly while they endure brutal training and an in depth education to the style's spiritual side.

INDIA: KALARIPPAYATTU- A sword and shield as well as a striking style, Many people believe that the ancient art of Kalaprppayattu is the architect of many eastern fighting styles. Definitely the most exotic style shown on the show, it was fascinating to watch it in action because it is rarely practiced outside of India. A shocking accident occurs with a sword in this episode.

HONG KONG: WING CHUNG- A style of Kung Fu that emphasizes speed and street brawling. The guys learn how to use fast strikes to defend themselves against multiple foes. It's really amazing to see how fast the masters strike and in turn, how difficult it is to strike them back. Smith gets head kicked off a boat in this episode. Pretty funny.

"Fight Quest" is very entertaining and there's a lot to learn by watching it. The season is 13 episodes that each run at 43 minutes so you get an in depth look into each style. Anderson and Smith are very humble and professional through out the show and provide excellent commentary during their training. They are in no way cocky meat heads that think they can beat everyone. If you're a martial arts fan or practitioner this show is for you. I was introduced to arts I've never heard of or seen and got a better understanding of the ones that I knew. "Fight Quest" is a thinking man's fight show.

I should preface this review by saying that Fight Quest was a great show. Much respect for Doug and Jimmy for their hard work and training! I think in a lot of respects it was better than its History Channel counterpart, Human Weapon. The hosts seemed to train harder, fight harder, and the show in general was focused more on fighting, as opposed to bits of history and computer animated techniques.

The problem with this DVD is that *a lot* of material got cut from every episode. I have no idea why Discovery thought this was a good idea, it steals a lot from the show. The stick training scenes in the Wing Chun and Kalarippayattu episodes were completely removed. In some cases, you lose a feel for the intensity of the style. The Kajukenbo episode was particularly hard hit in this way. They seemed to cut most of the training sequences, which are the meat of the show.

Bottom line, be aware that the quality of this DVD is not what you got watching the show on tv.

"Doug Anderson-- An Iraq war vet and rookie fighter from New Jersey. Jimmy Smith-- A professional mixed martial arts fighter and former math teacher from L.A. Join them as they explore the world's most dangerous fighting arts."
That's how the show draws you in and they know how to keep you there. These guys are tough, have great personalities, are relaxed on camera, and know how to fight! This is definitely a series that will draw you in and have you shouting at the final match like you were there yourself. That's the highlights of this DVD. And here's the but...
For each episode, there were some 60 hours of footage filmed and cut down to a 43 minute show. So imagine my shock when there were NO special features. No deleted scenes, no interviews, no nothing. They even keep the episodes censored by bleeping out the swear words.
So while the lack of extras is a sore spot, these guys are worth watching and the series is worth owning!

The DVD that I've been waiting for has finally arrived and I can't help but be happy. Every episode from the first season is on it, including a new episode that I have not seen before, which was the Wing Chun kung fu episode. I only have two problems with this DVD. One, I would have liked to seen a few things that were left out, such as the demos for Kyokushin karate at the end of the episode, which they took out. I also would have liked to see the deleted scenes that did not make it into the final cut of each episode, such as Jimmy training the shaolin monks how to play basketball or Doug talking about the bond he has with his Hapkido master and how his teacher shared, with him, the definition of Hapkido. Other than that, I recommend this DVD to anyone who can't get enough of Fight Quest!

I previously purchased and reviewed the first Fight Quest 5-dvd set which contained all of the aired episodes of Fight Quest. Although nice to have, I found it somewhat disappointing. This dvd set is the one to get! Don't even bother with the other one. The bonuses with this set are the 3 unaired episodes. I found the Muay Thai and Wing Chun episodes to be 2 of my favorites of the entire series and was disappointed that neither of them aired before Discovery Channel cancelled the series. I won't rehash my comments from my other review, but will only add that of the 2 series, Human Weapon and Fight Quest, it is Fight Quest I found to be more enjoyable and will probably watch repeatedly for entertainment value.

Jimmy and Doug are two young American men traveling the world submitting themselves to the pain and discipline of various martial arts.

They make a great team. They are both very humble and respectful. They both make fine ambassadors of the U.S.A.

These shows are very inspiring to watch. Watching their work ethic, and the training, motivates me to get up and train hard myself.

This is a great series.

This show follows the same format basically as Human Weapon, except that (at least according to the hype) they only train for five days and then they both have to fight in a match with fighters proficient in that particular discipline. While they were some different martial arts profiled in this series that haven't been profiled before in other series (kajukenbo, wing chun, hapkido, Brazilian jujitsu, and boxing, which is not a martial art but a sport, although it can be effective for self defense under certain circumstances), not a lot of history or culture was profiled in these shows, the producers evidently preferring to appeal to the lowest common denominator in the audience. Of all these series that have aired (Deadly Arts, Human Weapon, Fight Quest), Anderson has the best attitude of all the hosts I've seen, preferring to suck it up and deal with it even though he does comment on the differences between what they do and what they are asked to do. Whether this is due to personal habits or his time in the military is unknown. Another refreshing aspect is the courtesy and respect shown by both hosts towards all their instructors, which was not always evident on Human Weapon. I have to say that Smith is the bigest whiner I've seen on any of these shows, constantly complaining about what he's not used to and making excuses when he fails to come up to scratch. It just reinforces the fact that most MMA "fighters" are athletes rather than martial artists who don't have a clue unless you're fighting according to "their" rules. As I stated in my review on Human Weapon, these types of shows are good in that they introduce viewers to many different types of martial arts rather than just karate, taekwondo, or kung fu, but at the same time I would have prefered to see a little more (accurate) history and culture than was shown in these episodes, and frankly I would also like to see more weapons work. This series is worth having for general reference about martial arts and is a little better than Human Weapon, but it is still lacking in many areas.

Fight Quest may have surpassed History Channel's Human Weapon several ways. First, both hosts fight. Second, one trains in the modern/urban area while one goes to the roots of the arts. Third, while they are there to learn, they are there to fight and they know it and embrace it. While it lacks the technique portion of HW, it never really intended to go to that area, choosing to showcase the modern and classical interpretations of the arts and cultures of where ever they were staying. I never got the feeling like these guys where grossed out to be where ever they were, and with HW it seems like they're outside their comfort zone. Well worth the price and valued addition to my collection.

-Dan

The cinematography is, as is the case for most Discovery Chanel works, very good. The martial arts selected were also very good. The two actors/athletes were "fun" and very willing and able to take a beating. The show glazes over the history of most of the arts they covered and made a few inaccurate statements, but over all, it was both entertaining and informative. Having been involved in the martial arts for over 35 years and having martial arts history and traditions as one of my hobbies, that is saying something.

The two athletes study the art of the week, each from a different master with different training ideas. They learn the basic ideas of the art and then they fight using what they know. Obviously they are NOT given time to really learn anything, but you do get to see the basic principles of the art being studied and you get a feel for the training methods. This is NOT a MMA, free-for-all bash or street fighting series nor is it a how to be a fighter in 5 easy lessons show. If you are looking for insight into other styles or are just fascinated by the worlds martial arts, then this an amazing series. It is a shame it came to an end so soon.

Note: The only reason I didn't give it 5 starts is that at times, the athletes get a bit campy, the history is NOT 100% all the time and, as petty as this may be, the athletes always refer to the martial arts they are studying as sports. Not all of the arts are sports. In fact, many are no hold bard, save your butt in a street fight combat arts. So, while I really like this series and recommend it to ALL martial art and combat enthusiasts, it could have been done a little better.

Jimmy and Doug, the two hosts of this series make this a real armchair treat for us who can afford to view this in the comforts of home.

The production values are high, and the photography is beautiful. The only downside I see is that there is thus far no Blu-ray offering for this series, otherwise I apreciate the hosts giving their all for that one week leading up to their big fights in the host countries. I also enjoy that the two Americans are at all times sincere and respectful of the countries they are training in. It's a refreshing change up from 'other' series that have a similar theme.