Remo Williams - The Prophecy

Real Video Clips
Opening Scene Opening Credits

Our first look at Chiun in the opening scenes of the show.

In a scene copied from the movie, we see Chiun's finger balancing bit. This was not in the show, but in the titles. This leads me to believe that more were shot, but never aired.

Chiun and his nameless idol.

Remo - wearing a vest?!


Remo is informed his knee was bent.

Emperor Harold Smith - looks and sounds like I expected him to, complete with the often mentioned accent.

Chiun and the assassin he hires to scare Remo, Beasley Dalworth. His name was never mentioned in the episode - I found it in "The Day Remo Died."

This takes place 12 months after Chiun is first hired to teach Remo, putting it a couple of months after the movie ends. The show opens with a cocky Remo walking towards an alley. Chiun enters the picture asking us to change channels! The pilot even has Chiun hanging up a poster of Barbara Streisand and asking to see the local monument to her...Remo and Chiun still live in the loft by the beach...Remo is still dying for sex...Chiun still wants 15 years to train Remo. The verbal jousting is pretty good, but not great - many of the lines are directly from the books.

The episode is loosely based on the novella "The Day Remo Died", with a sub-plot of another assignment from mad emperor Harold. Roddey McDowall does a good Chiun, but the no-name Remo is terrible. I doubt the guy even knows a little Karate dance or cowardly Ninja tricks. But for Destroyer fans, it had promise. Remo would have been easily replaced - time for an identity or face change and we have a new Remo. Too bad it flopped. McDowall showed promise, and after a few episodes he could have been excellent.

My copy of the tape is probably a fourth generation, but I'm glad to have it. Just consider how rare VCR's were 11 years ago, and that someone kept the copy that long! My thanks to Christopher from MN for the tape!

If you are like me, you really want to know what these guys sounded like - so click on the images to hear them!

General Comments: We need villains that are as evil as Remo and Chiun are good! Instead we have a nameless, faceless "chemical lab" that Remo has to torch. This seems to be the main failing of the movie and TV series - no quality evil-doers. A few friends made the same comments concerning McDowall's Chiun. The accent comes and goes. Close your eyes and you clearly hear The Bookwork from the Batman TV series.

The stance is all wrong. He slouches, with no sense of readiness or power. Joel Grey (the movie Chiun) understood this well. I'm sure this would have been fixed over the next few episodes, but we'll never know. Perhaps is a new Remo movie is made, another shot at a TV series could be attempted.

It's a thought.

Cast (in credits order)

Chiun Roddy McDowall
Remo Jeffrey Meek
Smith Stephen Elliot
Beasley Dalworth Carmen Argenziano
Taffy (bimbo blonde) Judy Landers
Tony Andy Romano
Music Greg Safan
Edited by Barry Leirer
Teleplay Stephen and J. Miyoko Hensley
Directed by Christian I. Nyby II
Executive Producer Dick Clark

Dedicated to The memory of  Richard Sapir

Dick Clark Productions

Orion Television