quality of the third season

I was very keen to see the complete third season as I had missed much of it during it's original showing in the UK. Frankly I really enjoyed the idea of a 'black ninja' army chasing Caine about the country and with Full Circle' the quest was complete but since then, most of the episodes are pointless and lacking in sustance.

I'm half way through it right now, I don't see a drop in directing, acting or writing. There's only 3 episodes after "Full Circle" unlike "Brisco County" that went on for like 8 or 9 after finding the mystery of the orb.

Thanks cranialsi and invincible for your replies. This is a question. For cranialsi. I too live in the UK. I was curious as to the year approximately they showed Kung Fu and whether they did any reruns, as well as the day and approximate time they showed it. I have this vague feeling they showed it on Sunday mornings. I was just a young boy in the early 70’s.

I just started view the 3rd season. I could do with out the supernatural bits. Okay in some other series but doesn't seem to fit in Kung Fu after 2 seasons with out it. Before when young Caine encountered magic it was made clear that it was trickery then suddenly in the 3rd season magic is real.

The order trying to kill him is okay but the master who still in China can magically communicate with his agents in America and predict enough of the future to tell them how to find Caine (but not that they are going to die) and can make Caine hear him too, is just silly.

The second season ended on a 2 part story with extensive flashbacks to China, so they did a few third season episodes set entirely in China as a way to keep the series from stagnating in the Old West. The DVD is all over the place chronologically, but IMDB now has the entire season set in its proper order, as recorded in Herbie J. Pilato's book THE KUNG FU BOOK OF CAINE. For instance, the Cowled Head is introduced in "The Predators," which sets up the 2 part "Blood of the Dragon," so confusion results in first viewing the two parter. It was a creative decision to become more mystical, and the character of Caine even gets intimate with more than one woman (unthinkable from episode 1 "King of the Mountain"). David Carradine even directed a daring episode depicting a flash forward ("The Demon God") rather than flashback. A story like "One Step to Darkness" definitely seems to go overboard in the least possible way, but most disappointing of all for me was the 4 part conclusion that strangely left me cold, which depicts a Danny Caine unlike everything we've been told about for three years. The Chinese episodes allowed larger roles for our favorite Shaolin masters, while for the most part, the Western episodes remained of high quality. It's easy to accept this as the most uneven of the three seasons, but still most enjoyable.

"I take pleasure in great beauty" - James Bond

I noticed Kwai Chang was dressed in a "traditional" kung fu suit. I concluded the producers were trying to cash in on the kung fu craze.

I watch the series on and off throughout the year. I consider the series ended when he shaved his head. It seemed like that is when everything changed. Very difficult to watch after that.

As an aside, it's very hard to see Leslie Nielsen as a 'heavy'. Always expect him to make a dead-pan one-liner.