Robot Taekwon V (original) (raw)

Ah, such fond memories. Taekwon V is one of the first mecha movies I watched as a little kid and I must say I was thrilled with its fast pacing and almost non-stop action. It was the late 80’s, television was full of kid stuff, and dubbed VHS were pouring in from all sides with all sorts of animated stories the videoclubs never bothered to categorize properly.

I didn’t know it back then but turns out Taekwon V is actually on of the earliest Korean anime-style rip-offs. The similarities to Mazinger Z are more than obvious (just look at the ship entering the head) but copyrights... where blurry back then and nobody cared much about these low budget productions. Plus they never aired Mazinger in my country to even see the similarities and after awhile all classical robot shows copied each other and looked the same so I doubt anyone else cared to make a fuss about it.

So what is this movie besides a copycat? Simple, it is fun. Fun in the way that it was made by Koreans, for Koreans, based on a foreign series which was very popular amongst children back then. It is also a stand alone movie instead of a mostly episodic series, thus the development and the revelations were coming one after another in a few minutes. Which is also something that I am not sure about; was the version I watched as a kid really only one hour long? It sure felt a lot longer to me but I was just a silly kid so I may be mistaken. You see when I recently rewatched the film, I learned that the original version was lost forever and they could only find and salvage a very corrupted copy from some warehouse. Being considered a national treasure, the government poured lots of money so they would remake it frame by frame, and thus we have the current remastered version. I know they changed the music and I am sure they redubbed the voices but the footage is basically the same… but felt going much faster. Was it really only one hour long?

Anyways, the reason they went to all this trouble to remake it is basically because it was a smash hit in Korea as well as in many other countries it was exported to. The dubbed version I had as a kid didn’t seem to show it that much but turns out it was so successful basically because it was oozing with patriotism. I mean, damn, it is almost considered propaganda the way they glorify Korea in here. First it promotes martial arts and especially Tae kwon do, of which they are very proud of. Then it presents all people from other nations (Japan, India, America, Russia) to be either ugly or stupid. Finally it sets the country where the robot is to be Korea (you clearly see the flags and hear the name) and has the characters drawn in a rather familiar to their animation style way (eyes, lips, hands) to make it feel very keen to their culture.

Of course I had never realized all that as a kid and even if I had I am not Korean to give a damn. The reason I liked it so much was simply because it wasn’t fooling around at all. The action and the revelations were non-stop and the movie only lasts one hour (or at least the remastered version does) so kids would not be bored with it. Also, despite being a silly story about robots and martial arts, it had many things going on in it so it didn’t feel simplistic at all. Although the basic scenario is (just like in Mazinger) a mad scientist trying to take over the world with robots and another scientist building his own to stop him, there were also many other side stories going on to flavour it. There was for example a martial arts tournament, where the protagonists competes in Tae Kwon Do. We get some fighting choreography regarding that (crude but it’s there) where sports and fair play and training hard are promoted. It is very motivational and dynamic for kids. Then there is another side story with the daughter of the mad scientist, who is torn between being treated as a cyborg (yes, she is artificial) or as a human being. There is a part where the protagonist tries to cheer her and his platonic girlfriend gets mad and offends her, thus turns her to the dark side. As a cyborg, she also fights with a fencing sword (more sports) that shoots electricity. Then there is the good scientist who is a pacifist and who has these notions of fighting only for protecting. Then there is a sub plot where the villains kidnap athletes who lost in their championships because it would be far easier to lure losers into working for them for glory and revenge. And there are actually twists to all the above. Crude and rushed but they are there. You simply can’t ignore the rich context.

Let’s suppose you don’t like the context (shame on you). The action part is also very good for its time. Based on various martial arts and classic robot attacks, there is a great variety in how the characters fight. Punching, slashing, burning, crushing, stomping, you name it, verbal psychological warfare; even pepper spray is used! You get martial artists, gunners, cyborgs, tanks, airplanes, giant robots, and teapot comic reliefs. There is even variety in backgrounds; you get arenas, cities, deserts, pyramids, Chinese dragons up in the skies; man this is a blast.

And let me clarify that as cool as all the above sound, the production values are poor, even for the time the movie was made. You can find continuity errors, repeated footage, crude motions, unimpressive voice acting, and the like. If you are to be bitches about it and judge the movie based on all that, then you will hate it with all you got. It doesn’t look nice at all, ok? It is the fun behind all that that I am talking about. No fillers, no linear scenario, no dried up presentation, and lots of patriotism, vividness, and passion, all taking place in roughly one hour. You can find all that if you see past the obvious.

Although it is very hard to enjoy the movie if you are spoiled on recent series, in case you are willing to look for fast fun and passion in an otherwise silly robot movie, then I highly recommend it. It would be awesome if it lasted twice as much and had ten times more budget but I liked it a lot even as it is.

And now for some excused scorings.
ART SECTION: 3/10
General Artwork 0/2 (terribad)
Character Figures 0/2 (typical)
Backgrounds 1/2 (basic)
Animation 1/2 (crude but at least they try to have battle choreography)
Visual Effects 1/2 (basic)

SOUND SECTION: 6/10
Voice Acting 1/3 (dried up)
Music Themes 3/4 (silly but fit the mood of the movie)
Sound Effects 2/3 (ok I guess)

STORY SECTION: 6/10
Premise 1/2 (typical)
Pacing 2/2 (super fast)
Complexity 2/2 (lots of things are going on)
Plausibility 0/2 (none)
Conclusion 1/2 (cheesy)

CHARACTER SECTION: 6/10
Presence 1/2 (generic)
Personality 2/2 (cheesy but well founded)
Backdrop 1/2 (generic and simplistic but it’s there)
Development 1/2 (overblown but it’s there)
Catharsis 1/2 (overblown but it’s there)

VALUE SECTION: 7/10
Historical Value 3/3 (Korean national treasure; need I say more?)
Rewatchability 2/3 (high because of the fast pacing)
Memorability 2/4 (generic as a robot story but good for its variety)

ENJOYMENT SECTION: 4/10
Art 0/1 (looks lazy)
Sound 1/2 (sounds ok)
Story 1/3 (feels generic)
Characters 2/4 (the villains steal the show)

VERDICT: 5.5/10