The Karate Kid was a thirteen episode animated series which debuted on NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

's Saturday morning lineup. It starred Joey Dedio

Joey Dedio

Joey Dedio is an American film, television, and theatre actor. He is also a producer and screenwriter.When he was young, Dedio appeared in the NBC soap opera Another World and the television version of The Karate Kid, as well as performing the voice of Wheeler in the environmentalist cartoon show,...

, Robert Ito

Robert Ito

Robert Ito is a Canadian voice, television, and movie actor of Japanese decent.A Canadian actor of Japanese descent, Ito was, for many years, a dancer with the National Ballet of Canada before turning to acting in the mid-1960s...

, and Janice Kawaye

Janice Kawaye

Janice Kawaye is a Japanese-American actress, notable for providing the voice of Jenny "XJ-9" Wakeman on My Life as a Teenage Robot, Ami on Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, Sarah on Invader Zim, Gi on Captain Planet and the Planeteers, Kioko and Julia on All Grown Up! and Yuzu Kurosaki on Bleach...

. It was based on the popular Karate Kid

The Karate Kid

The Karate Kid is a 1984 American martial arts romantic drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by Robert Mark Kamen, starring Ralph Macchio, Noriyuki "Pat" Morita and Elisabeth Shue. It is an underdog story in the mold of a previous success, Avildsen's 1976 film Rocky...

series of films. Hoping to build from the franchise's popularity, DiC Entertainment

DiC Entertainment

DIC Entertainment was an international film and television production company. In addition to animated television shows such as Ulysses 31 , Inspector Gadget , The Littles , The Real Ghostbusters , Captain Planet and the Planeteers , and the first two seasons of the English adaptation of...

 and Sony Pictures Television

Sony Pictures Television

Sony Pictures Television, Inc. is an American and global television production/distribution subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment. In turn, the latter is part of the Japanese conglomerate Sony.-Background:...

 premiered an animated Karate Kid on NBC's 1989

1989 in television

For the American TV schedule, see: 1989–90 United States network television schedule.The year 1989 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1989.-Events:-Debuts:-1950s:...

 Saturday morning schedule. It was produced in association with: Saban Entertainment.

Overview

The show retained apprentice Daniel LaRusso (voiced by Joey Dedio

Joey Dedio

Joey Dedio is an American film, television, and theatre actor. He is also a producer and screenwriter.When he was young, Dedio appeared in the NBC soap opera Another World and the television version of The Karate Kid, as well as performing the voice of Wheeler in the environmentalist cartoon show,...

) and his mentor Mr. Miyagi (voiced by Robert Ito

Robert Ito

Robert Ito is a Canadian voice, television, and movie actor of Japanese decent.A Canadian actor of Japanese descent, Ito was, for many years, a dancer with the National Ballet of Canada before turning to acting in the mid-1960s...

) but abandoned the karate tournament motif for an adventure/quest setting. A miniature shrine

Shrine

A shrine is a holy or sacred place, which is dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, daemon or similar figure of awe and respect, at which they are venerated or worshipped. Shrines often contain idols, relics, or other such objects associated with the figure being venerated....

 with healing powers had been taken from its resting place on Okinawa, and it was up to Miyagi and Daniel to recover it. Together with Okinawan girl Taki (voiced by Janice Kawaye

Janice Kawaye

Janice Kawaye is a Japanese-American actress, notable for providing the voice of Jenny "XJ-9" Wakeman on My Life as a Teenage Robot, Ami on Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, Sarah on Invader Zim, Gi on Captain Planet and the Planeteers, Kioko and Julia on All Grown Up! and Yuzu Kurosaki on Bleach...

), the karatekas searched the globe and, naturally, encountered several opportunities to chop and kick their way out of trouble.

Episode formula

The episodes typically followed a similar formula: Mr. Miyagi would obtain a lead on the shrine's location in some exotic corner of the world. Daniel and Taki would follow up on it, and in the process encounter some villains who had either obtained or were seeking to obtain the shrine for their own evil purposes. After engaging, and of course, defeating the villains, Daniel would come within a hair's breadth of retrieving the shrine, only to have it escape from his grasp by random chance (for example, drifting away after being tied to a bunch of balloons, or being swept into the ocean) thus ensuring that the search would continue into the next episode.

Syndication

As of May 2009, the show can be purchased on iTunes

ITunes

iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....

, and can be streamed for free in the US on Netflix

Netflix

Netflix, Inc., is an American provider of on-demand internet streaming media in the United States, Canada, and Latin America and flat rate DVD-by-mail in the United States. The company was established in 1997 and is headquartered in Los Gatos, California...

, Internet Movie Database

Internet Movie Database

Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...

, Hulu

Hulu

Hulu is a website and over-the-top subscription service offering ad-supported on-demand streaming video of TV shows, movies, webisodes and other new media, trailers, clips, and behind-the-scenes footage from NBC, Fox, ABC, and Obstacle on October 20th 2011 Nickelodeon and CBS and many other...

, and Minisodes

The Minisode Network

The Minisode Network is a Sony Pictures Television internet television network launched in June 2007. The term minisode is a portmanteau of "mini" and "episode." Unlike webisodes, which are initially broadcast on the internet, minisodes are condensed versions of previously broadcast, full length,...

 are available on Crackle

Crackle

Crackle is a digital network and studio, featuring commercially supported streaming video content in Flash Video format. It is owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, and its content consists primarily of Sony's library of films and television shows...

.

Episode titles

episode#	Title	Air Date	Synopsis
1	My Brother's Keeper	September 9, 1989
2	The Greatest Victory	September 16, 1989
3	The Homecoming	September 23, 1989
4	The Tomorrow Man	September 30, 1989
5	All the World His Stage	October 14, 1989
6	The Paper Hero	October 21, 1989
7	Over the Rainbow	October 28, 1989
8	The Return of the Shrine	November 4, 1989
9	Walkabout	November 11, 1989
10	East Meets West	November 18, 1989
11	The Hunt	December 2, 1989
12	The Gray Ghosts	December 9, 1989
13	A Little World of His Own	December 16, 1989

Cast

• Joey Dedio
  Joey Dedio
  Joey Dedio is an American film, television, and theatre actor. He is also a producer and screenwriter.When he was young, Dedio appeared in the NBC soap opera Another World and the television version of The Karate Kid, as well as performing the voice of Wheeler in the environmentalist cartoon show,...
  
   - Daniel LaRusso
• Robert Ito
  Robert Ito
  Robert Ito is a Canadian voice, television, and movie actor of Japanese decent.A Canadian actor of Japanese descent, Ito was, for many years, a dancer with the National Ballet of Canada before turning to acting in the mid-1960s...
  
   - Mr. Miyagi
• Janice Kawaye
  Janice Kawaye
  Janice Kawaye is a Japanese-American actress, notable for providing the voice of Jenny "XJ-9" Wakeman on My Life as a Teenage Robot, Ami on Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, Sarah on Invader Zim, Gi on Captain Planet and the Planeteers, Kioko and Julia on All Grown Up! and Yuzu Kurosaki on Bleach...
  
   - Taki
• Pat Morita
  Pat Morita
  Noriyuki "Pat" Morita was an American actor of Japanese descent who was well-known for playing the roles of Matsuo "Arnold" Takahashi on Happy Days and Mr. Miyagi in the The Karate Kid movie series, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1984.-Early life:Pat...
  
   - Mr. Miyagi

Additional voices

• Charlie Adler -
• James Avery -
• Bever-Leigh Banfield -
• Bettina Bush
  Bettina Bush
  Bettina Bush is an American voice actress and pop music singer. She was born the youngest daughter out of three children. Her father was of African American descent and her mother was of Irish, Cherokee, and Polynesian descent.- Voice acting :...
  
   -
• Darleen Carr
  Darleen Carr
  Darleen Carr is an American actress best known for a recurring role in the 1981–82 television series Bret Maverick opposite James Garner...
  
   -
• François Chau
  François Chau
  François Chau is a Cambodian-American actor. He is known for his role as Dr. Pierre Chang in ABC's Lost, and as The Shredder in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze....
  
   -
• Cam Clarke
  Cam Clarke
  Cameron Arthur "Cam" Clarke is a prolific American voice actor and singer, well known for his work in animation and video games. Clarke is well known for providing the voices of Leonardo in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Shotaro Kaneda in the 1989 original English-dub of Akira. He often voices...
  
   -
• Townsend Coleman
  Townsend Coleman
  Townsend Coleman is an American voice actor who performed in many animated series and TV commercials beginning in the early 1980s...
  
   -
• Danny Cooksey
  Danny Cooksey
  Danny Cooksey is an American singer, actor and voice actor. He has been in show business since he was very young and is best remembered for playing the roles of Sam McKinney on the last years of the TV show Diff'rent Strokes and Robert "Bobby" Budnick on the Nickelodeon program, Salute Your...
  
   -
• Brian Cummings
  Brian Cummings
  Brian Cummings is an American voice actor.-Biography:He is known for his work in radio and television commercials, television and motion picture promos, cartoons and as the announcer on The All-New Let's Make a Deal from 1984 to 1985...
  
   -
• Jim Cummings
  Jim Cummings
  James Jonah "Jim" Cummings is an American voice actor who has appeared in almost 100 roles. He has appeared in classic animated movies such as Aladdin and The Lion King, as well as taking on roles in more current films, such as Bee Movie, Princess and the Frog, and Winnie the Pooh.-Personal...
  
   -
• Debi Derryberry
  Debi Derryberry
  Debi Derryberry is an American voice actress, singer, composer and kids' entertainer who won an American Anime Award.-History:...
  
   -
• Shawn Donahue -
• Fernando Escandon -
• Ron Feinberg
  Ron Feinberg
  Ronald A. Feinberg was an American character actor and voice actor who appeared in films and on television. He can be seen playing the character Fellini opposite Don Johnson in the postapocalyptic film A Boy and His Dog. Ron made a number of appearance on Mission: Impossible...
  
   -
• Takayo Fischer
  Takayo Fischer
  Takayo Fischer is an American stage, film and TV actress, as well as voice-over actress and singer.-Personal life:Fischer was born in Hardwick, California, the daughter of Issei Chukuro and Kinko Tsubouchi...
  
   -
• Linda Gary
  Linda Gary
  Linda Gary was an American voice actor and voice-over artist, who has worked on multiple animated projects.-Personal life:Linda Gary Dewoskin was born in California on November 4, 1944....
  
   -
• Ellen Gerstell
  Ellen Gerstell
  -Voice roles:*Jem *Monchhichis *Dragon's Lair - Princess Daphne *My Little Pony: The Movie *Little Clowns of Happytown *My Little Pony TV series...
  
   -
• Ed Gilbert -
• Salim Grant -
• Edan Gross
  Edan Gross
  Edan Gross is a former child actor. He appeared in many guest spots on many popular television programs in the 1980s and 1990s including Cheers, Murphy Brown, The Golden Girls, Empty Nest, Newhart, Highway to Heaven, Married… with Children, Northern Exposure, and Herman's Head...
  
   -
• Ernest Harada -
• Billie Hayes
  Billie Hayes
  Billie Hayes is an American actress best known for her comic portrayal as Witchie-poo on the Sid and Marty Krofft television series H.R. Pufnstuf. Her characteristic cackle and animated physicality were notable during the show's 17-episode run in 1969–70...
  
   -
• Dana Hill
  Dana Hill
  Dana Hill was an American actress and voice actor with a raspy voice and childlike appearance, which allowed her to play adolescent roles into her 30s...
  
   -
• Michael Horton
  Michael Horton (actor)
  Michael "Mike" Horton is an American character actor and voice over artist most remembered for his long-running role as Jessica Fletcher's nephew, Grady Fletcher, on the television series Murder, She Wrote...
  
   -
• Jerry Houser
  Jerry Houser
  Jerry Houser is an American character actor and voice actor in film and television.-Career:Houser was born in Los Angeles, California. Since 1971, he has appeared in countless films, TV series, animated series, and commercials...
  
   -
• Buster Jones
  Buster Jones
  Edward L. "Buster" Jones is an American voice actor.He is probably best known from his roles as Black Vulcan in Super Friends, Blaster in The Transformers, Doc in G.I...
  
   -
• Dana Lee -
• Katie Leigh
  Katie Leigh
  Katherine "Katie" Leigh is an American voice actress best known for her role as Connie Kendall on the Focus on the Family radio program Adventures in Odyssey since 1987...
  
   -
• Kadar Lewis -
• Sherry Lynn
  Sherry Lynn
  Sherry Lynn is a veteran American voice actress, known for young girl roles in animation and video games. She is represented by Arlene Thornton & Associates...
  
   -
• Mary McDonald-Lewis -
• Joey Miyashima
  Joey Miyashima
  Joey Miyashima is a Japanese American television and film actor. Miyashima played Pee-wee Herman's Japanese pen pal, Oki Doki, in "Accidental Playhouse", an episode of Pee-Wee's Playhouse...
  
   -
• Claudette Nevins -
• Toy Newkirk
  Toy Newkirk
  Toy Newkirk is an actress, perhaps best known for her role in the 1988 horror movie A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master as Sheila Kopecky...
  
   -
• Dyana Ortelli -
• Rob Paulsen
  Rob Paulsen
  Robert Fredrick "Rob" Paulsen III , sometimes credited as Rob Paulson, is an American voice actor, best known as the voice behind Raphael from the 1987 cartoon of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Yakko Warner and Dr...
  
   -
• Diane Pershing
  Diane Pershing
  Diane Pershing, born and raised in Queens, New York, is a romance novelist, television writer and voice actor.She wrote episodes for the television series The Love Boat and What's Happening Now!!...
  
   -
• Brock Peters
  Brock Peters
  Brock Peters was an American actor, best known for playing the role of Tom Robinson in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird...
  
   -
• Hal Rayle
  Hal Rayle
  Hal Rayle is an American voice actor. He has done many roles for both animated series and live action movies.-Career:Rayle has had a number of voice acting jobs over his career. Rayle's animated series roles include Lieutenant Commander Steele in SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron, Pipes, Snarl and...
  
   -
• Peter Renaday
  Peter Renaday
  Peter Renaday is an American voice actor.-Film:*The Aristocats as the truck driver*Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost as Mr.McKnight-TV series:*Angel as The Beast's Master...
  
   -
• Robert Ridgely
  Robert Ridgely
  Robert Ridgely was an American actor and vocal artist, known for both on-camera roles and extensive voice-over work.-Career:...
  
   -
• Davis Roberts -
• Josh Rodine -
• Neil Ross
  Neil Ross
  Theodoric Neilson "Neil" Ross is an English voice actor and announcer, born in London, England and now resident and working in Los Angeles, in the United States. He has provided voices for in many American cartoons, particularly those based on Hasbro products and Marvel Comics, and numerous...
  
   -
• Kath Soucie
  Kath Soucie
  Katherine Elaine Soucie is an American voice actress. She is sometimes credited as Kath Soucie, Katherine Soucie, Kath Souci, Kath E...
  
   -
• John Stephenson
  John Stephenson (actor)
  John Stephenson is an American actor and voice actor. He has also been credited as John Stevenson...
  
   -
• Cree Summer
  Cree Summer
  Cree Summer Francks , best known as Cree Summer, is a Canadian actress, musician and voice actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as college student Winifred "Freddie" Brooks on the NBC sitcom A Different World...
  
   -
• Brian Tochi
  Brian Tochi
  Brian Keith Tochihara , better known as Brian Tochi, is a U.S. actor, screen-writer, movie director and producer. He was widely recognized as the most popular East Asian child actor working in U.S. television during the late 1960s through much of the 1970s having appeared in various T.V. series and...
  
   -
• Tamblyn Tomita -
• Marcelo Tubert
  Marcelo Tubert
  Marcelo Tubert is an actor and a voice actor. He is also known as Marcello Tubert and Marc Tubert.-Animation:* Capitol Critters - Additional Voices* Pound Puppies - Additional Voices...
  
   -
• Chick Venerra -
• B.J. Ward -
• Anthony Watson
  Anthony Watson
  Anthony Reynard Watson, a native of Mobile, Alabama, is an American soul singer, who toured and recorded with The Chi-Lites in the late 1980s and 1990s.-Career:...
  
   -
• R.J. Williams
  R. J. Williams
  R. J. Williams or Robert Jackson Williams is an actor, television host, and producer but is best known as the Founder and CEO of Young Hollywood LLC-Acting:...
  
   -
• Anderson Wong -
• Keone Young
  Keone Young
  Keone J. Young is an American character actor. His father is Chinese and his mother is Japanese.He has been prolific in his character work and has made numerous guest appearances on such varied television series as Diff'rent Strokes, The Golden Girls, Murphy Brown, Mad About You, Family Matters,...
  
  -

External links