The Checklist: Raven (S1 Ep1) “Return of the Black Dragon”

Last year, I put a randomly selected episode of Raven (a ninja themed television series that aired on CBS from June 1992 until April 1993) to The Checklist test.

This time out I thought I would start at the beginning and see how the premiere episode/TV movie of Raven would stack up. Let’s find out…

#1. Did the hero make a good first impression?

We first meet our hero Jonathan Raven (Jeffrey Meek) as he is trying to find his son (not unlike Lee Van Cleef in The Master trying to locate his daughter). While Jonathan is unsuccessful in regards to his son, he does manage to rescue a runaway (who fit the general description of his son). The kid found himself forced to work as a courier for some drug dealers, Samoan Sam and Fat Boy Ochoa (M.C. Gainey, Con Air) and we see Jonathan dispatch of the drug dealers using his wits and his fighting skills and then making sure the kid got home to his family. 1/1

#2. Were there any notable guest stars?

After an unsuccessful son finding mission, Jonathan returns to his bartending gig at Club Tokyo in beautiful Hawaii. The club is owned by Ken Tanaka played by Clyde Kusatsu of The Perfect Weapon and Top Dog fame. We find out that Ken has ties to the Yakuza… in fact his father was the head of the Tanaka clan, but understood that the Yakuza life was not for his son. So he allowed Ken to go off on his own and start his own life and business in Hawaii. Business is so good, Ken is looking to expand and open up more locations on the mainland, but things are about to hit a snag…

Since the passing of Ken’s father, Ken’s cousin Osatsu has taken over the reigns of the Tanaka clan. Early on in the episode, Osatsu arrives in Hawaii with plans of becoming Ken’s business partner whether he wants him to or not. I should point out that Osatsu was played by none other than Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa of Showdown in Little Tokyo and Soldier Boyz fame.

Osatsu ends up getting much more than a front for his narcotics business, when Jonathan comes to Ken’s rescue… Osatsu realizes that Jonathan is the man the ninja clan known as The Black Dragons have been after for years and sees a merger between the Tanaka clan and The Black Dragons in the future… which will make him more powerful than ever before.

The Black Dragons do eventually make their way to Hawaii to battle Jonathan Raven in the big action finale. Among their members were James Lew (Mission of Justice and American Ninja 5) and Al Leong (Die Hard and Rapid Fire)! 2/2

#3. Did the show include Jonathan’s origin story?

Through a series of flashbacks we do learn about Jonathan’s backstory. Jonathan grew up in Japan. His father worked for Interpol and was investigating the Yakuza drug trade when he and his wife were killed by The Black Dragons. Upon learning this, Jonathan asks his sensei how he could become a Black Dragon.

Jonathan becomes the first westerner to ever survive The Black Dragons training, which puts a target on his back (not unlike Sho Kosugi not accepting the fact that Franco Nero became a ninja in Enter the Ninja). And it is not just Jonathan who is in danger, his wife Tamiko is nearly killed by The Black Dragons. This forces Jonathan to flee Japan to keep her safe… sadly a year later she would pass away, but not before she was able to get their infant son out of Japan… a son that Jonathan and The Black Dragons are both anxious to find, which is a great hook for a series. 3/3

#4. Did the sidekick make a good first impression?

As good as Jonathan Raven is, he can’t do it all on his own. So he calls his private investigator/former Special Forces buddy, Herman Jablonski (or Ski for those in the know). We first see Ski as he wakes up from a wild night with a married woman that he was paid to find by the woman’s husband. Ski did more than just find her, if you know what I mean. I should also note that Ski enjoys his alcohol… but not when he’s working with Jonathan.

Ski helps keep Ken and his daughter Kim, who just arrived in Hawaii herself and finds herself immediately in harm’s way and completely baffled as to why, safe… at least he does for a while. Eventually The Black Dragons nab Ski, Ken and Kim to lure Jonathan Raven to them and set up the aforementioned big action finale… where we get both Raven vs. James Lew’s Jiro and Ski vs. Osatsu! 4/4

#5. Was there a notable director?

Raven was the brainchild of Frank Lupo, the mastermind behind some TV action classics, Hunter and The A-Team. Lupo, obviously wanting to get Raven off to a good start, turned to a man well versed in action and who actually made his directorial debut on The A-Team to direct the first episode/TV movie… Craig R. Baxley. By 1992, Baxley had made the jump to directing feature films, including the famed “Baxley 3″… Action Jackson, Stone Cold and I Come in Peace aka Dark Angel. 5/5

Now since this wasn’t your typical pilot, I thought I’d throw a few rapid fire Bonus Questions in…

#6. Were any ninja weapons featured? Katanas and shuriken are used! 6/6

#7. Does anybody die? Ninjas are assassins, so it stands to reason a show about ninjas would feature some casualties? Jonathan’s realtor girlfriend is murdered to send a message to Raven and not all of The Black Dragons end up living to fight another day. 7/7

#8. Was any licensed music featured? When Ski is waiting for Jonathan, he does so at a strip club (classic Ski) and the music that is playing was the Kool & The Gang classics, “Get Down On It”. 8/8

• Final Score = 8/8 (100%) Raven got off to a strong start and I really wish it was on my radar back in the day , it definitely would have had one more viewer. The episode did everything a pilot needed to do and Jeffrey Meek earned his leading man spot… he was so good in Raven, I found myself getting bent out of shape all over again that Meek didn’t get a real chance at being TV’s Remo Williams… The inclusion of Lee Majors gave the show a proven draw and then the amazing villains that were brought in took things up a notch.