Human Weapon on History Channel

[nathan rd]

Is anyone here watching Human Weapon on the History Channel? It's coming on every Friday night. Tonight they did an hour-long episode on savate. It was pretty good. They do a different art every week.

[YOUTUBE][/YOUTUBE]

[Jace]

I hadn't heard about it...

Thanks for the info though, I'll start trying to catch it when I can.

[okimura]

Is anyone here watching Human Weapon on the History Channel? It's coming on every Friday night. Tonight they did an hour-long special on savate. It was pretty good. They do a different art every week.

Do you know where we can catch earlier episodes? Thanks.

[jubaji]

It is awful. The big(ger) goofy looking guy seems to be under a contractual obligation to say "I'm big!" 25 times per episode, the smaller guy (who apparently is subsidizing the entire North American hair gel industry) feels the need to repeat everything an instructor says moments after it has been said and points out the most painfully obvious things as if he were a professor giving a lecture ("I see, so you curl your fingers in together as you make a fist, yes, I see"), and the 'fights' at the end are blatantly staged demos that they try to sell as 'real combat' with cheesy commentary. Oh, and after only three episodes they are already starting to recycle those nifty 'scientific' graphics showing the physics of picking your nose or whatnot, complete with handy 'equations'.

Other than that its pretty interesting.

[Tom Yum]

It is awful. The big(ger) goofy looking guy seems to be under a contractual obligation to say "I'm big!" 25 times per episode, the smaller guy (who apparently is subsidizing the entire North American hair gel industry) feels the need to repeat everything an instructor says moments after it has been said and points out the most painfully obvious things as if he were a professor giving a lecture ("I see, so you curl your fingers in together as you make a fist, yes, I see"), and the 'fights' at the end are blatantly staged demos that they try to sell as 'real combat' with cheesy commentary. Oh, and after only three episodes they are already starting to recycle those nifty 'scientific' graphics showing the physics of picking your nose or whatnot, complete with handy 'equations'.....

Other than that its pretty interesting.

I knew you'd like it. Jubs, the format is designed for younger, educated viewers (which excludes us -- well, they say 30 is the new 20).

Another thing, the physics equations are basic and tell us nothing we can't already look up in a physics text.

The goal of using equations in physics is to derive equations that can be interpreted as some kind of physical phenomenon and tell us something new about a system and its surroundings.

[7r14ngL3Ch0k3]

It is awful. The big(ger) goofy looking guy seems to be under a contractual obligation to say "I'm big!" 25 times per episode, the smaller guy (who apparently is subsidizing the entire North American hair gel industry) feels the need to repeat everything an instructor says moments after it has been said and points out the most painfully obvious things as if he were a professor giving a lecture ("I see, so you curl your fingers in together as you make a fist, yes, I see"), and the 'fights' at the end are blatantly staged demos that they try to sell as 'real combat' with cheesy commentary. Oh, and after only three episodes they are already starting to recycle those nifty 'scientific' graphics showing the physics of picking your nose or whatnot, complete with handy 'equations'.

Other than that its pretty interesting.

Are you fuckin kidding me? All the episodes have been really good. Quit hating. You couldnt do any better. That "big goofy looking guy" is very accomplished in wrestling, he's played in every pro football league and he's been practicing martial arts on top of that for a while. The "smaller guy" has been doing all kinds martial arts for a very long time.

they explain all the intracacies in the techniques theyre doing so everyone can understand. theyre not trying to play dumb.

and the matches at the end arent staged demos, theyre just light exhibition matches where the master or champion is just holding back.

theyre gonna have a Judo episode next week. theyre also gonna have a Sambo episode, an MMA episode, and a Pankration/wrestling episode.

[bigboywasim]

Human Weapon is a really good show. You learn everything about the art from its history to how it is used in fighting and what it is good for and what weakness it has.

I have posted the Muay Thia episode in the Muay Thia section. Check it out.

Here is the Karate one.

http://stage6.divx.com/user/HuttPrincess/video/1503629/HWS01E03

Here is the official site where you can get a sneak peak to the judo, savate and much more.

http://www.history.com/minisite.do?content_type=Minisite_Generic&content_type_id=55002&display_order=5&sub_display_order=5&mini_id=54986

[jubaji]

Are you fuckin kidding me? All the episodes have been really good.

I am not fuckin kidding you, its terrible. In any case, its geared towards an audience with absolutely zero knowledge about MAs, which I would assume is a demographic you are not a part of.

[jubaji]

I knew you'd like it. Jubs, the format is designed for younger, educated viewers.

Younger, yes. Educated, I don't think so.

[bigboywasim]

I am not fuckin kidding you, its terrible. In any case, its geared towards an audience with absolutely zero knowledge about MAs, which I would assume is a demographic you are not a part of.

How would you make it better then?

[jubaji]

How would you make it better then?

Cancellation.

[Garland]

Cancellation.

bullshit.

As far as I'm concerned, the show has some pretty damn good artists on it...c'mon, you don't get any cooler than Apideh Fairtex and GT Leo Gaje.

The hosts are kind of hokey, the way they shot the show is kinda hokey...and the exhibition matches are pointless...(they're exhibition matches)...but you know what...

getting a chance to see Gaje, Apideh, Lek, and all the rest strut their stuff and teach a few moves...is awesome.

[jubaji]

The hosts are kind of hokey, the way they shot the show is kinda hokey...and the exhibition matches are pointless...(they're exhibition matches)...but you know what....

Yes, I know what; it sucks. Don't confuse the people you want to see with the show itself.

[dodgeduckdodge]

Yes, I know what; it sucks. Don't confuse the people you want to see with the show itself.

Jubaji's post all over this forum are the same. This kid adds nothing to discussions but insults, not that - that is totally a bad thing, but it's all he is good for. The fact is the kid needs to train and learn, then maybe he can calm down and add something of value. Until then, we know what your all about, and so far, it ain't much kid.

Alcohol

[jeff5]

I'm a martial arts junkie, so I watch it. Has its moments, some good some bad. Overall its entertaining.

That being said, many of the arts they show in the episodes are just crap. I'd say that the best overall episode and the one with the best exhibition so far was the Muay Thai one.

I'll sum up my opinion of the episodes:

Loved the Muay Thai one. They showed 4 or 5 different variations of the Thai arts. The ring version (which was really good), some guys in white gis who wer enot very good, another guy teaching some monkey techinque that also wasn't very good, and then some guys in nothern thailand who I thought were very good and had good techinques, but still would get whipped by the ring guys. The exhibition fight was pretty good, obviously the Thai champion was going easy or he would have owned. You could tell that guys would whip serious ass if he wanted to.

Escrima. This episode was just OKAY. I like a lot fo Filipino Martial Arts, but honestly I never really liked Doce Pares much, and the WEKAF sparring is a good way to die against someone with a real heavy stick or with a blade. You want to spar with sticks? Go at it Dog Brothers sytle or something similar. (maybe not that extreme!) I loved seeing Leo Gaje, he's the real deal for sure. The fight at the end was a joke. The American MMA guy took the escrima guy down twice but it was "illegal". Yeah illegal fine, in a real fight that escrima guy would be toast. Yeah I know they're exhibition fights, but still....

Karate. Again, just okay. At least they stayed in Okinawa, and got a lot of the history (what we know of it) correct. So they weren't saying well Karate is Japanese etc... That being said they start with Kyokushinkai. Well, yes it has Okinawan roots, but Kyo is basically Shotokan with modifications. (okay a lot of modifications) Shotokan is from Okinawa sure, but lets remember Shotokan and many of the styles imported to Japan were modified so much and taught in such a way that they don't resemble the more combative Okinawan systems. Then they go to Uechi, which I kind of liked, then Shuri-te, which is very Okinawan. They ended with Morio Hiagoanna and Goju. Higaonna sensei always impresses me and he didn't fail on the show either. The fight at the end was aweful. Yeah the Kyo guys train kind of hard and definately have decent leg kicks. But the whole thing of not being able to punch to the head is just laughable. Training like that is just asking to be knocked out against a good kick boxer or in the street. I wasn't impressed to say the least.

Savate. Pretty good episode. I actually liked most of what thy showed during the program. The street fighting stuff was pretty good, and I really think those kicks with shoes directed at the low line or mid-section could be devestating. (being kicked in the head by one of those guys wouldn't be too nice either....) I liked the training methodology of most of the guys they showed, good, hard, pretty realistic. I laughed though when they were talking about holding your leg out ther to kick mutiple times. In my mind I see a leg held out there I think..gift! All that being said, I was extermely unimpressed with the Savate champ that the big moose fought. Yeah its an exhibition, but he just didn't seem very good.

Upcoming episdoes are:

Pankration
Krav Maga
Marine Corps Martial Arts (huh?)
MMA
Kung Fu (ONE episode on China? c'mon...)
Sambo
Bokator: Cambodian Blood Sport
Silat: Martial Art of Malaysia. (bit disappointed. I'm kind of a silat enthusiast, and even though I know there is good silat in Malaysia, I really think they should have at LEAST split the episode between Malaysia and Inodnesia)