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Fight Quest (2007)
Squandered Opportunity
Fight Quest is a show that follows American hosts, Jimmy Smith and Doug Anderson, around the world to explore different martial arts styles. Jimmy is a professional and Doug is an amateur MMA fighter respectively. (I can't believe every other user review got this wrong). Many reviewers have compared it to Human Weapon, which I haven't seen. It's not a valid complaint that it's a me too show. BBC's Way of the Warrior preceded both shows by around 15 years. What is valid is that Fight Quest doesn't present the info any better due to a poor choice of hosts.
The hosts split up at each location to train with different masters. I absolutely appreciate the fact that they try to make one location traditional and the other in the city. It gives amazing cultural insight into the history of some of these martial arts. Unfortunately, the cultural opportunity is usually wasted by ethnocentric and arrogant hosts. Doug, for example, when introduced to the various masters rarely bows (or any other cultural attempt to show respect).
Both hosts train for 5 days in their respective locations and end with an actual fight with representatives from each martial art. (I know several reviews said its unfair to only train for 5 days, but this is TV. The producers wouldn't be able to make 10 episodes in a season if they stayed to "master" each one)
I do give the hosts credit for showing real effort in training and being genuinely excited by the fights. The bruises and blisters they accumulate are proof that they aren't just showing the training for TV. Because of this fact, I don't mind the complaining.
IMO the shows downfall is the hosts' commentary. I really wish they wouldn't speak (or better yet, have selected different people). While I don't mind them complaining about injuries, I can't stand it when they complain about training techniques. Both hosts are very closed minded and have called multiple exercises "useless" or "I'd rather be preparing for my fight" or "I'm not learning anything... maybe they're setting me up to fail." There isn't a master who competes that would want a student to fail in a fight. Their reputation is directly linked with the quality of fighters they produce.
Host Doug is most guilty of this. He treats most of his training as if it were an American McDojo. By around day 3 or 4, he's always complaining that he isn't learning anything to help him in a fight. It's seems that he just wants to learn some ultimate move from each style. It seems pretty disrespectful to the masters who, in their commentary explain that he's not learning a particular motion (basic fundamental stuff) correctly or that he doesn't have good leg strength. For someone who's an MMA fighter, he should know you can't learn to run before the walk.
In short, the show had potential but the hosts really ruined it.