''Mortal Kombat: Conquest'' is an American

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; a ...

television series developed by Juan Carlos Coto. Based on the ''

Mortal Kombat ''Mortal Kombat'' is an American media franchise centered on a series of video games originally developed by Midway Games in 1992. The development of the first game was originally based on an idea that Ed Boon and John Tobias had of making a v ...

fighting game A fighting game, also known as a versus fighting game, is a video game genre, genre of video game that involves combat between two or more players. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as Blocking (martial arts), blocking, grappli ...

franchise, it aired in

syndication Syndication may refer to: * Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system * Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips * Web syndication, ...

for one season from 1998 to 1999. The series serves as a prequel to the games, following the original

Kung Lao Kung Lao ( or ) is a fictional character in the '' Mortal Kombat'' fighting game franchise by Midway Games and NetherRealm Studios. A Shaolin monk, he debuted in ''Mortal Kombat II'' (1993). He is depicted as a primary hero in the series, inc ...

(

Paolo Montalban Paolo Montalban (born May 21, 1973) is a Filipino-American actor and singer best known for his performance in the 1997 Disney television film, '' Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella'' as Prince Christopher, opposite Brandy as Cinderella. He repris ...

) as he protects Earthrealm with the help of bodyguard Siro (

Daniel Bernhardt Daniel Bernhardt (born 31 August 1965) is a Swiss actor, model, and martial artist. Career Bernhardt made his acting debut in the leading role in '' Bloodsport II: The Next Kumite'' (1996). He also appeared in two of its sequels and starred in ...

) and former thief Taja (

Kristanna Loken Kristanna Loken (born October 8, 1979) is a Norwegian American actress and model. She is known for her roles in the films '' Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines'' (2003), ''BloodRayne'' (2005) and ''Bounty Killer'' (2013) and on the TV series ''P ...

). It was one of the first

live action Live action (or live-action) is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live-action with animation to create a live-action animated film. Live-action is used to define film, video ga ...

shows based on a video game to air on United States television, preceded only by the live action segments of ''

The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! ''The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!'' is an American live-action/animated television series airing from September 4 to November 30, 1989, on syndication. The series is based on the video games ''Super Mario Bros.'' and '' Super Mario Bros. 2'' by ...

''.

Summary

Many centuries ago, Earth was an enchanting and desirable planet. Powerful and rich with natural resources, the vicious megalomaniac

Shao Kahn Shao Kahn is a fictional character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game franchise by Midway Games and NetherRealm Studios. Depicted as emperor of the fictional realm Outworld, he is one of the franchise's primary villains. Feared for his immense st ...

wanted Earth as part of his growing collection of conquered realms known as Outworld. To protect Earth, Mortal Kombat was created: a tournament in which the fate of the planet is decided in battles between competitors from Earthrealm and Outworld. Five hundred years in the past, the monk warrior

defeated Shao Kahn's sorcerer,

Shang Tsung The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and f ...

. When Kung Lao spared his life, Shao imprisoned Shang in the cobalt mines. Kung Lao now had to train the next generation of warriors, who would give their lives to save Earth. Kung Lao created a partnership and friendship between two warriors: Siro, a former bodyguard, and Taja, an ex-thief. In the mysterious city of Zhuzin, Kung Lao and his new friends are guided and watched over by the thunder god Raiden. The three now battle various evils of both Outworld and Earthrealm, including an imprisoned Shang Tsung, who swore eternal revenge on Kung Lao for his humiliating defeat, and the sultry and seductive Vorpax, who is also imprisoned in the mines and has an agenda of her own.

Cast

Main

as Siro *

as Taja * Tracy Douglas as Vorpax * Bruce Locke as

Jeffrey Meek Jeffrey William Meek (born February 11, 1959) is an American actor. Meek and his family moved often; as a child, Meek lived in Zweibrücken (Germany), Michigan, and San Francisco. Meek graduated from Arlington High School in Riverside, Califor ...

as Raiden and

Recurring

Game characters

Notable guest appearances

With ''Conquest'' immediately following TNT's top-rated program, ''

WCW Monday Nitro ''WCW Monday Nitro'', also known as ''WCW Nitro'' or simply ''Nitro'', is an American professional wrestling television program that was produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and broadcast weekly every Monday night on TNT in the Unite ...

'',

WCW World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Nationa ...

wrestlers

Meng Meng may refer to: * Meng (surname) (孟), a Chinese surname * Master of Engineering (MEng or M.Eng.), an academic or professional master's degree in the field of engineering * , "M with hook", letter used in the International Phonetic Alphabet * ...

and

Wrath Anger, also known as wrath or rage, is an intense emotional state involving a strong uncomfortable and non-cooperative response to a perceived provocation, hurt or threat. A person experiencing anger will often experience physical effects, su ...

filmed separate appearances. Former

QVC QVC (short for "Quality Value Convenience") is an American free-to-air television network, and flagship shopping channel specializing in televised home shopping, owned by Qurate Retail Group. Founded in 1986 by Joseph Segel in West Chester, Penn ...

model Dorian John played the barmaid Magda in the episodes "Twisted Truth" and "Quan Chi".

Production and release

''Mortal Kombat: Conquest'' was produced by

Threshold Entertainment Threshold Entertainment Group, also known as Threshold Entertainment, is an intellectual property company. Its animation subsidiary, Threshold Animation Studios, produces films. Larry Kasanoff is the company's chief executive officer (CEO) after p ...

(who produced the ''Mortal Kombat'' film series) in association with

New Line Television New Line Television was the television production arm of the film studio of the same name. It was active for about 20 years from 1988 to 2008. History The company was founded in 1988 to produce ''Freddy's Nightmares'', a television series based ...

(television arm of the films'

distributor A distributor is an enclosed rotating switch used in spark-ignition internal combustion engines that have mechanically timed ignition. The distributor's main function is to route high voltage current from the ignition coil to the spark plugs ...

Warner Bros. Television Distribution Warner Bros. Television Studios (operating under the name Warner Bros. Television; formerly known as Warner Bros. Television Division) is an American television production and distribution studio of the Warner Bros. Television Group division of ...

distributed the series. The program was filmed at

Disney-MGM Studios Disney's Hollywood Studios is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division. Based on a concept by Ma ...

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

. The Warner Bros. unit (eventual holder of the ''Mortal Kombat'' property), as New Line's corporate sibling-turned-parent, syndicated the series until it was later picked up by

TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...

, which aired the remaining new episodes in addition to broadcasting repeats of the first-run syndication run. With a lucrative timeslot following ''WCW Monday Nitro'', ''Conquest'' was very popular, but according to the show's developer, Joshua Wexler, this resulted in higher budget costs for the show than anticipated. The cancellation was not announced at first, and rumors of a second season circulated. However, TNT pulled the plug on the show, leaving it with a

cliffhanger ending A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode or a film of serialized fiction. A cliffhange ...

. The ending was planned to have been resolved in the second season, which would have summed up the series and corresponded with the ''MK'' timeline.

Episodes

Home media

''Mortal Kombat: Conquest'' has been released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

in the United Kingdom and Australia, where it enjoyed a more successful run on television. Unofficial collections produced in the UK consist of unrelated and edited episodes merged so that each disc contains a theme, and some of the DVDs contain spelling errors on the covers. Several episodes of the series, consisting of one show per disc, were released in Germany; two of the discs feature episodes centered around Kreeya and Sub-Zero. DVDs were also recently released in Portugal, with many spelling errors on the covers. In 2015,

Warner Home Video Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc. (formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the home video distribution division of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video ...

released ''Mortal Kombat: Conquest - Season One'' on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time.

Reception

In 2010, 4thletter! ranked ''Conquest'' as sixth on the list of "The Top Ten Most Ridiculous Things to Come Out of Mortal Kombat". In 2011,

1UP.com ''1Up.com'' was an American entertainment website that focused on video games. Launched in 2003, ''1Up.com'' provided its own original features, news stories, game reviews, and video interviews, and also featured comprehensive PC-focused conten ...

featured the series in the article "The Top Ten Times Mortal Kombat Went Wrong", calling it a "

wire-fu Wire fu is an element or style of Hong Kong action cinema used in fight scenes. It is a combination of two terms: " wire work" and "kung fu". Wire fu is used to describe a subgenre of kung fu movies where the stuntmen's or actor's skill is augm ...

disaster".

References

External links

* * * {{Mortal Kombat series 1998 American television series debuts 1999 American television series endings American fantasy television series First-run syndicated television programs in the United States Martial arts television series

Conquest Conquest is the act of military subjugation of an enemy by force of arms. Military history provides many examples of conquest: the Roman conquest of Britain, the Mauryan conquest of Afghanistan and of vast areas of the Indian subcontinent, t ...

American prequel television series American television shows based on video games Live action television shows based on video games Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios TNT (American TV network) original programming Television series by New Line Television