The Karate Kid - NBC's Short-Lived 1989 Spin-Off Saturday Morning Show Comes to DVD ***UPDATED/CORRECTED***

In September 1989, just a few months after the cinematic debut of The Karate Kid, Part III (starring Ralph Macchio and Pat Morita) in theaters, NBC premiered the animated spin-off series The Karate Kid as part of their Saturday morning line-up. This cartoon, produced by Columbia/Sony in conjunction with DiC Entertainment, showed the adventures of Daniel and Mr. Miyagi as they traveled the world on a quest to locate and return an old-world Oriental artifact that is said to have healing powers. The program lasted 13 episodes.

This morning Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has announced that they will release both The Karate Kid - The Animated Series: Volume 1 and The Karate Kid - The Animated Series: Volume 2 on DVD this coming May 4th, just a month prior to the planned June 11th theatrical start of the new Karate Kid remake film. That remake stars Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan in the similar roles of "Dre" and "Mr. Han" (note that the new movie will be titled The Kung Fu Kid in other parts of the world, to more properly represent the style of martial arts actually used in the remake, which is set in China).

Each DVD release of the cartoon series will be presented in full screen video, with English mono audio and English subtitles, plus closed captioning. Between the two separate DVD titles, all 13 episodes will be available on disc. Pricing for these titles has not be revealed so far, nor do we have cover art yet, either. Stay tuned for those! Below is a list of the episodes provided on each title, however. The lists shown underneath each title below is a copy-and-past of Sony's information, so this is exactly as shown at the source:

• The Karate Kid - The Animated Series: Volume 1 (~210 mins.)
  1. MY BROTHER'S KEEPER
  2. GREATEST VICTORY
  3. HOMECOMING
  4. PAPER HERO
  5. ALL THE WORLD HIS STAGE
  6. OVER THE RAINBOW
  7. RETURN OF THE SHRINE
  
  
• The Karate Kid - The Animated Series: Volume 2 (~180 mins.)
  1. TOMORROW MAN
  2. WALKABOUT
  3. EAST MEETS WEST
  4. HUNT, THE
  5. GRAY GHOSTS, THE
  6. LITTLE WORLD OF HIS OWN,A

IMPORTANT UPDATE/CORRECTION (2/23): It seems that there was a misunderstanding about the nature of these releases; the studio informs us that they are not for DVD after all. Please read the details in our separate story posted February 23rd. We regret any confusion.