I just learned about this obscure piece of Mortal Kombat history and I thought I had to review it. Mortal Kombat: Federation Of Martial Arts was an interactive show made by Threshold Entertaiment. Before each episode, people who registered would bet pretend money on who would win the upcoming episode (something that would never fly nowadays unless it followed certain rules). Depending on the results, money can be won or lost, and the plan was to make this show into a contest, where whoever had the most money when the show ended would win a prize (which to this day, is unknown, as no prizes were awarded due to the series ending after two months, although some say it could have been a prop used in one of the MK movies).
For the episode, we get two actors dressed as two MK characters fighting each other. Most of the fights were done with the background being CGI, and for the era the series was made, it was okay. However, the acting is extremely cheesy. One match, Rain Vs. Jax, had its first round where Jax asked where Rain is, only for the purple ninja to knock him down from behind, and another, Shang Tsung Vs. Siann, had its first round end after Shang Tsung got an elbow from Siann, a character who originated in Mortal Kombat: Conquest, a series that aired on TNT at the end of the 1990's. The cheesiest fight has to be Kitana Vs. Johnny Cage, where it suffered from awful dialogue (in which Johnny is heard calling himself "Jimmy Cage") and one episode actually being a courtroom drama where Jax is put on trial for murder of Ruby, which was never shown. Also, the special effects are underwhelming, not matching the quality of the movies'.
It was cancelled after the trial episode ended on a cliffhanger where they were to choose four characters to represent the MKMFA. Its demise was mainly due to the Mortal Kombat series losing popularity since 1996 due to overexposure in the media. Maybe this was a good idea to end this, because had this continued, Mortal Kombat would have ended up at a point where it would be beyond restoring.
For the episode, we get two actors dressed as two MK characters fighting each other. Most of the fights were done with the background being CGI, and for the era the series was made, it was okay. However, the acting is extremely cheesy. One match, Rain Vs. Jax, had its first round where Jax asked where Rain is, only for the purple ninja to knock him down from behind, and another, Shang Tsung Vs. Siann, had its first round end after Shang Tsung got an elbow from Siann, a character who originated in Mortal Kombat: Conquest, a series that aired on TNT at the end of the 1990's. The cheesiest fight has to be Kitana Vs. Johnny Cage, where it suffered from awful dialogue (in which Johnny is heard calling himself "Jimmy Cage") and one episode actually being a courtroom drama where Jax is put on trial for murder of Ruby, which was never shown. Also, the special effects are underwhelming, not matching the quality of the movies'.
It was cancelled after the trial episode ended on a cliffhanger where they were to choose four characters to represent the MKMFA. Its demise was mainly due to the Mortal Kombat series losing popularity since 1996 due to overexposure in the media. Maybe this was a good idea to end this, because had this continued, Mortal Kombat would have ended up at a point where it would be beyond restoring.
