Truth at the All Valley trailer

We’ve had it all wrong about Sensei Kreese

(borrowed from tumblr.com)

We’ve had it wrong for a long time. Sensei Kreese tells Johnny Lawrence to “Sweep the Leg”. He has some trepidation but goes along with it. In the second still, Johnny performs a front sweep and a kick to the face. He is awarded a point and it is perfectly legal. In the third still, you can see where Johnny drives his elbow into the back of Danny’s knee and receives a warning for illegal contact. Sensei Kreese didn’t instruct him to commit an illegal action, he told him where his opponent’s weakness was to attack. Danny performs the crane kick and the rest is cinematic history.

Karate Kid timeline - version 3.0



A - Saturday, September 3 - The Larusso's leave New Jersey and start their trek west.

(Thursday, September 8 - Most likely the day the Larusso's leave the Canyon Portal Motel and push-start their car as we see in the opening scenes.)

B - Saturday, September 10 - The Larusso's arrive in Reseda. Daniel meets Freddy and gets invited to a beach party for the following day. Daniel meets Mr. Miyagi as well.

C - Sunday, September 11 - Adios a Summer Beach Party. Daniel sees Ali for the first time as well as is introduced to Johnny Lawrence and the Cobra Kai.

D - Monday, September 12 - First day of school. Soccer tryouts after school and Daniel sees Ali again as well as learns her name. "Ali with an i."

(Tuesday, September 13 - Most likely the day Mr. Miyagi comes to fix the Larusso's leaky kitchen faucet.)

(Some time between Saturday,September 17th and the end of the month we get the first scene at the Cobra Kai dojo, as well that same day Daniel is bullied while riding his bike home and his mother confronts him in the back alley of the apartments as to what is going on. Within a day or two of that incident we get the scene at school where we are introduced to Susan and Daniel decides not to confront the Cobra Kai despite Ali's urgings.)

E - Friday, October 28 - Halloween Dance and another beating for Daniel and the hands of the Cobra Kai. Mr. Miyagi steps in and somewhat saves the day.

F - Saturday, October 29 - Trip to the Cobra Kai dojo to make peace and the agreement is reached to settle the score at the December 19th tournament. Daniel begins his training with Wax On Wax Off.

G - Monday, October 31 - Confrontation at school as well as the first day of Take a Worm for a Walk Week. Daniel asks Ali out for their first date.

H - Saturday, November 5 - Daniel and Ali go to Golf n Stuff for their first date.

I - Friday, November 11 - Daniel's training continues with Sand the Floor.

J - Saturday, November 12 - Daniel catches a fly with chopsticks and continues training with Paint the Fence.

K - Sunday, November 13 - Daniel continues training with Paint the House. Mr. Miyagi finally reveals the secrets of the training techniques Daniel has unknowingly learned.

L - Monday, November 14 - Daniel and Mr. Miyagi go to the beach where Daniel learns balance in the surf and Mr. Miyagi practices the Crane Technique.

(Either Tuesday, November 15th or Wednesday, November 16th Daniel asks Ali out on the 2nd date. Also, either on the Wednesday the 16th or Thursday the 17th Mr. Miyagi takes Daniel to the lake where he practices balance and blocking on the bow of Mr. Miyagi's row boat.)

M - Friday, November 18 - Betrayal at the Country Club. Daniel later heads to Mr. Miyagi's where he learns about Mr. Miyagi's diffictult past.

N - Saturday, November 19 - Daniel begins training on his own.

(Sometime in the next week Mr. Miyagi teaches Daniel the proper way to punch.)

O - Sunday, December 18 - Eve of the All Valley. Daniel has his birthday party and gets #1 and #2 birthday present from Mr. Miyagi and later finds Ali at Golf n Stuff to make peace.

P - Monday, December 19 - All Valley Tournament.

The Larusso's head west

What route did the Larusso travel as they headed out west?

Well, we are only given a few clues in the movie and in the book but I think I have come up with a route that is the most plausible with the information we have.

So how did I come up to my conclusion as to their route and the dates of their trip? Well, it was actually easier to start with their arrival in Reseda and work backwards retracing their steps. 

We are only given a couple of clues in the movie as to their cross country route, same with the book. And from the study I did last year we know they arrived in Reseda on September 10th.

We know they stayed in Sedona, Arizona (just south of Flagstaff) at the Canyon Portal motel. According to the book their car wouldn't start in Nevada, and in the movie we see they arrive in Reseda during daytime hours, probably early afternoon.

From that I concluded that they probably spent the night in Las Vegas, why else would they have gone to Nevada? They didn't have to swing by Nevada if they didn't want to, they could have driven due west out of Arizona and straight into California. So from that information I figure they spent the night in Las Vegas, probably to see the lights after a day spent at the Grand Canyon. Plus, since they arrived in Reseda during daytime hours they would have had to spend the night in Nevada, it would have taken too long to drive to California from Arizona while at the same time including a side trip to Nevada. Had they done that they would have pulled up to the South Seas Apartments in the evening hours, not during the day.

We are also able to conclude that they came in to Arizona from the east, from New Mexico, instead of from the north, from Utah. We can safely say this because had they come down from Utah they could have gone right into Las Vegas, no need to go out of the way to Flagstaff. So if they came in from the east straight across New Mexico and Texas you have to figure they retraced somewhat the old Route 66 highway.

Now, the next step is to figure how much driving Mrs. Larusso could do in a day. We know she was doing all the driving because Daniel didn't have his license yet. So you have to figure she isn't going to drive more than 8 to 10 hours a day, more than that would have started to be dangerous as she would have started to get too tired.

So roughly 8 to 10 hours east of Flagstaff is Amarillo, Texas. That is my best guess as to where they spent the night roughly halfway through their trip now.

Next step was to look at what was 8 to 10 hours away from Amarillo. Here though I had to use a clue that was given in the book. The book mentions that the car had trouble and wouldn't start while they were in Michigan.

Michigan? Why Michigan? What does Michigan have to do with their trek west?

Well, the book mentions Michigan so we have to include it on the map. I figure the only reason they would stop by Michigan is if they had family there and they were going to spend the night with them. Otherwise Michigan would have been out of the way.

So, once I started to fill in the blank between Texas and Michigan I looked at what cities were on that route. There are several big cities but roughly 8 hours away from Amarillo is Kansas City. And roughly 8 hours away from Kansas City is Indianapolis.  

Now, I have no solid proof those were the cities they spent the night in but they are each roughly the same distance away from the next city along the mostly likely path so that makes them the best candidates for the cities where the Larusso's would have spent the night.

Next step, Indianapolis to Michigan. We don't have any idea what city in Michigan the Larusso's had family. So that is one reason I chose Indianapolis as their stop after Michigan since they probably left the family's house late, most likely having a good time and they wouldn't want to leave any earlier than necessary to beat the setting of the sun. And Indianapolis would have been only a few hours drive away most likely. 

Last step in the journey, New Jersey to Michigan. Could Mrs. Larusso had driven this in one day. At first I thought yes, but it would have been a horribly long drive, roughly 12 hours. That is a lot to ask one person to drive in one day. So I figure they took two days to cover that distance. A likely city they would have spent their first night in? My guess is Youngstown, Ohio.

Mostly because Youngstown is the first city you come into after exiting Pennsylvania and I think they would have felt getting through Pennsylvania their first day of driving would have been a worthy goal.

So this is my theory, my idea of the Larusso's trip west;

Saturday, September 3rd - leave New Jersey and spend the night in Youngstown, Ohio

Sunday, September 4th - drive to Michigan and spend the night with family

Monday, September 5th - leave family's house mid-day and drive to Indianapolis

Tuesday, September 6th - drive to Kansas City and spend the night

Wednesday, September 7th - drive to Amarillo and spend the night

Thursday, September 8th - drive to Flagstaff AZ, spend the night in Sedona

Friday, September 9th - drive to Las Vegas and spend the night

Saturday, September 10th - arrive in Reseda

Map to Daniel's New Jersey home

The Larusso's New Jersey home



8 Franklin Ave, Harrison, New Jersey, another location to add on the list of holy sites for Karate Kid followers.

The Larusso's New Jersey home has been found! As I said in my last post, thanks to the investigation done by a fellow Karate Kid fan in New Jersey, Daniel's East Coast home has been located. Tucked away in Harrison NJ, (a stone's throw from Newark) the Larusso home is almost at the end of a street lines with 3 story apartment buildings.

As seen in the opening sequence of the movie, and assuming Mrs. Larusso parked the car right in front of their building, they would have lived in the green colored building right next door to the burned out building. (More on that later.)

Last night I watched the opening scene several times and I am confident that the green building is where they lived. As Mrs. Larusso pulls away from the curb and you count the buildings on their side of the row there are 7 buildings down to the end of the street. (There are actually 9 but two of the buildings are tucked back behind the other buildings and are not visible in the shot.)

Also, as their car pulls out, visible on the oposite side of the street is the fire hydrant that is still there and the telephone pole, all of which is right across the street from the green building.

It warms my soul to find this street. I can easily picture Daniel playing out in front of their home, kicking a soccer ball around and practicing his juggling skills he would later use to break the ice to Ali on that California beach.

Karate Kid season upon us again

Today marks the official begining of Karate Kid season!

Running from September 3rd to December 19th, these next four months are holy months for any true Karate Kid'er.

And to celebrate today I have new information that I have found on the web to add to my Karate Kid Studies archive.

Thanks to a post on another Karate Kid fan website by a New Jersey resident who did some investigating, Daniel's New Jersey home has been found!

Estimated to be 8 Franklin Ave in Harrison NJ, the street looks much the way it did in 1983.

According to the New Jersey fan, the water tower that was at the end of the street in the opening scene of
the movie was torn down years ago to make way for a high school. (I hope they named that high school either West Valley High, or Larusso High.)

As we can see the blue building in the movie has been painted a peach/tan color, but other than that much is still the same.

I believe a pilgrimage is called for the next time I have a layover in Newark airport.

Betrayal at the Country Club

Did Ali still have feelings for Johnny? Did she secretly want to get back together with him.

That night at the country club when Mr. Mills asks, “Trouble with Johnny? You two love birds having problems?” She didn’t say they had broken up, she only said they weren’t love birds.

And when Johnny asked her for a truce she replied that she wasn’t at war. Not at war? Thats odd, this is the boy that has brutally beaten up your new boyfriend twice. You most certainly should be at war.

Finally, the dance. Why the dance? She knew Daniel was there somewhere, her father had just given her the time. She was 10 minutes late meeting Daniel. Yet she chose to dance.

Ali had something else on her mind, betrayal.

Karate Kid timeline (expanded version)

Last year while deep in Karate Kid study I created a timeline of events. I felt important to do it again this year and review what I had done last year to check for errors. I still feel confident in my conclusions with respect to the timeline and this year have added the Arrival in Receda and other September dates.



1. September 10th - Arrival in Receda

2. September 11th - Beach Party, Daniel meets Ali, and Rumble on the Beach between Daniel and Johnny

3. September 12th - First day of school

4. September 13th - Soccer tryouts and the 2nd meeting between Daniel and Ali (I explored the possiblity of these events taking place a day earlier on the first day of school in my 9-13-11 posting.)



5. October 28th - Halloween Dance and Daniel's beating at the hands and feet of the Cobra Kai

6. October 29th - Trip to the Cobra Kai dojo to make peace, challenge set to settle things at the All Valley Tournament, and Daniel's training begins with Wax On Wax Off

7. October 31st - Take a Worm for a Walk Week, and Daniel asks Ali out on their first date



8. November 5th - Daniel and Ali's first date

9. November 11th - Daniel's second lesson, Sand the Floor

10. November 12th - Daniel catches the fly with a pair of chopsticks, and his training continues with Paint the Fence

11. November 13th - Daniel grows impatient after his fourth lesson, Paint the House. Mr. Miyagi lets him in on the secret that he as been learing karate the whole time.

12. November 14th - Daniel learns balance in the surf while we get our first look at the Crane Techinque

13. November 18th - Betrayal at Encino Hills, Daniel and Ali's second date crumbles.

14. November 19th - One month until the All Valley, Daniel begins branching out on his own with training.

(Numbers 13 and 14 could have occurred even a week or two later, there really isn't any evidence that ties these events to the 18th and 19th of November. We do know though that the betrayal at the country club took place on a Friday and Daniel went to Mr. Miyagi's house later that night. Daniel's branching out and training on his own could have started the next day since it was a Saturday but that is not known for sure. I chose to put these events on November 18th and 19th mostly because with the 19th it would mark exactly one month to go until the All Valley Tournament.)



15. December 18th - eve of the All Valley, Daniel and Ali make up at Golf n Stuff

16. December 19th - All Valley Tournament

Tuesday September 13th, 1983

Soccer tryouts - "Hey, this school sucks man, it sucks!"



If my earlier theory on the September timeline is correct the first day of school would have been Monday September 12th. However I have raised another debate for myself regarding the soccer tryouts.

Would those have been held on the first day of school? I suppose they could have however when I think back to my high school years I don't ever remember tryouts for the various sports teams taking place on the first day of school.

It would have had to have been close to the first day though since Daniel is still sporting a black eye and it is the first meeting of Daniel and Ali after the fight on the beach. Did they not see each other on the first day of school? It is hard to say but it is possible Daniel just wanted to lay low for a day due to his black eye and the embarassment of the fight that took place the previous night.

This is just a theory but I'm going to guess Daniel played it cool for his first day at West Valley and the soccer tryouts were held on the second day of school, Tuesday the 13th.



--------------------

Monday September 12th, 1983 - the first day of school

Daniel, the essence of cool.

Saturday September 10th, 1983

Arrival in Receda



It is hard to pin down the dates of the events of the Karate Kid before the Halloween dance. The only clue we get is at the begining of the movie which opens with Newark, New Jersey September.

However, I believe we can safely say the arrival in Receda was on Saturday, September 10th. Here is how I came to that conclusion.

We know that Mrs. Larusso is doing all the driving which means they are not going to make it too fast across the country. They are going to have to take plenty of rest stops and lunch breaks plus we can see from the opening few shots that they seem to be taking the scenic route. I figure it would take them 6 or 7 days to drive cross country, more likely 7 days espcially in that beat up 1968 Chevy Malibu wagon.

We also have to keep in mind the day they arrive Daniel meets Freddy Fernandez and is invited to the "Adios a Summer" beach party. The next day is the beach party and Daniel's violent introduction to Johnny Lawrence. Then the next day after that school begins.

At least back in the old days it was tradition for public schools to start the school year the week after Labor Day. In 1983 Labor Day was on Monday September 5th.

Had they left New Jersey on the 1st of September, the earliest possible given the information provided at the beginning of the film, that would put them in CA on the 8th which was a Thursday putting the first day of school on a Saturday. Of course that's wrong.

So assuming West Valley High School followed tradition and started school the week after Labor Day the timeframe fits that the Larusso's left New Jersey on the 3rd of September, traveled 7 days cross-country, arrived in Receda on the 10th, the beach party was on the 11th, and the first day of school was on the 12th.

This is just a theory however based on the assumption that Daniel's new school followed tradition. I wouldn't have any reason to believe that they wouldn't so I do feel confident in my timeline.

2011: a special Karate Kid year

September thru December is always the best time of year for fans of the Karate Kid. However this year something is happening that has only happened three other times since the movie came out (1988, 1994, and 2005) and won't happen again until 2016 that makes 2011 even more special for Karate Kid'ers.


What is so special about 2011 is that this year's calendar lines up with the calendar of 1983, the year the Karate Kid events took place. So this year when we celebrate December 19th, the day of the All Valley, it will be on a Monday which is the way it was in 1983. When we celebrate the Halloween dance on the 28th it will actually be on a Friday as it was in the movie.

A special year indeed, one that brings the Karate Kid closer to home and closer to the heart.

This year I will also commemorate each important Karate Kid date with a new photograph not yet posted to the blog or a special piece of Karate Kid art that I have been able to find on the web. Just something to try and make this year special.

Then to top it all off on December 19th, official Karate Kid Day, I will be posting my thesis, Truth at the All Valley: a conclusion.

So enjoy the next several weeks of this special year. Celebrate in your own way but come back often to see what I have posted and enjoy this wonderful season.

A tale of two storms

Typhoon Holly strikes Okinawa, August 1984


Tropical Storm Lee brushes by Okinawa, August 1985


While conducting my Karate Kid studies it has always been important to me to get a correct timeline. The key to Karate Kid's magic and some of it's mysteries is to know exactly when events took place. Of course the most important date of all when it comes to Karate Kid lore is December 19th, the day of the All Valley Tournament.
But December 19th of what year?

The movie came out in 1984. But is that when its events took place? I suppose when you sit in a theater and watch a movie that is taking place in your time period your mind tells you it is happening in real time. I'm sitting in a theater in the summer of 1984 watching the All Valley Tournament, even though it is taking place in December my mind tells me it is that December that is coming up, it is showing my future events.

Or do I sit there and think of it as events that just recently took place? I'm sitting in a theater in the summer of '84 watching the All Valley Tournament that took place December 19th, it must have been this past December, 1983.

I can see people looking at it both ways. However, we were treated to a decent sequal a couple of years later which ended any doubt of a Karate Kid timeline.

As we all remember Karate Kid 2 took place where Karate Kid 1 left off. Six months after the tournament the movie picks up with Daniel pulling into Mr. Miyagi's house with a beat up car after the senior prom, and a horrible baby blue tuxedo to boot. Mr. Miyagi later gets the letter that tells him of his father's illness in Okinawa. The rest we know, but the key is the typhoon that struck Okinawa sometime in August right around the time they were going to celebrate the Obon festival.

Therefore, if the events of Karate Kid 1 took place in 1983 there should be a typhoon that hits Okinawa in 1984. Or if the events of Karate Kid 1 took place in 1984 there should be a typhoon that hits Okinawa in 1985.

Mystery solved. Typhoon Holly hit Okinawa hard in August of 1984 with winds upwards of 80 miles an hour causing major damage and "stranding an estimated 15,000 vacationers" according to the New York Times article. Of course Mr. Miyagi and Daniel being two of them. In 1985 the only storm to hit Okinawa in August was Tropical Storm Lee which brushed by the island with only "light winds". Certainly not hard enough winds to cause the damage we saw happen in Karate Kid 2.

Karate Kid timeline

1. Halloween Dance, subsequent beating suffered by Daniel at the hands and feet of the Cobra Kai 5, and the saving of the day by Mr. Miyagi.

2. Trip to the Cobra Kai dojo, the agreement reached to settle the score at the December 19th tournament, and the begining of Daniel's karate training with "wax on, wax off."

3. Take a Worm for a Walk week.

4. Daniel and Ali's first date.

5. Daniel's training continues with "sand the floor."

6. Daniel's catching of the fly with chopsticks and "paint the fence."

7. Daniel spends all day painting Mr. Miyagi's house, Mr. Miyagi spends the day fishing, and then the pieces of the puzzle finally come together.

8. After school Mr. Miyagi takes Daniel to the beach so he can "learn balance" in the surf while we get our first look at the Crane Technique.

9. Sometime during these three days Daniel asks Ali out on their second date.

10. The speghetti incident at the Encino Hills Country Club and Daniel learns more about Mr. Miyagi's past later that night at Mr. Miyagi's house.

*. We know little about what happens during this four week period other than Daniel tries to teach himself the Crane Technique at the beach, he practices his blocks, his stance, and punching on the bow of Mr. Miyagi's boat by himself, and then Mr. Miyagi teaches him how to punch sometime after that. Mr. Miyagi also scolds Daniel for not focusing enough and for joking around too much. Also towards the end of this four week period Daniel has his birthday, receives his driver's license and gets #1 and #2 birthday present from Mr. Miyagi.

11. Daniel goes to Golf n Stuff to "find balance" with Ali and to show her his new car.

12. All Valley Under 18 Karate Championship.