Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm

Plot synopsis:
The series takes place in a fictional universe consisting of eighteen surviving realms which, according to in-game backstories, were created by the Elder Gods. The Mortal Kombat: Deception manual described six of the realms as: "Earthrealm, home to such legendary heroes as Liu Kang, Kung Lao, Sonya Blade, Johnny Cage, and Jax, and also under the protection of the Thunder God Raiden; Netherrealm, the fiery depths of which are inhospitable to all but the most vile, a realm of demons and shadowy warriors such as Quan Chi and Noob Saibot; Outworld, a realm of constant strife which Emperor Shao Kahn claims as his own; Seido, the Realm of Order, whose inhabitants prize structure and order above all else; the Realm of Chaos, whose inhabitants do not abide by any rules whatsoever, and where constant turmoil and change are worshipped; and Edenia, which is known for its beauty, artistic expression, and the longevity of its inhabitants." The Elder Gods decreed that the denizens of one realm could only conquer another realm by defeating the defending realm's greatest warriors in ten consecutive Mortal Kombat tournaments.
The first Mortal Kombat game takes place in Earthrealm (Earth) where seven different warriors with their own reasons for entering participated in the tournament with the eventual prize being the continued freedom of their realm, threatened with a takeover by Outworld. Among the established warriors were Liu Kang, Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade. With the help of the thunder god Raiden, the Earthrealm warriors were victorious and Liu Kang became the new champion of Mortal Kombat. In Mortal Kombat II, unable to deal with his minion Shang Tsung's failure, Outworld Emperor Shao Kahn lures the Earthrealm warriors to the Outworld where the Earthrealm warriors eventually defeat Shao Kahn. By the time of Mortal Kombat 3, Shao Kahn revives Edenia's (now a part of his Outworld domain) former queen Sindel in Earthrealm, combining it with Outworld as well. He then attempts to invade Earthrealm but is ultimately defeated by the Earthrealm warriors again. After Kahn's defeat, Edenia was freed from Kahn's grasp and returned to a peaceful realm, ruled by Princess Kitana. The following game, Mortal Kombat 4, features the former elder god Shinnok attempting to conquer the realms and attempting to kill the thunder god Raiden. However, he is also defeated by the Earthrealm warriors.
In Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, the evil sorcerers Quan Chi and Shang Tsung join forces to conquer the realms. By Mortal Kombat: Deception, after several fights, the sorcerers emerge victorious having killed most of Earthrealms' warriors until Raiden steps forth to oppose them. The Dragon King Onaga, who had been freed by Reptile at the end of Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, had deceived Shujinko into searching for six pieces of Kamidogu, the source of Onaga's power. Onaga then confronted the alliance of Raiden, Shang Tsung, and Quan Chi and thus obtained Quan Chi's amulet, the final piece of his power. Only a few warriors remained to combat against the Dragon King and his forces. Shujinko eventually triumphed over the Dragon King and removed his threat to the Mortal Kombat universe.
In Mortal Kombat: Armageddon the catastrophe known as Armageddon starts. Centuries before the first Mortal Kombat, Queen Delia foretold the realms would be destroyed because the power of all warriors from all the realms would rise to such greatness it would overwhelm and destabilize the realms, triggering an all-destructive chain of events. King Argus had his sons, Taven, and Daegon, put into incubation who would one day be awakened to save the realms from Armageddon by defeating a firespawn known as Blaze. In the end, however, Shao Kahn is the one who defeats Blaze, causing Armageddon.
In Mortal Kombat (2011), it is revealed that the battle between the warriors of the six realms culminated into only two survivors: Shao Kahn and Raiden. Badly beaten, Raiden had only one last move he could make to prevent Shao Kahn from claiming the power of Blaze. He sends last-ditch visions of the entire course of the Mortal Kombat timeline to himself in the past right before the tenth Mortal Kombat tournament (first game). This transfer of information to his former self causes a rift in time, causing a new "reboot" timeline to be introduced that splits off from the original Armageddon timeline, with a new outcome of Mortal Kombat history to be written. But this story leads to even worse unforeseen events. It ends with many of the main game characters dying at the hands of Queen Sindel and Raiden accidentally killing Liu Kang in self-defense. Eventually, the Elder Gods aid Raiden in killing Shao Kahn and saving Earthrealm. But as the scene goes on it is later revealed that this was all a plan by Shinnok and Quan Chi.
Mortal Kombat X sees Shinnok and Quan Chi enacting their plan, leading an army of undead revenants of those that were killed in Shao Kahn's invasion against the realms. A team of warriors led by Raiden, Johnny Cage, and Sonya Blade oppose Shinnok, and in the ensuing battle, Shinnok is imprisoned, Quan Chi escapes, and various warriors are resurrected and freed from Shinnok's thrall. Twenty-five years later, Quan Chi resurfaces and allies himself with the insect-like D'Vorah in manipulating events that lead to Shinnok's release. Though Quan Chi is killed by a vengeful Scorpion in the process, Shinnok resumes his assault against the realms. After a grueling, protracted battle, Shinnok is defeated by Cassandra Cage representing the next generation of Earthrealm's warriors. With both Quan Chi and Shinnok gone, the undead revenants of Liu Kang and Kitana assume control of the Netherrealm and Lord Raiden now protects the Earthrealm not defensively but offensively with the help of the remaining revenants.

Tags: good versus evil, violence

Review:
A Better Sequel than the Movie Sequel. Yep, the animated series is actually better than Mortal Kombat: Annihilation.  Sad, ain't it?  There's more character development, and the idea of Earth being invasion, is explored more deeply than in the movie than inspired this series.  Watch the series if you want to see the "true" sequel to the original MK movie.. A good show. This a very good series. It has action, fun, and a decent storyline. The Story, is based after the movie "Mortal Kombat". The best warriors of earth, must defend us from Shang Tsung and others.. This is not a Fatality, or a Brutality. This is stupidity. What kind of Outworld demon possessed mind would make an animated series aimed at youngsters out of a game that has never gotten any rating below "M"?! Barring a few bright spots here and there, Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm is a boring, badly animated, sorry excuse for an TV series sequel.Set after the events of the Paul WS Anderson Mortal Kombat movie and thankfully discarding the events of the o-so-horrible "Mortal Kombat Annihilation", Defenders of the Realm sees the chosen fighters of earth team up under the leadership of the thunder god Raiden to battle against the evil invaders from not just Outworld but "other domains as well". Essentially, it is G I Joe styled "good team vs bad team" all over again except with special powers and stiff kung fu replacing laser guns.There are some episodes that stand out, offering a deeper insight into the characters. The character of Jax is particularly well developed as he comes to terms with his inferiority complex and no longer relies on his bionic arms as a "crutch". Sadly the rest of the team are as two-dimensional as they are drawn; nothing beyond lame jokes, stock character archetypes and cheesy one-liners. Honestly! Yelling "Kombat Time" every time a fight is about to start might have sounded cool to a 6 year old but even a kid would find it really silly after an episode or two.And speaking about the fights, no one would have faulted the creative team if an animated series based on a fighting game had a weak plot and characters but at least delivered some intense, beautifully choreographed fight sequences. Instead, what this show delivers is highly inconsistent animation that tends toward the "terrible". One wonders where most of the animation budget went into. Definitely not the art, as all the characters sport an angular, highly stylized look with minimal art detail and flat coloring. I also could not have been the animation as most of the characters' movements are very stiff thanks to an embarrassingly low frame-rate. Obvious animation errors pop up occasionally, as well as the regular "off model" drawings. The overall quality of the animation did improve a lot by episode 13, featuring smoother movements, higher frame-rate and a greater level of detail in the art. But alas it was already the final episode(which by the way is one HUGE letdown of a conclusion).With none of the games' trademark violence or even the fight choreography, production design and witty dialog of the movie, "Mortal kombat: Defenders of the Realm" is nothing short of the ultimate brutality on the brain. At most, you can get a kick out of seeing your favorite characters in animated format and a big laugh or two at the cheesiness. This series scores a "flawless victory" in the realm of "stupidity and shoddy", even among other animated shows based on games.. Mortal Kombat Meets the Magic School Bus and Power Rangers. I've never actually done a review before, but after watching this series, I felt compelled to do so. This is not Mortal Kombat. I understand having shows that appeal to the younger audiences and if this were not Mortal Kombat, I might say it is okay for that purpose, however, this is the series that was born out of violence, gore, and the darker reality of fighting for survival which is not the type of show to be watered down and rebranded for kids.This show spends the majority of its time trying to teach morals to the kids trapped in the bodies of what should be the toughest most disciplined warriors in the realms (most of them even sound like they were voiced by kids). While the morals themselves are fine and well-targeted for kids, the characters were turned into bratty adolescents in order to do this. Everybody in this show is wimpy, whiny, and incompetent; even the god of thunder does little more than open portals and tell everybody how he's better than them, but can't do anything. They also destroyed the characters and the story-line.Nightwolf apparently is a tech genius who developed some computer mainframe that tracks the fabric of reality falling apart and the various portals from other realms that seem to open up every 5-10 minutes (I might not actually be exaggerating with the 20-minute episode times...)Scorpion who is one of the toughest and most complex characters in the MKU gets turned into a 1D bad guy who leads an army of the dead and is vengeful just because (rather than somebody who's avenging the death of his family and was manipulated into his rivalry against Sub-Zero by Quan Chi.).Any fan of Mortal Kombat should avoid this series because it does nothing but water down and dismantle what the series is.