LITTLE ROCK — I agree, it's a frustrating problem. A conundrum.
You love your samurai movies - Sword of Doom; Doom of the Sword; Seven Swords of Swordish Doom. They're all good.
You like to watch those ninjas fly around. You like all that crouching tiger and hidden dragon stuff, but there's just too much darn blood for the whole family to watch.
Flashing blades, piles of bodies, buckets of blood - nah, you don't want your 8-year-old on the couch when Kill Bill, or anything involving the Deadly Vipers Assassination Squad, is rolling.
And if the karate, kung fu or samurai movie isn't the sanguinary sort, it's apt to be insufferably silly with badly dubbed English and lots of grunts.
How about something in the middle? How about a family film (well, maybe not a film for the very youngest among us) with action, romance, mystery, coming-of-age, girl power and even high production values?
What a deal. ABC Family thought it was such a good idea, they made an "event" out of it. Yes, these days everything on TV is an "event," but Samurai Girl is a six-hour miniseries airing over three consecutive nights beginning at 7 p.m. Friday.
Don't forget. ABC Family is the cable outlet, not the broadcasting network ABC. I always get a few e-mails every time I mention stuff on ABC Family and viewers can't find it on ABC.
The miniseries features limber newcomer Jamie Chung asHeaven, a young woman (she's 19) on an adventure to discover the truth about her family, her destiny and the mysterious world of samurai legends.
Helping Heaven in her adventure is Jake, played by former Roswell star Brendan Fehr. And showing up halfway through is leggy former pro wrestler and Dancing With the Stars contestant Stacy Keibler as Jake's exfiancee.
The series is based on the young-adult Samurai Girl novels and comes from the producers of Alias and Gossip Girl, folks who know their action and the teen demographic.
That said, don't think the series is just for the High School Musical set. There's plenty here for all ages to enjoy. Here's what you need to know.
Heaven is the sheltered adopted daughter of a rich and powerful family in Japan. Her father is loving but mysterious, and Heaven is raised in luxurious but confined circumstances.
Heaven is unhappy with her arranged marriage to the son of one of her father's business associates, but when she journeys to San Francisco for the ceremony, she plays the dutiful daughter and reluctantly goesalong with the plans.
Heaven holds out hope that her beloved brother Hiko, who's estranged from their father, will make an appearance. Heaven knew that when her father presented the family's ancestral sword to her instead of her brother, Hiko was formally disowned.
The sword represents the family's undying devotion to the samurai code of honor and loyalty.
Just before the wedding vowsare completed, the room swarms with attacking ninjas. Hiko arrives and rescues Heaven but is fatally wounded. Before he dies, Hiko instructs Heaven to find his friend Jake (Fehr) and to trust no one else.
Why no one else is to be trusted and how Jake fits into her life is the rest of Heaven's adventure - an adventure that will have the family cheering and on the edge of their seats.
The cast and producers met with TV critics on the summerpress tour to tell us more on this tale of intrigue, the Japanese mafia, Zen monasteries and vengeance.
I mentioned that Chung was limber. As you might expect, a movie like this calls for lots of jumping around and a certain expertise in martial moves. One would think Chung had begun training as a kid.
"The most martial arts experience I had was tae kwon do for two weeks," Chung told us, laughing, "and I sprained my finger and I quit. The stunt guys did a fantastic job training us, teaching us the basic moves, teaching us the fight choreography, making it look sharp."
Executive producer Luke McMullen noted the miniseries has "a little bit of everything you could possibly want out of your night of entertainment." He also said it's not just female empowerment, it's empowerment for everybody.
"It's somebody who is thrust into a situation where they learn that they're more than they ever thought they could be," McMullen said. "And if it gets girls interested in martial arts or just physical activities, then that's fantastic, too."
Producer Andre Nemec reminded parents that there's action but no graphic mayhem.
"We weren't hacking off limbs when we were having these action scenes," Nemec said. "At its core, it's really a coming-intoher-own kind of a story. All six hours are really the development of the character of Heaven and as she progresses and sort of goes from being sort of a sheltered girl to a woman who really is in charge of her own situation."
Cancer special
. NBC, ABC and CBS will air Stand Up to Cancer at 7 p.m. Friday. Among those on hand for the fundraiser will be Jennifer Aniston, Meryl Streep, Forest Whitaker, David Cook, Scarlett Johansson and Christina Applegate, who recently underwent a double mastectomy.
The TV column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. E-mail:
Style, Pages 35 on 09/04/2008