Jonathan Raven is a ninja, former member of the
Black Dragons clan and also a former
Special Forces agent. Now he lives in
Hawaii, helping those in trouble and searching for his long-lost son, while avoiding assassins sent to kill him by the
Black Dragon clan.
Herman 'Ski' Jablonski, an extravagant private investigator and Jonathon's best friend, is helping him.
Raven, the martial art television series phenomenon, hit the airwaves on Wednesday, June 24,
1992, on
CBS Television Network.
Starring Jeffrey Meek as Jonathon Raven, along with TV veteran actor
Lee Majors as his sidekick, "Ski", the team took on a number of life-threatening challenges ranging from common thugs to the mysterious ancient
Japanese cult of malignant assassins, the Black Dragon. When Jonathon Raven was twelve years old, his parents were killed by the Black Dragon. He trained with them for many years in the deadly martial arts with the hopes of learning and mastering their lethal skill and then using it against them for vengeance. Although he succeeded in infiltrating them, the Black Dragon are many in number, and are now bent on destroying
Raven's bloodline. His one true love, a beautiful
Japanese woman named Aki, becomes pregnant with their son at the same time the Black Dragon clan is after Raven's life. Aki unfortunately dies shortly after giving birth to their son, but before she passes away, she realizes that her son's life is in danger. Jonathon learns of his wife's plan of hiding their son from imperilment, but sadly never gets to see him
or attain the knowledge of his location.
Later on, he joins the
U.S. Special Forces and becomes one of their top assassins under a man named
Nick Henderson. After many complications and regrets, Raven leaves the Special Forces and continues his search for his long-lost son. His search eventually leads him to
Honolulu, Hawaii, where he believes his son may be. Raven is on a life-long journey in search of his son, and is willing to risk his life along the way, with the aid of his old military buddy, a drunken private investigator named Herman "Ski" Jablonski, to find him and ensure the safety of his life.
Unfortunately, the series did not last after the second season, and the incompleted saga aired its final episode in the
United States on Saturday, April 17,
1993. It was replaced with
Walker, Texas Ranger, which unfortunately does not, in any way, match the phenomenal masterpiece which embodied quality, the true spirit of the martial arts, and the gracefulness of the martial artist that was Raven.
- published: 29 May 2012
- views: 14176