Mortal Kombat: Conquest



""In each of us there burns a soul of a warrior. In every generation a few are chosen to prove it. Centuries ago, in a time of darkness and fury, that fate befell three strangers. A monk, Kung Lao; an exiled guard, Siro; and a thief, Taja, who have to defend our realm from the forces of Outworld. By fighting for their lives, by fighting for their honor and by fighting for their realm...in a tournament called Mortal Kombat.""

- Opening Narration

Mortal Kombat: Conquest was a live-action TV series based off the highly successful Mortal Kombat video games.

The series revolved around the winner of the previous Mortal Kombat, Kung Lao and his allies fights against various individuals who threaten Earthrealm.

"Shao Kahn: Let's see what gifts we have for our guests. a traitor...dead. Two sorcerers ...dead. A queen...dead. A daughter...dead. A bodyguard...dead. A thief...dead. A champion...dead.﻿ You... will... bow! To... Me."
 * Acting for Two: A truly ironic example, Raiden and Shao Kahn are both played by Jeffry Meek.
 * Adaptational Attractiveness: Mileena. Inverted when she first appears; she's uglier than her game counterpart, since her ugliness isn't limited to her lower face. Played straight after she partly loses her Kitana disguise; she still looks beautiful, save for some long teeth, wich aren't so prominent as in the game.
 * Badass Normal: Our main three.
 * Big Bad Ensemble: Shang Tsung plots Kung Lao's demise from the Cobalt Mines, while Shao Kahn plots taking Earthrealm from his palace.
 * Canon Foreigner: Taja, Siro, Vorpax and a number of others.
 * Celibate Hero: Averted. As a monk Kung Lao should have been but he still flirted with lots of women and got some action with.
 * Chickification: An overall trend for Taja throughout the series.
 * Cool Old Guy: Raiden
 * Doomed by Canon:, we cannot forget that Kung Lao's fate is to be defeated by Goro.
 * Estrogen Brigade Bait: Shang Tsung.
 * Everybody Has Lots of Sex: Most dialogue between men and women tends to suggest they want only one thing. Even Kung Lao is implied to have lost an old relic in a woman's house, and the woman is very happy to see him again. Exceptions are Kitana, Scorpion, and Sub-Zero (though Scorpion could be implied to have a healthy sex life since he has a wife, )
 * Foregone Conclusion: Unintentionally averted by being Cut Short.
 * An Ice Person: Sub-Zero
 * More Than Mind Control: In one episode a spell was cast to bring out all of the main three's worst traits.
 * Pay Evil Unto Evil:
 * Pervert Dad: In Episode 5: "The Essence," Kitana has to repeatedly remind Shao Kahn that she is his daughter, even if adopted against her will. She goes as far as to suggest he... "admire" the picture of her in her mother's room. His implications are explicit enough that it crosses into Villainous Incest. It does explain, however, why over the course of over 11 games Shao Kahn never has a "no daughter of mine is gonna dress like that" reaction to Kitana's Stripperiffic clothing.
 * Interestingly enough, Kitana then downplays their relationship in Episode 12, emphasizing that she's his stepdaughter and thus owes him no loyalty or obedience. Shao Kahn's intentions are even more explicit in that episode, with extra Squick coming from his reaction to Mileena's offer to do "anything" if he lets her keep Kitana's beautiful face, and from his interaction with Kitana at the beginning it almost seems like Shao Kahn ordered Kung Lao killed out of jealousy that Kitana favored Kung Lao over him.
 * Recycled: the Series: Sorta; the show appears to be set in the same continuity as Mortal Kombat: The Movie.
 * Ship Tease: Taja and Siro had quite a few little moments where they seemed like more than just friends. Also, Kung Lao and Kitana were massively teased in Episode 12, although it was more on Kung Lao's side than Kitana's.
 * Shirtless Scene: Although it doesn't go near to balance out the amount of female characters in bikinis, there's still a fair few of these.
 * Stripperiffic: Every. Single. Female. Character.
 * Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Qali is a female assassin who was a childhood friend of Kitana, and tended to dress in green... kinda like that green-garbed female fighter in the game. In fact, it's very possible Qali was indeed Jade, using her real name. Reptile had an actual name in the series too, so it's not a stretch to believe that had the series continued, Qali might have simply taken the name "Jade" as a nom de plume.
 * This Is Sparta: From Shao Kahn to Raiden in the final episode's end:
 * Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Qali is a female assassin who was a childhood friend of Kitana, and tended to dress in green... kinda like that green-garbed female fighter in the game. In fact, it's very possible Qali was indeed Jade, using her real name. Reptile had an actual name in the series too, so it's not a stretch to believe that had the series continued, Qali might have simply taken the name "Jade" as a nom de plume.
 * This Is Sparta: From Shao Kahn to Raiden in the final episode's end:


 * Trickster Mentor: Raiden could tell the gang the answers but doesn't feel like it most of the time.
 * The Vamp: Vorpax
 * Villain Episode: Shang Tsung gets one.
 * Villain of the Week