History Series / MasterNinja

** Monty Markham is the head of an intelligence organization and named [[Creator/JohnLeCarre Control]].

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* CaliforniaDoubling: More specifically, one part of California doubling for another. That's not San Francisco's Chinatown, it's Los Angeles.

* CoversAlwaysLie: Check the Trope image. Timothy van Patten was ''never'' a supreme heartthrob, even in 1984. And [=McCallister=] didn't even intimidate anyone with his eyes, let alone ''kill'' them. [[FridgeBrilliance (Perhaps that was the whole point.)]]

* StuntDouble: A very obvious one for Creator/LeeVanCleef.

''The Master'' was a short-lived action-adventure series that aired on NBC in 1984 (one season of 13 episodes), starring Creator/LeeVanCleef, Timothy Van Patten, and martial artist/actor Sho Kosugi, taking advantage of the {{Ninja}} fad of TheEighties. The series was repackaged as the ''Master Ninja'' movies for release on VHS by Film Ventures International (who created their own opening and closing credits on the cheap.)

John Peter [=McAllister=] ([[Creator/LeeVanCleef Van Cleef]]) was a UsefulNotes/WorldWarII veteran who stayed in Japan after the end of the war - you know, to enjoy the peace of postwar Japan (!) - and managed to join a ninja clan, learning their secrets and becoming "[[MightyWhitey the first occidental ninja]]". He returned to the United States because he learned about a daughter he never knew he had; the airport at the town where he met Max was where the only photo of his daughter was taken. Unfortunately for him, his clan didn't approve of him deciding to retire, and his former apprentice, Okasa (Kosugi) is trying to find and assassinate [=McAllister=].

Max asks [=McAllister=] to accept him as a student; the old man is skeptical, but eventually agrees to at least teach the youngster enough to keep from getting himself killed. They team up to stop a CorruptCorporateExecutive and a DirtyCop from destroying Creator/DemiMoore's airport, and begin journeying together following the trail of [=McAllister's=] daughter, fending off Okasa and righting wrongs in each Adventure Town they find on the way.

* EveryManHasHisPrice: [=McAllister=] is identified by a incognito Japanese assassin as a ninja, and assumes his services were purchased. [=McAllister=] retorts he's not for sale. The assassin scoffs, "We are ''all'' for sale."

* LeeroyJenkins: Max when he decides to bum rush Okasa in the first episode and gets thoroughly trounced.

* TeamPet: The hamster.

** Then there's the corrupt cannery owner who threatens or straight-up ''murders'' any employee who supports the union.

Max Keller (Van Patten) is a drifter with a [[CoolCar Cool Van]] and a hamster, who [[WalkingTheEarth drives from town to town, taking odd jobs and getting in trouble when]] his ChronicHeroSyndrome kicks in. One day he tries to assist an old man at ground zero of an impending bar fight; Max is soon defeated, but he's amazed when he sees [[BadassGrandpa the old man systematically demolishing the bar and everyone in it]]. As Max helps the old man escape, he learns his story.

** {{Hypocrite}}: [=McAllister=] did the exact same thing in the pilot episode, throwing a shuriken to intimidate a group of people in a bar. However, you could argue that [=McAllister=] felt ''his'' life was genuinely in danger, as a 70 year old man surrounded by proven-murderous patrons.

* CastingGag: George Lazenby playing [[CaptainErsatz a British secret agent]]. He even drives an Aston-Martin!

John Peter [=McAllister=] ([[Creator/LeeVanCleef Van Cleef]]) was a WorldWarII veteran who stayed in Japan after the end of the war - you know, to enjoy the peace of postwar Japan (!) - and managed to join a ninja clan, learning their secrets and becoming "[[MightyWhitey the first occidental ninja]]". He returned to the United States because he learned about a daughter he never knew he had; the airport at the town where he met Max was where the only photo of his daughter was taken. Unfortunately for him, his clan didn't approve of him deciding to retire, and his former apprentice, Okasa (Kosugi) is trying to find and assassinate [=McAllister=].

* AdventureTowns: One per week, with the premise that they were trying to find [=MacAllister=]'s missing daughter. Why she never stayed put in one place when she went through the trouble to contact him and tell him where he was is never explained.

''The Master'' was a short-lived action-adventure series that aired on NBC in 1984, starring Creator/LeeVanCleef, Timothy Van Patten, and martial artist/actor Sho Kosugi, taking advantage of the {{Ninja}} fad of TheEighties. The series was repackaged as the ''Master Ninja'' movies for release on VHS by Film Ventures International (who created their own opening and closing credits on the cheap.)

* EveryoneHasAPrice: [=McAllister=] is identified by a incognito Japanese assassin as a ninja, and assumes his services were purchased. [=McAllister=] retorts he's not for sale. The assassin scoffs, "We are ''all'' for sale."

** {{Hypocrite}}: [=McAllister=] did the exact same thing in the pilot episode, throwing a shuriken to intimidate a group of people in a bar.

John Peter [=McAllister=] ([[Creator/LeeVanCleef Van Cleef]]) was a WorldWarII veteran who stayed in Japan after the end of the war - you know, to enjoy the peace of postwar Japan (!) - and managed to join a ninja clan, learning their secrets and becoming "[[MightyWhitey the first occidental ninja]]". He returned to the United States because he learned about a daughter he never knew he had; the airport at the town where he met Max was where the only photo of his daughter was taken. Unfortunately for him, his clan didn't approve of him deciding to retire, and his former apprentice, Okasa (Kosugi) is trying to find and assasinate [=McAllister=].

* CastingGag: George Lazenby playing [[CaptainErsatz a British secret agent]].

* WalkingTheEarth: What Max does before he meets MacAllister.

* ActorAllusion: In the second episode "Out of Time Step", Charlie Collins plays [[TheDanza Charlie Patterson]]. The dancing pirate film shown is StockFootage from ''[[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0027496/?ref_=nm_ov_bio_lk1 The Dancing Pirate]]'', which starred Collins in the titular role.

''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' aired the first [[strike:four episodes]] two films in the series in 1992, which became some of the most-loved episodes of the series. For information on those episodes and associated tropes, please see the following [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000 recap]] pages:

* DisproportionateRetribution: ''Killing'' the CorruptCorporateExecutive (and so violently and remorselessly) seemed overly excessive given all he did was try to torch the airfield.

* MagicBrakes: Is used in the forth episode to introduce that episode's [[GirlOfTheWeek love interest]].

* [[CoversAlwaysLie Posters Always Lie]]: Check the Trope image. Timothy van Patten was ''never'' a supreme heartthrob, even in 1984. And [=McCallister=] didn't even intimidate anyone with his eyes, let alone ''kill'' them. [[FridgeBrilliance (Perhaps that was the whole point.)]]

* UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco: The second half of the first movie is set there, specifically Chinatown.

** Monty Markham is the head of an intelligence organization and named [[JohnLeCarre Control]].

* WhatTheHellHero: [=McCallister=] rightfully chews out Max for using his ''shuriken'' to intimidate someone in a meaningless barfight; he finishes by warning him that if he ever uses his ''shuriken'' again, he'd better be prepared to fight someone with it -- even if it's ''[=McAllister=]'' himself.
** It's actually the same warning you give to ''anyone'' who ''aims'' a weapon, especially a gun, at another person.

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TheMaster_TVad_small.jpg]]

* [[CoversAlwaysLie Posters Always Lie]]: Check the Trope image. Timothy van Patten was ''never'' a supreme heartthrob, even in 1984. And [=McCallister=] didn't even intimidate anyone with his eyes, let alone ''kill'' them.

->''"[[GoodCopBadCop I can get mean and nasty, but my friend behind you]]... You know, the one dressed in black with the samurai sword? You know how these ninjas are, always going around beheading each other. Barbaric, I know. To them it's some kind of ritual."''

-->-- '''Max Keller''', perp-sweating a corrupt sheriff.