Chuck Norris is too much action hero for one physical body to contain; his surplus butt-kicking essence had to be entrusted to an animated simulacrum. Chuck Norris Karate Kommandos brought the man himself to the small screen, years before Walker, Texas Ranger.

In this 5-part miniseries, Chuck served as special agent to the President, on the vanguard of the country’s defense against evil criminal masterminds. Someone else must have been in charge of average, run-of-the-mill threats to national security because Chuck’s main concern was the Claw: misfit, megalomaniac and head of the Vulture organization. Like all evil masterminds, the Claw aspired to world domination and general human subjugation. It was up to Chuck Norris to stop that, helped by his Kommandos. Other than spelling their name with a cool ‘K,’ the Kommandos had their own special areas of combat. Kimo was a samurai warrior; Reed was the stealthy ninja (loud, klutzy ninjas never last long in that profession); Tabe was a formidable sumo wrestler; and Pepper was the mechanic of the group, an all-around swell gal. Comic relief came in the guise of Too Much, a youngster sidekick to the Kommandos.  Other than the Claw, the Karate Kommandos matched fists and kicks with the Claw’s associate, Super Ninja.

Appearances by the real live Norris bookended each episode: in the beginning segment, usually filmed at a gym or dojo, Norris would give a brief introduction of the martial arts and action to follow; at the end, Norris would appear again to delineate the episode’s moral lesson for the young viewers.

Action figures of the main characters hit the market at the same time as the show, featuring a wide array of accessories, weapons and vehicles. There was also a comic book  released by Star Comics, based on the show’s adventures.