Human Weapon – Silat
December 6, 2007 by nopstar
You guys been keeping with with Human Weapon on the History Channel? It’s been a steady source of entertainment. I thought the series was beginning to improve until this last episode… did any of you catch it?
[stage6 1920119]
In this episode they profile the Malaysian martial art Silat. Personally I didn’t have any issues with Silat it was with the “Challenge” at the end of the show. 80% of the challenges have been a joke… I don’t get too bent out of shape anymore; I’ve come to expect some light to medium sparring.
The finale in this episode however was the biggest joke ever. It was one of the greatest displays of larping I’ve seen. The worst is Duff tries to play along…. “oh man they exploited my weakness” What your weakness is back rubs? Give me an effing break. I couldn’t help but remember how when I was about 10 big into my ninja stage my friends and I would have play fights. The sad part is that our fights were in many ways more “real” then this sorry display.
The next one should be even more entertaining… Ninjutsu!
Oh my gay. What…in the hell….is this??!!
I was actually thinking it was getting better, too, after seeing the Krav Maga episode. I practice Krav as well as MT, and cringed at the thought of them butchering that. But they actually did a pretty good job with that episode, I think.
But virtually every other one has been a joke. I haven’t forced myself to watch all of them, but all that I’ve seen have been a joke. Did you see the Pradal Serey one? Do they really expect us to believe their “champion” was going more than about 30%. I mean, they never say “We’re going to set up a fight with you with our Champion…at 30% speed and power”. They always make it sound like one of those two dorks is going to go to war with someone, and they nevvvvvvvver do. I don’t know why I expect it to ever change, but I’m still pissed every time it doesn’t.
But this shit with the Silat is just choreography. Bad, bad choreography. The show is like a trainwreck though, and I can’t….stop…watching!!! arrraggghhh!!!
I don’t anything they do seriously. I hated the Krav Maga episode like all of their other episodes. It’s like Ring Girls, a badly executed mostly farcial piece of filler TV.
I’m no glutton for punishment though I stopped watching it. You should probably do the same.
I stopped watching it after the first one.
I watched the sambo and muay thai episodes only because those are some of the few martial arts on the show that are actually effective.
Take it with a grain of salt. These guys train for 2 weeks and then hop into a competition? Of course they aren’t going to go all out. The history and training of a lot of these MA is what draws me to watch it.
I think that is still everyone’s problem with it. They act like they are going to war and constantly say shit like ” and then one of us will step into the ring to battle their champion!! ”
Fuck man, who believes that shit other than some plastic clog croc wearing middle aged hussie in a red state… and maybe her nascar husband. They got blasted for the MT one, I read it on all kinds of boards. Chambers seems like an ok guy, and said they would not do that anymore. But then he has done it with every episode except maybe the judo one where he was mildly comfortable. Yeah, the cambodia one was the same.. Homeboy would have been a bloody mess.
I tivo that shit and watch it if I am through “I Love New York 2″ episodes and there is nothing else on. Overall its pretty fucking ghey mostly due to the hosts.
It looked like a dance and none of it would actually hurt. The show is good imo entertains me BUT this episode makes me sad that i wasted my time on it.
yea this one wasn’t that great. the sanda competition was the best i’ve seen
Bunch of stiff and lame guys in unrealistic fight. Waste of time watching this.
i agree.. their final fights always end up being a little lame. except for the one single stick eskrima match jason did with their champion, that was intense.. did you guys watch that?!
pradal serey looks a lot like muay thai, at least oputang’s style did in their final fight. is there any big difference apart from training methods?
Yeah, Pradal Serey at least has takedowns to set it apart from Muay Thai, but is it much different from Lethwei? I think Lethwei allows head butts.
Maybe the silat guys just did not want to go hard with these 2 guys as not to hurt the 2 westeners, so the show had to compensate by putting on this theather.
I mean it’s so fake there is nothing to say.
obviously someone is taking a piss(by that I mean joking around).
BUt this is just 2 strange it really is.
This shit is gay and most people surprisingly fall for this crap.
Dii Mak loves New York! Flavaaa Flaaaav!!!!
I haven’t posted here is a while, but don’t start the Muay Thai vs Pradal Serey Stuff on this site. Notice how the show did not mention this either. Its like the turd in the bowl.
I don’t have a problem with the ending challenge. I mean these guys are on a good will show. There job is to show what these arts are about not to get hurt or get someone else hurt.
And stop this, is it “real fighting” or does it work in “real life” stuff. The UFC and MMA did not prove what works and what does not. You want to know what works or not go to Angkor Wat and the Roman Stadiums. Go to any art and history museum and look at what is depicted in the art and in the historical records. And the best way to know if something works or not is of course do scientific experiments–with safety gear on of course and in many environmental conditions. I know that Sambo and Sanda and possibly Krav Maga was developed in this way by each governments’ military. I know that the Japanese experimented with their martial arts on Chinese, Fillipino, Korean, and even American POWs–killing them in most of the experiments. All these records are out there, you don’t need MMA. The hope for this show is that you are given a proposition or a theory about a art and you see what are the possibilities out there.
My biggest disappointment about this show was that this is the “History” Channel. Yet the history they give on the arts are perfunctory at best and erroneous at its worst. “Alexander the Great” brought martial arts to the East. Give me a break. Chinese civilization and Indian Civilization predates Greek and until 200 years ago, Ideas flowed west more than east. Though this show is on the history channel there is no history in it.
Good synopisis and I agree.
Good post, Minh. I agree about the “what works and what doesn’t” debate. Didn’t know that the Japanese did “Martial Arts” experiments like the ones you mentioned.
Tong Po,
I was an Asian studies minor in College and have traveled throughout Asia so I come from different perspective. I have actually seen the pictures and videos of Japanese doing JJJ on their WWII POWs.
I can speak of MT or Pradal Serey coming from Muay Boran and Bokator. But we know certain aspects of Muay Boran and Bokator are “effective” because of Angkor Wat and Thai Paintings. Moreover, the idea that Martial arts in general and Muay Thai in particular came from the peaceful monks in Temples are not totally accurate. What happens, in Asian countries, is retired Soldiers became monks out of guilt or shame or love and become monks. From there the soldiers (now monks) taught the monks the physical Martial Arts. The monks then added religion and ritual to the arts, as well as technique. I suspect the “fluff” in Martial arts came in here. This why you see religion and MA merging in the Asia, whether they be Doaism, Buddhism or Anamalism.
Now for “effectiveness” compare BJJ today and Pankration from Roman sculptures. They look different. You know why? Because the Romans allowed biting, eye gouging, ear rip, and so forth. How different would BJJ be if these tactics were allowed? JJJ, BJJs predecessor, did not have to worry about biting, eye gouging, ear rip, and so forth, because the Samurai had body armor on that made biting and the sort useless (also strikes useless). But JJJ did not many small joint manipulation tactics, because fingers were always exposed.
My point is martial arts are developed for the needs of its people government by the environment in which the people fight in. There is no “perfect” art and even MMA was developed because of the Rules and Environment of MMA. Even in first UFC there were rules. Kimura complain that he would have beaten Helio easier had they fought on cement instead of a right, which I say is legitimate.
So sit back and enjoy the Martial Arts. Somewhere down the line most arts moved from battlefield to sport to art to excercise. That is what makes it fluff. But you can definitely see what moves work in what situations and what moves don’t. This series to me showed me some cool things…ie the jumping elbow knee combo in Pradal Serey, and the Eskrima neck submission. Just for that I say the series is ok, but it should not be on the “History” channel
Sorry the post should say JJJ has small joint manipulation
I think just jujitsu should suffice. Well made points nonetheless. Now this could flower a new discussion ring sport and which preceded which but why bother? It’s evident to me the modern era existence of them is a wholly different interpretation.
Minh,
Good to have you back… thanks for adding to the discussion.
No history debate on this site as to what preceeds what. I was in one and regret it ever since.
BTW I am not critical of any art just laying out some of my perceived facts and I may be wrong so hopefully no one gets too upset.
Critique is fine. I have no problem with it personally and you back up your points so it’s valid whether one agrees or doesn’t. It’s a definable free debate. And that should be welcome imo. I too am glad to see you back BTW.
hey people get a fucking life its a tv show.
u guys actually don’t really know and understand what silat is capable of..
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