This year, we lost one of the most iconic action stars who has ever lived. Chuck Norris might not have been what the Academy would call “Oscar material,” but his larger-than-life persona and genuinely memorable roles turned him into a pop culture sensation and one of the internet’s earliest living memes.
While most people remember Norris for his work in Walker, Texas Ranger and Lone Wolf McQuade, Norris’s filmography can be a rollercoaster of memorable highs and unbelievable lows. After all, his popularity peaked in the eighties, just when hammy action flicks were all the rage.
1996’s Forest Warrior isn’t what you’d call a “masterpiece,” not by a long shot. The movie came out at the peak of the Native American movie boom of the 90s, fueled by Dances with Wolves and Pocahontas. Forest Warrior tried to replicate that blend between environmentalism and Native American themes, but in the process, it ended up essentially copying an underrated eighties classic: BraveStarr.
How Forest Warrior Mirrors BraveStarr’s Supernatural Lawmen
Let’s address the elephant in the room: BraveStarr is an ’80s cartoon set in space in the 23rd century – that’s a bit more “fantastical” than Forest Warrior. Surprisingly, the core elements of BraveStarr apply to this Chuck Norris film almost perfectly. At the center of the story are our heroes: Marshal BraveStarr and Jebediah McKenna.
Both characters are lawmen with strong moral codes and a connection to Native American legends. Discussions about cultural appropriation aside, the BraveStarr cartoon did feature a Native American main character. We can’t say the same about Forest Warrior, though.
Animal Spirit Powers: The Strangely Similar Mythology Between Forest Warrior and BraveStarr
The idea of tribal warriors who possess nature spirits isn’t exclusive to either BraveStarr or Forest Warrior. Still, the film features essentially the same spirits as the ones Marshal uses in the animated series. Much like Marshal, Jebediah uses animal spirits to fight, and he essentially uses pretty much the same animals seen in BraveStarr.
There’s that one scene in Forest Warrior in which Chuck Norris turns into a bear. Funnily enough, that’s a bit more far-fetched than most of the stuff ever seen in BraveStarr.
Environmental Themes and Villains: Why Forest Warrior Feels Like a BraveStarr Copy
BraveStarr came out a few years before environmentalism was all over pop culture. Forest Warrior, however, was released right when most Native American films and TV shows were also about “sticking it to the man” to protect nature. That should mean that the two stories should be fundamentally different – and yet, they share the same DNA.
In Forest Warrior, the villain, played by Terry Kiser, wants to clear an entire forest for profit – and because he’s evil. In BraveStarr, New Texas doesn’t have forests, but it does have “Kerium,” a powerful fuel. The show’s bad guy, the awesomely-named Tex Hex, wants all of that Kerium. The narrative of encroachment and the evil, power-hungry maniac at the core remains unchanged between BraveStarr and Forest Warrior…mostly.
The bad news is that there’s no Thirty/Thirty counterpart in Forest Warrior. The early internet would have imploded if there had been a movie where Chuck Norris shared the screen with a cybernetic talking horse. It would have turned Forest Warrior into a much better movie, however.
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