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By Bill Harris -- Toronto Sun -- October 13, 2005 Nothing ever will stop Walker Texas Ranger from kicking butt and taking names. "Maybe old age," said 65-year-old actor Chuck Norris. Don't believe it. That kind of talk is for wimps. Norris makes his triumphant return as Walker Texas Ranger this Sunday with a movie-of-the-week titled Trial By Fire (CITY/CBS, 9 p.m.). "It's fun to come back after four years, because I really like doing the Walker character," said Norris, who is equally famous as a martial-arts expert and champion. "After eight and a half years and 203 episodes of Walker, I needed a break. CBS was interested in doing another two years, but my wife was pregnant with twins at the time." A man like Walker can change diapers for only so long. Walker House Husband doesn't have the same ring to it. "As soon as the kids turned three, we contacted CBS and asked if they would be interested in doing a movie of the week," Norris said. "Fortunately, they were." Walker is faced with another dastardly plot. The aerospace industry builds a missile guidance mechanism for the Pentagon. Unbeknownst to the U.S. government, a duplicate copy is made for North Korea. Three top Korean assassins are in Dallas to oversee the delivery of this component. "That's where Walker comes in," said Norris, his voice giddy with excitement. "And I'll tell you, these guys who played the assassins, they were good. I've had some big fight scenes, but wow. "One guy throws a spinning heel kick in front of my face, and it was so fast. Generally I can react real good, because I've been doing it for so long. But I didn't even have time to turn my head. I was like, 'Man, I'm going to have to lead this foot by about three seconds.' " Walker Texas Ranger certainly takes its share of ribbing. Late-night talk-show host Conan O'Brien has a long-running bit in which he reaches for a lever that cues a taped scene from Walker Texas Ranger, out of context and with no explanation. The crowd usually goes nuts. Whether they're into it or mocking it, they still watch it. "I did his show -- I love Conan," Norris said. "And I appreciate it, because it gets Walker a lot of publicity. "He tried to change it and got bombarded. They tried to do Night Rider in place of Walker Texas Ranger, and people started booing him. And he was like, 'Okay, I'll go back to Walker.' It's like a backhanded huge compliment." It's lucky for Conan O'Brien that Chuck Norris has a sense of humour. If it ever came down to a fight between those two, who do you think would win? |