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About This Film
Cast
Cool Things
This is the special edition DVD with all kinds of extra stuff including deleted scenes, interviews, commentaries, and more!
Cast:
Dar, the Beastmaster- Marc Singer
Kiri- Tanya Roberts
Seth- John Amos
Maax- Rip Torn
Tal- Josh Milrad
King Zed- Rod Loomis
Sacco- Ralph Strait
Jun Leader- Tony Epper
Witchwoman #1- Janet DeMay
Witchwoman #2- Christine Kellogg
Witchwoman #3- Janet Jones
Young Dar's Father- Ben Hammer
The Beastmaster (1982): The film that started it all! In my humble opinion, Marc Singer IS the only Beastmaster. It's going to be really hard to replace him or find anyone nearly as good. It's a fantasy film, but Beastmaster is very clearly a superhero; something we cannot say of Conan the Barbarian. He has super powers and a cool code name. Not to mention the strength, which is practically a given for superheroes.
Of the three Beastmaster films, this one is filmed with the biggest budget. Bright outside filming and almost insurmountable villainy make this quite a spectacle. It is also the most serious of the three. Granted, "The Beastmaster" has its light comedic moments thanks to the likeable personality of Marc Singer, but this film has a moody feel to it. It's a revenge movie, but the bad guys are so absolutely despicable that you know they're just going to have to die big, splashy deaths.
We learn the story of Dar, the Beastmaster in this entry. Twenty-some years ago, an evil wizard named Maax is in the employ of the good King Zed. Maax learns a prophecy of his death at the hand of the king's unborn son. So one of his witches steals the unborn son from Zed's wife, the Queen. The Queen is killed by the witch's magic, and Zed is imprisoned sometime, but not immediately afterwards. Guessing it was years down the road. Anyway, later in the woods, the witch brands the baby's left hand with an odd-shaped symbol and is about to sacrifice the little being. Then along comes the man who we simply know as "Young Dar's Father" who kills the witch and saves the baby. He names the baby Dar, and raises him as his own son. Young Dar's father trains him in the way of fighting with a sword and unique throwing weapon. Even more impressive is Dar's incredible super powers of communicating with and using the abilities of animals.
Flash forward to adult Dar, who is somewhere in his twenties. In an instant, his happy village is completely destroyed and he is the last of his people. The culprits: The Jun, as lead by Maax the wizard. It seems the Jun have been a pain in the side of everyone in the land. Now Dar decides to take out the trash and go on a revenge spree. He is first assisted by an eagle, who he just automatically knows from the first time we see him as an adult. Later on in his travels he meets his two ferrets. Last, but not least, he makes friends with a ferocious black tiger. His eagle is his eyes, his ferrets are his cunning, and his tiger is his strength. Armed with his father's sword, throwing weapon, musclebound body, and a bad attitude he goes out to kill every single Jun he can find. Still, Dar is a nice guy and treats every good person he meets with respect. He's not a total jerk about things. He's just out to kill those who have wronged him, and that's it. This incident doesn't change his personality.
Soon enough, Dar meets up with a beautiful red-haired slave girl named Kiri, played by Tanya Roberts. Tanya's looking good in this movie, but even more than that she's playing a good character. There's more to Kiri than meets the eye, however. She is not just a slave girl, but a niece to King Zed. Kiri is actually Dar's cousin. Dar does not know he is King Zed's son until near the end of the show, so for the most part Dar and Kiri are a romantic couple. Kiri has to remain a slave girl or her family will be put to death. So Dar goes to rescue her and kill all the bad guys.
Later on in his travels, Dar meets Seth, Zed's captain of the guards, and Tal, King Zed's young son from another marriage. They barely escaped the wrath of Maax and are now returning for payback. So Dar teams up with them to rescue Kiri. Dar is still unaware that Tal would be his half-brother.
Dar gains a friend in a man called Sacco, whose daughter he saved from Maax's sacrifice. He's kind of a goofy coward sort, put in for comedy relief, and a great character to have in this film. Dar enlists him to do all kinds of dangerous things that Sacco is just not geared-up for.
So hot cousin Kiri is rescued and later is the now blinded King Zed. Back at the good guys' hideout, King Zed acts like a complete butthead to Dar because he's a "freak". Zed does not know Dar is his long lost son. Seth is the first one to refer to Dar as "The Beastmaster". The good guys go back to kill Maax and the Jun. Maax tells King Zed that Dar is his son before knifing him to death. Now both Zed and Dar know the truth (fat lot of good it does them now!). Dar knifes Maax and fatally wounds him. Maax is about to surprise attack Dar until one of Dar's ferrets jumps on Maax and sends himself and the wizard to their death in the fiery pit. Dar lost one of his friends, so of course he's heartbroken, but the battle must go on.
A final showdown with the Jun warriors ensues. Needless to say, they all die, but all the details are so fascinating that I just can't give them away here; watch the movie. Dar faces off against the gigantic Jun Leader that wears some funky kind of winged helmet and ultimately kills him. The war's over. The good guys have won. Tal, who was shot by an arrow in the fight, is treated and saved.
Now Dar knows Tal is his half-brother and Kiri is his cousin. He was going to keep his secret, but Seth found out the truth before Dar left. However, Dar refused to be king, placing Tal, with Seth's guidance, in his trust. And although Kiri now realized that Dar was her cousin, they decided to have one last fling on a mountaintop with heavy mouth-kissing. Oh, and although one of Dar's ferrets died in battle, we see that the mother now has two ferret babies with her in the pouch...so that's a good thing.
I really enjoyed the cast of this movie. All of the major players I've enjoyed in other shows, so it's neat to see them all here.
Dar, the Beastmaster- Marc Singer
Kiri- Tanya Roberts
Seth- John Amos
Maax- Rip Torn
Tal- Josh Milrad
King Zed- Rod Loomis
Sacco- Ralph Strait
Jun Leader- Tony Epper
Witchwoman #1- Janet DeMay
Witchwoman #2- Christine Kellogg
Witchwoman #3- Janet Jones
Young Dar's Father- Ben Hammer
The Beastmaster (1982): The film that started it all! In my humble opinion, Marc Singer IS the only Beastmaster. It's going to be really hard to replace him or find anyone nearly as good. It's a fantasy film, but Beastmaster is very clearly a superhero; something we cannot say of Conan the Barbarian. He has super powers and a cool code name. Not to mention the strength, which is practically a given for superheroes.
Of the three Beastmaster films, this one is filmed with the biggest budget. Bright outside filming and almost insurmountable villainy make this quite a spectacle. It is also the most serious of the three. Granted, "The Beastmaster" has its light comedic moments thanks to the likeable personality of Marc Singer, but this film has a moody feel to it. It's a revenge movie, but the bad guys are so absolutely despicable that you know they're just going to have to die big, splashy deaths.
We learn the story of Dar, the Beastmaster in this entry. Twenty-some years ago, an evil wizard named Maax is in the employ of the good King Zed. Maax learns a prophecy of his death at the hand of the king's unborn son. So one of his witches steals the unborn son from Zed's wife, the Queen. The Queen is killed by the witch's magic, and Zed is imprisoned sometime, but not immediately afterwards. Guessing it was years down the road. Anyway, later in the woods, the witch brands the baby's left hand with an odd-shaped symbol and is about to sacrifice the little being. Then along comes the man who we simply know as "Young Dar's Father" who kills the witch and saves the baby. He names the baby Dar, and raises him as his own son. Young Dar's father trains him in the way of fighting with a sword and unique throwing weapon. Even more impressive is Dar's incredible super powers of communicating with and using the abilities of animals.
Flash forward to adult Dar, who is somewhere in his twenties. In an instant, his happy village is completely destroyed and he is the last of his people. The culprits: The Jun, as lead by Maax the wizard. It seems the Jun have been a pain in the side of everyone in the land. Now Dar decides to take out the trash and go on a revenge spree. He is first assisted by an eagle, who he just automatically knows from the first time we see him as an adult. Later on in his travels he meets his two ferrets. Last, but not least, he makes friends with a ferocious black tiger. His eagle is his eyes, his ferrets are his cunning, and his tiger is his strength. Armed with his father's sword, throwing weapon, musclebound body, and a bad attitude he goes out to kill every single Jun he can find. Still, Dar is a nice guy and treats every good person he meets with respect. He's not a total jerk about things. He's just out to kill those who have wronged him, and that's it. This incident doesn't change his personality.
Soon enough, Dar meets up with a beautiful red-haired slave girl named Kiri, played by Tanya Roberts. Tanya's looking good in this movie, but even more than that she's playing a good character. There's more to Kiri than meets the eye, however. She is not just a slave girl, but a niece to King Zed. Kiri is actually Dar's cousin. Dar does not know he is King Zed's son until near the end of the show, so for the most part Dar and Kiri are a romantic couple. Kiri has to remain a slave girl or her family will be put to death. So Dar goes to rescue her and kill all the bad guys.
Later on in his travels, Dar meets Seth, Zed's captain of the guards, and Tal, King Zed's young son from another marriage. They barely escaped the wrath of Maax and are now returning for payback. So Dar teams up with them to rescue Kiri. Dar is still unaware that Tal would be his half-brother.
Dar gains a friend in a man called Sacco, whose daughter he saved from Maax's sacrifice. He's kind of a goofy coward sort, put in for comedy relief, and a great character to have in this film. Dar enlists him to do all kinds of dangerous things that Sacco is just not geared-up for.
So hot cousin Kiri is rescued and later is the now blinded King Zed. Back at the good guys' hideout, King Zed acts like a complete butthead to Dar because he's a "freak". Zed does not know Dar is his long lost son. Seth is the first one to refer to Dar as "The Beastmaster". The good guys go back to kill Maax and the Jun. Maax tells King Zed that Dar is his son before knifing him to death. Now both Zed and Dar know the truth (fat lot of good it does them now!). Dar knifes Maax and fatally wounds him. Maax is about to surprise attack Dar until one of Dar's ferrets jumps on Maax and sends himself and the wizard to their death in the fiery pit. Dar lost one of his friends, so of course he's heartbroken, but the battle must go on.
A final showdown with the Jun warriors ensues. Needless to say, they all die, but all the details are so fascinating that I just can't give them away here; watch the movie. Dar faces off against the gigantic Jun Leader that wears some funky kind of winged helmet and ultimately kills him. The war's over. The good guys have won. Tal, who was shot by an arrow in the fight, is treated and saved.
Now Dar knows Tal is his half-brother and Kiri is his cousin. He was going to keep his secret, but Seth found out the truth before Dar left. However, Dar refused to be king, placing Tal, with Seth's guidance, in his trust. And although Kiri now realized that Dar was her cousin, they decided to have one last fling on a mountaintop with heavy mouth-kissing. Oh, and although one of Dar's ferrets died in battle, we see that the mother now has two ferret babies with her in the pouch...so that's a good thing.
I really enjoyed the cast of this movie. All of the major players I've enjoyed in other shows, so it's neat to see them all here.
Cool Things:
The witchwomen all have great-looking bodies, and we even see some bare fanny at the beginning, but it's all ruined when we find out that they have ugly, old goblin faces. At least we don't feel bad when they're killed. It's funny that Maax acts like he's their sugar-daddy. Buddy, you can KEEP 'em!
Watch for the "Winged Creatures". Interesting character ideas.
In real life, Dar's black tiger was really a regular tiger dyed black. Every time it took a drink, the dye would wash off around his mouth. So throughout the film, you will often see the stripes on the tiger's head.
The ferrets names are Kodo and Podo. The eagle's name is Sharak. The tiger's name is Ru.
The witchwomen all have great-looking bodies, and we even see some bare fanny at the beginning, but it's all ruined when we find out that they have ugly, old goblin faces. At least we don't feel bad when they're killed. It's funny that Maax acts like he's their sugar-daddy. Buddy, you can KEEP 'em!
Watch for the "Winged Creatures". Interesting character ideas.
In real life, Dar's black tiger was really a regular tiger dyed black. Every time it took a drink, the dye would wash off around his mouth. So throughout the film, you will often see the stripes on the tiger's head.
The ferrets names are Kodo and Podo. The eagle's name is Sharak. The tiger's name is Ru.