"BeastMaster" (1999) TV series 1999-2002

Directors:

Peter Andrikidis
Ian Gilmour

Writers:

Sarah Dodd (writer)
Edwina Follows (writer)

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3

Release Date:

9 October 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Fantasy

Plot:

The sword and sorcery adventures of a wandering adventurer who has the ability to communicate with animals.

Plot Keywords:

Animal | Sword And Sorcery | Beastmaster | Loincloth | Spin Off From Cult Film

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Jackson Raine	...	Tao (65 episodes, 1999-2002)
Daniel Goddard	...	Dar (65 episodes, 1999-2002)
Steven Grives	...	King Zad / ... (32 episodes, 1999-2002)
Monika Schnarre	...	The Sorceress #1 / ... (29 episodes, 1999-2002)

Runtime:

45 min (66 episodes)

Country:

Australia | Canada | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Queensland, Australia

Company:

Alliance Atlantis Communications

Quotes:

Dar: Tao, is this another of your "day of change stories"?

Movie Connections:

Follows Beastmaster: The Eye of Braxus (1996) (TV)

Great Show, with plot holes big enough to fit Texas!!!

To begin with, I like this show, I own all three seasons on DVD. It is a fantasy show, utterly lacking any need for higher level thinking. This is not "Farscape" or "Star Trek" which might require the viewer to actively think about what is going on, or even "Xena" and "Hercules" which actually stuck to one major plot line. But it is good aimless fun. And Monikka Schnarre would look good reading a phone book.

What surprised me however was the lack of any sense of time. The show started the first season in the stone age. Bones, wood and stone consisted of the materials available to create tools and weapons. Okay, I'll buy it. Darr's Halbred could have been created of two leg bones of an extremely large animal, the metatarsals or metacarpals of an elephant would suffice (or is it the phalanges?). Season two rolls around and we've got bronze. Initially only the Nords had it, until the middle of the season. After the half-way mark, everyone was learning to extract bronze, independently of each other. Tao was developing ways to fly. The crossbow was invented. I still wasn't thrown, the liberties hadn't truly been taken yet. That's when season three rolled around. The first two seasons were thrown out the window. Everyone had iron weapons. Darr's sword appeared to be a Katana made of steel. STEEL!!! Zad had Knights running around. We went through roughly 7000-8000 years of evolution in a short three year span. None of the actors even aged discernably. The animals even took a back seat to him finding his family.

It seems to me the people pulling the strings decided to take the show different ways from episode to episode. The Sorceress would show up in black leather trying to be evil in one week, and then be wearing clothes straight from the runway the next. Not that I'm complaining. She can wear leather, dresses, skirts, bikinis or even nothing and I still would watch.

Oh well, I still watched and bought the show. They succeeded in what they wanted to accomplish. Just don't watch the show with a critical view and you'll do fine.