WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema: Beastmaster 2 0:00:03.000 --> 0:00:05.280 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind, a production of 0:00:05.360 --> 0:00:15.200 My Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. This 0:00:15.280 --> 0:00:18.360 is Rob Lamb and this is Joe McCormick. And today's 0:00:18.400 --> 0:00:22.840 movie on Weird House Cinema is the nine fantasy epic 0:00:23.400 --> 0:00:28.040 beast Master two through the Portal of Time. Continuing a tradition. Well, 0:00:28.120 --> 0:00:30.600 we've started on the show of covering the second movie 0:00:30.640 --> 0:00:33.000 in a series without covering the first. We we have 0:00:33.080 --> 0:00:35.519 never discussed beast Master. In fact, I don't know if 0:00:35.560 --> 0:00:37.920 I've ever even seen it all the way through. But 0:00:38.000 --> 0:00:40.360 the first beast Master I think I've seen like half 0:00:40.360 --> 0:00:44.199 of it. Oh, it's it's really good. I feel like 0:00:44.320 --> 0:00:48.360 I can say without any doubt that the original beast 0:00:48.400 --> 0:00:55.280 Master from Don Coscarelli is just a solid um leather 0:00:55.400 --> 0:00:58.680 diaper movie. It's a solid um uh you know, Barbarian 0:00:58.800 --> 0:01:05.520 wasteland conan ask motion picture with some awesome monsters in it, uh, 0:01:05.640 --> 0:01:08.679 some fun performances and a great villain played by ripped 0:01:08.680 --> 0:01:11.280 torn Well, fair enough. If beast Master one is your 0:01:11.319 --> 0:01:14.319 idea of solid would say beast Master two is riven 0:01:14.360 --> 0:01:18.560 with holes. It's like Swiss cheese maybe about to crumble apart. 0:01:19.040 --> 0:01:21.399 But I had a good time revisiting this because I 0:01:21.440 --> 0:01:24.760 remember this movie, uh in that it used to play 0:01:24.840 --> 0:01:26.360 on TV when I was a kid. I think this 0:01:26.400 --> 0:01:28.000 is one of those ones that come on T and 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:29.679 T late at night or maybe in the middle of 0:01:29.720 --> 0:01:34.200 the afternoon on a weekend. And um, so the reason 0:01:34.440 --> 0:01:38.080 we picked this movie is that Rob we were talking 0:01:38.120 --> 0:01:42.440 about examples of this bizarre sub genre that existed from 0:01:42.520 --> 0:01:46.039 roughly the mid eighties to the early nineties, and the 0:01:46.040 --> 0:01:49.280 sub genre was this, You take your leather diaper barbarian 0:01:49.800 --> 0:01:53.520 or some other greased up fantasy muscleman who uh you know, 0:01:53.960 --> 0:01:56.840 exists in a world of swords and magic, and then 0:01:56.840 --> 0:01:59.919 you have him travel from his strife torn home world 0:02:00.200 --> 0:02:04.480 to the smog filled alleyways of modern day Los Angeles. Surprisingly, 0:02:04.520 --> 0:02:07.200 there was more than one movie with this premise, so 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:09.880 I would say it's a variant on the standard fish 0:02:09.919 --> 0:02:13.320 out of Water plot, coming pretty close to the format 0:02:13.600 --> 0:02:15.720 that we talked about in our episode on the Nicholas 0:02:15.760 --> 0:02:18.919 Meyer movie Time after Time, the format we were calling 0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:21.640 fish out of Time, except in the case of these 0:02:21.639 --> 0:02:25.079 movies in particular, the beef warrior is typically said to 0:02:25.120 --> 0:02:28.480 be traveling from some other dimension filled with wizards and 0:02:28.520 --> 0:02:32.040 demons rather than just from a point in Earth's real past. 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:34.679 And I don't know, I mean, can you can You 0:02:34.720 --> 0:02:38.040 can make an argument though that it's it's science fiction 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:43.000 is our imagined future, fantasy is our imagined past. So uh, 0:02:43.040 --> 0:02:46.160 you know, it basically washes out there. Well, it's debatable 0:02:46.200 --> 0:02:48.680 what's what actually happens in this movie itself because the 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:52.080 title is through the portal of time. But the characters 0:02:52.080 --> 0:02:55.000 in the movie describe l A as being an alternate dimension. 0:02:55.919 --> 0:02:58.080 And I don't know. You can check your history books 0:02:58.120 --> 0:03:01.560 for anything resembling our Lawn and le Rona and the 0:03:01.560 --> 0:03:04.359 Beast Master, and I don't think it really shows up. Well, 0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:06.000 you know, maybe it's a it's a it's a time 0:03:06.080 --> 0:03:09.799 lost to history, right. Plenty of people today also describe 0:03:09.919 --> 0:03:12.160 l A as an alternate dimension as well, So I 0:03:12.200 --> 0:03:15.919 don't guess. So, so we're talking. I don't know exactly 0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:18.679 where the sub genre comes from, but it might all 0:03:18.760 --> 0:03:22.560 be traceable back to the the nineteen eighties seven he 0:03:22.720 --> 0:03:26.600 Man movie Masters of the Universe, in which Dolph Lundgren 0:03:26.720 --> 0:03:29.560 plays he Man. He ends up transported to modern day 0:03:29.680 --> 0:03:32.320 l A for some reason in his quest to defeat 0:03:32.360 --> 0:03:36.760 the evil Skeletor played by Franklin Ngela. Yeah, that that 0:03:36.800 --> 0:03:40.120 was a fun flick. I remember seeing that in the theater. 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:43.720 Some older kids took me, some like friends of the family, 0:03:44.200 --> 0:03:47.680 and it felt it felt very grown up in many ways. 0:03:47.920 --> 0:03:51.040 It was an interesting an interesting crazy like it was, 0:03:51.080 --> 0:03:52.840 you know, a lot of this kind of dark stuff 0:03:52.880 --> 0:03:55.640 in there. They really took the the world of the 0:03:56.240 --> 0:03:58.920 of of the these action figures in the cartoon, and 0:03:58.960 --> 0:04:05.400 they played it downright serious at times, especially towards the 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:08.000 beginning and towards the end, because you have all this 0:04:08.120 --> 0:04:11.080 like cool stuff where Skeletor looks amazing and he has 0:04:11.160 --> 0:04:14.080 this just I would say, the sweetest band of underlings 0:04:14.120 --> 0:04:17.520 and hinch creatures this side of Empire strikes back. It's 0:04:17.520 --> 0:04:20.479 got Meg Foster is some kind of evil sorceress. I 0:04:20.480 --> 0:04:23.320 think it's got Billy Bartie. Yea Billy Barti's in there. 0:04:24.000 --> 0:04:26.880 You've been playing a magical creature. You've got a lizard man, 0:04:27.000 --> 0:04:29.880 You've got you've got a beast man. You've got some 0:04:29.920 --> 0:04:32.400 sort of a big haired, gnarly dwarf. You have a 0:04:32.400 --> 0:04:35.040 sword guy, and then of course you have the sword guy, 0:04:35.120 --> 0:04:39.800 Dolph Longern playing he Man in a costume designed by Mobius. 0:04:40.080 --> 0:04:43.400 I mean, what more do you need? But I do 0:04:43.480 --> 0:04:45.679 remember the of course, the thing about Master of the Universe. 0:04:45.720 --> 0:04:48.240 You have that whole central section where they're dumped into 0:04:48.240 --> 0:04:50.960 our world. And even at the time, I was like, 0:04:51.000 --> 0:04:52.520 oh man, I kind of wish we could have stayed 0:04:52.520 --> 0:04:55.560 an attorney, you like I, that's where these characters should be. 0:04:56.040 --> 0:04:59.440 Why are they Why are they invading my world? Um? 0:04:59.480 --> 0:05:01.560 But I know you roll with it because eventually you 0:05:01.560 --> 0:05:03.919 get back to it, turning it. You gotta make it relevant. 0:05:04.000 --> 0:05:07.680 But but these weren't the only two movies. Amazingly, you 0:05:07.800 --> 0:05:10.720 dug up at least one other movie where there's like 0:05:10.760 --> 0:05:13.160 a where there's like a sword swinging meatman who ends 0:05:13.240 --> 0:05:15.560 up transported to modern day l A. Was that Time 0:05:15.640 --> 0:05:21.080 Barbarians from n Yes, I have not seen Time Barbarians, uh, 0:05:21.120 --> 0:05:23.560 And I suspect a lot of people have not seen 0:05:23.600 --> 0:05:28.160 Time Barbarians. But it is a film that that definitely exists, 0:05:28.800 --> 0:05:32.160 and um does not feature anyone I'm really familiar with. 0:05:33.560 --> 0:05:36.599 But but it's it's time. It's it's basically the same plot, 0:05:36.680 --> 0:05:40.040 is what we're talking about here, some sort of barbarian dude, 0:05:40.400 --> 0:05:43.400 Chase is a bad guy to modern day l A. Uh, 0:05:43.680 --> 0:05:46.440 it's very much in keeping what we're talking about here. 0:05:46.720 --> 0:05:48.720 So you know, a funny thing is that I just 0:05:48.800 --> 0:05:53.119 realized the third Live action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie 0:05:53.320 --> 0:05:56.400 is basically the inverse of this plot. So it takes 0:05:56.440 --> 0:06:01.560 like rad pizza eating modern l A heroes in internal 0:06:01.640 --> 0:06:05.679 form and transports them back to like feudal Japan. Yeah, 0:06:05.880 --> 0:06:08.440 the reverse of this, you see with There's there's some 0:06:08.480 --> 0:06:12.000 military applications of this, right, there's there's at least one 0:06:12.080 --> 0:06:15.280 note where the American film and and a Japanese film 0:06:15.279 --> 0:06:18.440 where you have like modern day combat units traveling back 0:06:19.160 --> 0:06:24.640 in time and then potentially changing world events. Um. Speaking 0:06:24.720 --> 0:06:28.480 of of of such, there's um, there's a Hong Kong 0:06:28.560 --> 0:06:30.640 film and I think who this one is a very 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:33.679 vague memory. It took me a lot to find this film, 0:06:33.680 --> 0:06:37.599 but I believe the Iceman cometh from this is about 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:40.480 Ming dynasty warriors who get frozen and then wake up 0:06:40.480 --> 0:06:43.760 in modern times and have to battle each other with swords. 0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:47.200 This is often compared to Highlander and seems to have 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:49.359 maybe been inspired by Highlander, And I guess we we 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:52.320 have to consider the possibility that the Highlander DNA is 0:06:52.360 --> 0:06:54.480 on all of this as well. Even though those the 0:06:54.960 --> 0:06:58.440 characters in Highlander, the immortals are are traveling through time 0:06:58.560 --> 0:07:03.320 the slow way, and they're they're still uh some, there's 0:07:03.320 --> 0:07:04.880 still a little bit of fish out of water stuff 0:07:04.920 --> 0:07:08.280 like the Kurgan never really adapts. Uh he's in. One 0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:10.120 of the characters in our film today is very much 0:07:10.120 --> 0:07:14.040 in Kurgan mode. Oh yeah. Our Klon played by Wingshauser 0:07:14.160 --> 0:07:17.560 in in Beastmester two has strong notes of Kirgan. Yeah, 0:07:17.600 --> 0:07:19.160 I would say, I guess I'm not giving Kurgan a 0:07:19.240 --> 0:07:22.440 fair shake. Kurgan does adapt to modern times, but he 0:07:22.480 --> 0:07:26.640 only adapts to like the violent subcultures of modern times. 0:07:26.960 --> 0:07:32.880 He becomes like a punk, body modification biker. But I 0:07:32.920 --> 0:07:35.640 think it's also interesting how many parallels you would find 0:07:35.720 --> 0:07:38.480 in in movies of this kind, because I feel like 0:07:38.680 --> 0:07:41.160 they've all got to have some similar elements. Like your 0:07:41.200 --> 0:07:44.360 Meat Beast discoverers, rock and roll or some of the 0:07:44.440 --> 0:07:48.320 pop music genre. They get into a dance club, or 0:07:48.400 --> 0:07:51.320 they learn about rap music or something and it's like, wow, 0:07:51.360 --> 0:07:53.720 this this music is like nothing I've ever heard. It 0:07:53.760 --> 0:07:56.720 frightens me. Um and then you have a scene where 0:07:56.720 --> 0:07:59.840 the meat beast discovers pizza or chocolate or some other 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:03.240 food of the gods. You have the meat beast marveling 0:08:03.280 --> 0:08:06.240 at the magic box that shows pictures. You have the 0:08:06.240 --> 0:08:10.640 meat beast terrified by traffic, cars, freeways. And then finally, 0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:12.080 I think you've always got to have a scene where 0:08:12.080 --> 0:08:15.280 your meat beast has an encounter with the local police 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:18.480 and they're all like, oh, it's another one of these weirdos. 0:08:19.960 --> 0:08:22.360 If there are any amateur film historians out there though, 0:08:22.400 --> 0:08:25.920 that that know where all of this subgenre traces back to, 0:08:26.040 --> 0:08:27.760 is it is it masters or is it is it 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:30.600 something else? I don't know. At any rate, it is 0:08:30.640 --> 0:08:35.319 a It is a winning formula, even if it doesn't 0:08:35.320 --> 0:08:38.560 always make for great movies, it does make movies that win. 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:42.480 I wonder what it does say about the sort of 0:08:42.600 --> 0:08:45.960 nature of the muscly hero. And this might be something 0:08:46.000 --> 0:08:48.920 that is explored in some of the serious literature out there. 0:08:49.120 --> 0:08:52.600 You know is reading some of this regarding Hercules. But uh, 0:08:52.679 --> 0:08:56.160 you know the first beast Master film, your your lead character, 0:08:56.240 --> 0:08:59.200 the beating the beast Master himself is uh, you know, 0:08:59.200 --> 0:09:03.280 it's played he seriously in this movie he's mostly a dufus, 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:06.920 So I wonder there's probably something deeper going on there 0:09:07.000 --> 0:09:12.360 about our our relationship to to these like hyper masculine images. Oh, 0:09:12.400 --> 0:09:14.400 I just a thought of another variation. This is not 0:09:14.480 --> 0:09:17.199 exactly the same formula, but it's kind of close. Arnold 0:09:17.200 --> 0:09:20.760 Schwarzenegger's first movie, Hercules in New York. Oh yeah, And 0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:25.880 to a limited degree, you can compare this determinator as well. Um. 0:09:25.920 --> 0:09:29.120 I mean he's coming from the future, he's and he's 0:09:29.160 --> 0:09:32.360 maybe more finely tuned to fit in. He knows exactly 0:09:32.360 --> 0:09:33.959 what he's gonna do. He's not gonna marvel at the 0:09:34.040 --> 0:09:36.679 rock and roll in the pizza too much. But occasionally 0:09:37.000 --> 0:09:39.880 he gets something wrong, like asking for a plasma rifle 0:09:40.280 --> 0:09:43.800 at the gun store. Oh yeah, phase plasma rifle only 0:09:43.840 --> 0:09:46.880 what's you see pal let's stick miller. Yeah, that's right. Uh. 0:09:46.960 --> 0:09:49.160 Now here we would usually give the elevator pitch, but 0:09:49.440 --> 0:09:51.559 I think we've already given it. Right, it's beast Master. 0:09:51.720 --> 0:09:53.959 It's l A. What else do you need? Yeah, beast 0:09:53.960 --> 0:09:57.080 Master in l A. That's it. Beast Master learns valley speak. 0:09:57.240 --> 0:10:02.679 Beast Master learns how to party, you know. So I 0:10:02.720 --> 0:10:05.000 guess we should to hear some trailer audio. All right, 0:10:05.080 --> 0:10:10.199 let's do it. Come through the doorway to another dimension 0:10:13.679 --> 0:10:19.960 with the beast Master and the creatures he commands from 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:24.800 their world to ours. It's the wildest diadventure that time 0:10:24.880 --> 0:10:29.600 has ever known. Beast Master too, through the portal of time. 0:10:30.080 --> 0:10:34.559 Rock and Roll Baby rating pg. Thirteen, Coming August to 0:10:34.640 --> 0:10:38.920 a theater near you. All Right, so you're probably wondering, well, 0:10:38.920 --> 0:10:42.640 who are the fine people who brought this vision to 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:46.240 the screen. Let's let's talk about the people of note here. 0:10:46.720 --> 0:10:49.959 First of all, the director and uh, and also one 0:10:50.000 --> 0:10:54.840 of the mini writers credited on the screenplay is Silvio Tabbitt, 0:10:55.640 --> 0:10:59.280 Lebanese producer known for his involvement in such eighties films 0:10:59.360 --> 0:11:04.480 as Dead Ringers, The Cotton Club, Evil Speak, Fade to Black, 0:11:04.720 --> 0:11:07.720 and of course The beast Master, the first film. He 0:11:07.800 --> 0:11:12.680 was also associate producer on Alejandro Jodorowski's eight film Tusk. 0:11:12.840 --> 0:11:16.800 This is that possibly lost film about an elephant and Uh. 0:11:16.840 --> 0:11:20.120 Of course he's noted for this movie as well. This 0:11:20.200 --> 0:11:23.079 is his only the only time he directed or did 0:11:23.080 --> 0:11:26.240 any screenwriting. He's again, he's mostly a producer, and from 0:11:26.320 --> 0:11:28.679 here he'd go on to produce Beast Master three and 0:11:28.760 --> 0:11:33.720 n and the sixty six episode cable TV show The 0:11:33.720 --> 0:11:39.280 Beast Master from through two thousand. Now, I don't want 0:11:39.280 --> 0:11:41.920 to do uh too much surmising because I don't know 0:11:42.000 --> 0:11:43.880 what went on behind the scenes here, but I do 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:46.880 wonder if this is one of those classic cases of 0:11:47.400 --> 0:11:49.920 somebody is involved in the film industry and to the 0:11:49.960 --> 0:11:52.719 extent of putting up the money for films, being the 0:11:53.120 --> 0:11:56.920 lead investor or the producer in that sense. Uh, and 0:11:56.960 --> 0:11:59.440 then they're like, Okay, I get I get how this 0:11:59.520 --> 0:12:03.760 business works. I can be the creative director behind the movie. Yeah. 0:12:03.840 --> 0:12:06.600 I think there was something like that. Uh. Like, I'm 0:12:06.600 --> 0:12:10.120 going to go and skip to the two main screenplay 0:12:10.160 --> 0:12:14.200 credits on this because the first is Jim Winnarski, who 0:12:14.200 --> 0:12:16.920 has a story and screenplay credit. This is, of course, 0:12:17.160 --> 0:12:21.439 um uh Jim Warnarski from N six film the n 0:12:21.920 --> 0:12:24.360 S film Schopping Mall, which we've discussed on the show before, 0:12:24.720 --> 0:12:29.120 also notable for Swamp Thing Too and various other films. 0:12:29.600 --> 0:12:33.360 And then uh, the other story screenplay credit goes to R. J. Robertson, 0:12:33.440 --> 0:12:38.080 who lived work in the animation department on Shopping Mall 0:12:38.120 --> 0:12:41.040 and did visual effects on Buckar, Ruban's Eye, Dreamscape, and 0:12:41.080 --> 0:12:44.600 Troll and also wrote Death Stalker two and a few 0:12:44.600 --> 0:12:47.320 other titles. But it seems to be the case where 0:12:47.360 --> 0:12:50.520 I believe Jim Winnarski was going to direct this thing 0:12:51.080 --> 0:12:54.880 and then lost control of the picture. And I didn't 0:12:55.080 --> 0:12:56.719 dig too deep into this, but I think there was 0:12:56.760 --> 0:12:59.960 some bad blood here. I usually don't follow all the 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:03.400 threads myself because I don't want to sour my appreciation 0:13:03.400 --> 0:13:05.320 of the film. You know, I wanted to be uh 0:13:05.360 --> 0:13:08.000 this fun experience, and I don't want to know too 0:13:08.080 --> 0:13:11.320 much about any kind of beef going on behind the scenes. Well, 0:13:11.400 --> 0:13:14.199 the claim I read, and this was only hearing when 0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:17.840 Norsky's side, so I can't vouch for this being true. 0:13:17.840 --> 0:13:20.760 But what he claimed is that he like worked on 0:13:20.800 --> 0:13:23.840 the script with the understanding that he would get to 0:13:23.880 --> 0:13:26.400 direct it, and then at the last minute tab it 0:13:26.559 --> 0:13:28.400 was like, oh no, actually I'm going to direct it. 0:13:28.440 --> 0:13:31.400 And then so they got into some big legal bruhaha 0:13:31.520 --> 0:13:35.520 about that, and uh and uh when Orsky apparently was 0:13:35.559 --> 0:13:38.760 able to extract some major money or concessions or something 0:13:38.800 --> 0:13:40.839 out of them in order to in order to let 0:13:40.840 --> 0:13:43.360 them proceed. So an in your right. If you're familiar 0:13:43.400 --> 0:13:47.240 with Jim Winnarski's filmography, I feel like you can you 0:13:47.240 --> 0:13:50.480 can identify some of the touches in the screenplay. I 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:52.920 feel like a lot of this picture feels very much 0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:55.640 in keeping with some of the things I've seen from him, 0:13:55.679 --> 0:13:58.560 especially A Swamp Thing Too. I can easily compare this 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:00.480 film to Swamp Thing Too well. I was going to 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:04.480 say that the satirical elements of this script are way 0:14:04.520 --> 0:14:07.079 below the mark of Chopping Mall. Like I feel like 0:14:07.160 --> 0:14:11.520 Chopping Mall is pretty sharp, pretty funny as written, and 0:14:11.760 --> 0:14:14.960 this one it has actors in it that can elevate 0:14:15.000 --> 0:14:17.360 it above the level of the script. But the script 0:14:17.440 --> 0:14:23.360 itself is pretty dreadful. It is a It's interesting because 0:14:23.360 --> 0:14:26.600 it is a It's kind of a self riffing movie. 0:14:26.840 --> 0:14:29.520 There are characters in place whose whose role is to 0:14:29.680 --> 0:14:32.880 riff on things, and uh, I think most of the 0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:35.600 characters come off as dufus is throughout. It's hard to 0:14:36.000 --> 0:14:38.520 think of anyone who doesn't come off as a dufus 0:14:38.560 --> 0:14:42.000 in this movie. Um, but that's ultimately the thing I 0:14:42.080 --> 0:14:44.200 enjoyed the most about it. Yeah, I thought the exact 0:14:44.280 --> 0:14:47.320 same thing. There is at least one major character who 0:14:47.520 --> 0:14:49.920 I'd say multiple major characters who riff on the film 0:14:49.920 --> 0:14:52.400 as it goes. One of them really works and the 0:14:52.400 --> 0:14:55.520 other really doesn't. But we'll we'll come back to that. 0:14:55.840 --> 0:14:59.880 But this actually so the script is not very close 0:15:00.160 --> 0:15:02.800 based on, but partially based on a novel by Andre 0:15:02.920 --> 0:15:07.560 Norton right right. Um. Andre Norton who lived through two 0:15:07.600 --> 0:15:11.280 thousand five, born Alice Mary Mary Norton Um. But she 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:15.280 published under the pen name Andre Norton. I'm not super 0:15:15.320 --> 0:15:16.840 familiar with that. I don't know that I've I've read 0:15:16.880 --> 0:15:18.600 any of her work before, but she was a pulp 0:15:18.640 --> 0:15:25.520 era genre writer and was seemingly quite prolific. Uh. Fifty nine, 0:15:25.560 --> 0:15:28.160 she wrote a book called beast Master about a Navajo 0:15:28.320 --> 0:15:33.160 former soldier with telepathic links to genetically altered animals. It 0:15:33.280 --> 0:15:38.440 ends up having adventures on other planets. Obviously, very little 0:15:38.480 --> 0:15:44.160 of that was adapted into the beast Master film from 0:15:44.440 --> 0:15:48.880 Don Coscarelli and Paul Pepperman. Uh. They wrote the screenplay 0:15:48.920 --> 0:15:51.960 for the original. But these are these are apparently they're 0:15:52.000 --> 0:15:55.120 like five different beast Master books from Norton. Again, I 0:15:55.160 --> 0:15:57.280 haven't read them. If anyone out there has read them, 0:15:57.320 --> 0:16:00.000 i'd be curious to hear you're taking all of this well. 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:02.560 You know, I also don't know a lot about Andre Norton, 0:16:02.720 --> 0:16:05.600 but I know that some of her works, like I 0:16:05.600 --> 0:16:10.360 think her Witch World series involved blending science fiction and 0:16:10.360 --> 0:16:13.680 and like magic, fantasy, sword and sorcery kind of stuff 0:16:13.680 --> 0:16:16.440 together in the same universe. And I would say beast 0:16:16.520 --> 0:16:20.000 Master two does that. Yeah, And in that sense, I 0:16:20.000 --> 0:16:22.800 guess beast Master two is more in keeping with the 0:16:22.840 --> 0:16:26.560 sort of of of fiction that she created. And I'll 0:16:26.800 --> 0:16:29.240 I'll briefly point out that there's also someone named Doug 0:16:29.280 --> 0:16:31.160 Miles who has a screenplay credit on this, but I 0:16:31.160 --> 0:16:33.120 couldn't find out anything about them. I think this is 0:16:33.160 --> 0:16:36.080 their only credit on anything. But just for the sake 0:16:36.120 --> 0:16:38.960 of having another human being involved in the creation of 0:16:39.000 --> 0:16:50.240 this strange film, All right, let's move on to the cast. 0:16:50.720 --> 0:16:53.360 We gotta star. Start at the top. Who do we 0:16:53.400 --> 0:16:56.240 have playing the beast Master A man named dar It 0:16:56.360 --> 0:17:00.320 is Mark Singer. What do I think of this Corman's 0:17:00.360 --> 0:17:03.840 I would say that Mark Singer shifts pretty effortlessly between 0:17:03.880 --> 0:17:06.760 the characters two modes in this movie, and they are 0:17:06.920 --> 0:17:11.280 very different modes. One of them is standard Barbarian fantasy 0:17:11.320 --> 0:17:16.560 action hero and the other is befuddled weirdo wandering around 0:17:16.600 --> 0:17:22.040 mostly naked on the sidewalk. Yeah. Yeah, I don't remember 0:17:22.200 --> 0:17:25.160 enough about his performance and Beastmaster, though I've again, I've 0:17:25.160 --> 0:17:28.159 seen it so many times um to to really comment 0:17:28.240 --> 0:17:30.439 too much on this, Like, I wonder how much of 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:33.840 the weirdness is just taking that character out of a 0:17:33.880 --> 0:17:36.560 fantasy setting and placing him in New York, because yeah, 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:38.600 he often just comes off as this kind of like 0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:43.760 weird dude with ferrets, weird uh you know, lean muscular, 0:17:44.320 --> 0:17:48.439 forty year old with oiled skin who had It's kind 0:17:48.480 --> 0:17:51.000 of an interesting balancing act because they'll have these scenes 0:17:51.040 --> 0:17:54.639 where he is at once very awkward and that he is, 0:17:54.720 --> 0:17:56.720 you know, a fish out of water he's in downtown 0:17:56.840 --> 0:17:58.920 l A. But on the other hand, he is also 0:17:59.040 --> 0:18:03.480 perfectly at ease. He's standing there on the street mostly naked. Again, 0:18:03.480 --> 0:18:08.120 we're just wearing this uh this this leather uh loincloth thing. 0:18:08.560 --> 0:18:11.200 So like somebody turns on the stereo and it plays 0:18:11.400 --> 0:18:14.439 hair metal at him and he's like be fuddled and 0:18:14.480 --> 0:18:17.760 freaked out, what is this? It frightens and confuses me. 0:18:18.280 --> 0:18:21.760 But then in other scenes, you know, he's wandering through 0:18:21.840 --> 0:18:25.200 this now house of the nineteen nineties, and and he 0:18:25.320 --> 0:18:29.440 like easily begins conversing and comforting someone about the death 0:18:29.440 --> 0:18:32.879 of a parent, and it's just like this. I don't know. 0:18:33.040 --> 0:18:36.840 Sometimes he's, uh, he's incredibly socially competent. In other times 0:18:36.880 --> 0:18:39.720 he's he's out of his depth. Yeah, so it's yeah, 0:18:39.800 --> 0:18:42.400 it's a it's a weird performance to watch. He mostly 0:18:42.480 --> 0:18:44.719 comes off as a dufus in this when he's not 0:18:45.200 --> 0:18:48.280 actually like fighting, And even then, I don't know an 0:18:48.359 --> 0:18:51.920 argument can be made. Now. Mark Singer is probably best 0:18:51.960 --> 0:18:55.240 remembered for beast Master one and yes, beast Master two, 0:18:55.440 --> 0:18:58.760 along with the eighties V movie and the TV show 0:18:59.080 --> 0:19:01.720 that followed. Uh that we shouldn't forget that there also 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:05.280 is a beast Master three, uh, and Mark Singer is 0:19:05.320 --> 0:19:10.080 in that alongside Tony Todd, Castor Van Dean and David Warner. 0:19:10.359 --> 0:19:15.360 What yeah, two great actors and A and A Casper. Yeah. 0:19:16.800 --> 0:19:19.120 So Mark Singer has worked a lot over the years, 0:19:19.160 --> 0:19:21.800 and I believe he's still active. Um. Stuff that stands 0:19:21.800 --> 0:19:24.439 out to me. And his filmography includes of voicing the 0:19:24.480 --> 0:19:29.000 man bat On Batman the animated series Oh Wow, and 0:19:29.160 --> 0:19:33.040 he was oh yeah, yeah, I enjoyed those, uh those episodes. 0:19:33.520 --> 0:19:38.320 There's also the film Lancelot Guarding a Guardian of Time. Uh. 0:19:38.359 --> 0:19:40.720 He was O he's the hero opposite John Saxon, and 0:19:40.760 --> 0:19:44.120 that listeners, like hardcore listeners to the show might remember 0:19:44.160 --> 0:19:48.920 that we heard from another listener who worked on this 0:19:48.960 --> 0:19:52.120 film and was almost killed by John Saxon during one 0:19:52.200 --> 0:19:55.600 of the stunts. Maybe it might be a slight exaggeration, 0:19:55.640 --> 0:19:59.320 but yes, the like a sword came in their direction, right, Yes, 0:19:59.760 --> 0:20:03.200 but everybody was okay, Yeah, So anyway, Mark is in 0:20:03.400 --> 0:20:05.399 he's in great shape in this Uh, We've got to 0:20:05.400 --> 0:20:09.080 give him that, and he's Uh. I feel like he 0:20:09.160 --> 0:20:11.560 does everything that is asked of him in this of 0:20:11.720 --> 0:20:13.320 this film. I feel like that's something I can say 0:20:13.400 --> 0:20:16.520 for most of the cast. Uh did they did they 0:20:16.520 --> 0:20:19.800 perform what they could with what they were given? Did 0:20:19.800 --> 0:20:23.920 they even excel in their roles given what they were given? 0:20:24.000 --> 0:20:27.000 I I would say, yes, Okay, I guess from here 0:20:27.080 --> 0:20:29.879 we should move on to talking about I would argue 0:20:29.920 --> 0:20:33.880 are two characters in the movie who both functions simultaneously 0:20:34.000 --> 0:20:38.159 as actors within the plot and sort of characters on 0:20:38.200 --> 0:20:41.040 the satellite of love, riffing the movie as it goes 0:20:41.119 --> 0:20:44.119 except they're in it. Uh, and those would be Carrie 0:20:44.119 --> 0:20:47.920 Were playing Jackie Trent and Sarah Douglas playing Lurana. Which 0:20:47.920 --> 0:20:50.639 do you want to talk about first? Let's talk about 0:20:50.680 --> 0:20:54.600 Carrie Were okay again? Plays Jackie Trent, who is our 0:20:55.240 --> 0:20:58.760 party girl who ends up sucked into the plot of 0:20:58.800 --> 0:21:02.440 this movie. So we'rer was born in nineteen sixty seven. 0:21:02.440 --> 0:21:04.879 This was only her third film role, following Fire with 0:21:04.960 --> 0:21:07.639 Fire and the Adventures of Ford fair Lane, but she 0:21:07.720 --> 0:21:10.160 went on to be in a whole string of interesting things. 0:21:10.160 --> 0:21:13.080 She played Abigail Arcane on The Swamp Thing TV show 0:21:13.119 --> 0:21:16.280 for ten episodes in the early nineties. She went on 0:21:16.320 --> 0:21:19.560 to act in nineteen six Is Thinner And she was 0:21:19.600 --> 0:21:24.240 in Anaconda. Oh, boys, she is in anticonda. I think 0:21:24.400 --> 0:21:27.240 she gets eaten by an antaconda. I would hope. So. 0:21:27.400 --> 0:21:29.240 I mean, if you're if you're in anaconda and you 0:21:29.280 --> 0:21:31.760 don't get by a snake, Um, you know, what are 0:21:31.760 --> 0:21:33.919 you doing? No? Wait a minute, now that I think 0:21:33.920 --> 0:21:36.679 about it, Actually she maybe maybe she maybe gets murdered 0:21:36.680 --> 0:21:40.480 by John Voyd. Well that that's good enough. Yeah, that's 0:21:40.680 --> 0:21:45.600 similar fate. Uh. So she worked regularly after that with 0:21:45.720 --> 0:21:49.200 runs on sliders in General Hospital. But she was also 0:21:49.320 --> 0:21:54.280 in hell Raiser Debtor from two thousand five, and she 0:21:54.440 --> 0:21:57.240 was in two not one, but two Prophecy films the 0:21:57.280 --> 0:22:01.320 same year, Uprising and Forsaken. I'm sad to say neither 0:22:01.440 --> 0:22:04.560 of those had Christopher Walking in them at all. And 0:22:04.680 --> 0:22:06.719 she's mostly done a lot of voice over work and 0:22:06.720 --> 0:22:10.480 and for animated projects recently, so I gotta be honest 0:22:10.600 --> 0:22:13.719 and evaluate the performance. I don't think it's entirely carry 0:22:13.720 --> 0:22:16.280 Were's fault. I think a lot of it is in 0:22:16.400 --> 0:22:19.359 the lines given to her and how she was clearly 0:22:19.400 --> 0:22:22.639 instructed to perform this character. But I would say her 0:22:22.720 --> 0:22:26.680 character Jackie Trent, is intensely annoying in this movie. There 0:22:26.720 --> 0:22:30.320 were groans of plenty in our house as as the 0:22:30.359 --> 0:22:35.479 movie was being screened. Yeah, um there. I certainly groaned 0:22:35.640 --> 0:22:39.320 some watching them by myself. But on the other hand, 0:22:39.640 --> 0:22:42.360 I don't know if i'd want a real strong performance here, 0:22:42.400 --> 0:22:45.000 you know, like like there are scenes where she's threatened 0:22:45.000 --> 0:22:47.879 by our main villain, but you never really buy that 0:22:48.000 --> 0:22:51.879 she's in danger. Like those scenes don't feel very terrifying 0:22:52.359 --> 0:22:54.399 in part because of her performance. And I don't know 0:22:54.440 --> 0:22:56.760