Beastmaster (1999 - 2002)
Plot
BeastMaster is a Canadian television series that aired from 1999 to 2002. It was loosely based on a 1982 MGM film The Beastmaster. The series aired for three complete seasons (66 episodes). It is produced by Coote/Hayes Productions.
The series was nominated for the Open Craft Award in the category of cinematography by the Australian Film Institute in 2000, and for the Saturn Award for Best Syndicated/Cable Television Series by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films, USA, in 2001. BeastMaster is currently running in syndication on Sci-Fi Channel (now Syfy) in the USA, but not in any prime-time slots.
Premise
Dar (Daniel Goddard) is the last survivor of his tribe. He wanders the lands seeking his lost loved one, Kyra (Natalie Jackson Mendoza), protecting the oppressed and the animals. His friend Tao (Jackson Raine) — a fearful, psychology-attracted young man — helps him in his quest; Tao is a scholar and a medicine man. Dar also meets another orphaned warrior named Arina (Marjean Holden) who first joins his quest for her own reasons, but eventually becomes a faithful companion. The world of the Beastmaster is full of lost tribes, genocide appears to be common and all three of these characters are the survivors or last survivors of lost tribes.
The series also featured Monika Schnarre as the Sorceress, apprentice to the Ancient One, played by Grahame Bond, Emilie de Ravin as the Forest Demon Curupira and Sam Healy as Iara, the Demon of Water and Serpent. The regular human enemy of Dar, King Zad, was played by Steven Grives. Marc Singer, the original Beastmaster, appears in the third season as Dartanus, the Spirit Warrior who helps Dar on his quest. The series also included many celebrity guest appearances, such as the appearance of Grace Jones as the Umpatra Warrior, Peta Sergeant as the Demon Yamira, Leah Purcell as the Black Apparition, Keith Hamilton Cobb as a Terron defector who is also in love with Kyra and King Voden, played by Dai Paterson throughout the second season.
The general story arc of the series is that the world is changing, civilization is advancing, technology is gaining ground slowly, the old orders of magic and sorcery are fading and the world is threatened by the supernatural being Balcifer, the Dark One, played by Jeremy Callaghan. Dar is the son of King Eldar, who was destroyed by Balcifer and must locate and reunite his entire family, who have been turned into animals to hide them from Balcifer, in the Crystal Arc, to defeat Balcifer.
Balcifer's agent on Earth is King Zad, who is first King of the Terrons, a savage tribe that enslaves and pillages at will and later, when the tribe is destroyed by King Voden leading a group of Viking-like northerners, Zad re-emerges as the King of Xincha, the city at the center of the world (and Tao's former home), after deposing Voden, who fled into the wilderness at the end of the second season. There is a contrast there between the crude savage badness of King Zad and the refined, insane evil genius of King Voden and King Zad emerges from the contest a more civilized but still savage character.
The series began very action-oriented, but as the first season wore on, it began to take on a pacifistic and naturalist tone.
Cast
Daniel Goddard as Dar
Jackson Raine as Tao
Monika Schnarre as The Sorceress
Marjean Holden as Arina
Dylan Bierk as The New Sorceress
Steven Grives as King Zad
Emilie de Ravin as Curupira
Grahame Bond as The Ancient One
Dai Paterson as King Voden
Daniel Fitzgerald as Sharak
Leah Purcell as Black Apparition
