BeastMaster (TV series)



"In an age when nature and magic rule the world... there is an extradordinary legend: the story of a warrior who communicates with animals.

-Beastmaster intro"

Emerging on the heels of the enormous popularity of Hercules and Xena, BeastMaster was a recycled TV series of the film of the same name and shared the general Walking the Earth in The Time of Myths sort of theme. The series lasted from October, 1999 to May, 2002. A total of 66 episodes in three seasons.

Starring Daniel Goddard as Dar, Jackson Raine as Tao, Steven Grives as King Zad, Monika Schnarre as The Sorceress, Grahame Bond as The Ancient One, and Marjean Holden as Arina.

This show provides examples of:
"King Zad: Every Terron warrior will have a priceless horn!... so to speak."
 * Action Girl: Most notably Arina, but also many girls of the week.
 * Bare Your Midriff: A staple of the female characters.
 * Big Bads: King Zad, Voden, Balcifer
 * Big Badass Bird of Prey: Sharak
 * Costume Porn: The Sorceress's outfits.
 * Custom Uniform of Sexy: Akili is a Terron warrior. None of the other Terrons wear loincloths specifically designed to show off certain...assets.
 * Dark Action Girl: Arina
 * The Beast Master: Um, duh.
 * Blade On a Stick: Dar carries a staff with one club end and one sharp end, which he can separate.
 * Mr. Fanservice: Dar. Sweet lord, Dar.
 * Effortless Amazonian Lift
 * Evil Overlord: King Zad
 * Expy: Many of the characters are named after characters from the film:
 * Dar/Dar
 * Zad/Zed
 * Tao/Tal
 * Kira/Kiri
 * Eye Scream: A flashback in 'The Demon Curupira' shows an ant crawling on Dar's eyeball.
 * Foe Yay: One-sided, from Zad to Dar.
 * Friend to All Living Things: Dar. Tao becomes more of this over the course of the series.
 * Harmony Versus Discipline: One of the big themes of the show, illustrated primarily through Dar and Tao. An example from early in the series: Tao, preparing to continue his journey, builds Dar a garden as a farewell gift, citing the greater convenience of not needing to forage for food. Dar is confused (the forest has plenty of food already) and unsettled ("But that's where the wildflowers grow."). Later on Tao is equally unsuccessful in convincing Dar to dig a well.
 * Heartbroken Badass: Dar. See Taking the Bullet below.
 * Heel Face Turn:
 * Heroic Fantasy
 * Heroes Prefer Swords: Averted, at least until the third season. Dar fights with a staff.
 * Impossibly Low Neckline: It can, at times, be difficult to focus on Monika Schnarre's face.
 * Inventing the Wheel: In the middle of the first season, Tao gets fascinated by the "many applications of circles" and meets a fellow who invents the wheel.
 * James Bondage: Tao gets captured or otherwise put in mortal danger a lot.
 * Jerkass Gods: The Ancient One, definitely. The Sorceress also has her moments.
 * The Klutz: Tao
 * Lampshaded Double Entendre: Invoked in "The Last Unicorns".

"Tao: It says you were born in the same place... and at the same time.
 * Last of His Kind: Dar and Kyra  are the last surviving members of the Sula tribe.
 * Light Is Not Good: King Voden wears white and has bleached hair. He's also kind of a Jerkass.
 * Lightning Bruiser: Dar is both fast and powerful.
 * Loin Cloth: Worn by Dar and numerous guest stars.
 * The Medic: Tao
 * Morphic Resonance: King Zadd is turned into a donkey with the same tatoos. Although one character finds them familiar, it doesn't become Glamour Failure in time to be meaningful.
 * The Napoleon: Ketzwayo
 * Nature Hero
 * Non Action Guy: Tao.
 * Non Human Sidekick: The animals - Ruh, Sharak, Kodo, and Podo
 * Panthera Awesome: Mainly Ruh, but there are giant cats all over this show.
 * Remake Cameo: Marc Singer as Dartanus in the third season.
 * Scenery Porn
 * Sensible Heroes Skimpy Villains: Inverted. King Zad and Voden both cover themselves up, while Dar runs around in a loincloth.
 * Sidekick: Tao
 * The Smart Guy: Tao is one of the few characters on the show who can read and write.
 * Speculative Fiction
 * Spoiler Opening: From the very first episode, the opening narration refers to  which doesn't actually occur until the first season finale.
 * The Spymaster: The Ancient One, which he tries to teach his sorceresses - Zad is more than grateful for the scrapes given to him by magic and his men; Dar with his eagle.
 * Statuesque Stunner: The Sorceress.
 * Taking the Bullet:  Ouch.
 * The Time of Myths
 * Tsundere: Curupira
 * Twincest: Nye and Gem from the episode "Gemini". (...yeah.)

Gem: You are the first to understand.

Tao: This has to be wrong.

Nye: It's not wrong.

Gem: We know our own story.

Tao: But it says you were born of the same mother.


 * crickets**"

""The Eiron are master tricksters, pretending to be ignorant but making others look so in the end. They are hated."
 * Walking Shirtless Scene: Dar
 * Walking the Earth: In addition to being the framework for the show itself, the mission of most of Tao's people to wander the world, spreading and gaining knowledge.
 * You Know What They Say About X: Tao's people are not well liked.

"Just for challenging somebody's beliefs?"

"Wit is... dangerous to the simple-minded."

Earlier in that same episode:

"Sounds like an Eiron. They are pests, like fleas: tiny and harmless-looking; but let them live, and they sting you all over. We don't need their kind of free thinking in our world.""