Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire
Krod Mandoon and his loyal band of misfits fight evil in the form of Chancellor Dongalor and others as they free their people or so the story is supposed to go.
Film making 20/25
Video 20/25
Audio 20/25
Bonus Features 18/25
Total 78/100
Krod Mandoon gets his name from the creator of the show as dork spelled backwards, the show is pretty much just like that throughout the 5 episodes as a spoof on other fantasy adventure shows. For some reason the DVD release does not show up as 6 episodes like many listings of the show but have no fear, they are all here.
The first episode, Wench Trouble, is a two part one on the DVD release and does include the Golden Powers episode so you get all the season of the show. Krod Mandoon is a funny spoof on adventure and fantasy adventure shows in the same vein as Monty Python and Get Smart.
The show stars Sean Maguire as Krod Mandoon, "a thin skinned and under confident freedom fighter" as he first tries to rescue his mentor General Arcadius. When Arcadius is killed during the rescue by Krod, Aneka, Loquasto and Zezelryck they are joined by Arcadius' lover Bruce.
Yes Arcadius, strong leader and hero to Krod had a gay lover while he was imprisoned by Chancellor Dongolar and Arcadias' his wife will probably not be happy if she finds out. Other hilarious spoofs of fantasy shows and events are not only the storyline and characters but events in the show in all 6 episodes.
Krod Mandoon takes all those moments typical in fantasy adventures you want to see but never get to and throws them directly in front of the camera. Burning a boat as a funeral pyre with the body still on the shore is great and a fitting tribute to a General who had a boyfriend in jail.
Other funny stories and common themes of the show are the antics of the almost magical abilities of Zezelryck while he tries to help the group with his non-existent powers. Aneka is now a member of the band with Krod but had relations with him in the past and she obviously can't keep her amorous ways with everyone they meet in check even as they go about their swashbuckling adventures.
Ex slave Loquastro may be half animal in appearance but he still believes he's the slave of Krod who continues to debate the issue with him several times. Other antics abound in a show that is much like the Monty Python show and especially the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Krod Mandoon does a great job of spoofing adventure shows like The Lord of the Rings trilogy and directly at Legend of the Seeker which it mimics the most. The show may have run ins with moments of seriousness but mainly it is a good natured comedy more than a serious attempt at fantasy adventure.
The show does a great job with what it has and the cast does well at their parts as well as using the great scenery of Budapest, Hungary for most of the filming. Not only was filming well done the show does very well with special effects and uses a real flaming sword powered by gas instead of computer generated trickery.
Many of the special effects are not nearly as low budget as Monty Python was and you get the sense aside from the comedy that the show is actually being taken seriously by the creators and others in its filming. They did a great job of working on the series of six episodes and it shows in a serious spoof on adventure shows with its good production quality.
The six episodes of the show are on a standard DVD with very good video and audio and they even created a good opening sequence with music and everything. The show has some good theme music and running throughout the series is good background music with well done sound effects.
The video and audio are very good with serious attention paid to getting a good product out even if the nature of the show is not even remotely serious. The bonus content is fairly decent with a few making of features and outtakes that last about ten minutes.
The cast interviews are pretty good and they do a lot of talk about the show and having fun but you can tell that while they did have fun they also took the show seriously. The bonus content also includes the usual deleted and extended scenes and a look behind the scenes with Kevin Hart, the shows malfunctioning wizard.
Krod Mandoon may have had its life cut short but it did have a good run in the six episodes for a kind of miniseries comedy adventure. I highly recommend Krod Mandoon if you like the comedy antics of Monty Python in a more modern filming.