The Checklist: Conan the Adventurer (S1 Ep5) “A Friend in Need”
Whether you know him as Conan the Barbarian, Conan the Destroyer, Conan the Adventurer, just Conan or all of the above, there is no denying that the character Robert E. Howard introduced to the world back in 1932 has had some tremendous staying power.
Over the past 89 years, the mythical barbarian has been featured in books, comics, movies and television shows (both animated and live action).
In this edition of The Checklist, I will be putting an episode of the short-lived, live action Conan the Adventurer television series to The Checklist test, specifically Episode 5 from the first and only season of the show…
- Synopsis: Conan agrees to help an old friend battle the cult that plundered his village and stole the love of his life.
#1. Does Conan play an active part in this episode?
This may seem like a foolish question, but the last time I put an episode of Conan the Adventurer to The Checklist test, Conan, bookended the episode. That episode was titled “Homecoming” and Ralf Moeller’s Conan had a scene at the start of the episode before going off on an off screen journey and then reuniting with his friends for the final scene. The lack of Conan bumped T.J. Storm’s Bayu up to the main character for that episode… but it seemed like an odd creatvie choice.
I can report that in “A Friend in Need”, Conan is the star of the show and heavily featured as one would expect for a show named Conan the Adventurer. 1/1
#2. Were there any notable guest stars?
Matthias Hues of Fists of Iron and I Come in Peace fame, plays an old friend of Conan named Savann. Bumping into Savann, ends up taking Conan and his friend’s Bayu, Zzeben and Otli off track as they decide to help Savann in his quest to avenge the death of his friends at the hands of the evil Blue Stone Cult. Not only did the Blue Stone kill all the men and children in the village Savann called home, they also kidnapped all the women… including the love of Savann’s life.
At least that’s the story Savann tells Conan and friends… as the episode progresses each of Conan’s friends begin to suspect that Savann may not be on the up and up (I suspected that Savann’s voice may not have been on the up and up). And it turns out to be for good reason… 2/2
#3. Was this a Hissah Zul episode?
The big bad in Conan the Destroyer is an evil sorcerer named Hissah Zul played by Jeremy Kemp (Top Secret!). However there were actually a handful of episodes where Kemp’s Hissah Zul did not actually appear but he was still credited. “A Friend in Need” is not one of those episodes as Hissah and his talking skull are featured. We learn that Hissah Zul has actually hired Savann to betray Conan, steal Conan’s sword and then eliminate Conan! 3/3
#4. Did Crom get a mention?
Savann drops Crom’s all-powerful name while he is out drinking with Conan and the boys. 4/4
#5. Were there any sword fights?
Why would you have a show about Conan and not feature any sword fights? The answer is, you wouldn’t. There is plenty of sword play in “A Friend in Need’, in fact Conan and Savann greet each other in possibly the most alpha male way when they engage in an impromptu sword fight… later they each kill some Blue Stone heavies and last but not least, the final sword fight between Conan and Savann and this time it ain’t friendly and Savann is using Conan’s own sword against him. Savann finds out the hard way that it is the man who makes the sword and not the sword that makes the man. 5/5
- Final Score = 5/5 (100%) This episode was exactly what you’d expect from a TV show about Conan… Ralf Moeller fits the role of Conan to a tee and getting to see him do battle with one of my all-time favorite notable guest stars in Checklist history, Matthias Hues, was a larger than life spectacle!
