Bullet Points: Beastmaster III: The Eye of Braxus

The rule of thumb with most sequels is you want to strike while the iron is hot… something nobody would accuse The Beastmaster trilogy of.

1982’s The Beastmaster was the first film in the trilogy, but the sequel, Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time was not released until 1991. Then the franchise would move from the big screen to the small screen, when Beastmaster III: The Eye of Braxus premiered on televisions across the United States on May 24, 1996…

• King’s Road: It doesn’t take long for Dar (Marc Singer, Street Corner Justice) and his animal friends to spring into action as they come to the aid of a family on their way to warn King Tal about the evil doings of Lord Agon. The family is targeted by some bandits led by Jaggart (Patrick Kilpatrick, Death Warrant) and we get a Dar/Jaggart battle… that ends with Dar sparing Jaggart’s life, because he is a good guy and/or because this was a television movie and the hero killing a bad guy in the first five minutes would probably be frowned upon.
• Wigging Out: The family appreciates Dar’s help, but Jaggart and his crew ended up destroying the tribute that they intended to give to King Tal, as it is customary to bring a gift as an entry fee of sorts to see the King. Now they are worried that they won’t be able to get to King Tal and tell him of the coming doom courtesy of Lord Agon… but it is Dar to the rescue yet again, because King Tal is his brother! King Tal was played by none other than a wig wearing Casper Van Dien of Starship Troopers fame. Tal is excited to see his brother and when he finds out about Lord Agon, he asks his brothers to join his army to help fight… but Dar just wants to get back to his simple life out in the wild with his animal friends. The brothers say their goodbyes, but not before Tal gives Dar half of the amulet that he is wearing… coincidentally the same amulet that has Lord Agon all in a lather!

• Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?: It doesn’t take long for Dar to regret his decision to join his brother after he finds out that Lord Agon’s Crimson Warriors attacked King Tal’s forces and kidnapped King Tal. Now Dar and King Tal’s right hand man Seth (Tony Todd, The Crow) are bound and determined to rescue King Tal and stop Lord Agon.
• The Fountain of Youth: Lord Agon was played by David Warner of TRON fame. Agon is a sorcerer in desperate need of a fountain of youth… all his years of sorcery are draining his lifeforce and he needs regular sacrifices to keep him going… but if he can get his hands on The Eye of Braxus (the amulet entrusted to King Tal) he would have access to unlimited power… this explains why he had his Crimson Warriors tearing through the country side looking for The Eye of Braxus. Lord Agon is not pleased to find that King Tal only had half of the amulet, so he subjects Tal and the viewing audience to some bad CGI as torture… eventually finding out the famed Beastmaster has the other half!

• The Female of the Species: Dar and Seth encounter a bounty hunter named Shada (Sandra Hess, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation) on their quest to rescue King Tal. Against Seth’s counsel, Dar decides to trust Shada to lead them in the right direction and that does not go exactly as Dar planned… But Shada is not the only woman to throw a monkey wrench in the rescue mission plans… Dar and Seth also encounter a former flame of Seth’s, a magician named Morgana (Lesley-Anne Down, Death Wish V: The Face of Death). Morgana, along with her acrobatic sidekick Bey (Keith Coulouris) help get Dar and Seth inside Lord Agon’s castle, but that does not go exactly as Seth planned. It does get us to the final battle where Dar has to battle the unleashed Braxus… and there’s no way that scene went exactly as planned, because I can’t imagine anyone conceived anything so bad and it was instead a victim of the budget.

I am not sure if Beastmaster III was a TV movie that was meant to be a backdoor pilot for a series OR if it was a failed two hour pilot that they turned into a TV movie so it was not a complete waste of time and resources.

Either way, the plans for a weekly series featuring Dar, Seth and their new acrobatic friend Bey did not pan out. Which is probably not a surprise to anyone who has seen the movie. I would dare say, the more you love the original movie, the more you likely hate Beastmaster III. To me as a casual fan of The Beastmaster franchise it was goofy fun, but an obvious decline from the original. But mostly it came across as a cheap Hercules: The Legendary Journeys clone.

• Executive Produced By: Stu Segall, the man behind such television series as Hunter, Renegade and Silk Stalkings, was one of the Executive Producers of Beastmaster III and the movie was partially shot at Stu Segall Studios.
• The Beastmaster Diet: With nearly a decade and a half between the release of The Beastmaster and Beastmaster III, props to Marc Singer for either staying in loin cloth shape that entire time or at least having the dedication to get back into loin cloth shape as needed.
• Feline Phenomenon: Rhu, Dar’s feline friend, was a lion in Beastmaster III despite the fact that Rhu was a tiger in the first two movies.
• The Series: Beastmaster III did not launch a television series, but the world would eventually get a Beastmaster television series in 1999. Australian born actor Daniel Goddard would take on the role of Dar in BeastMaster. The show ran for three seasons in first run syndication.