What better to occupy my 10-11pm hour on the Thursday before a Friday off from work then the potentially horrible but still quite intriguing Comedy Central premiere of a fantasy-comedy series? Not much! The full title for the show is Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire, and it will be showing for at least a few half-hour episodes on Thursday nights at 10pm. I have to say from the hour long premiere, I actually hope this show keeps going for at least a full first season to see what they can do with the concept.
Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a brilliant piece of television such as Lost or The Office, but it pretty much accomplishes everything that it sets out to do. It’s reasonably funny, and seems to avoid the first blunder that many fantasy-comedies fall to which is incredibly predictable humor, but the first hour also didn’t have any fall-out-of-your-seat hilarious moments. What I found more surprising was that there weren’t many moments where it painfully ripped you out of the fantasy setting either, so I think it pretty successfully dances the razor thin line that the fantasy-comedy genre lives on. It also didn’t have any of the huge red flags that usually show up, none of the costuming, make up, and special effects were atrocious or intentionally bad.
The biggest problem with Krod Mandoon is that nothing was stellar, I’m not really comfortable telling you that the show was fantastic, or that the acting was great because it wasn’t. However, the acting also wasn’t bad, and while nothing was super funny there were some more subtle hints to the writing and less obvious jokes that I find myself wanting to watch more of the show. Many of you probably hadn’t even heard of the show, or if you did see previews for it you may have written it off right away, so hopefully you give it a shot and you might even be surprised!
Plus, you can help me bet on how high the percentage of popularity increase will get on India de Beaufort‘s IMDB page! It’s up 279% this week, any guesses on how high that will go?
I WAS going to avoid this like the plague, but maybe I’ll check it out now.
I have to say I enjoyed it as well. It wasn’t spectacular, but it was exactly what it claimed to be – a funny fantasy show. It had some good laughs, the characters are interesting, the girl is sexy as all get out (as we say in these parts), the villain is entertaining, a decently crafted comedic villain, the side kicks are funny and have potential. I set the dvr for a season pass.
I have three problems with this show. 1. a main protagonist is a comedic relief black guy. 2. another main protagonist is a gay asian guy. and 3. strong female protagonist which is a positive but unfortunately she is an unapologetic whore, and it’s her religious beliefs that makes her this way!
I was looking forward to this show, a fantasy comedy but it just takes all these crappy crappy over used stereotypes that just sickens me to the stomach.
I’ll probably watch it anyways hoping it gets “better” but that’s just me trying to be optimistic.
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On the other hand the show is a joke and just about everyone in the show is a stereotype.
Plus there are some classic lines.
@Thas: You pretty much wrapped it up. The babe is the highlight of the show. Krod was a decent actor – they just need to upgrade the material a little to be consistently worth watching.
The problem with the show is that no part of it is being taken seriously, which makes the whole thing fall kind of flat. Campy-bad scifi/fantasy relies on some (or all) of the characters to be treating it seriously, so that the audience can see the aspects of the genre that are amusingly fake, etc.
The show would have been a lot funnier IMO if Krod has totally bought into the fantasy genre of the show–if he were a character that acted completely and sincerely as if he really were a fantasy-style hero. Then the joke becomes how the rest of the otherwise normal (in terms of personality, not necessarily setting) world reacts to him. For example, if the gag with the black mage was Krod thinking that he was always using powerful magic, with everyone else realize that he’s just faking stuff, it would be funnier. (Conversely, if everyone else was sincere about the various gags and tropes and Krod was the only person who acknowledged that things were off, that would work as well. Think Bart from Blazing Saddles.).
Hell it would even help if the directing tried to treat the show as a serious exercise in the genre, with more “vast epic” shots or always shooting the villain from ominous camera angles and stuff–instead the show looks like any modern comedy.
Someone or something needs to support the idea of the genre in order for it to be a funny parody of the genre–all the best genre parodies (Galaxyquest, Blazing Saddles, Shawn of the Dead) are sincere (and excellent) examples of that genre, but have small twists and disconnects that make them funny. The show just wasn’t very funny.
((Okay, I laughed at one exchange: “Why do you think that farmer told us what time it was?” “You gave it up for the time of day?! We were standing under a clock!”. I also chuckled at the similar joke in the ‘next time’ segment: “Have you ever gotten busy with a cyclopes?” “Umm…” “Um?! That isn’t an automatic no?!”))
@highbulp: One thing to keep in mind is that the three examples you gave of great genre comedies are all feature length movies, and not tv shows like Krod Mandoon. I still think your criticism is pretty much right, a more serious character or characters probably would make for an even funnier show.
There were a few laugh out loud moments, enough to keep me watching for the next couple episodes at least. John Rhys-Davies is supposed to appear in future episodes, which is a strong incentive for me.
Unlike the folks in the rest of the comments, I found the girl completely annoying. I suppose she was physically attractive but I found it difficult to see past her obnoxious personality and over the top sluttiness. I hope she gets played down in future episodes and we can more of a focus on Krod and Dongalor.
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I really, really enjoyed the show. I was cautiously optimistic and it was better than I expected. Love the villain.
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I saw a preview of it on The Onion Videos… I might give it a go now…
This show is hilarious, as soon as I heard the intentionally redundant and funny name I had to give it a chance. This show is nothing like the garbage which the sci-fi channel puts out. The actors play their parts well and the comedic timing is spot on. The villain Dongolor reminds me of a more cowardly more ruthless and dumber Dr. Evil, and his exchanges with his adviser had me rolling. This show is in the same vein as Robin Hood: Men in Tights which happens to be one of my favorite comedies. The humor is clever, goofy, silly, and raunchy. The show does not take itself seriously and comes across like a spoof. I love how Kevin Hart’s character is supposed to be a wizard, only he can’t do any magic and is always having to make excuses. He also has some very funny lines, if you haven’t seen his stand-up, you should he’s hysterical. It’s really hard to find fantasy comedies that are actually funny, normally the humor is very cheesy and dry or not there at all, which is not the case here. I laughed out loud a whole lot watching Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire, and I hope it sticks around for a long time.
this show is soooo freaking funny. i love it. i hate it when people are so damn critical about some funny shows. but this one is great, keep it up!!