First movie: Maax was the High Priest of Aruk prior to being banished by King Zed, who learned Maax was planning to sacrifice Zed's unborn son. In retaliation, Maax ordered his witch servants to magically extract the infant from his mother's womb and kill him anyways. The unfortunate queen is killed and the infant prince, Dar, only survives because local villagers rescued him. Years later, Maax led the Juns in conquering Aruk, blinding and imprisoning Zed. Maax presides over brutal oppression of the kingdom, regularly sacrificing children to his god, Ar. He wipes out Dar's village, leading him into conflict with Dar himself. When Dar enters Maax's prison to free Zed, he discovers that Maax has innocent people tortured and transformed into mindless beasts to serve as his guards. Maax later attempts to have Zed, his young son, and his cousin Kiri sacrificed to Ar. He then taunts Zed by revealing Dar is his son before killing him.
Through the Portal of Time (1991): Arklon is Dar's evil half-brother who seeks to extend his reign over the land of Arok. Having enslaved the people of Arok after King Zed's death, Arklon has Dar sentenced to death for trying to stop him. Teaming up with the sorceress Lyranna to steal a Neutron Bomb from L.A., Arklon plans to use it to destroy those who oppose him. Causing havoc in L.A., even mind raping a soldier for a way into the military base, Arklon abandons Lyranna for thinking about betraying him, and when up against Dar for a final battle, attempts to detonate the bomb then and there, uncaring that it'll kill himself and countless others.
The Eye of Braxus (1997): Lord Argon is the frail, sorcerous tyrant of Ambeth who seeks the Eye of Braxus to gain immortality and Braxus's strength. Having innocents sentenced to his dungeon, Argon often absorbs their life essence into himself, the younger the better, while forcing others to act as his soldiers. Finding out that the Eye is in King Thal's hands, Argon has his men raid Thal's village, killing countless lives before kidnapping Thal and torturing him for days. With Dar in his grasp, he leaves him hanging over a pit of lava and attempts to use his friend Bey as one final sacrifice before gaining the power of Braxus.
Cult Classic: Not a greatSword and Sorcery movie, but a cut above the general super-B-movie schlock that normally permeates the genre. Finding new life in cable reruns, it's fondly remembered by many as, if not a titan of the genre, at least a serviceable entry.
Ham and Cheese: Wings Hauser in Through the Portal of Time brings the right amount of ham to his performance as Arklon, constantly cackling his ass off and shouting his cheesy dialogue in almost every scene he's in. You can tell he was at least having some fun with his role.
Memetic Mutation: The film's regular scheduling during the early days of HBO caused a joke that the channel's name stood for "Hey, Beastmaster's On."
The people turned into wild madmen with glowing green eyes, the birdmen who eat by wrapping their wings around people, and only bones are left.
Maax has such control over his priests that he can force them to commit suicide by hanging themselves with just one look. Even Zed is freaked out.
In the second movie, when Arklon betrays his Dragon, she curses after him as he drives away, screaming "May tarantulas grow in your mouth!" She's a witch, so it happens. It's played for laughs as Arklon makes a face and then spits them out, but it's still insanely gross.
You may notice this movie doesn't carry a disclaimer about no animals being harmed in making it. That's because the tiger that played the panther died after licking the black paint it was covered with, which you actually see it doing onscreen.
Questionable Casting: Ruh's animal actor is clearly a tiger painted black, rather than a panther or melanistic tiger. Not only does this lead to Special Effects Failure in scenes where the paint's rubbed off, it led to the poor tiger's real-life death, as the paint was toxic.
The Scrappy: Jackie. Apparently, we wouldn't understand she was from the present day unless every single line she says featured a forced pop culture reference.
Sequelitis: Both sequels are considered to be pretty terrible, although the third one is commonly felt to be a little better than the second.
Special Effects Failure: Braxus himself in the third film. While the suit itself looks impressive for the budget, they always cut away to the other characters whenever he speaks, cutting back only whenever he growls or finishes his dialogue. While his entrance is marked with late 1970s-tier video effects.
Squick: Dar and Kiri are first cousins, which the movie never once acknowledges and seems to be hoping we won't put together.
From Through the Portal of Time, Arklon seemingly killing Sharak. Dar is clearly devastated when he realizes what happened.
Dar: (upon seeing Sharak on the ground) Sharak was my true brother!
Too Cool to Live: Dar's adoptive dad. A Cool Old Guy and Badass Bystander extraordinaire with a dash of Badass Normal, he singlehandedly kills one of Maax's witches despite her being more powerful than him, teaches his adopted son to fight, and is the first of the townspeople to tell the Juns to Bring It.
. Robert Folk's score for the sequel isn't too shabby either