From the time of the long ago past arrives Krod Mandoon and The Flaming Sword of Fire, Comedy Central’s epic new half-hour, live-action series that chronicles the adventures of Krod Mandoon (Sean Maguire) and his hopelessly futile band of warriors as they take on the evil Chancellor Dongalor (Matt Lucas). Marking the all-comedy network’s first foray into fantasy-comedy, the groundbreaking series premieres on Thursday, April 9 at 10:00 p.m. marked by a special one-hour episode with limited commercial interruptions.
Fantasy fans take their genre very seriously, even when it’s a comedy. With the renewed interest in fantasy productions, Comedy Central is making its own venture into the fray. Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword Of Fire has elements of classic fantasy epics like Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth series and TSR’s Forgotten Realms, with a bit of American Pie thrown in to lampoon it up.
Fantasy fared well in syndication in the 90s with shows like Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena: Warrior Princess, and Highlander: The Series, but comedic fantasy only garnered a small, loyal following. Shows like Wizards and Warriors and The Charmings were delightful to watch but not able to support a large enough audience to stay on the air for long. Even Pushing Daisies, one of the most amazing fantasy television productions ever to grace the small screen, had trouble holding an audience, not so much due to lack of fans but network decisions to take it off the air for weeks at a time. (The demise of Pushing Daises feels more like premeditated murder than death by natural causes, but I’ll keep my network rants to myself for the time being.)
Enter Krod Mandoon, the last hope for freedom from the tyranny of the evil Chancellor Dongalor. With a slick wardrobe and props, the show looks good, but will it be good? We can expect it to borrow from every book, movie, and TV series ever produced, but will they play it well? From watching previews and clips on the website, I’m concerned that the over-abundance of lowbrow humor and sight gags will alienate the true fantasy crowd, but I want to like it. I want it to be a good show, though I’m not getting my hopes too high. I’m planning on giving it a few episodes to decide if it’s worth my time or not. I truly believe all shows need 4 to 7 episodes to hit their stride. I hope they find a balance between their parody and their plot because sight gags only go so far, especially with a well-read and educated genre fanbase.