MST3K has tackled countless flavors of fantasy over the years, from 1960s Toga and Sandal Hercules films to odd, unsettling Mexican Santa Claus adventures.
I have a special fondness for the times they’ve tackled Sword & Sorcery…Ator, Cabot and DeathStalker’s outings.
Ator: Definitely the most competent hero of the lot. He would make Doc Savage, MacGuyver, the Black Panther, Batman, Reed Richards and Tom Swift weep with his swift gadgeteering skills. Seems also to be the most decent of the bunch, sometimes dubious fashion choices notwithstanding.
He’s…um….well, he’s physically fit and sometimes insanely lucky. I’ll give him that.
DeathStalker: He’s so repulsive I avoided Simon R. Green’s brilliant satirical Space Opera of the same name for years because I thought it was about this guy.
Here’s what I’d consider Sword & Sorcery episodes (some more swords & sandals but eh, close enough)
Cave Dwellers (Ator)
Viking Women and the Sea Serpent (Desir)
all of the Hercules movies (Hercules)
The Magic Sword (George)
The Day the Earth Froze (Lemminkäinen)
Magic Voyage of Sinbad (he’s not Sinbad!)
Outlaw [of Gor] (Cabot!)
Colossus and the Headhunters (Maciste)
The Sword and the Dragon (Ilya)
Deathstalker and the Warrios from Hell (Deathstalker)
Wizards of the Lost Kingdom 1 (Simon) and 2 (Tyor)
Ator, the Fighting Eagle (Ator again, making a neat circle)
Having used all my time up making this list, I’ll have to come back later to rank heroes, but I can guarantee you that Deathstalker’s going to be dead last.
Ator’s probably the best all around, which is kind of sad. Miles O’Keefe has more charisma than the others and seems to be a pretty cool guy.
We can’t really count the stock footage heroes from the Lost Kingdom movies, or he might have some competition. Estelle’s the source of heroic power in Magic Sword, but I suppose we can’t really count her, either. Deathstalker and his horrible princess are dead last, surprising no one.
The Toga and Sandal films I can’t decide on. They ostensibly are based on Greek myth (which itself was based on even more ancient myths) but they do seem to be at least partially informed by the 60s revival of interest in 1930s style pulp sword and sorcery fantasy.
As with the Magic Sword, the Russo Finnish protagonists feel like they belong to the much older, earlier fantasy tradition of fairy tales and folklore, though I will not deny there is much overlap here.
Yeah, I really tried to be as inclusive as possible, including pulling in some movies that aren’t quite S&S. I figured it would be a more interesting ranking with a wider range of movies, so I grabbed anything that fit the “swashbuckling hero goes on a quest in olden times” – so that’s why Day the Earth Froze and The Sword and the Dragon are here, but Jack Frost isn’t.
EDIT: Not to hijack your topic Everyone else is welcome to ignore my toga additions!
I have to come to Deathstalker’s defense here; I actually made an alternative character for the current Pathfinder campaign that was going to be based on him… I was going to put almost all of his attribute points into charisma, and then skill dump into “smooth talking”…
While all Sword and Sorcery is fantasy, not all fantasy is Sword and Sorcery. Technically Conan, Snow White and Bilbo Baggins all have magic users and weaponry, but they have a distinct difference to the way these elements are approached.
Reminds me that I probably should watch that Maciste movie I suggested soon, since it’s on Tubi. Plus, I gotta know how many Fabio jokes it’ll lend itself to since this was his first credit.
Would you include any episodes other than the two Ators, Deathstalker ATWFH, and Outlaw of Gor? I feel like the Wizard of the Lost Kingdoms should be included, even if the “sword” is a mercenary tagalong instead of the main character.
Everyone else is welcome to ignore my toga additions!