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Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time

Composed, Orchestrated, Conducted, and Produced by:
Robert Folk


Label:
Intrada Records
Release Date:
November 24th, 1992


Also See:

In the Army Now
Toy Soldiers


Audio Clips:

2. Dar the Hero (0:29), 168K beastmaster2_2.ra

4. Through the Portal (0:32), 189K beastmaster2_4.ra

7. Travel Montage (0:30), 179K beastmaster2_7.ra

16. Key to the Heart (0:33), 189K beastmaster2_16.ra



Availability:

  Regular U.S. release, valued at $25 in 2006.


Awards:

  None.









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Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time

Audio | Availability | Viewer Ratings | Tracks | Viewer Comments | Notes & Quotes
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  New Price: $198.95

  Sales Rank: 589214



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Filmtracks Recommends:

Buy it... if you're a sucker for high-quality, orchestral fantasy/adventure scores and are always in search of the genre's hidden gems.

Avoid it... if the genre of 1980's spin-off fantasy music sounds tired, derivative, and badly dated to you.



Filmtracks Editorial Review:

Folk
Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time: (Robert Folk) You really have to wonder what original "Beastmaster" novelist Andre Norton thinks of the wretched path this concept has taken through theatres and cable television over a two-decade span. With the original Beastmaster film (which was among the many fantasy adventure follow-ups to the surprising popularity of Conan the Barbarian) enjoying a significant second life on cable television, it was decided to haul a now aging Marc Singer into his title role on the big screen once again in the early 1990's, hoping (successfully, as fate would have it), that the film would rake in similar cash on cable. Halfway along that road to rebirth (not to mention another sequel after this, and a television series), the film stayed in the theatres just long enough to receive an appropriately brutal slashing from critics, who didn't need much intelligence to notice all the ways in which corners were cut to meet a smaller production budget. In many ways, Beastmaster 2 mirrored the "He-Man" film Masters of the Universe in its laughable failures: with no black paint to once again portray one of the title character's animal companions as a panther, it's simply a tiger this time around. And, like Masters of the Universe, much of the film is shot in modern America, with a "portal of time" introduced by a witch played by Sarah Douglas (the evil superwoman of Superman II... maybe "He-Man"'s Meg Foster was too busy to make this one?), giving ancient times the lovely threat of nuclear annihilation. Seeing Singer run around Los Angeles in a loincloth is about as good as it gets here, except, of course, for the usual overachieving score by composer Robert Folk. Interestingly, Folk would produce for Beastmaster 2 exactly what Bill Conti would provide for Masters of the Universe: a score that exceeds the film in quality to such a degree that it sounds badly out of place.

Then again, Folk, whose career has been defined by Police Academy and Ace Ventura music, has seemingly always tackled projects like this one (and half a dozen others) with such energetic enthusiasm that his music is always worth a look apart from the film. He had just completed Toy Soldiers the same year, and the two scores stand among his very best despite their awkward positions in their pictures. Folk's work on Beastmaster 2 is a little more understandable, however; even the trashiest old-world adventure films of the 1980's tried to compensate for their lameness by saving much of their budgets for overwhelming scores. Despite composer Lee Holdridge's abilities in overproducing in the genre, his music for the original Beastmaster film would not be as well refined as his music a decade later, and Folk chose to abandon Holdridge's themes for the sequel. This is no great loss, for Folk has always been talented at the art of catchy themes, and for Beastmaster 2, he provides a variety of standard, but well executed themes for the genre. More memorable than his themes in his relentlessly powerful score are his consistently rhythmic progressions, harmonic sensibilities, and wildly orchestrated romp of a performance. Like Conti in Masters of the Universe, Folk never gives in to the temptation of inserting modern-day music for the scenes in Los Angeles; the entire score for Beastmaster 2 is a massive symphonic movement born from the ranks of Basil Poledouris' Conan the Barbarian and James Horner's Krull. Always frenetic in its pace, Folk layers his music wonderfully with several lines of action at once, never wasting the opportunity to run each section of the ensemble over each other in harmonious, but independent lines. As such, Beastmaster 2 may not have any singular, outstanding cues, but it consistently impresses from start to finish with a spirited performance by the 96-member Berlin orchestra. Out of print, the album is as difficult to find a decade later as most of Folk's other pressed CDs, but it will not disappoint despite the search. ****

Purchasing Options: Amazon.com (New or Used), eBay/Half.com (Used)




   Viewer Ratings and Comments:

    Regular Average: 3.45 Stars
    Smart Average: 3.35 Stars
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   Track Listings:
Total Time: 56:10

    • 1. Main Title (1:52)
    • 2. Dar the Hero (9:49)
    • 3. Creature's Story (2:22)
    • 4. Through the Portal (5:09)
    • 5. Jackie Alone on Desert (1:29)
    • 6. Swamp Creature Attacks (2:35)
    • 7. Travel Montage (3:08)
    • 8. Mind Suck (2:05)
    • 9. Police Escape (1:06)
    • 10. Jackie Gets Some Sleep (0:51)
    • 11. I.D. Badges (4:25)
    • 12. Get Arklon (1:47)
    • 13. The Great Escape (4:26)
    • 14. Sharawk Leads the Way (3:32)
    • 15. Neutron Detonator (5:40)
    • 16. Key to the Heart (5:32)




   Notes and Quotes:

    The insert includes a note from Folk about the score.







All artwork and sound clips from Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time are Copyright © 1992, Intrada Records. The reviews and notes contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Filmtracks Publications. Audio clips can be heard using RealPlayer but cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 3/15/97, updated 3/12/06. Review Version 4.2 - PHP (Filmtracks Publications). Copyright © 1997-2008, Christian Clemmensen. All rights reserved.