# MYTHICA - GOOD LOW BUDGET FANTASY MOVIES?



## Water Bob (May 29, 2017)

Just stumbled across these films.  Mythica.


Evidently, there's a ton of them.  Looks like crap. Looks very "D&D", though.  In the first trailer, the chick says, "I need a thief."


Kevin Sorbo is in some of them (maybe all of them, I'm not sure).  They remind me of those cheapie 80's sword & sorcery flicks like Hawk The Slayer, The Sword & The Sorcerer, The Deathstalker flicks, The Warrior & The Sorceress, Sheena, and the like.


MYTHICA:  A QUEST FOR HEROES


MYTHICA 2:  THE DARKSPORE


MYTHICA 3:  THE NECROMANCER


MYTHICA 4:  THE IRON CROWN


MYTHICA 5:  THE GODSLAYER






Like an TSR D&D adventure module series, huh?




























*SURPRISE!*


What surprised me about these films, and why I posted this here, is that they're actually getting decent reviews on Netflix.  The first film, The Quest for Heroes, averages 3.2 stars, which means most of the 298 people who took the time to rate the film actually liked it.

Darkspore and Necromancer gets about the same with a similar number of reviewers.  Crown gets the same rating with only 28 reviewers so far.  And, Slayer isn't out yet.

Has anyone watched any of these films?


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## Ryujin (May 29, 2017)

I backed these through Kickstarter and was quite pleased with the results. Obviously so, since I kept backing them. The story definitely hits the notes of bringing a D&D party together and then 'leveling up' over time.

Sorbo was just one of those recognizable name cameos, to help draw people in for funding. "The Mountain"** from "Game of Thrones" serves that purpose in the final film of the series.

**EDIT** Sorry it was "Hodor", not "The Mountain."


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## Water Bob (May 29, 2017)

I've watched the trailers, and my eyebrow is raised.  Can you tell us a little more about the films?  What did you like?  What did you not like?


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## Ryujin (May 29, 2017)

Water Bob said:


> I've watched the trailers, and my eyebrow is raised.  Can you tell us a little more about the films?  What did you like?  What did you not like?




Be aware that the acting, while not egregious, is of the sort you might expect from a property featuring Kevin Sorbo. I don't mind 'hokey' and liked both "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys", and "Andromeda." YMMV.

There were a few things I liked about it. For a start, it plays out like it was written by a gamer;  building the party and the concept that it's an adventuring group itself, the 'anything goes' tavern HQ, the general feel of everything... I like that they went with a female main protagonist and a flawed one at that. There were a few times that, cinematically, the scenery punched well above its weight. Utah must have some great locations for shooting a movie like this. The story is fairly compelling, even if it's been done before. For me, at least, the characters had a little depth beyond their obvious genre stereotypes.

Just don't expect "Lord of the Rings"


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## Ralif Redhammer (May 31, 2017)

Queued the first one. I do love those old cheap and cheesy 80s sword and sorcery flicks.


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## Water Bob (May 31, 2017)

Ralif Redhammer said:


> Queued the first one. I do love those old cheap and cheesy 80s sword and sorcery flicks.




Once you've seen it, come back and report!


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## Ryujin (May 31, 2017)

Ralif Redhammer said:


> Queued the first one. I do love those old cheap and cheesy 80s sword and sorcery flicks.




It's not quite that cheesy but close, and with HD video


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## Ralif Redhammer (Oct 2, 2017)

Only took a couple of months for it to perambulate through my Netflix queue. 

There’s stuff I liked, and stuff I didn’t like about the film. Some of it seemed a little formulaic. The CGI varies in quality.

But it does a heck of a job at doing more with less. Utah looks pretty cool subbing for a fantasy world. The action is convincing. If this had come out instead of Courtney Solomon’s D&D movie, we would probably have been talking about how they did a great job nailing the feel of the game.



Water Bob said:


> Once you've seen it, come back and report!


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## Water Bob (Oct 3, 2017)

Will you continue with the series?


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## Ralif Redhammer (Oct 3, 2017)

I did add the next one to my queue. However, as demonstrated by this thread necromancy, that takes a while for me to get through!

Though the first movie works on its own, it definitely feels like it’s supposed to exist as part of a body of work.



Water Bob said:


> Will you continue with the series?


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## cmad1977 (Oct 3, 2017)

This is on Netflix? Is it in the states?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Ralif Redhammer (Oct 3, 2017)

Only on disc, I'm afraid, but yes, stateside.



cmad1977 said:


> This is on Netflix? Is it in the states?
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Ryujin (Oct 3, 2017)

Ralif Redhammer said:


> I did add the next one to my queue. However, as demonstrated by this thread necromancy, that takes a while for me to get through!
> 
> Though the first movie works on its own, it definitely feels like it’s supposed to exist as part of a body of work.




It's definitely a story arc, rather than a series of stand-alone works.


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## Ryujin (Oct 3, 2017)

Arrowstorm just announced a 5 DVD or Blu-Ray box set of Mythica. Sounds like it'll be at Wal-Mart in the US.


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## cmad1977 (Oct 4, 2017)

Ralif Redhammer said:


> Only on disc, I'm afraid, but yes, stateside.




Alas I stream only.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Water Bob (Oct 4, 2017)

Ryujin said:


> Arrowstorm just announced a 5 DVD or Blu-Ray box set of Mythica. Sounds like it'll be at Wal-Mart in the US.




Price point?


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## Ryujin (Oct 4, 2017)

Water Bob said:


> Price point?




They say that it's available today but don't mention a price, nor can I find it on the Wal-Mart website. I can't imagine it would be much more than perhaps US$60, given that the individual disks were originally going in the $15 range.


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## Ryujin (Oct 5, 2017)

Holy crap! The DVD set is half the price I expected:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Mill-Creek-Studios-Mythica-The-Complete-Collect-Dvd-Mp-Ws/240320922


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## Xaelvaen (Oct 5, 2017)

I watched the first two.  After viewing the third, however, I've no interest in 4 and 5.  Just sort of went down hill (for my tastes).  Though I actually really loved the first one.


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## Gadget (Apr 30, 2018)

I just watched the first movie, they are all available for streaming on Amazon Prime (at least in the U.S.A.).  I'm not terribly impressed.  While it is kind of in the vein of the generic 80's fantasy films of yesteryear, I feel the genre--even the low budget fantasy genre--has moved a bit beyond that.  Also, those movies of yesteryear seemed to have more of their own story that, albeit somewhat generic and cliche, seemed to rely less on what happened in the producer's RPG game the night before.  

The bad:  
1) It puts most other movies of this ilk to shame for generic RPG tropes and paint by numbers world building.  You could almost see the Hit Point bar above the protagonist's head counting down, and phrases like "I/we need a thief", while not a death knell, are kind of telling.  Not to mention the proverbial rough and rowdy tavern where 'adventurers' go to get 'jobs' or 'quests' for treasure/money, complete with gruff dwarf-like innkeeper who maintains order with an iron fist and 'tough love' for adventurers.  While these may be tropes in RPGS, and some here may like the familiar callbacks, it really hinders the storytelling and just serves to point out that the world building is here as a backdrop to service the game/plot of the moment.  At least Hawk the Slayer and such tried to put a reasonable effort into establishing why and who the characters were doing what and why; I half expected a diminutive, red-robe clad 'Dungeon Master' to pop up and start giving out quests.

2) The CGI was not Avengers quality, nor should one expect it to be for such a low budget affair, but it was really telling trying to see the characters interact with it on screen.  The only scene were this worked, imho, is when the Wizard conjured a flame snake Illusion from the campfire to distract the orcs while she freed the thief.  The fight choreography was also somewhat lacking here, but once again, I guess not too bad for a low budget movie.  It does seem wildly various on how skilled/hurt/injured a character is at any given moment, largely dictated by the dramatic needs of the script.   This may seem natural to Role Players used to it, but to general movie goers, the whole "I'm knocked out and need tending/no I'm fine back in the thick of things" needs a little more explanation (This aside from the explicit clerical healing on several occasions).

The Good:
1) The main protagonist is not only a woman, but a slave.  Not only that, though she is treated poorly due to her status as a slave, it is not used as an excuse to sexualize her either through skimpy costuming or constant threat of sexual abuse/rape (though there is one scene where she is set upon by those who want to sell her to a brothel, and the inn keeper initially wants to send her to work with the prostitutes, so not so much I guess).  The fact that this society has slaves, and she must be back before curfew was enough of a twist and world building element that, if followed up on, could have done much to counteract the "generic fantasy setting" vibe.  

2) I'm not sure that this point should not be in the first position, the main protagonist is not only a woman and a slave, but also has a disability: a club foot/twisted leg that makes her limp and have to use a brace made for her by a friendly person in her master's household.  This is a fascinating trait for a protagonist to have, and does much to set it apart from other movies of the same ilk and add depth, though I think there is more to it than that, as the "good goddess" of the setting will not heal her affliction and she too, like the seeming BBEG behind everything, can practice "necromancy" (basically drawing energy from those around her to fuel her magic, though she can only do it in times of great stress).  I'm suspecting a Baulder's Gate like plot reason for this in future movies.    

In short, for a movie written and made by gamers, it's not terrible considering the resources and budget available, but I would hope that RPGers would realize that when making a movie, as opposed to an RPG, that there are fantasy cliches (Save the princess, stop the ritual/close the portal, lost prince/princess) and RPG cliches(Inn/HQ quest depot, need to fill out a party, World building that only makes sense as a game, etc).  Efforts need be made to mitigate and present the former in an interesting way, while the latter should be avoided or at least disguised and seasoned much better to make a palatable story.


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## EmberGod (May 18, 2018)

I watched them and I liked, despite the low budget the story is great


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## EmberGod (May 18, 2018)

It reminds me old good Fantaghirò series. I recently found it on Netflix. Luckily my proxy https://buy.fineproxy.org/eng/ helps me get access to it. Movies are really great. I even feel some kind of nostalgia.


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## Ryujin (May 18, 2018)

Which threadcromancy reminds me that the Mythica folks have teamed with Zombie Orpheus Entertainment, the crew from AFK, and several others in an effort called The Fantasy Network:

http://www.thefantasy.network/

They have both free and subscription based pay-for content on the site.


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## Water Bob (May 27, 2018)

FYI, three of the Mythica films are showing on Tubi for free.

I found Tubi as a TV app via my Firestick.

Here's the web address:  Tubi TV.

Tubi has a zillion other low budget science fiction and fantasy films, if you dig that sort of thing.


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## Ralif Redhammer (May 29, 2018)

Also just found Tubi via the Firestick. It does indeed have a bunch of, ahem, “good” stuff. Even has a category “Not on Netflix.” 

Compared to say, Hulu, it is pretty heavy on the commercials, though.



Water Bob said:


> Tubi has a zillion other low budget science fiction and fantasy films, if you dig that sort of thing.


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## Water Bob (May 30, 2018)

Ralif Redhammer said:


> Also just found Tubi via the Firestick. It does indeed have a bunch of, ahem, “good” stuff. Even has a category “Not on Netflix.”
> 
> Compared to say, Hulu, it is pretty heavy on the commercials, though.




Yeah, Tubi has Space:  1999 for free, too, both seasons.


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