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Behold Images From TALES OF AN ANCIENT EMPIRE (The SWORD AND THE SORCERER Pseudo-Sequel)!!
Merrick here...
A while back, we learned that director Albert Pyun was ramping up to shoot TALES OF AN ANCIENT EMPIRE, a pseudo-sequel to THE SWORD AND THE SORCERER (HERE).
This came as quite a surprise, given that the film was promised at the end of SWORD (released back in 1982) and was widely assumed to have been forgotten in the subsequent 27 years.
Nevertheless, TALES began filming December 16 and we have some images from the first and second days of shooting.
From Day 1:
Kevin Sorbo as Aedan
Melissa Ordway as Tanis
Janelle Taylor as Rajan
Inbar Lavi as Alana
Here are some shots from the second day of filming: Sorbo with "Drooler", and Ordway looking for thieves. CLICK TO ENLARGE.
No sign of the three bladed sword yet, but it is in the film & we'll try to nab a shot of it if opportunity allows.
We just received two more images from the set. Sorbo -vs- "Iberian", and Sorbo meeting Ordway. CLICK TO ENLARGE.
Kevin Sorbo as Aedan
Melissa Ordway as Tanis
Janelle Taylor as Rajan
Inbar Lavi as Alana
No sign of the three bladed sword yet, but it is in the film & we'll try to nab a shot of it if opportunity allows.
We just received two more images from the set. Sorbo -vs- "Iberian", and Sorbo meeting Ordway. CLICK TO ENLARGE.
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...or any other bad sci-fi channel softcore sword and sorcery flick. three chicks in medieval tube tops...and not much else.
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sorbo is great when you are 8 years old, but so was the hoff
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Can't wait for this.
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I know Sword And The Sorcer. I've watched it countless times. I've lived with it for decades...
And that's not Sword And The Sorcerer. -
Pyun. Guy is more egotistical than the "Can You Hear Me Now" guy...and YES, in some fucked up way that the universe has become THAT GUY is a prima-donna.
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Heh.
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KEVIN SORBO ROCKS!!! Though, he will always be Captain Dylan Hunt in my book.
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Can't wait. Love that they had the balls to do a sequel to a cult film 27 years after the fact. More people should follow suit. Buckaroo Banzai anyone?
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Does he make an appearance in this film? I absolutely love "The Sword and the Sorcerer," (I have the theatrical poster on my wall) and I hope there is at least an attempt to capture the mood, tone and general vibe of that crazy film. It's part Errol Flynn swashbuckler, part medievel James Bond gadget flick, part 80s horror show. I just hope this isn't another Sci-Fi Channel movie of the week.
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Nuff Said!
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Is this a spin off of the pirates porn series?
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Uwe Boll flick in what way?? Speaking of sequels 20 years in the making, where's the Next-To-Last Starfighter?
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Yippee!
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Matt Houston whistling through his crucifixion wounds, Bull from "Night Court" resurrected as an evil demon, more lines like "I would very much like to bed you wench," and plenty of ass and bush ... I'm there! TALON!!!
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I mean, c'mon, it's got Kevin Sorbo in it. So it's essentially a lock for a SCI-FI Saturday night. I'm guessing the dog days of August.
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I mean really. For a rising star at the time (Van Damme), he really picked stinker of a director to work with. And yes I also hate him for his "Why-would-people-want-to-see-Captain-America-in-costume-all-the-time?" movie decision. I wont even go into that film any further. It hurts too much.
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fer sure.
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Internet meme turned into crappy movie? I hope not, because I've got a 40 year old's mad love for SWORD AND THE SORCERER (and I've got a VHS of the movie kicking around the house too), and Kevin Sorbo's a reliable B-movie presence. Here's hoping, anyway.
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hahaha I hear you, another 40-year-old with mad love for the original here...VHS copy still in mint condition, too. Sorbo looks great, but hopefully we get Horsley back!
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were the hell is King Conan!
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Ted Raimi is going to pop up at any second?
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this looks really bad, like worse than dungeon siege bad.
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SOLOMON KANE instead of this nonsense?
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Albert Pyun was Uwe Bole's mentor.
I'm sure at some point he'll find a way to pad this film out with an exciting torch (flashlight) search scene. -
Kevin Sorbo shares screentime with sexy sword wielding maidens.
Lucy lawless sadly nowhere to be seen. -
Before I read the name, I thought it was Katee Sackhoff's image on that movie poster.
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Well probably not quite 27, but I'm still waiting for Buckaroo Banzai Against the World Crime League. Make it so.
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a recycled WD Richter script from a proposed BUCKAROO BANZAI sequel?
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The Ice Pirates sequel is coming soon to a theater near you.
http://www.aintitcool.com/talkback_display/39660#comment_2434922 -
That Princess is all kinds of beautiful, but the second woman down looks like an Ugly sister no-one knew about.
I can't believe Kevin Sorbo is in this. This immediately turns this into a Hercules/Xena rip-off .
Where the Hell is the main man Prince Talon ? -
Maybe the best thing that will happen from this is that Anchor Bay or Blue Underground will do a new transfer of "The Sword & the Sorcerer" on Blu-ray and dvd. I love the movie, but was always disappointed in the dvd transfer. The print they used was way too dark and a lot of the color looked faded. And maybe, if we're lucky, Lee Horsely will read this and contact Harry to update us on his life and career and tell us his feelings about this film.
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I speak for experience. You ain't never seen such chafing. On that basis, I'm giving this one a wide berth. Ha!
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I hope he's in this. I love Talon.
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I actually like Kevin Sorbo, but everything else about this production seems... dead on Uwe Boll-ish.
Cheap T&A: check
Ultraserious, constipated expressions for no good reason: check
No laughter or humor of any kind: check
I like Sorbo, but I'm already cringing about the poorly titled "Tales of an Ancient Empire." Why not just tell us which empire it IS? And why not the singular "Tale" of an ancient empire? It's not a miniseries, right? Therefore, it's a tale, not tales.
I'm not even going to continue. -
the name listed as the next film in Sword and The Sorcerer? I think it was. Also, where's Yancy Butler? Isn't her thin veiny frame in this too? She's gonna go Witchblade on their ass.
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I don't need to learn anything else about it, I just love it unconditionally.
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Without Horsley I'm not half as excited. We haven't had a truly charismatic swashbuckling hero who can actually throw a punch and bed a wench since Talon rode off in the sunset. I like Sorbo, but he always comes off a little too Alan Alda nice. Talon was a freakin' womanizer and made no apologies. Oh, and then there's the fact that Pyun hasn't made a movie as good as The Sword and the Sorcerer since . . . well, since he made The Sword and the Sorcerer.
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right after the rerun of "Cyclops"
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fucks my eyeballs in 2009
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S&S is such a funtastic flick, and yet all I see are some unimpressive booth-babes on horsies...Pyun, you owe us BIG for Captain America..don't fuck this up!
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to fuck off at a convention once. He told me to fuck off first though. It was over Hercules. Long story
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...is looking forward to a sequel to S&S as much as I am but these images are worrying me. I know it's a bit flimsy, but the women are making me uneasy. I fear a "Pirates effect" -- you know, like those porn epics: they spend loads of cash on costumes, locations and special effects but when the pirate chicks open their mouths the illusion is shattered by hideously vapid Valley accents. The chicks in these pics look like cosplay losers. Take Kathleen Beller in the original -- you TOTALLY bought the idea of her being a character in some sort of fantasy world. Likewise when it came to Sandahl Bergman in Conan. Seriously, how fucking hard can it be?
I know you're the guy behind Nemesis, Captain "rubber-ears" America and The Omega Doom, but don't let me down, Albert Pyun. -
The most overlooked director in history. This guy is a god. Can't wait. Hopefully the poster art is fantastic and completely overshadows the shitty film. Otherwise it just won't feel like a real Pyun film.
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That's EXACTLY what pisses me off about Sorbo in these movies. I mean, he looks the part, he ain't chopped liver as an actor - can it really be that fuckin' hard to put the effort in and learn to speak in a fantasy-world kind of accent? Why does he open his mouth and this stupid all-American jock accent come out of his mouth, when he's meant to be a fucking medieval warrior?
Lazy bastard. -
Whether you dig who's making it or not, SOLOMON KANE is of much more interest to us than this pseudo-SATS sequel. The minute I saw Sorbo in this hsit it devalued it as a SWORD & THE SORCEROR sequel - now it's just a shitty sci-fi lazy-ass sword-and-sandal disappointer that just happens to be set in Talon's world.
SOLOMON KANE, on the other hand, is one of the three coolest characters ever created by Robert E Howard, the others being CONAN (obviously) and KING KULL (who Sorbo already managed to fuck up so much that NOTHING will EVER make a Kull movie cool again, EVER. Fucking Tia Carrere as the VILLAIN? FUUUUUUCK YOOOOOOOOUUU!!! FUCK YOU, SORBO!!!)
Without an Arnie-centric KING CONAN (which should by rights be based on CONAN OF THE ISLES) the only hope we have for a truly great Howard adaptation rests on the very capable shoulders of James Purefoy (an extremely under-rated actor, see A KNIGHT'S TALE, and - by the way - a gent of a man in real life) and a movie based on the coolest evil-hunting Puritan ever created!
Harry, in the name of Albert Pyun, WE NEED SOME SOLOMON KANE NEWS!!! -
..or Charm School? Sorry, I missed the headline.
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It'll at least have some hot chicks, hopefully some tits and ass as well. Hell we haven't had a a movie made like that since..... Damn, I can't remember!
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This makes no since not to use the original title, and I would appreciate having some of the original actors back. Kevin Sorbo must have paid for this role by supplying some of the financing, but, as an actor Sorbo is finished thanks to that mess of a show Andromeda...and several bad films that he did?BTW, this movie looks cheaper than the original, which, at the time, had a sort of charming low budget feel because it couldn't be helped, no digital effects back then, but there is absolutely no excuse now, non whatsoever, for this new movie to look so cheap. This thing will go straight to DVD and be forgotten about.
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...Not on Conan, but definitely on Kull (Fuck EVERYONE involved with that abortion except Joel Goldsmith and Karina Lombard, who's SMOKIN') and Solomon Kane. Casting Purefoy in the latter was genius. Let's hope the actual movie lives up to its literary model.
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Sorbo just got lucky with being cast in Hercules. The guy has no independent sense of what makes a good production, he just shows up and takes a paycheck like so many non artists in this industry, treating his success as an excuse to indulge in endless bootie parties.
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=worst cinematic barbarian ever.
Even the "civilized" Thomas Ian Griffith seemed more Howardesque than Sorbo in Kull.
I don't dislike Sorbo as such, but when he's miscast, he's REALLY miscast. -
Why is an ancient blonde princess holding a Chinese jian?
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Check out the hilt in picture #4. Also, who cast butterface Janelle Taylor in this flick? Sorbo needs a huge hit after the butchering of KULL, and his latest DTDVD films haven't screamed "excellence in filmmaking."
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like a Playboy movie of the month...although the first still of Sorbo actually has some nice shading to it... Christophe "Lam-Bear" is in this baby as well!!
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Shouldn't one of the Sword Chicks be black? Those Ancient Empires could be so -- so -- incorrect.
Will George Maharis be in this movie?
George has passed away (hasn't he?) but that wouldn't hurt this movie.
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To be more historically accurate
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...B movies that skimp on the T & A hoping for some sort of wide release that will never happen. Sure, it's not 1982 anymore and a person can get naked ladies whenever they want them...but it's the principle of the thing. B movies should have nudity...and plentifully.
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like Pyun's unofficial Streets of Fires sequel?
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Thanks for the laugh and damn you for the visual.
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Jan 05, 2009 11:52:00 PM CST
I remember the interview Pyun did about Capt. America
by bob cryptonight
...in which he said that he didn't really like costumed heroes so he decided only to have Cap in costume at the beginning and at the end! What a dumb fuck!
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the blond, that is.
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I got all excited when I saw the headline, but whoever said it above is spot on, this looks like a cheap Hercules episode minus Bruce. Don;t let me down Puyn.
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By castin Sorbo in this mess, Pyun has ALEADY let you down. I hope I'm wrong, but in my barbarous heart I know I am not.
At least it'll have that three-bladed sword... -
First noticed him in John Carpenter's Fuckups - I mean VAMPIRES. Apart from casting James Woods right (he was great as Jack Crow, but as the novel's Jack Crow, not the woefully underwritten two-dimensional movie Jack Crow) they got it right with Thomas Ian Griffiths. I didn't even notice the fat no-talent alkie Baldwin on screen when Thomas Ian was there. He's definitely one of those "shit film but he's-great-in-it" actors, and he was also the best thing in that fucking shitfest KULL.
And if they ever decide to make the movie of Ian Astbury's life... TIG's your man! -
Do I have to pull out my rant against poliical correctness that I use in EVERY damn DR WHO talkback? 'Cos I wiiiiiill!!!
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BEST DAMN VILLAIN OF 1989. (Yes, better than the Joker, Sanchez, Viggo or Brad Wesley.)
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You are the insider. Is Lee Horsley in this at all or not?!?!
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Terry Silver was a friggin' beast. He was so just damn gleefully evil. "Now the real pain begins, Danny-boy!" "I love it when he pounds him!" "Since the moment I met you, I've been making you do things you don't want to do!" No one put that pussy LaRusso (Daniel-san didn't even bag the chick in the 3rd film) thru more shit than Silver did, making his knuckles bleed and bruising up his shins. I wish Johnny from the first film had come back and been LaRusso's Apollo Creed. But I do love that the film is about a couple of grown men just wanting to see the snot beat out of a punk kid purely for petty, sadistic revenge. There is something deeply warped about that. And I've always been amazed that Griffith is actually YOUNGER than Ralph Macchio in real life. Thomas Ian Griffith ... sorely underrated actor, if ya ask me.
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It's only been 27 years
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Why is AICN blowing space on such a tool, who's films ALWAYS go direct to video (er, DVD) because they SUCK!? Will this be any different? Of course not. In the three decades Pyun has been directing, there is maybe five minutes TOTAL footage worth viewing.
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...it's BOUND to be a blockbuster.
Pass!!!! -
is going to be so f'n awesome. Just look at it!
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Jan 06, 2009 9:01:58 AM CST
YES!! I can die a happy man! Now we just need that Flash Gordon
by justyhakubi
The End?
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Looks lame.
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finally, a promise made so many years ago has been kept. Now if only Mel Brooks would make History of the World PartII...
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TIG was Terry Silver? Why the hell didn't I already know that?!?
Pure badassery in the legendary KARATE KID franchise. But I do kind of have a sneaking fondness for Hilary Swank in THE NEXT KARATE KID - she was young and rebellious without being to annoying. Plus it had Pat Morita catching an arrow fired by a Zen archer - and monks doing Zen Bowling!
ZEN BOWLING!!!
Wrap your frontal lobes round that concept awhile, if you will. Pure unfiltered genius :D -
Best villain of 1989? I know the movie SOCIETY came out in the UK in 1990, but it was MADE in 1989, so...
Anyhoo. I'd rather be kicked to death by the most badass ponytail since Seagal TWICE than face having a dough-faced rich bastard corrupt old-boys'-club Judge shove his rubbery hand up my ass and turn me inside out. Fuck THAT shit.
Judge from Society = Best Villain of 1989. Now I want a crossover movie: MANIAC COP VS SOCIETY. Brian Yuzna and Screaming Mad George could retire on that gem! -
The guy is like the Bruce Campbell of cheesy action movies. He "gets" that they are cheesy, and rolls with that - he plays up the cheesy because he knows thats the deal he made.
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But Melissa Ordway could make my list if I could see more of her.
Heh heh.
If you know what I mean by "more of her"?
Heh heh. -
Yeah, but Sorbo plays everything as Sorbo in whatever costume he happens to be in. Bruce Campbell can actually change accents and stuff when required (exhibit a: BUBBA HO-TEP). Sorbo? Not so much.
kabong: Ka-BOING! Know EXACTLY what you're saying. Here's hoping for titty shots in this movie, then maybe it won't be a complete sword-and-suckage DTV shitefest. -
That pic convinced me, I'll see this movie. Man that girl looks hot.
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it ripped off plenty of scenes from famous HK films, including PEACE HOTEL(which was ghost directed by John Woo).
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If Kevin Sorbo is in it, it will be a made for DVD piece of shit! Come on...Why not get Hasslehoff to be in it to give the project gravitas!
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TALES OF AN ANCIENT VAMPIRE - THE RETURN OF JERRY DANDRIDGE!
You have to have faith for this sequel to work... -
The Life and Times of Dickie Bird
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