“You know what I don’t understand? How come a clean cut jungle boy like you is hanging out with a creep like this?
After the death of King Zed the evil warlord Arklon (Wings Hauser) has taken over as the ruler of Arok. Arklon has a magic scepter and uses black magic to keep control over the kingdom. There are rebel forces that plan on taking the kingdom back from Arklon. They are led by Dar (Marc Singer). Dar is known as the Beastmaster. He has the ability to communicate with animals. He has, as companions, a tiger named Ruh, an eagle named Sharak and two mischievous ferrets named Podo and Kodo. Dar is captured by Arklon and is sentenced to death. Dar is rescued by his animal friends.
While evading Arklon’s men Dar finds himself in a dark swamp. A creature from the swamp tells Dar that he is a relative that was turned into a monster because of sorcery. He tells Dar about his heritage. The creature tells Dar that he has an older brother that is evil. He tells Dar that he must find his older half-brother and destroy him for peace to prevail upon the land.
In the meantime Arklon is being assisted by a sorceress named Lyranna (Sarah Douglas). She has managed to open up a dimensional portal that looks upon Los Angeles in 1991. She explains to Arklon that the scientists in this place have created, what they call, a neutron detonator. Arklon realizes that with such a weapon he will have ultimate power and can rule the world.
In the meantime Jackie Trent (Kari Wuhrer), a spoiled teenager is speeding down the highway. On her tail are two cop cars. She takes a wrong turn and ends up going down a dead end alley and through the dimensional portal that Lyranna has opened up. Right behind her are the cop cars. Arklon attacks the cops, the cop cars blow up and the two cops run away, right back through the portal.
Jackie hits the gas and speeds away into a strange land. When she runs out of gas she starts hiking. She ends up falling asleep and is awakened by the tiger Ruh licking her hand. Seeing the Jackie is somewhat out of her element Dar takes her along with him on his quest to find his brother. Arklon’s henchmen find them and kidnap Jackie. Dar races after them and ends up going through the portal following Jackie, Arklon and Lyranna. Now Dar is out of his element.
“Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time” was released in 1991 and was directed by Sylvio Tabet. It is a sequel to “Beastmaster” 1982 and is a fantasy of the sword and sandals sub genre.
There are a couple obvious differences between the first movie and the second. Ruh the tiger is not black as he was in “Beastmaster”. In this film he is striped as a normal tiger would be. I guess they got tired of trying to dye his fur black. Also the ferret that died in the first movie is all of a sudden alive again. I'm not sure what happened to the baby ferrets.
Granted this one is a little farfetched as far as plot and dialogue goes, but it’s still fun. Especially the part where Arklon and Lyranna are in the clothing store picking out new outfits that blend in a little more with twentieth century fashion. There are several parts that are cheezy and over the top. There is also some lame humor as well. Yeah, it’s not as good as the first “Beastmaster” film but it’s not horrible and you get to see Marc Singer in a loin cloth.
It’s not really a portal of time but a dimensional portal. In other words, a gateway to an alternate universe.