Thursday, January 10, 2019

Doctor Mordrid (1992)

Synopsis: Doctor Anton Mordrid is a sorcerer from the Fourth Dimension tasked with protecting Earth from dark magics, specifically his childhood friend, Kabal.   

The Good: It was great to see Jeffrey Combs as a hero. He was serious, but still had some charisma, and makes a really good Doctor Strange. Mordrid's apartment looks amazing (and my guess is where most of the film's budget went). The effects are fine for they day and the stop-motion animation for the films climactic battle is great. Brian Thompson is a great classic villain and has a few surprisingly funny lines. Also, his minion is really funny.

The Bad: There's an awkward almost sex scene. It just feels a little out of place. There's also a scene with the director's son with some unexpected vulgarity. These scenes didn't really bother me, they just seemed like an excuse to say the movie was R-rated. Also, the movie is only 74 minutes. It didn't seem rushed, but still could have been fleshed out a little more.

Final Thoughts: If this movie seems a lot like Doctor Strange, that's because that's what it originally was. Charles Band of Full Moon Entertainment had the writes to a Doctor Strange movie. He wrote a script but during pre-production lost the rights. Instead of scrapping everything, he changed a few bits and made the movie anyway. I think it worked. I love Jeffrey Combs and I thought this flick was fun. What would have happened had it stayed a Doctor Strange movie? Would it have been more popular? Could you imagine what would have happened if they made more Marvel flicks? I Full Moon version of Ghost Rider would have been nuts. Imagine Blade taking on Radu. Oh what could have been...


In Your Game:

I think these stats do a good job. The only thing missing is his spell that animated the Mastodon skeleton and his astral projection ability (though that looked like a potion he took).
Name: Doctor Anton Mordrid
Alignment: Law   Class: Mystic   Level: 5  

Str: 11 
Int: 21(+4)
Wis: 17 (+2)
Dex: 12 
Con: 10 
Cha: 13 (+1) 
Sur: 10

Courage: 14
Critical: 11
Death: 15
Magic: 18
Mental: 15
Poison: 9

Languages: English

AC: 11 (Mystic class feature
HP: 25 
Move: 12

Madness: 
Toughness: -

Attack

+0 Initiative 
Unarmed
-4 to hit, 1d4/2 damage

Skills
Art & Music 5 (+9)
Investigation 5 (+7)
Knowledge: General 5 (+9)
Knowledge: Magic 5 (+14)
Mathematics 3 (+9)
Persuasion 5 (+6)

Mystic Powers
Step Into the Void to add level to spell's damage, add level X10' to range of spell, or make the spell target an addition target or double the spell's duration (only make 1 attack if attack needed)
+2 on ranged Magic attacks
-2 on non Magic attacks

Spells 
The number in parenthesis is the number of spells of that level that can be cast before Mordrid must Step into The Void.

1st (16) - Comprehend Languages, Counterspell, Detect Magic, Enchant Weapon, Heal, Helping Hand, Illusion, Lock, Mystic Armor, Mystic Bolt, Mystic Chains
2nd (12) - Detect Secret Spaces & Traps, Flying, Ears of the Void, Fireball, Flying, Glamour, Heal II, True Sight
3rd (6) - Chain Lightning, Dispel Magic II, Heal III, Invisibility II, Mystic Armor II, Touch of Weakness

Items: Apartment with world wide news monitoring computer, occult library, and portal to 4th Dimension, Mordrid's Amulet (immunity to non-magical weapons and unarmed attacks, stunning flash 3/day - all non-Megahuman targets must making a magic saving throw or be stunned for 3 rounds)

4 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. They had a holiday sale and I bought my blu-ray copy directly from Full Moon (https://www.fullmoondirect.com/)

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  2. Magnificent write-up and review. You know I have a soft spot for this character/movie and strongly believe Mordrid and his 'world' have enormous potential beyond this single film.

    Looking forward to getting out of his debut in the comic you told me about and seeing what else 'official' has been added to the Mordrid canon.

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  3. Always enjoy your posts! Doctor Mordrid is one of my guilty pleasures and it's nice to see rpg stats for him. I can easily see his snazzy apartment moving to Vigilante City or Kabal creating low powered villains (or maybe heroes) to claim the Earth!

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