I liked Krod Mandoon more than I expected. Perhaps because it's a British sitcom, it's actually fairly funny, clever, and well-made. It had too much crude humor for me at times, but the same is true of Monty Python, Mel Brooks films, Red Dwarf, and the like. And this show did come off as sort of Hercules/Xena as filtered through Brooks and Python.
Sean Maguire is fairly effective as Krod -- amiable but neurotic, strong enough to be a believable hero despite being whiny and klutzy enough to be a comedy goat. He strikes a good balance and is effective at anchoring the cast.
India de Beaufort as Aneka is easily the best part of the show. She's utterly stunning, and I like how she handles the character. The way she's written, as a "pagan" with no sexual inhibitions, could easily have been played in a very slutty and demeaning way, but de Beaufort plays her as a mature, capable, dignified warrior to whom her sexuality is a source of strength. Aneka is certainly the most capable and well-adjusted member of the cast. Certainly they play her promiscuity and exhibitionism for laughs, but in a way that doesn't treat the woman herself disrespectfully. I really like that.
I don't much care for the rest of the hero team. The big clumsy oaf is okay but kind of a stock character, the fake sorceror is too much of a "hip black guy" stereotype, and Bruce is nothing more than a flaming gay stereotype that seems like a relic from decades ago. Come on, haven't we gotten sufficiently used to gay people that we can find fresher ways to include them as comedy characters than falling back on gross caricature? It would've been nice if they could've handled the gay character the same way they handled Aneka, finding humor in a way that was respectful and didn't reduce the character to a one-note grotesque.
Matt Lucas as the villain Dongalor is okay -- not wonderful, but adequate. His goofiness can be a little much, but it's effective to see that frivolous idiocy juxtaposed with the sheer sociopathic brutality of the character. Having him show off bizarre and embarrassing wardrobe options wasn't funny, but cavalierly murdering a man without checking to make sure it was the right man, or hitting on and subsequently abducting the daughter of a man he just had killed without even considering that she might care about her father's death -- that's the sort of thing that makes an effective and disturbingly amusing villain. Dongalor is a clueless idiot, but it's the kind of stupidity that, combined with power, is obscenely dangerous. And that makes it effective.
But the most entertaining player on the villains' side is Alex McQueen as Barnabus, Dongalor's chief advisor and sycophant. The actor does quite a good job as the put-upon but patient Jeeves to Dongalor's Wooster, though he does get a little broad at times.
Otherwise, the production values and action are fairly good. It doesn't look cheap or halfhearted. And it actually has a story to tell; it's not just a bunch of random gags about sex and bodily functions against a medieval backdrop. The best kind of adventure comedy is one that actually works as an adventure as well as a comedy. So far, Krod Mandoon is promising in that respect. I'd probably keep watching for Aneka alone, but the rest of the show is worthwhile as well.
