Fire and Ice/Frazetta: Painting with Fire (DVD, 2005, 2-Disc Set, Limited Edition)

Celebrated sword-and-sorcery artist Frank Frazetta teams up with animation director Ralph Bakshi for this high-energy animated fantasy. It's a prehistoric battle of the elements as the dissolute ruler of the Ice World, Nekron (Sean Hannon), starts a war against the fire people using a massive, advancing glacier and armies of subhuman monsters as his weapons. When he arranges to have the fire king's shapely daughter, Teegra (Cynthia Lenke), kidnapped, the adventure begins as she escapes her captors and hooks up with Lorn (Randy Norton), lone survivor of an earlier skirmish. With the aid of a mysterious dark warrior (based on Frazetta's famous painting "The Death Dealer"), Lorn and Teegra fight the armies of Nekron as well as giant monsters, lesbian sorcerers, and other comic book delights. A thunderous classical score by William Kraft adds excitement to this violent, sexy, fast-moving film. It also benefits from unusual animation techniques that nicely complement the far-out imaginations of Frazetta, Bakshi, and screenwriters Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway., This set is comprised of two fantasy films of the "sword and scorcery" vein, FIRE AND ICE and FRAZETTA: PAINTING WITH FIRE.FIRE AND ICE: Celebrated sword-and-sorcery artist Frank Frazetta teams up with animation director Ralph Bakshi for this high-energy animated fantasy. It's a prehistoric battle of the elements as the dissolute ruler of the Ice World, Nekron (Sean Hannon), starts a war against the fire people using a massive, advancing glacier and armies of subhuman monsters as his weapons. When he arranges to have the fire king's shapely daughter, Teegra (Cynthia Leake), kidnapped, the adventure begins as she escapes her captors and hooks up with Larn (Randy Norton), lone survivor of an earlier skirmish. With the aid of a mysterious dark warrior (based on Frazetta's famous painting "The Death Dealer"), Lorn and Teegra fight the armies of Nekron as well as giant monsters, lesbian sorcerers, and other comic book delights. A thunderous classical score by William Kraft adds excitement to this violent, sexy, fast-moving film. It also benefits from unusual animation techniques that nicely complement the far-out imaginations of Frazetta, Bakshi, and screenwriters Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway.FRANZETTA: PAINTING WITH FIRE: Exploring the life and legacy of fantasy artist Frank Franzetta, this documentary paints a vivid picture of the path-blazing done by this man who overcame massive obstacles to ascend to the top of his genre. His distinctive style has virtually defined fantasy art for a decade, but Franzetta's stature is made even more grandiose by the fact that it was attained while he was suffering from an undiagnosed thyroid condition. Moreover, six strokes forced the artist to switch his drawing hand from right to left, a setback he overcame as well. The film features appearances by Bo Derek, Glenn Danzig, Ralph Bakshi, and Forrest Ackerman, among others.