Rendezvous with Ragnarok

Last updated
Rendezvous with RagNaRok
Rendezvous with Ragnarok.jpg
Video by
Gwar
Released1997
Recorded1997
Genre Thrash metal, Shock rock
Length60 min
Label Metal Blade
Director Hunter Jackson, Dave Brockie, Don Drakulich
Producer Slave Pit, Inc.
Gwar chronology
Return of Techno-Destructo
(1996)		Rendezvous with RagNaRok
(1997)		 Surprising Burst of Chocolaty Fudge
(1998)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
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Rendezvous with RagNaRok is a performance film by the band Gwar coinciding with their 1995 studio album RagNaRok , though the video was released in early 1997 (much of the footage was from 1996). The bulk of the video is concert footage, with a mock interview interspersed between each song. Additionally, three music videos - "Saddam a Go-Go," "Meat Sandwich," and "Surf of Syn" - are among the scenes.

Contents

Movie Concept

The main concept of the movie is that a paranormal investigator, Mason Temple (played by Bob Gorman), is interrogating Gwar members about the coming of the comet RagNaRok. Flattus Maximus, Beefcake the Mighty, a dis-armed Techno Destructo and Balsac the Jaws of Death offer accounts as to exactly what happened in the concerts. During the concert, grey aliens come and take a sperm sample of Oderus Urungus for reasons yet unknown. With this sperm sample, they inseminate Slymenstra Hymen, who gives birth further into the show. After giving birth (with the "Fire In The Loins" footage), the infant is abducted by Synnite warriors, who announce the coming of Cardinal Syn. Their reason for abducting the newborn is not revealed until Syn arrives - Cardinal Syn is a robot, powered by the soul of an infant with a high level of Jizmoglobin (previously mentioned in Skulhedface ). With Syn's arrival, the band is utterly defeated, until they are finally able to (literally) disarm the robot, and open his chest cavity (which reveals his power source).

The video for "Surf of Syn" has a different fate for both Gwar and Syn. At the end, Syn's body is destroyed (by the craft that brought him to Earth; Techno Destrcuto hijacks it and rams it into the body), but his head fires lasers at Gwar, incapacitating them long enough to get away.

Music Used

Though there is live footage, the music used is lifted directly from the album, with two exceptions ("Sonderkommando," a song from This Toilet Earth , is a live version, with differing lyrics than the one found on the album, and "S.F.W.," a song written and recorded for the soundtrack to the eponymous film, is also live).

Music videos

"Saddam a Go-Go" was used in a later episode of Beavis and Butt-head, and was highly praised (it is generally assumed that Gwar is Beavis and Butt-head's favorite band). Though from This Toilet Earth, the entire video uses footage from the 1994 tour, and was unable to be used in the Skulhedface movie.

"Meat Sandwich" is credited (on the Ultimate Video Gwarchive) as directed by Abe Spear, but credited as being directed by Dave Brockie in Rendezvous with RagNaRok. The meat-eating scene at the end made a number of extras ill, as they actually ate the (undercooked) meat (Brockie and Gorman claim to have instructed them to act like they were eating it, and they didn't listen).

"Surf of Syn" was the first video for the album, and was filmed on a very, very small budget. It features the X-Cops, except for "Zipper Pig" (Gorman). Matt Maguire plays Cardinal Syn in the video (and in the song).

Miscellaneous

Flattus Maximus speaks more in this video than in any other recording to date. It is also the only footage with Peter Lee speaking as Flattus; the character was played by two extras (Lee was recovering from a gunshot wound) in Skulhedface , and Flattus and JiZMak never said anything during Dawn of the Day of the Night of the Penguins.

Related Research Articles

Gwar

Gwar, often stylized in all caps as GWAR, is an American heavy metal band formed in Richmond, Virginia in 1984, composed of and operated by a frequently rotating line-up of musicians, artists and filmmakers collectively known as Slave Pit Inc. Following the death of frontman and lead singer Dave Brockie in 2014, the group has continued without any of its founding members.

<i>This Toilet Earth</i> 1994 studio album by Gwar

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<i>Ragnarök</i> (Gwar album) 1995 studio album by Gwar

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The videography of American heavy metal, punk and shock rock band Gwar

Dave Brockie

David Murray Brockie was a Canadian-American musician, best known as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Gwar, in which he performed as Oderus Urungus. He performed as a bassist and lead singer in bands such as Death Piggy, X-Cops, and the Dave Brockie Experience (DBX), and starred in the comedy/horror TV sitcom Holliston as Oderus Urungus. Brockie died in 2014 of a heroin overdose.

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Return of Techno Destructo is a 1996 video by Gwar. There has been some confusion because the name of the tape released in 1996 is also the name of the 1991 short film that is contained within. There were two version of this tape released - the only difference in the second one was that some editing minor mistakes that were corrected.

  1. "Hunter Jackson intro"
  2. "Opening credits" (Power Rangers theme)
  3. "Techno vs. Tarantulina"
  4. "Gwar Must Be Destroyed" (Film )
  5. "Gwar Theme" (Live 1988)
  6. "Techno Song" (Live 1989)
  7. "U Ain't Shit" (Live 1989)
  8. "Cool Place to Park" (Live 1989)
  9. "Years Without Light" (Live 1992)
  10. "Gilded Lily" (Live 1992)
  11. "Horror of Yig" (Live 1992)
  12. "Voodoo Summoning" (Live 1992)
  13. "Captain Crunch" (Live 1992)
  14. "Private Pain of Techno Destructo" (Live 1992)
  15. "Gor Gor" (Live 1992)
  16. "Return of Techno Destructo" (Film )
  17. "Surf of Syn" (Video)
<i>Dawn of the Day of the Night of the Penguins</i> 1998 video by Gwar

Dawn of the Day of the Night of the Penguins is a Gwar video of a live performance. The album story-line is now explained in the video, to a certain extent.

<i>Ultimate Video Gwarchive</i> 2002 video by Gwar

Ultimate Video Gwarchive is a DVD collection of almost all of Gwar's videos up through the Violence Has Arrived album. The only ones not included are the Hell-O bonus track version of "Black & Huge", and "SFW". The cover art was designed by Chris Bopst, whom he played the original Balsac on bass guitar from 1985-1987.

<i>Lust in Space</i> 2009 studio album by Gwar

Lust in Space is the eleventh studio album by Gwar. It was released on August 18, 2009. It is their first album since returning to their old label Metal Blade Records. The album also saw the return of their former bassist Casey Orr, even though he would later part ways with the band yet again. Lust in Space debuted at #96 on the Billboard top 200 Charts and according to Blabbermouth it was Gwar's highest position reached for the debut of an album.

<i>Battle Maximus</i> 2013 studio album by Gwar

Battle Maximus is the thirteenth studio album by Gwar. The album was released on September 17, 2013 through Metal Blade Records. The album was the first to feature new guitarist Brent Purgason, portraying the new character Pustulus Maximus, the first album to feature bassist Jamison Land, portraying longtime character, Beefcake the Mighty and the last to feature vocalist Dave Brockie who then portrayed Oderus Urungus due to Brockie's death of heroin overdose on March 23, 2014.

References

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