Mook?

Seeing Krull with the Mudge A209 crew was a defining moment for the word "mook". Modern culture has started to use the word to mean "an ineffectual, foolish, or contemptible person" (Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, Volume II). But to us, the word has a much more specific meaning:

"A mook is a character in the story who serves no purpose, other than to absorb damage" (Mighty, Mighty Death Machine).

Every (good) action movie has mooks. You need them for the action. If nobody dies, the action can't really be that dangerous, can it? If your main character dies, the movie is over. This is different than a major-minor character (one who actually has a name, and people care if he dies).

Mooks come in two main flavors:

1. Hapless Mook - the hapless mook is movable scenery. His death serves little purpose, perhaps warning a hero of imminent danger. They rarely have a name ("I lost, a man, down there!", or "There goes what's his name!?"

2. Warrior Mook - the warrior mook is the main stay of war movies. They appear in tens or hundreds (or thousands), often on both sides. They die by tens or hundreds (or thousands), too.

The characters (besides the mains) in Krull were all hapless mooks. Several had names, but no one remembered them. Their presence did nothing to aid the hero in the completion of his quest, their deaths were quick and unmourned. One even received a "that's cool!" look from the mook captain for his spectacular plunging death.

Popular theory holds that mooks are dispensed from a "tree of mooks". It is imporatant that you pick your mooks fresh, in the proper season.