"Dungeons & Dragons" Cartoon (1983-1986) - Thoughts/Memories?

[Dread]

That's possible. I am also curious what toll that some of the soccer mom brigade against violence or "witchcraft" at the time had on the ratings.

While season 2 had many of the best episodes, I didn't dislike season 3 as much as some do. I'm still amazed at how much fanart and cosplay there seems to be for it.

 

[Thundarr]

That's possible. I am also curious what toll that some of the soccer mom brigade against violence or "witchcraft" at the time had on the ratings.

While season 2 had many of the best episodes, I didn't dislike season 3 as much as some do. I'm still amazed at how much fanart and cosplay there seems to be for it.

According to the episode commentaries on the DVDs and the documentary on the Special Features disc, little to none. Most of the producers claim that they hadn't heard any negative feedback over the "violent & occult" content of the show until after it was cancelled. I think the PTC (if they were around then, if not maybe a similar less known group) started thumping their chests over the cancelation of D&D as a "moral & ethical victory for TV viewers everywhere", when in fact they had little or nothing to do with it. The producers claim that the show was cancelled due to slipping ratings and not due to pressure from parent or religious groups. That is their official standing on the issue. They may be lying, but I've yet to read anything on the net that indicates that they are.

I didn't totally dislike Season 3, but it was mutch weaker in content than season 2. Like I said, if the first episodes of the season were written by Buzz Dixon, Michael Reaves, and Jeffrey Scott, us fans might have been able to see a full third season and not just 6 episodes because the ratings would likely have been much higher.

 

[Thundarr]

The more I think about it, the more I want Disney/Pixar to do a reboot of this series. Much like the 2003 reboots of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and He-Man & The Masters Of The Universe. Keep the characters and their basic designs and personalities the same as in the original, but use better animation techniques and make the stories a little more mature. I think it could be a huge success on Teletoon, or Nickelodian, or Cartoon Network, or whatever. Now that Disney/Pixar owns the rights to the D&D cartoon, I hope they don't just sit on it forever and a day. Do something with it! Even if it's to just show reruns on Teletoon Retro and Boomerang! It seems like such a huge waste of money to buy the rights to a product/franchise and then do nothing with it.

 

[Dread]

Redoing the D&D cartoon may be complicated. BCI used to own the rights to the original show, and now Mill Creek I believe does, since they re-released it. Marvel Animation was involved in the 1980's, but they didn't entirely own it back then. Currently IDW has the comic book rights to D&D in general, as they're releasing a DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS #0 this week (which has nothing to do with the show). Whoever wanted to make a new version of the show would have to work with the game company (as the first show did) and get their approval, figure out who owns what and so on. That sort of legality gets complicated.

That said, if it was done well, I don't see why a new version of the show couldn't work.

The mid 80's were rough on many shows ratings besides just the writing quality. That was back when studios thought the future of animation was cuddly, talking animals.

 

[Thundarr]

Redoing the D&D cartoon may be complicated. BCI used to own the rights to the original show, and now Mill Creek I believe does, since they re-released it. Marvel Animation was involved in the 1980's, but they didn't entirely own it back then. Currently IDW has the comic book rights to D&D in general, as they're releasing a DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS #0 this week (which has nothing to do with the show). Whoever wanted to make a new version of the show would have to work with the game company (as the first show did) and get their approval, figure out who owns what and so on. That sort of legality gets complicated.

That said, if it was done well, I don't see why a new version of the show couldn't work.

The mid 80's were rough on many shows ratings besides just the writing quality. That was back when studios thought the future of animation was cuddly, talking animals.

Is Mill Creek a subsidiary of Disney/Pixar? Because I had read somewhere the Disney/Pixar had bought the rights to the show. And I agree that they'll have to get permission from Lizards Of The Coast. I don't know how cooperative they'd be though. They might want to turn Presto into a Warlock, Bobby into a Warlord, Sheila into a Tiefling, and God only know what else. And I don't really know what role Marvel Productions would play in the reboot, if any at all. They may have retained ownership of a small percentage of the property when they sold it to BCI. Or they may not own anything anymore. I wish I knew who to ask and how to contact them, then I'd know for sure.

 

[marcvader]

Man I used to watch this show religiously. Ahh, the 80's

 

[Thundarr]

I just found out that the wife of one of my coworkers is the niece of the voice of Venger. How freakin' cool is that?

 

[Pink Ranger]

I just found out that the wife of one of my coworkers is the niece of the voice of Venger. How freakin' cool is that?

Get her to ask him what happened to his other horn. That always bugged me.

 

[Dread]

I just found out that the wife of one of my coworkers is the niece of the voice of Venger. How freakin' cool is that?

You're only three degrees removed from Peter Cullen!? That is very cool.

 

[Thundarr]

I'm bumping this thread, because Dungeon Master told me to (and you don't mess with DM).

 

[Thundarr]

Just found this on You Tube:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wl4LKyT0eww

Pretty cool IMHO.

 

[Thundarr]

Redoing the D&D cartoon may be complicated. BCI used to own the rights to the original show, and now Mill Creek I believe does, since they re-released it. Marvel Animation was involved in the 1980's, but they didn't entirely own it back then. Currently IDW has the comic book rights to D&D in general, as they're releasing a DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS #0 this week (which has nothing to do with the show). Whoever wanted to make a new version of the show would have to work with the game company (as the first show did) and get their approval, figure out who owns what and so on. That sort of legality gets complicated.

That said, if it was done well, I don't see why a new version of the show couldn't work.

I just recently looked this up on Wikipedia. Mill Creek are the distributors of the show. They do not own the copyright to it. Marvel Productions still owns the copyright to the show & its characters (at least they own the percentage they did back in the early to mid 80's). And Marvel Productions are owned by Disney. Likewise, TSR owns their percentage of the show do to it being based on the D&D game, and Lizards Of The Coast owns TSR. Thus a reboot of the show, or a live action/animated feature length movie based on the show, would have to be a joint effort between Lizards & Disney. Mill Creek likely won't have any say except for how many special features they add to the DVDs once they're released.

 

[marcvader]

I just recently looked this up on Wikipedia. Mill Creek are the distributors of the show. They do not own the copyright to it. Marvel Productions still owns the copyright to the show & its characters (at least they own the percentage they did back in the early to mid 80's). And Marvel Productions are owned by Disney. Likewise, TSR owns their percentage of the show do to it being based on the D&D game, and Lizards Of The Coast owns TSR. Thus a reboot of the show, or a live action/animated feature length movie based on the show, would have to be a joint effort between Lizards & Disney. Mill Creek likely won't have any say except for how many special features they add to the DVDs once they're released.

Let's do it then!t:

 

[Thundarr]

Let's do it then!t:

Agreed! Let's write a script for the movie/pilot episode and send a copy to Lizards Of The Coast and another to Disney and see if they accept it (just don't call them "Lizards" Of The Coast, they'll probably take offense).

 

[Thundarr]

That's possible. I am also curious what toll that some of the soccer mom brigade against violence or "witchcraft" at the time had on the ratings.

While season 2 had many of the best episodes, I didn't dislike season 3 as much as some do. I'm still amazed at how much fanart and cosplay there seems to be for it.

I don't necessarily dislike Season 3 either, but I do see why the ratings began to slip. Now if the first six episodes of Season 3 had been written by the writers I had mentioned earlier, perhaps the ratings would have been better and we would have gotten a full season of the show.

I just kinda shake my head at the network's decision to just drop a show after only a few episodes just because those episodes didn't perform as well as previous seasons. I think it's smarter to give the writers a chance to write themselves out of a jam. If they fail to do so by the end of the season, then just don't renew it for another season. But that's just not how things were done back in the 1980s, especially with the Saturday morning cartoons. They wanted results, and they wanted them five minutes before they asked for them.

 

[Thundarr]

If Disney does do a reboot of the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon, I hope they include this scene from the pilot episode . . .

. . . only with Sheila wearing a thong!

(In my best Homer Simpson voice)
"Mmmmmmmmmmm . . . Thooooooong."

 

[Thundarr]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54VJWHL2K3I

Roll a d6, roll a d6
The DM says you're gonna die
Roll a d6

(LOL)

 

[Dread]

If Disney does do a reboot of the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon, I hope they include this scene from the pilot episode . . .

. . . only with Sheila wearing a thong!

(In my best Homer Simpson voice)
"Mmmmmmmmmmm . . . Thooooooong."

That is a hilarious screen cap.

 

[Thebumwhowalks]

This is the first time I've noticed this thread, really enjoyed reading your op there Dread. I've not read through the whole thread yet though, will get to it all later on.

They didn't have that extra feature on the UK dvds, that of the new/old cast(I heard it was only 'Sheila' who returned to read?) reading the finale by Micheal Reeves.

What I am going to do one day, when I have the time, is edit together footage to go along with that radio play read through.
I'll use footage of the characters from the show, but also scenes from S&S movies like Dragonslayer, Reign of Fire, LOTR, Conan, Hawk the Slayer etc etc, I think you could get a reasonably good accompaniment to the audio with the right footage. And i would use footage of the main characters mainly from the poorly written episodes when possible, so that I would be less familiar with the footage when watching , to lessen the 'Filmation' re-use feeling.

anyway, I will list what my fav eps are...

1. The Girl Who Dreamed Tomorrow
2. Dragon's Graveyard
3. The Last Illusion
4. Valley of the Unicorns
5. The Prison without Walls
6. City at the Edge of Midnight
7. Beauty and the Bogbeast
8. Day of the Dungeon Master
9. P.R.E.S.T.O spells disaster
10. Quest of the Skeleton Warrior
11. The Dungeon at the Heart of Dawn
12. In Search of the Dungeon Master

the rest of em I am not sure how I would rank em.

I remember jumping about as a kid playing at being in this show, firing off energy arrows.

If they made a live action movie of this show, a trilogy, it could be as good as LOTR if done well.

The music is superb, yeah, they re-used some of the tunes from the incredible Hulk show, but as you said, for the most part it had it's own original music.

For me, being a huge comic book fan at the time of it's release, it was ironic that this show was more along the lines of the quality of the Marvel comic books, than the Spider-man, Hulk, Spider-Woman and Fantastic Four shows of the same era, which were all dumbed down versions of the books.

 

[dndrequiem]

[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBOCBSlxLRQ[/YT]Hello, all, am in year 3 of this Requiem fan film project. Have recently completed Michael Reaves' scripted episode in Radio Drama form. Animation and more in production. Have a listen and keep posted if you wish. It's a fan version, but this Venger actually sounds like Venger. The channel's chock-full of pencil tests and more. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBOCBSlxLRQ

 

[Thundarr]

[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBOCBSlxLRQ[/YT]Hello, all, am in year 3 of this Requiem fan film project. Have recently completed Michael Reaves' scripted episode in Radio Drama form. Animation and more in production. Have a listen and keep posted if you wish. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBOCBSlxLRQ

Well, since the DVD boxed set already had a Radio Play of the Series Finale. Since I own a copy of the boxed set, I'm not all that excited over your radio play of the same episode.

However, once you have a completed animated version of the episode, please post the link here. Because I am very interested in seeing THAT finished project.

 

[dndrequiem]

Hi The,

noticed you'd listed your favorite episodes.

A short while ago I noticed none of the episodes honor its order. That is to say, none of them feature any 'time stamp' or any reference to a previous adventure they'd gone on. For example Venger 'forgets' how the kids saved him in Episode 20 "The Dragon's Graveyard" in episodes 21-26 (he did not appear in Episode 27 "Winds of Darkness".

In an episode in which Venger is absent, Sometimes the villain can make or break the episode.

For me, Episode #2, 'Eye of the Beholder' broke it. Why? One of the most powerful monsters in the Realm is undone by...you recall... a flower! As a kid, it was fun to watch and poetic in its own way. But as a grown up... the way he 'dies' is trite.

In Episode #25, 'Citadel of Shadow', Karena makes it. Why? She is deceptively persuasive as a villain, she uses her cunning to get what she wants, and what more? She defeats Venger in a fight! Where the Young Ones usually thwart Venger's plan and he decides to leave, Karena actually fights him and sends him retreating with Nightmare's tail between Venger's legs! She's that BAAAAD!

Which brings me to these questions: who was the weakest villain you saw in the more forgettable episodes you did NOT list, and why do you feel that way? Maybe it's the nature of the conflict that succeeds or fails in bringing the worst out of the villain of the episode.

Also, out of the villains featured in your favorite episodes, who was a rather strong one that you wished you'd seen more of in the series?

 

[Thundarr]

Hi The,

noticed you'd listed your favorite episodes.

A short while ago I noticed none of the episodes honor its order. That is to say, none of them feature any 'time stamp' or any reference to a previous adventure they'd gone on. For example Venger 'forgets' how the kids saved him in Episode 20 "The Dragon's Graveyard" in episodes 21-26 (he did not appear in Episode 27 "Winds of Darkness".

In an episode in which Venger is absent, Sometimes the villain can make or break the episode.

For me, Episode #2, 'Eye of the Beholder' broke it. Why? One of the most powerful monsters in the Realm is undone by...you recall... a flower! As a kid, it was fun to watch and poetic in its own way. But as a grown up... the way he 'dies' is trite.

In Episode #25, 'Citadel of Shadow', Karena makes it. Why? She is deceptively persuasive as a villain, she uses her cunning to get what she wants, and what more? She defeats Venger in a fight! Where the Young Ones usually thwart Venger's plan and he decides to leave, Karena actually fights him and sends him retreating with Nightmare's tail between Venger's legs! She's that BAAAAD!

Which brings me to these questions: who was the weakest villain you saw in the more forgettable episodes you did NOT list, and why do you feel that way? Maybe it's the nature of the conflict that succeeds or fails in bringing the worst out of the villain of the episode.

Also, out of the villains featured in your favorite episodes, who was a rather strong one that you wished you'd seen more of in the series?

One of my least favorite episodes, with one of the lamest villains to replace Venger for an episode, was the series' final episode Cave Of The Fairy Dragons. The evil King Varen, who wanted the fairy dragons' treasure, was pretty lame when compared to Venger. Queen Zinn from the episode The Garden Of Zinn was another fairly forgettable villain. If she's powerful enough to have two phantom stalkers as minions and turn her brother into a, whatever the hell he was, she should have been a more powerful villain.

The episodes that had the best non-Venger villains were City At The Edge Of Midnight and Child Of The Star Gazer. The Nightwalker was just plain scary, and the evil Queen Syrith was just nasty. The evil wizard Kelek was also pretty cool in Valley Of The Unicorns, and might have been interesting to see as a recurring villain.

 

[lorenzovanmatte]

Always struck me as an amazingly scary series if it was intended for kids, zombies and women turning into giant spiders

 

[Thundarr]

Bumped because I'm watching Disc 1 of my DVD box set right now. Episode 3 is just starting.