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Dungeons & Dragons: The Complete Animated Series -BCI (1983)
Summary Some dudes get sucked into D&D and are dicked by the DM. My Thoughts
If you were a kid growing up in the glory days of Saturday morning cartoons, then there’s a good chance you have at least a vague memory of the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon. I remember seeing it a couple of times back then and wondering just what in the hell was going on. I felt like I was plopped into the middle of chaos with no starting point. There were unicorns, a flying dude with an asymmetrical thing going on, a bunch of freaked-out kids, and a Yoda looking dude. Still, I knew I had liked it. Sadly, it went off the air only to become a distant memory. The next time I saw the series was on about a year ago on Toon Disney and I instantly fell in love with it. Now this DVD set came along to give me a good reason to watch all the episodes from start to finish. Dungeons & Dragons doesn’t revolve around a bunch of kids playing the Dungeons & Dragons role playing game and drinking Mountain Dew all night. Instead, the heroes of the series are kids from our world that have been teleported to a fantasy world via a Dungeons & Dragons amusement park ride. Once they’ve reached this fantasy world each kid is given a magical weapon, is attacked by a many headed dragon, and then in turn attacked by an evil wizard guy before they can make their escape. That’s within the first minute of the show, too. Seriously, there’s no real “origin” episode, just those previous events that serve as the intro. Each episode the kids get quests from a fellow called Dungeon Master, which is what the person running the quests in a game of D&D is called. DM gives them cryptic clues about what to do and the kids solve them and save the day. Most of the time they get the chance to go home, but are only screwed over at the last minute and have to stick around the D&D world. The kids consist of an unusual lot, and I’ve always wondered how they were friends in real life. Hank is the team’s leader, a blonde haired stand up kind of guy that becomes a ranger with a magic bow. Sheila becomes the thief who gets a cloak of invisibility. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the girl with the least amount of personality turns invisible. Bobby, Sheila’s brother and the youngest of the lot, gets a magic club and is the barbarian. Diana is a fur bikini wearing black girl who becomes the agile acrobat with a magic staff. The nerd character, and by nerd I mean the glasses wearing crackling voice kind, is Presto and he’s the magician. No, he doesn’t have another name, it’s like some crazy coincidence that the kid named Presto gets to be the magician. Finally, there’s Eric. Eric gets a shield and he’s the cavalier. Out of all the kids Eric is best described as the team douchebag, but more on that later. The kids are also joined by a baby unicorn named Uni, and while more gruff men might be annoyed by his cute antics, I’m a huge Uni fan.
The crew ends up fighting a ton of different enemies, but their main one is Venger. Venger is a unique character in his own right as his design is a little off. He’s got this weird solitary horn on his head that makes him a little asymmetrical. It pretty much fits his character, but damn it looks weird. He also rides on a flying black horse, even though Venger himself has wings and his horse doesn’t. Yep, Venger has it all together. The kids must fight off Venger in almost every episode, because he wants their magical weapons. With them, he can defeat a powerful multi-headed dragon named Tiamat and rule the entire realm. If you are looking for a hack and slash type of cartoon, Dungeons & Dragons is not it. Since this is a cartoon produced for children in a time when parents groups had extra special powers, none of the main characters in the series has a sword. The only real weapons they have are a club, a staff, and a magic bow. Even then, they are rarely used to hit anything. Bobby usually ends up smashing the ground, causing it to shake about ten thousand times throughout the series. Likewise, Hank uses his magic bow to scare off enemies, or to trap them with a coil of energy. This really limits the characters in this type of environment. Where in the game you’d be killing millions of enemies, in the cartoons they can’t kill anyone. Instead, whenever the heroes are in danger they generally use their brains to get out of situations rather than fight, which makes this series a little different than what you might otherwise expect. I must note that a funny thing happened to me as the series progressed. I realized that (to my horror) I was starting to like Eric. You see, Eric is a huge jerk, especially in the early episodes. He’s a huge pain in the ass and annoying as hell. He’s always not listening to the wisdom of the others and he complains endlessly about their predicament. The more episodes I watched though, the more I found that Eric is the most aware of the horror of their situation. While the other kids eat up Dungeon Master’s clues like brainless cows and do whatever he wants them to do, Eric is the only one that complains about the fact they are getting dicked around so badly. Unfortunately, Eric is always forced to learn that he’s wrong at the end, because it always works out for the good guys. Series creator Mark Evanier points out that the show had to have a lot of pro-social morals. He writes, “At the time, the dominant 'pro-social' moral was as follows: The group is always right...the complainer is always wrong.” So not only is Eric stuck in the hell of being trapped in another world, his complaints are never heard out by the group. The writers of the show also started giving Eric some great moments that furthered his evolution. While characters like Hank stayed mostly within the stand up kid who was the leader, Eric had a lot of dimensions to him by the time the series ended. Sure he was a jerk, but he’d help you when you were down. This character evolution is one of the many things that set Dungeons & Dragons apart from other Saturday morning cartoons at the time. Notable Episodes
Valley of the Unicorns: One of the best episodes of the entire run and it tells a much better unicorn related story than the entirety of The Last Unicorn. You got to be Venger himself not to get a little misty eyed at the end of this one. It’s no coincidence that this episode and the episode Hall of Bones were written by Paul Dini, who I believe has lived his life only trying to make me happy. Servant of Evil: This one has some of the greatest fight sequences of the series. It’s a good story about Bobby saving the other kids and serves as good example why this animated series rocks. The Girl Who Knew Tomorrow: Out of all the episodes, this is the reason to buy this set. In it, the crew finds a girl from their own world that has visions of the future. I don’t want to give away too much, but they pulled out all the stops for this one. Despite having another cheater ending where the promise of getting home is yanked away yet again, this episode is notable for being both dark in tone and incredibly hopeful at the end. There’s some awesome character development along the way, especially with Eric and Bobby. The Dragon’s Graveyard: This episode is great simply because it plays on the previous episodes where the kids have a way to go home and only end up getting screwed over at the last minute. Graveyard begins at the end of a typical adventure for the crew where, once again, Venger destroys the kids' chance to make it back home. Instead of simply moving on to the next adventure like in all the other episodes, the kids decide to make a stand. They even blow off Dungeon Master and decide it’s time to take down Venger by “doing whatever it takes”, meaning they are out for blood. Awesome. There are many other great episodes (along with more than a few clunkers) than just these. For the relatively low price of this series, it’s a steal. Sure, the sound is only presented in 2.0, but it sounds good and I certainly don’t have any complaints about how the episodes look. If you compare this to other, more popular series (yet similar) like G.I. Joe, there’s no question which one has the better writing. It’s Dungeons & Dragons all the way. This set contains a good series and some of the best old school Saturday morning cartoon goodness you can get. Extras Man, this set is just packed, and I mean packed full of great extras. One small thing that I liked was that there were different motion menu themes for each of the discs. It was a nice touch. The case that the DVDs are in also has a bit of a cool style, with the front of it featuring an old promo ad for the series. The DVDs themselves are very colorful and attractive, each featuring one or a couple of the kids. Now on to the meat of the extras. Episode Guide - In this box set is a nifty little booklet with a synopsis of each episode and a detailing of the extras. Commentary Tracks - There are two commentary tracks in this set featuring various writers and producers of the series. They are insightful and a good listen. I just wish there were more of them. Animated Series Handbook - This has got to be one of the coolest pack in extras of all time. The animated series handbook is a small book (hardcover, no less) that’s styled like the D&D role-playing books. Inside you can find stats that allow you to use the characters in the series in the D&D role-playing game. Plus, there’s a mini-adventure to get you started, that is if you own the role-playing game itself. Best of all, the mini-adventure leads right into the episode, The Dragon’s Graveyard. This is yet another example of the creators of this DVD edition cramming it with everything they could for the fans. The only negative I can find in this is that the book is rather fragile. If you plan on using it for playing D&D then you might as well try copying the book, otherwise frequent use of it will tear it apart in no time. Entering the Realm of Dungeons & Dragons - While not entirely gripping, this is put together fairly well and it’s got some great trivia. It’s an excellent watch for anyone who is a fan of the series. It would have been nice if they could have spoken to the cast, though. Radio Play - Since watching the series without any real ending is incredibly depressing and since there was a script written for the final episode, the DVD producers have been kind enough to provide a “radio drama” version of the script. This is one great ending for the series and everything that was built up pays off in this take on the story of Job, which ends up pitting the friends against each other. The acting is also very good for being produced mostly by amateurs and most of the voices are very close to the originals. My only complaint with the play is that it rushes through the episode with barely a dramatic pause. I’d expect a few breaths between scenes so they’d transition better, but other than that small qualm this is an excellent addition to this DVD set. Character Profiles - While other DVDs might give you some short profiles of the main characters, this DVD set gives a profile of main characters, minor characters, artifacts, and monsters with some video clips. Alternate Openings/Rare Footage - Just like the title says, there’s some nifty rare stuff found here. It’s nice to see the other openings, especially the second season opening that isn’t on the remastered episodes found on these DVDs. Animated Story Board - Prepare to use your rarely used multi-angle button on your remote (unless you watch a lot of porn), because this section has the entire episode of The Girl Who Dreamed Tomorrow complete with story boards. It’s interesting to note that some of these story boards are so well drawn that they could have easily been comic book art. Dungeons & Dragons Interactive Adventure - “Kelek’s Crystal” - I didn’t know what to make of this game when I first started it, since it requires so much reading. When I realized it was a “choose your own adventure” type of game I went apeshit. I love adventures, especially where I get to do some choosing. Dungeons & Dragons Fan Film “Choices” - It’s almost unbelievable how cool it that the DVD producers put a fan film on this set. You don’t see this happening on bigger releases like Star Wars. I normally detest fan films, as the acting is usually so bad that makes them unwatchable (see almost EVERY fan film ever made for an example). However, “Choices” is surprisingly good. The short film explores a darker side of Hank that was touched upon in The Dragon’s Graveyard. Hank has accidentally killed his first person, and he’s faced with the decision to keep killing. Sure there’s some over acting on the part of Sean and the girl who plays Sheila, but overall it’s easy to swallow. “Choices” has some great amateur special effects too for the few seconds that you get to see the “kids” use their magic items. Galleries - Lots of pictures. ‘Nuff said. DVD Rom Content: There’s nothing too fancy here, just a few folders you can open up that have .pdf files in them. It wasn’t until I start opening stuff that I was really impressed. There’s a wealth of nifty Dungeons & Dragons content in here like the original CBS test audience scores(!). It might not be engrossing reading, but I still find stuff like, “Both episodes were marked by attention charts that climbed higher as the story progressed”. Hardcore fans of the series will be able to read a whopping whole fifteen scripts for episodes. That’s right, fifteen and that’s not including the script for the unaired final episode. What’s that? You’re still not satisfied with this insane amount of extra content for a series that basically has cult status? Well, how about the series Bible? Still not enough? Then there’s three entire episodes’ worth of storyboards, including the one for The Girl Who Dreamed Tomorrow. The amount of time, effort, and love poured into this DVD box set is amazing and is reflected in all the great content you get. I’m just going to go right out and say it. Dungeons & Dragons: The Complete Animated Series is the best DVD box set I’ve reviewed so far on Digital Monkey Box. Even if you’re not a fan of the series, you have to acknowledge the sheer greatness of this set. There’s so much stuff they didn’t have to put on there, but they did just to please the fans. Now that’s awesome and I wish more franchises cared about their fans as much as this one does. Score: Episode Average: 8.0 Extras: 10 “Choices” Score: 8.5 Edition: 9.5 -Paul
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