And some more about 80s cartoons...

[thisbluespirit]

So, Dungeons and Dragons:

Not the game and certainly not the film.  (Lots of us got excited when it came out, thinking someone was going to do a film version of the cartoon, but no.  Surely it would have been better with Eric, Presto, Venger and Tiamat?  Some people just don't think, do they?)  This was a mid 80s US cartoon that featured six kids trapped in the Realm of Dungeons and Dragons, guided by the short, cryptic Dungeon Master and terrorised by Venger the fanged, one-horned bad guy who wanted their magic weapons.  They were just desperately trying to get home.  Most weeks, Venger would turn up and make this impossible, but it could get a little more complex from time to time.  Plus, everyone loves Eric, who started as the comic relief but spoke for the audience a lot of the time. 

As I was saying in my last post, I loved this cartoon.  It really is tragic, but there you go.  And when I finally got my hands on the DVDs a year or so back, I found that they stood up pretty well and that there was a surprising consistency to the character development, even more than I'd picked up on watching the repeats in my teens.  I'm sure it's more to do with me being 7 or 8 when I first saw it, of course. 

Actually, my class even played this in the playground and we never did that for anything else on TV.  (Well, except Star Wars, but that didn't work out because there were two of us girls being Princess Leia, stuck in prison waiting for the boys to stop arguing over who was going to be Han Solo and Luke Skywalker.  And I was only playing because my boyfriends were being C3PO and R2D2).

I gather it tried to go too far at times for a kids cartoon in the 80s, but I've no real knowledge.  (From the original set-up, a main character being labelled Thief to 'The Dragon's Graveyard' episode, which is the single best 80s cartoon episode I've seen.)  Hence it never got to finish its third series and we never found out the mystery behind Venger and Dungeon Master and whether the kids would ever get home again.  On the other hand, it seemed to be lucky in that everyone involved got enthusiastic about the possibilities.

I tried to write some stuff about characters and episodes but it got far too long. 

I'll just say in my defence, in The Dragon's Graveyard our heroes get so fed up with Venger, they decide to kill him.  For someone who was getting fed up with He Man, that has to be the perfect antidote, doesn't it?  My memory may be biased, but I don't recall that happening in any other kids cartoon, but weren't we all thinking it? 

And I suspect I'll waffle about this again.  It's not the sort of thing you can go round talking to people about...  There were some interesting relationships, mysterious hints about why the kids were really stuck in the realm (you can see why someone started up a rumour that they were dead and being tortured in Hell by DM, although really...In an 80s action cartoon?) and the wonderfulness of Eric.  ("I don't believe what I'm seeing!  ...I don't believe what I'm doing!"), Presto's daft spells ("Who says losing your marbles is a bad thing?"), Hank's occasional determination to do give up being the hero and do the Wrong Thing (and the amusing way that he never apologises), Diana being witty and brave and showing up Eric.  (Eric: We're outnumbered twenty to two!", Diana: "You take two, I'll take eighteen!"), and, hey, there was a five-headed dragon.  (I'd mention Sheila, but I said I'd shut up now.)

Edit: I'm being a bit obscure.  Anyone want to see what I'm wittering on about:
Eric funny fanvid here: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=yI4yL4sheAg (It's brilliant.  And not by me.  I can't do these things.
Cute fanvid by same person: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=yI4yL4sheAg  Love it.
Oh, and just found this:  http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=FyWpb8e9GRk&feature=channel  I said there was emotion in D&D and this proves that even Dungeon Masters cry (although Venger doesn't, you'll be relieved to hear...  And I can think of moments not included. 

Comments

[thisbluespirit]

This must be the virtual equivalent of talking to yourself, but... I was thinking about this after writing so much nonsense and it occurred to me that D&D had an unfair advantage. The other action cartoons I've listed were by and large fantasy / future (mostly grown up) heroes in their own world, so they couldn't do pop culture refs and jokes, complain about the world they were in.

Typical 80s heroes approach a dark castle.

One: This looks like the place.
Female (there will only be one): Are you sure?
Two: According to the map, it should be. Come on, let's go inside and see if we can find the gimmick of the day.
One: But be careful. The villain's henchmen could be hiding in here.

D&D would be more like this.

Dark castle etc etc.
Eric: Oh, great.
Presto: Let's hope that Dracula is out.
Sheila: (worriedly) Are you sure this is the right place?
Hank: Well, Dungeon Master said [insert cryptic clue here].
Diana: I'd have expected to find the Circlet of Light somewhere a little less gloomy.
Eric: What? Come off it, this is Dungeon Master we're talking about here: "Go through the Mountains of Death, through the Valley of Angry Squid Monsters and right on till you get to Dracula's castle." It's just like the little squirt.
Sheila: Eric.
Bobby: Come on! Let's get in there, get the circle thingummy and go home.
Eric: You know, I think I agree with short stuff here.
Hank: Okay, you three go that way, we'll go this way.
Eric: And if it's not here, I'm going to have a word with that undersized jerk.
Bobby: Hey!
Eric: I meant Dungeon Master, stupid. Stop waving your club around like that...
Presto: I'm sure I could magic us up some light. Er... 'Magic hat, no need to singe or scorch, Just give us a great big torch'.
Eric: Oh, brother.
Presto: (pulling an umbrella out of his hat) Well, it'll be handy if the roof leaks.
Diana: (laughing) Come on, you two.

And do remember: I never claimed to be sane.