The Dungeons and Dragons cartoon from the 1980s

[Badtz Maru]

Back when it was new and I was 11, I hated the Dungeons & Dragons Saturday morning cartoon. I was a D&D player at the time and felt that the show sucked because of the "inaccuracies" and thought it was too childish.

Well, I have kids of my own, and they absolutely love the old He-Man cartoons. Netflix recommended the D&D cartoon because of the high rating He-Man has earned, so I started on those, and the kids love it - and I'm realizing this was actually a very high quality cartoon for it's day. There are plots, it's not as stupid as He-Man could be, the voice acting is good, and the animation quality is pretty good for it's day. I put it on for the kids while I surf the net, and find myself with the chair rotated facing the TV instead of the monitor. It's superior to most modern cartoons in every way except animation. I like that it's scary and there's a real sense of threat to the characters, in ways that just wouldn't fly these days. I think raising my kids on 80s cartoons is going to do them some good in the long run.

[Orual]

Man, I loved that cartoon. I was very, very young when it was on, but I remember some of it - mostly the cool dragon-ride thing that sucked the kids into magic-land.

I fully intend to raise my (hypothetical) children on a steady diet of 80s and 90s cartoons. He-Man, Transformers, Tiny Toons, Animaniacs ...


I mean, I turned out pretty great watching such things ...

[Control-Z]

I loved that show. I wasn't crazy about the barbarian and Uni the stupid crappy unicorn, but at least the barbarian gave the thief character someone to watch over.

I also didn't like that each character with their weapon was sort of a one-note song, especially the cavalier with his shield. That's all he did, carry around a shield.

Venger was badass, as was Tiamat.

[Ferret Herder]

Fellow fans may enjoy the writer's discussion of the unproduced final episode (spoilers, of course), which also links to the script.

[Badtz Maru]

Fellow fans may enjoy the writer's discussion of the unproduced final episode (spoilers, of course), which also links to the script.

That was fairly awesome. Thanks!

[Cluricaun]

Venger was badass, as was Tiamat.

So is your avatar.

Anyway, I always hoped that Uni would get killed in one of the episodes. Also Tiamat was one of the first things that I ever image searched on the net, only to find out that Tiamat was the ancient Babylonian goddess of the sea. Pretty heady stuff when you think about how D&D was so closely linked to the Satanic Panic of the 80's already and then going and pulling that one was some sort of an inside coup.

[Badtz Maru]

Venger was badass, as was Tiamat.

So is your avatar.

Anyway, I always hoped that Uni would get killed in one of the episodes. Also Tiamat was one of the first things that I ever image searched on the net, only to find out that Tiamat was the ancient Babylonian goddess of the sea. Pretty heady stuff when you think about how D&D was so closely linked to the Satanic Panic of the 80's already and then going and pulling that one was some sort of an inside coup.

In the old 1st Edition AD&D Monster Manual, Tiamat was a goddess as well, the mother of all evil dragons.