Le sourire du dragon

Dungeons and Dragons ranks as one of the best cartoons ever, it makes me glad I grew up when I did as there were so many fantastic shows. Fantastic animation, great stories, plenty of adventure, and some phenomenal vocal acting from all cast members. I can remember being miffed as a youngster to discover the show never had a concluding episode, I was surprised to learn it only spanned three series, I would have thought it had a huge following. So many wonderful characters and great episodes, the best for me being The Dragon's Graveyard, which is brilliant.

Now in my thirties, and not usually into animation, I'm stunned by how much I've really enjoyed watching the show from start to finish, great viewing for all ages. 9/10

First off, for all you fanatics out there, the D&D cartoon is on the air, at least for the summer of 2000. It's on every Saturday on Fox at 11 a.m.! By the way, this is a national thing, not just some syndicated local station.

Why is it back on the air? I'd bet it's cuz of the Harry Potter mania going around and Fox (Who has a toon deal with Saban, who in turn owns the D&D cartoon, G.I. Joe and Transformers). Check out foxkids.com for more details.

Regarding my Harry Potter theory, all the advertisements feature Presto, the magician of the group, so that's why I'm betting it's their way to cash in on the hero of the English kids books.

Anyway, they've run two episodes as far as I can tell and they were "The Illusionist" and "The Day of the Dungeon Master." Both surprised me at how fast-paced the stories were, giving little time for establishing shots or explanatory information.

"The Illusionist" was the worst of the two, a story about Presto rescuing a girl from Venger's clutches. "The Day of the Dungeon Master" centered around Eric and how he inherited the Dungeon Master's powers for a day. "Day" was very entertaining, mostly because it was so character driven.

Regarding animation, it isn't as good as I remember it, but still passable when you look at "Pokemon" and "NASCAR racers." I would say it's just one step below "G.I. Joe" quality.

Don Most, the actor from "Happy Days", is by far the best voice actor and really carries the rest of the cast. But Willie Ames, Peter Cullen and whoever does the Dungeon Master are right on the mark.

Remembering my love for the series, I must say it's cool to see it again, because I so rarely saw it during it's original run. Why? Cuz they always preempted it for sports or decade-old repeats of "Land of the Lost."

But you know what disappoints me most? With nearly 15 years of better technology and computer generated effects at their disposal, they couldn't kill that damn unicorn!

This show stood out head and shoulders over all the other cartoons - and it always puzzled me as to why...until I recently saw them on DVD. This show has something 90% of other shows, both for kids and adults, do not. Great characters. Really great characters. Characters you remember all your life. I don't know of any other kids' show before or since that had such emotional realism. These kids really react the way a bunch of teenagers would if placed in the D&D world. They run the gamut of emotions: scared, selfish, cowardly, brave, helpful, sarcastic, amused, mean, arrogant, humble. The story lines are fast paced and even a little intense by other shows' standards. But that's part of what makes it so great. It has a moral message without being too preachy. My only problem was that Eric was the butt of a joke so often, but I believe that had more to do with the influence of self-appointed "parent groups" than the scriptwriters. Both as a kid myself and as an adult, I still love this show. Modern TV could learn a lot from this.

I grew up watching this back in the 80's and since I've been in college I've had the privilege of getting the series through a collector basis. This is arguably one of the greatest animated series of the 80's, I refuse to call it a cartoon because it is so much more than that! It had great voice actors like Willie Aames(Charles In Charge) and Don Most(Happy Days) providing life to the characters. The theme of the series was that a group of young teenagers and little Bobby go on a rollercoaster ride called Dungeons & Dragons it transforms them to another land in a different time. They try to get home with the guiding wisdom of Dungeon Master(Sidney Miller) and fight off various antagonists along the way, mainly the evil Venger! The characters had much depth to them and the reason I say it was the best because it's competition was Strawberry Shortcake and The Get Along Gang. No Contest! It was on from 83-86.

Nostalgia for cartoons for me will have to be the Hanna Barbera, Ruby and Spears, Sid and Marty Krofft period and Bugs Bunny, so to have this one tagged on is pretty rare for this child of the seventies, but its there.

It was different and unique. The voices were phenomenal, just now learned Adam Rich (Nicholas of 'Eight is Enough') was Presto and not Bobby as I always believed. Donny Most (Ralph Malph on 'Happy Days') and Willie Aames (Tommy on 'Eight is Enough') did the best thing for their careers by doing this cartoon. I managed to get about half or more than half of the cartoons on tape before Fox stopped showing them. Didn't get some I wouldhave liked to have, but I do have some treasures. None of htem ever really bothered me as being bad or less than average. Hands down, the direction in music and sound is what makes this fellow rare among eighties cartoons and cartoons in general, as well as the art and animation. Scooby Doo has a steady run of music with no pauses for effect or reflection, but D & D would get silent when Vengar entered or spoke or one of the kids was unhappy. the music would get gentle during thoughtful moments as well. The show strived to use all six kids evenly and not be dominated by Eric and Presto (Most and Rich) and did a good job doing this while keeping the shows upbeat and entertaining. The concept of a token will always bother me, but Diana did get a boyfriend in one episode and befriended a WW II German pilot in another. LIke Valerie in Josie and the Pussycats, she did often get stuck with the more interesting kids like Eric and Presto. Uni, too, had his moments and met his family of Unicorns. One that will always stand out to me from this show was when the kids decided they had enough of Vengar and wanted Dungeonmaster to tell them how to stop Vengar instead of telling them how they could get home. They meant business, and when DM told them what to do to stop Vengar, it was quiet, and he said "May I go now?" with such humility the likes of which I had never heard and have yet to hear again in a cartoon. Won't spoil how the showdown with Vengar went either. This show was a jewel.