To briefly summarize, Dungeons and Dragons is an action/adventure show that premiered in 1983. It was based on - and shared the same name as - the popular roll playing game. This was actually a point of controversy for the show being that overly protective parents had a real hard-on for D&D at this time (kind of like violent video games these days). Despite this similarity in name, Dungeons and Dragons turned out to be a truly harmless and family friendly cartoon. It featured a group of six children who accidentally travel through a portal to another dimension (while on a carnival ride of all things). Once there they are each given a magical object to protect themselves with. These objects correspond with a different D&D character type (Ranger, Acrobat, Thief, Cavalier, Magician and Barbarian), and are provided by their mysterious benefactor Dungeon Master. As for the characters themselves, they consist of Hank the leader (Ranger), Diana (Acrobat), cowardly smart mouth Eric (Cavalier), nerdy Presto (Magician), Sheila (Thief), and young Bobby (Barbarian). Of course being a show of the 1980s the group has an obligatory "cute" sidekick, in this case it's a baby unicorn named "Uni". Trapped in this new realm together, our heroes must learn to work together, brave countless dangers and find a way home.
Normally I start reviews with an assessment of the shows writing. This will not be the case today however. Instead I will be leading off with the shows animation. Overall I would have to say that Dungeons and Dragons looks really good. The animation is pretty fluid for an 80's action/adventure series. Far superior than shows like Defenders of the Earth and at times as good as G.I. Joe. On the bad side there is some shifting of character models and animation style. These shifts are small however and do little to hurt the show (especially when you compare them to the massive changes in style found in Defenders of the Earth). On the positive side Dungeons and Dragons uses scale really well in several places. Things like giant stone guardians and overly large chains feel truly immense compared to the shows characters. This effect is tricky to pull off, and it's something you don't see very often in TV action/adventure animation.
Production design on Dungeons and Dragons is relatively good as well. All the main character designs are solid, however secondary character designs can be hit and miss. Backgrounds look good and have a nice variety, but they are definitely "TV" quality in execution. Like I said, the design work is nice, it's just not the strongest feature of the show and I've seen better from the time period.
In terms of music, I'm afraid that Dungeons and Dragons falls flat. Not only does the show lack an opening theme song (a staple mark of most action/adventure cartoons from the 1980s), it recycles tons of in-show music. I don't mean that they just recycle their own in-show music, they use other shows music. Spider-man and his Amazing Friends, G.I. Joe and the Hulk are all present and accounted for in the Dungeon and Dragons soundtrack. Considering the quality and expense of the series, I would have expected the show to have its own unique sound, sadly this is not the case.
Rounding out the sound department is the show's vocal cast. I really don't have a lot to say here. The actors give solid performances - and the voices are all distinct - but only Sidney Miller (Dungeon Master) stands out as exceptional. Much like the production design, I would grade Dungeons and Dragons voice acting as "above average".
Up to this point I've told you that Dungeons and Dragons has good animation, solid production design, nice voice acting and bad music. So why was I singing the show's praises in my opening statement? Simple, Dungeons and Dragons has the best writing I've ever seen in any 1980's action/adventure cartoon, period. Maybe this is because the show only consists of 27 episodes (as opposed to the 90 or even 100 plus episodes of other shows), or perhaps the writers are just better. Either way the quality of storytelling in Dungeons and Dragons puts most cartoons from this time period to shame. That's not to say that other shows like G.I. Joe don't have well written episodes, far from it. In just the first season of G.I. Joe there was; Traitor, Twenty Questions, The Viper is Coming, Worlds Without End and There No Place Like Springfield. But for every good episode there were also lots of mediocre, and even bad episodes. Episodes like; The Gamemaster, Lasers in the Night, Ea De Cobra, Cold Slither, The Great Alaskan Land Rush and The Wrong Stuff are egregiously bad. By contrast the worst episodes of Dungeons and Dragons would be no worse than mediocre, and those would be in the minority, the bulk of D&D shows are really good.
Still the thing that really sets Dungeons and Dragons writing apart is "Dragon's Graveyard". Considered the quintessential episode of the D&D cannon, "Dragons Graveyard" is the single best action/adventure story done in the 1980s. The emotion, characterization and subject matter are so mature - yet accessible - you almost forget you're watching a glorified toy commercial. Credit has to go to the episodes writer Michael Reaves. I'm sure it wasn't easy to get the network to agree to do such an unconventional story, but it was worth the fight. We wouldn't see these kinds of stories again until Batman the Animated series changed action/adventure cartoons forever in 1992.
Another superior aspect to Dungeons and Dragons is the theme. Basically the show boils down to a couple of kids just trying to find their way home. This is something anybody can relate to. Almost all of us have been lost before, so imagining ourselves in their shoes doesn't take a lot of effort. Especially when consider that other shows were using grandiose ideas like "stopping global terrorist organizations" or "protecting earth from alien dictators". By comparison Dungeons and Dragons just feels more ... personal.
Sadly the series finale never got produced. At the end of the shows third season, NBC commissioned Michael Reaves to write a final episode, one that would have seen our young heroes finally get home. Unfortunately, ratings decline and expense prevented this script from ever being realized. There is some good news though. If you buy the collectors edition of D&D you can actually listen to this story in a radio style format (basically the settings are described and the dialog acted out, just like they used to do on old radio shows). It's not quite the same as seeing the story animated, but being able to actually get closure to such a fantastic series was a real treat.
So where do I rate Dungeons and Dragons amongst the plethora of 1980s action/adventure cartoons? Well at the risk of looking like a cop out, I'm going to put D&D dead even with G.I. Joe. The latter has superior production value and execution, but the former presents a much tighter collection of episodes, including the best single action/adventure story ever. As for the DVD set itself, you have two options. There's the bare bones edition with no extras, and the collectors edition with a ton of extras (including the finale I mentioned earlier). Personally I recommend the collectors edition, but there is a catch. The collectors set is out of print, so you will have to pay a lot more to get your hands on it. If this idea does not appeal to you then I would go with the standard edition, it's still in print and very cheap. Either way I am highly recommending this show to any fan of action/adventure animation.
