Video: Final episode of 'Dungeons and Dragons' animated show
Video: Final episode of 'Dungeons and Dragons' animated show
Michael > April 22nd, 2023, 02:12 PM
In the 1980s, when role-playing games were still being smeared by fire-and-brimstone preachers who hadn't read their Bibles, a short-lived animated show based on the game hit American airwaves. I know I watched most of it when I had spare time because I was into gaming then. But I don't recall if it was a syndicated show or broadcast on network television.
The premise of the show is that a group of young kids (mostly teens) are "kidnapped" from our world and taken to the Realm (of Dungeons and Dragons) by the powerful Dungeon Master. He transforms the kids into representatives of the basic D&D character classes and sends them on adventures. They're threatened by a powerful being named Venger.
Voices were provided by Willie Aames, Adam Rich, Don Most, Peter Cullen, and others.
And though it was popular with gamers it wasn't (apparently) popular enough with everyone else for it to continue. In fact, that happened with a lot of great animated shows back in the 1960s through 1980s, from Space Ghost and The Herculoids up through Dark Water and Dungeons and Dragons. But this show was special because it was based on a popular game world that was familiar to hundreds of thousands (and now millions) of players. And I think it was the first serious attempt to portray an adventure-gaming world in any kind of extended production, even if only an animated television show.
What was disappointing for fans was that the kids' journey was cut short. They were trying to go home.
But it turns out that a final episode, "Requiem", was written by Michael Reaves. It was just never produced for the original run. It was performed as a radio play for the DvD release. But I've only just learned that in 2020 a fan production (based on Reaves' script) was uploaded to YouTube.
Here is the (unofficial) final episode and the end of the story arc.
Watch Dungeons & Dragons Animated Series: Requiem The Final Episode (A fan made production) Revised from YouTube SF-Fandom not responsible for video content
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