Dungeons & Dragons
Tags: good versus evil, alternate reality, psychedelic, fantasy, humor

Plot synopsis:
The Empire of Izmir has long been a divided land, ruled by the Mages, an elite group of magic users. An evil mage named Profion (Jeremy Irons) attempts to create a sceptre that allows him to control Gold Dragons. His attempt to control a captive golden dragon fails, and he is forced to kill it. The dragon bleeds into the river, causing it to catch fire, which many inhabitants notice, including a pair of thieves, Ridley (Justin Whalin) and Snails (Marlon Wayans).
Later, Profion and the Council talk about the controversial views of Empress Savina (Thora Birch), who wants to give rights to non-mages in Izmir. Meanwhile, Ridley and Snails break into the magic school to steal valuables, but are caught by Marina (Zoe McLellan). She is distracted when the Library wizard is held hostage and interrogated by Profion's henchmen, Damodar (Bruce Payne) for information on where the map to the magic sceptre that controls Red Dragons is. After refusing to talk, Damodar kills him. Marina gets the map and travels through a portal to escape, accidentally taking the thieves with her. After crashing into a pile of garbage, they meet a dwarf named Elwood (Lee Arenberg), who ends up joining Ridley, Snails and Marina escaping through the sewer.
Damodar puts a price on Marina, Ridley, Snails and Elwood's heads and, after letting Profion know that the protagonists got away, Profion creates a tentacled monster inside Damodar's head. The protagonists hide in a tavern and read the map that Ridley and Marina get sucked into. Damodar and his henchmen attack Elwood and Snails, but they manage to get away with the map. Ridley and Marina exit the map and all decide to work together to find the sceptre. They apparently have to find a red ruby called the "Eye of the Dragon" that can open the door to a tomb where the red sceptre rests. The ruby is located in a den of thieves that is led by Xilus (Richard O'Brien) who'll give the protagonists the "Eye of the Dragon" if Ridley solves a maze of booby traps. Ridley manages to get the "Eye of the Dragon" when Damodar arrives to capture him and his friends. Marina is captured while Ridley, Snails and Elwood escape, meeting an elf named Norda (Kristen Wilson) who works for Empress Savina and informs the Empress about Profion's plans to get the Red Dragon sceptre. Meanwhile, Damodar interrogates Marina, using the tentacles in his head to gain her knowledge.
Ridley and Snails break into the castle to rescue Marina, while Norda and Elwood stay behind. Ridley and Snails split up and Ridley finds Marina, but Snails is confronted and killed by Damodar when he throws the map to his comrades. Ridley becomes enraged at Damodar and attacks him, but Damodar disarms him and stabs him in the left shoulder with his own sword. In the confusion Marina grabs some magic dust and uses a magic portal to escape with Ridley, leaving the corpse of Snails behind. During the council meeting, Profion and Empress Savina battle over the domination of Izmir.
Meanwhile, an elf (Tom Baker) heals Norda's soldiers and Ridley, and Marina tries to help Ridley get over the death of Snails, but Ridley angrily rebukes her. After an argument in which Marina convinces Ridley that Snails didn't die in vain, they become love interests. Ridley uses the "Eye of the Dragon" to finally get the Red Dragon sceptre, which is held by a skeleton that comes to life and warns Ridley that "anyone who wields the power of the rod shall suffer a horrible fate", but Damodar arrives to steal the sceptre and brings it to Profion, where Ridley, Marina and Elwood follow.
They travel back to the Empress' castle where Gold dragons controlled by the Empress are battling the Mages below. Profion uses the Red Dragon sceptre to summon Red dragons, which battle the Gold dragons and slowly begin to win the fight. Ridley comes across Damodar, duels him with his new magic sword and then kills him, sending his body off the castle wall, and then, after a confrontation with Profion, Ridley destroys the sceptre and a Gold dragon eats Profion.
Ridley later visits Snails's grave, where Snail's engraved name disappears, and Norda teleports Ridley to a place where "your friend awaits you", along with herself, Marina and Elwood.

Review: 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.
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.
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.
I just caught an episode of Dungeons and Dragons after viewing a preview of the cgi series Action Man on the Fox network.
I had forgotten their work on D & D and now wish i could get in on tape!Those shows from the 80s were so much better in story and execution than the sterile cgi shows pushed on saturday mornings these days..
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!
"Dungeons & Dragons" told the story of a bunch of kids who take a ride on a roller coaster and are transported to a strange world.
This was a really cool show.My favorite episodes were: "In Search of the Dungeon Master", "The Dungeon at the Heart of Dawn", and "Odyssey of the 12th Talisman"Overall I really enjoyed this show and it's a shame it didn't last on Fox Kids for that long.
I have been playing D&D for over 15 years now, and I have to say the series ran just like the old D&D.
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.
"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.
when younger i never missed an episode the cast behind the scenes worked well with each otherthe story lines behind each episode were well thought out(if sometimes a bit corny)(sometimes prophetic)tugging at heart strings on the odd occasion(when Dianne fell in love with the prince before he "saved" his people and transported to another dimension)(when "presto" helped save the village girl from venger,uttering the line in the swamp "don't leave i need you" enter dungeon master with some advice.for some good old-fashioned entertainment good guys VS.
Now as a 26 year old I have to say it's still great.The animation is a little dated and it has that Captain Planet style 'moral every episode' theme but that to me is what makes it so classic and I just don't understand why more episodes weren't made.The voice acting was superb and certain episodes had a dark element to them which makes it that much more appealing to me as an adult.
Their struggle to get home drew some real emotions from the characters at times meaning even now I still rooted for them in every episode.My favourite character is still Eric (as a kid I actually had a crush on him which is pretty sad), I think he acts just like I would if I was in that situation, making jokes to make light of a bad situation and running like hell when a huge monster appears.Not only do I still love this but 2 people I work with want to borrow the set, 1 because she remembers it and the other because her kids love it.
I don't doubt they will appreciate seeing it again as much as I have.Its a shame there are no plans to make a movie of this like they're doing with other 80's classics but I can't imagine any actors bringing justice to the characters because I love this show too much.Top marks!.
Just seems like those Saturday morning cartoons have a short shelf life as the ones that came on during the week would at least last two or three years while the ones on Saturday only lasted a year.
This show chronicled a group of kids who ride a dungeon and dragon theme ride and end up stuck in a realm of magic and mystery.
A dungeon master grants these youths powerful weapons to help them survive this land as they try to find a way back to their home.
I liked the thief best as a kid I had sort of a crush on her and her red hair.
They made it home in one episode only to have to return back to the realm as their weapons did not work in their world and Venger had followed them.
Kind of wish they made a turn based role playing game with these characters and at the end they made it home, which finally there would be some closure to this series and I love a good rpg..
Brilliant Cartoon Dungeons and Dragons.
This in my opinion is the best cartoon I have ever seen.Everything about it oozes quality, the acting (especially the voice of Venger, Peter Cullen) the sound effects (wow) and the writing, is brilliant.However they are a few mistakes in a couple of episodes, like in The Last Illusion where some of the speech is spoken in the wrong character.
But this is only a minor mistake, in all you could say that its almost perfect programme to watch.I watch this when it first came out, I was only about 12 or 13 and I watch it with my mother, brother and sister which we all were addicted to it.It's such a shame the last episode (Requiem) wasn't released or produced, I loved to watch what happened to the characters and if they got home.I really enjoyed this cartoon and I have recently watched all the episodes again on you-tube.Brilliant..
I agree that the radio version last episode was never aired because I definitely would have remembered that.I saw disc 5 where one of the writers said despite 1000s of emails saying they remembered a last episode, one was never aired.Well I am telling you I guess I am one of the 1000s of people who remember it.As I have been watching these 27 episodes with my son, waiting for the final episode where they go home- I told my son a couple of the scenarios of the final episode I SAW as a kid.They made it home (at the AMUSEMENT PARK) and Presto sees his girlfriend he met in one of the episodes.
I don't remember all the other parts of the so called missing final episode.BUT I KNOW I SAW AN EPISODE WHERE THEY MADE IT HOME AND PRESTO SAW HIS FRIEND- the one captured by VENGER and was held captive that also had magical abilities.
THERE IS NO WAY 1000s of people remember a final episode (just on emails- not like me who didn't email) so there are probably 10s of thousands who remember one- and it not have happened..
I was a kid from the 80's and I was really into the fantasy genre to me it just had everything, beautiful worlds out of the ordinary, magic, creatures, secrets, treasure, action, and most importantly adventures and possibilities that could come true.
The animation I think is very good and I personally think holds up today, I like the character animation of the humans and creatures, but what really impresses me is the background animation which really give the fantasy world a sense of vastness and wonder; each episode I was always excited to wonder what the next place would be.I really like the plot/set up which makes sense if you think about the principles of the game, in the RPG the characters in the books are all roles/archetypes you play which is why each of the characters are assigned their roles.
It was also kinda a dream come true for me seeing kids having magical abilities and journeying into a fantasy world, that's the kinda of thing I always daydream about.Each of the plots in the show are different, yeah their random but there's nothing wrong with that as long as there interesting and they are, just like in the RPG game each are a different quest which gives the show a sense of unpredictability and mystery; you just never know what they'll run into next and how they'll deal with it.
The music is great, I really like the theme song at the end of the show it has a touching and adventurous tone.
And I really like the characters, there was actually a small sense of depth to them and they all had emotions which made you actually care and even feel sympathy for their desire to go back home.
But most importantly I love the fact that this group of kids act and feel like regular kids, there not some stereotypical annoying all smiles or dumb their all smart human people with wants, needs, and feelings of their own.My first favorite character if you can believe it is Eric (voiced well by Danny Most, yes I've seen "Happy Days").
Yeah it's true he's a spoiled rich kid, but I like that he's doesn't let that get to his head, he is a bit of an underdog because he's not a smooth guy, he doesn't get the girl, nor all the luck.
But to me what I like about him is that he does care about his friends and is borderline selfish/selfless which makes him capable of helping his friends in need and doing the right thing whether he wants to or not.Second is Diana, I know a lot of kids had a crush on Sheila but me it was Diana.
It's just cool hearing him in a villain role, that voice could almost make anyone nervous, it's a shame the actor didn't play the villain role often.It would be awesome if there was another animated series based on this RPG franchise.
It would be cool seeing more popular creatures, magic powers, and other roles which are in great abundance as the franchise has progressed to this day.
OK, I have been a major fan of this series, since I watched it, while I also played D&D/AD&D, with my older brother, since I was like 5yrs old, and he and I started playing with the 1st and 2nd editions, and since, now, if you want the complete set(27 episodes), they have it on the shelves at Wal-Mart, BUT, I noticed, they have it in my Wal-Mart, in an off-the-way shelf, but in the same area, as the other movies/shows, so, if you want it, it cost me just under $10.00, for the complete set!!!!
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.
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.
Six friends are riding the Dungeons & Dragons ride at the amusement park when they are sent to another world.
Spoiled rich kid Eric is the Cavalier given a shield.
They must battle Venger, the Force of Evil, while trying to find a way home.I did see this Saturday morning cartoon back in the day.
Yes D&D was on the air for the summer, but like all good things, it had to come to an end.It is no longer on FOX.
Worse yet FOX changed the schedule for it , many times , making vcr recordings for it very sporadic.Luckily I managed to tape almost all the episodes (about 4 missing).I am managing to get a hold of the remaining episodes.Oh yes , it's a great cartoon.
The credits looked fairly impressive for the time (Marvel Entertainment produced, while Toei Studios in Tokyo handled the animation), but the results were no better than many comparable fantasy series aimed at very young children.
Also, the story complications and twists do not surprise, and there is no overall story arc carried from one episode to the next beyond the characters' desire to get home.
It seems as if less creative energy went into this series than that which found its way into many, many game scenarios being played at the time by people typically older than the target audience of this show..
Quite possible the best fantasy cartoon ever.
While the animation isn't always the best (as this is one of the last cartoons of the Stock Footage Era of US animation), it does its job very well on many occasion.While all 27 episodes are enjoyable, the episodes to seek out (preferably as aired on CBS, as the Fox versions have edits of varying intrusiveness in order to fit in with the need for more commercials) include "The Dragon's Graveyard", "Treasure of Tardos", "Dungeon at the Heart of Dawn", "The Hall of Bones", "Servant of Evil", "The Girl Who Dreamed Tomorrow", and "Child of the Stargazer".
Plus, once you see the 27 episodes, go to Michael Reaves' (writer of many of the best episodes) website and read the third season finale that CBS approved-but never allowed to enter production.Dungeons & Dragons is a true classic, and is unfortunately forgotten by many, even though it aired on the dominant network (CBS) for Saturday mornings at the time.
When I was a kid, I remember loving it but being aware of what I disliked about it at the same time.
It's still as good as I thought it was, if not better.The plot follows the story of 6 kids who while riding the Dungeons & Dragons ride at their local theme park are transported into the mythical realm of Dungeons and Dragons.
Here they quickly make enemies with Venger, the Vader-esquire Dark Lord of the realm but are aided (some might say hindered) by the help of the all knowing Yoda-esquire Dungeon Master who aids them in their quest by giving them magical weapons, which Venger also requires to be all powerful.
The best thing about this series is the characterisation of the 6 kids.
With each and every passing episode, you get a little bit more insight into each character.
For example, the episode "The Dragon's Graveyard" had the kids almost turn to the dark side after another opportunity to get home ruined by Venger.
After this incident, the kids set out to find a way to kill Venger once and for all.
Good and clarity of thought win the day in the end, but it was a brave move for a kid's cartoon.
Kind of like an ongoing Empire Strikes Back.The series ended prematurely, with the final episode, although scripted, never completed due to the series being cancelled.
In a way, this, although annoying and saddening at the same time, is what helps push the series into legendary status.
As it is, it ends with my favourite character, the cowardly, selfish cavalier, Eric, coming to terms with their predicament.
What saddens me as an adult watching back on it, is that these characters that I grew to love, never did make it home.Overrall, the best thing I ever saw on Saturday Morning TV as a kid.
Only 1 thing bothered me about this show, that was the character of "Eric" the cavalier.
This is one of the best animated series on TV, even today.
I watched it as a kid, and I loved it so much.
I've been watching it again as an adult, and love each episode.
The characters are exactly what I remember them to be like.
The characters are kids from Earth who are at a fairground, and go on a magical dragon ride, then transported to another world.
I wonder, sometimes now but never back when I was a kid, if the world they ended up in is from "A Song of Ice and Fire"?
Presto is the Harry Potter look-a-like who has a magical hat.
The next character is a baby unicorn who happens to be like a My Little Pony sweety landed there.
there are unicorns native to Dungeons and Dragons world.
I often as a kid wondered why he never sent them home.
Its a fun cartoon and not like the fantasy movies that were released more than a decade later.