The Beleaguered History of the Short-Lived ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Saturday Morning Cartoon (1983-1985)

Dan Larson of Toy Galaxy recounts the incredibly beleaguered history of the classic, but short-lived Saturday morning cartoon Dungeons & Dragons: The Animated Series. The series premiered in 1983 and only lasted until 1985.

The Dungeons and Dragons cartoon hit the airwaves in 1983 riding the Satanic Panic wave from the Dungeons and Dragons Role-playing Game and only lasted a few seasons.

From the start, the series faced uphill battles in its infancy. This included the legacy of the Dungeons & Dragons game itself, confusing advanced marketing campaigns that featured characters that weren’t a part of the show, the mixed messages of the narrative, and the pressure of parental lobbying groups that objected to the entire franchise in general.

At the same time, however, the series put a genial face onto the mysterious game and helped transpose its specific language into the common household lexicon.

Ultimately the show was a brilliant PR move to put a new public face on the reputation of Dungeons & Dragons. the cartoon more than anything else is responsible for softening the image of D&D for fun and profit for introducing a lot of the language of the game into common household use

via Boing Boing