Customer Reviews

Dungeons & Dragons: The Complete Animated Series

5 star:		(105)
4 star:		(47)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This was my #1 favorite cartoon series when I was eleven years old in 1983. I watched it religiously on TV back then, and when we got our first VCR, I recorded every re-run and watched those videotapes until I wore them out. Naturally, I was excited to hear this show was finally coming out on DVD. I bought the complete series box set released by BCI right away. All the episodes look great in terms of picture quality. Not to mention, the special features are surprisingly plentiful for an old, mostly-forgotten Saturday morning cartoon, and it really brought back some great memories.

Then I discovered a very disappointing problem. And I'm going to sound like a real nit-picker here - but I gotta state my case...

Any dedicated fan of this show is familiar with the episode "The Dragon's Graveyard" - generally considered to be the best episode of the entire series. That's the one where the kids decide to destroy Venger (the ultimate, evil bad guy) once and for all. They plan to do this by convincing Tiamat (the ultimate, evil 5-headed Dragon) to help them. It's a very cool story, because the good guys basically team up with one arch villain in order to settle their grudge match with another arch villain. As a kid in the 80's, I videotaped this series and "The Dragon's Graveyard" was one episode that I went back and watched repeatedly. So, I know that episode almost by heart. One of the things I always loved about that episode, and which I still remember clearly, was its powerful musical score. Especially during the scene where Venger throws fireballs at Uni, the baby Unicorn, nearly killing her, and the scene at the end, where the kids have their final, climactic battle with Venger, pin him against a rock, and lead hero Hank has to make the ultimate decision whether to kill Venger, or let him go. From watching and re-watching this particular episode to death on videotape, I remember very clearly that during these scenes the music had a fast, chaotic, rushing quality - a theme not heard frequently in other episodes - which racheted up the energy and took the drama way beyond typical Saturday morning cartoon fare.

And yet, while watching this same classic episode on the BCI-released Dungeons and Dragons DVD set, I noticed that this music had been completely replaced with slower, formulaic sections of music that can be regularly heard elsewhere in the series. This change in the music made the scenes described above considerably less effective, severely weakening the emotional impact of this episode.

Allright, now - yes - I realize how trite and ridiculous it must sound for a 30+ year old man to be nit picking the DVD quality of one single episode of a Saturday Morning cartoon show he loved when he was eleven. But the whole reason I bought this DVD set in the first place was to re-experience the innocent fun of those childhood memories, and instead I got a diluted version of that experience.

As a matter of fact, in the "Episode Trivia" section, it even mentions that another version of "The Dragon's Graveyard" episode exists, with a completely different musical score... and when I read that, all I could think was, "Yeah, no kidding, and you bozos put the weaker of the two versions on the DVD set. Thanks a lot!"

So... that's my one huge disappointment with the BCI set, and I'm guessing other fans who are total geeks for this show, will notice and be bothered by it, too.

NOW HERE IS THE GOOD NEWS... In 2009, Dungeons and Dragons was RE-RELEASED in a new DVD set, by a company called Mill Creek Entertainment. I had heard rumors that this new release RESTORED ALL of the ORIGINAL MUSIC used on the show, thus presenting every episode AS IT APPEARED, WHEN IT WAS ORIGINALLY SHOWN on TV in the early 1980's. At first I wasn't sure if I should believe the rumors... Then I saw that the Mill Creek release was selling for a surprisingly lower price than the BCI set... Low enough that I decided it was worth giving it another shot.

So, I ordered it, and let me tell you as a knowledgeable fan, that yes - the Mill Creek Entertainment release DOES include all the episodes with their original music. THIS is "The Dragon's Graveyard" as I remember and love it. Be advised, the Mill Creek release contains no Special Features, which is unfortunate, but I find myself not caring about that. The important thing is to have all the original episodes in their original form. And again, the price on the Mill Creek set is also a lot cheaper than the price on the BCI set, so it's hard to complain about the lack of "extras".

Bottom line - this is a great cartoon series. But if you want to experience this show in its original form - do yourself a favor: Snub the BCI set, and buy the Mill Creek Entertainment set. Take if from a long time fan of this show. I was deeply disappointed with the BCI set, and very, very happy with the Mill Creek set.

After two decades, all 27 episodes of the classic 'Dungeons & Dragons' animated TV series are finally available on DVD! This was a Saturday morning staple for many who have anxiously awaited its arrival on DVD for some time. BCI (who was also responsible for the exemplary He-Man & the Masters of the Universe DVD sets) has released not only the complete series, but a ton of extras in this beautifully remastered 5-disc boxed set. For the uninitiated, this series tells the tale of six kids who, after riding the Dungeons & Dragons rollercoaster, mysteriously get sucked into its fantasy world. There, each of them gains magical talents and abilities, all the better to survive their time in the Realm. The bow-shooting ranger, the acrobat, the thief, the cavalier, the wizard, and the boy-barbarian are soon joined by a baby unicorn, and tutored by the mysterious Dungeon Master. Opposing them is the evil sorcerer Venger, as well as various monsters and entities all intent on keeping the kids from getting back home. This was one of CBS' most popular animated series, airing from 1983-1986, and later on the Fox Kids network as reruns. Created by the legendary Marvel Productions, the series was based on the popular TSR role-playing game created in 1974, which spawned an entire industry. Here are the special features;

*All-new half hour documentary, 'Entering the Realm of Dungeons & Dragons' featuring interviews with the show's production team, writers, animators, and network executives

*Two commentary tracks for episodes 'Night of No Tomorrow' & 'The Dragon's Graveyard' with producer Bob Richardson, story editor/ voice director Hank Saroyan, writers Mark Evanier & Michael Reaves, and CBS executives Ted Field II & Judy Price

*Radio show-style presentation of the unaired final episode 'Requiem' featuring select original voice cast members

*Full length animated storyboard with interactive episode comparison for Episode #16 'The Girl Who Dreamed Of Tomorrow'

*'Choose Your Own Adventure' DVD Game & 'Uni's Fun Facts' Trivia

*50 characters, creatures & artifacts profiles with bios, images & clips, plus extensive gallery of original model sheets & memorabilia

*Short live-action film by fan Sean Kennedy

*Alternate and rare footage plus hidden easter eggs

*DVD-ROM features including scripts for multiple episodes (including the un-produced series finale script), complete storyboards and the original series bible

*Episode guide booklet with show's synopsis, writers and original air dates

*Official 'Dungeons & Dragons' hard-cover game supplement created exclusively by Wizards of the Coast featuring 32 pages of character profiles and stat blocks. The adventure is a prelude to the episode 'The Dragon's Graveyard' and is designed to bridge the game and the animated TV series. The characters and world within the animated series are now playable with the traditional RPG game.

It is unfortunate that some uninformed adults originally feared that the game and show promoted occult activities (a claim that seems ludicrous in retrospect). Eventually, it was not magic that led to the show's premature cancellation in 1986, but rather sagging ratings. But thanks to this DVD release, fans can relive all these great adventures anytime they want. For a small company, the now defunct BCI showed unparalleled commitment to modern cartoon classics through their beautifully remastered DVD sets and extensive supplemental material that were second to none. Fortunately for fans, BCI released a slew of classic cartoons on DVD before closing its doors for good.

In 2006, Dungeons & Dragons- The Complete Animated Series was released in a handsome 5-disc boxed set by BCI Eclipse. In addition to having all 27 episodes beautifully remastered, the set featured a ton of bonus content including featurettes, audio commentaries, a hardcover game supplement, a radio-style presentation of the final unfinished episode, and so much more. The set quickly became a fan favorite and helped set a new standard for modern cartoon classics on DVD. However, not long after, BCI encountered financial problems and was forced to close down operations for good. This meant that all of their DVD releases were now or would soon be out of print. In 2009, Mill Creek Entertainment acquired the rights to many of BCI's TV properties including the 'Dungeons and Dragon' animated series, which has been repackaged as a bare bones 3-disc set collecting the complete run of the series. For hardcore fans, this means that none of the supplemental material from the previous release will be carried over (thus, the one star rating deduction). However, for casual fans, the incredibly inexpensive retail price of this new collection makes it a more enticing purchase.

For the uninitiated, this series tells the tale of six kids who, after riding the Dungeons & Dragons rollercoaster, mysteriously get sucked into its fantasy world. There, each of them gains magical talents and abilities, all the better to survive their time in the Realm. The bow-shooting ranger, the acrobat, the thief, the cavalier, the wizard, and the boy-barbarian are soon joined by a baby unicorn, and tutored by the mysterious Dungeon Master. Opposing them is the evil sorcerer Venger, as well as various monsters and entities all intent on keeping the kids from getting back home. This was one of CBS' most popular animated series, airing from 1983-1986, and later on the Fox Kids network as reruns. Created by the legendary Marvel Productions, the series was based on the popular TSR role-playing game created in 1974, which spawned an entire industry. Here are the episodes on this set;

1. NIGHT OF NO TOMORROW- The kids meet the wizard, Merlin, who offers Presto an apprenticeship position.
2. EYE OF THE BEHOLDER- The gang enlist the aid of the knight, Sir John, who may not be a hero after all.
3. HALL OF BONES- The kids discover that their weapons are running out of power and must be recharged.
4. VALLEY OF UNICORNS- The gang must stop a wizard who wants to harness the power of unicorn horns.
5. IN SEARCH OF THE DUNGEON MASTER- The kids must save the Dungeon Master from a bounty hunter.
6. BEAUTY AND THE BOGBEAST- The gang must find a cure for Eric, who has been changed into a beast.
7. PRISON WITHOUT WALLS- The kids go to the Swamp of Sorrow to free a prisoner held by a spellbinder.
8. SERVANT OF EVIL- Bobby befriends the reluctant giant Karox to free his friends from Venger's grasp.
9. QUEST OF THE SKELETON WARRIOR- The kids help a former celestial knight who is now Venger's slave.
10. GARDEN OF ZINN- Bobby has been poisoned and the gang must find the foot of a yellow dragon to cure him.
11. THE BOX- The Dungeon Master tells the kids that using Zandora's box to free Zandora will get them home.
12. THE LOST CHILDREN- The gang meet a band of children with a mysteries ship that might taken them home.
13. P-R-E-S-T-O SPELLS DISASTER- Presto must rescue his friends after bungling yet another spell.
14. GIRL WHO DREAMED TOMORROW- The gang meet an Earth girl trapped in the realm who dreams the future.
15. TREASURE OF TARDOS- The kids travel to the walled city of Tardos to save its queen and free her people.
16. CITY AT THE EDGE OF MIDNIGHT- The gang learn of a city where children are being held captive.
17. THE TRAITOR- The kids are suspicious of Hank, who they fear may be hiding the truth of Bobby's kidnapping.
18. DAY OF THE DUNGEON MASTER- Eric is made Dungeon Master for a day after stating the job is easy.
19. THE LAST ILLUSION- The gang must regain their weapons from Venger and rescue an illusionist.
20. THE DRAGON'S GRAVEYARD- The kids decide to disobey the Dungeon Master and stop Venger for good.
21. CHILD OF THE STARGAZER- The gang help a man who has been imprisoned by a queen afraid of his power.
22. DUNGEON AT THE HEART OF DAWN- Eric accidentally frees Venger's master, an entity of pure evil.
23. THE TIME LOST- Venger's spell brings a World War II pilot to the Realm, where he befriends the gang.
24. ODYSSEY OF THE 12TH TALISMAN- The kids teams up with an orphan in their quest for the Stone of Astra.
25. CITADEL OF SHADOW- The gang finds themselves in a bitter family feud between Venger and a relative.
26. CAVE OF THE FAIRIE DRAGONS- The kids must free the fairie dragon queen and help her people.
27. WINDS OF DARKNESS- The gang enlists the aid of a reluctant woman in rescuing the kidnapped Hank.

It should be noted that in addition to this complete series set, Mill Creek has also released Dungeons & Dragons: The Beginning on DVD. That collection consists of only the first 9 episodes and hardly seems worth it when one can simply spend a few dollars more and own the entire series. As for the show, it is unfortunate that some uninformed adults originally feared that the game and cartoon promoted occult activities (a claim that seems ludicrous in retrospect). Eventually, it was not magic that led to the show's premature cancellation in 1986, but rather sagging ratings. But thanks to this latest DVD release, fans can relive all these great adventures anytime they want.

The people at BCI Eclipse (and Andy Mangels in particular) have established themselves as masters at releasing cartoons on DVD with great care, no small feat given Filmation's reputation and the time-compressed PAL masters that Hallmark left behind before destroying everything else (or so the story goes). With Dungeons & Dragons, though, things were much more hopeful, just so long as the artificial commercial breaks, mystifying edits, and the awful new theme that Saban created for recent re-airings were absent.

Naturally, Murphy's Law had to kick in, in the form of The Walt Disney Company.

Nine episodes (every episode from "City At The Edge Of Midnight" until the finale, with the exception of "The Traitor", "The Last Illusion", and "The Dungeon At The Heart Of Dawn"-one third of the show's 27 episodes, for those counting at home) have had three pieces of music-one "oasis" theme and two fast-paced, dramatic battle themes-replaced. All three were penned and conducted by Rob Walsh. To the experienced fan of the cartoons of Marvel and Sunbow, this replacement comes as a surprise, since Walsh's music was never removed from Rhino's Sunbow releases, where it is extremely prevalent, to the point of even totally supplanting that of Johnny Douglas.

What makes this especially aggravating is that the UK DVDs were untouched, "The Dungeon At The Heart Of Dawn" (a Walsh-heavy episode) is untouched, and Disney has created new music that is really bad, a maddening choice considering that the majority of the missing cues have been replaced by the familiar music of Johnny Douglas (and other than in "The Dragon's Graveyard", where Walsh's music is vital, the change is not immediately recognizable). We don't deserve this unexplained set of changes, and BCI *really* doesn't, because they have done an awesome job assembling features for this set.

First and foremost of these extras is a radio play rendition of Michael Reaves' unproduced (and nigh legendary) series finale, "Requiem". While Katie Leigh (voice of Sheila, the thief) is the only original cast member present, the voices assembled (especially for Hank and Dungeon Master) are close matches. Second are two commentaries (moderated excellently by Andy Mangels) and a very nice documentary. Third is the alternate/rare footage, but there are only two of the episode previews, and the best of the series openings (for the second season) looks like an ancient PAL transfer (sped up and zoomed in). Fourth is a plethora of scripts, storyboards, and other documents from the series' production. Also present is a fan-made production and extensive (and I mean *extensive*) character and object biographies (with appropriate clips from the series).

If not for Disney's imposed meddling with the soundtrack, this set would qualify as the best '80s cartoon released to date. It has a great deal of special features, excellent packaging, and even manages to (finally!) bridge the gap between the actual D&D game to the series. While I would have liked to have seen all of the "Today on Dungeons & Dragons..." previews (or at least known that this was an issue, so I could have contributed the two or three extras I have on barely-acceptable VHS tapes) and the season 2 opening at its proper speed and resolution, these seem like minor concerns when compared to the unnecessary music replacement on this set. Shame on Disney for downgrading an excellent purchase to three-quarters of what it should be.

2 stars for 'quality' 1 extra star for the bonus features.

I live in the UK & own both the US & UK versions of this DVD Set. You might ask why on earth somebody would pay two lots of money for the same item, what can I say? i'm a completist & was swayed to buy the US version which has far better extras & accompanying literature than the UK release.

After watching both versions I can honesty tell you that no digital remastering has been done whatsoever to the US release. I constantly switched discs & I was alarmed to see & hear, poor audio, wobbly telecine (where the image wobbles during a still scene), scratches & washed out colours. The UK version although not 100% perfect has virtually none of these flaws. I think you've all been conned by the distributor that has falsely advertised the episodes as 'digitally remastered'.

One more thing, another reviewer has already mentioned that the 'chaotic, rushing' incidental music is missing from several epiodes. I have noticed this too, I don't think the US distributor had purchased the rights to the music, however the same music is present in the episodes on the UK release.

This is NOT the great 2006 box with booklet, extras, audio drama for un-produced 3rd season's finale "Requiem". Instead, this is a very simple box set containing nothing more than the 27 episodes, distributed on 3 dvd discs (each 7GB disc contains around 3 hours, leaving a not-that-great picture quality, though I've seen worse).
I was going to rate this 2 stars, but then I noticed I was just mad at myself for buying the wrong pack (I actually wanted the other one). It's still a regular box set, and will probably be enough, if you're really only interested in the show's episodes. Just keep in mind that it contains nothing special about it, when you make your buying decision.
I'm rating it "completely regular". 3 stars.

Why on earth would Amazon include ratings for the previous DVD release of this series? This release is the bare bones release with the episodes, not the lovingly crafted five DVD set with a multitude of features from a few years back. The series is great, don't get me wrong, but not everyone pays attention to the technical details Amazon lists, but they do read the reviews. If you love this series, get this boxed set. If you LOVE this series, find the five DVD set on eBay and get hold of it. In any event, support the DVD releases, especially ones that are classic.

This edition of Dungeons & Dragons the Animated Series is the second release collection by Mill Creek, and not the BCI release. What does this mean? This means that the video quality of the collection is on par with what you can find one youtube, there are no special features (one of the highlights of the original BCI release), and the packaging is cheap and will aid in damaging the DVDs. All the episodes from the original run of the series are present and a good 90% of the original music is intact (one of the few complaints from the former BCI release). The biggest disappointment here is in the video quality, which on any non-analog television or LCD computer monitor is full of artifacts, and noise.

I was hesitant, but I went head and bought the latest edition of the DD series. Glad I did now. Now this is a great release. I know there are no extras, BUT to the fans that are in the know, we got ripped from BCI in 2006. They tampered with the music in various later episodes, then claimed copyright, which made no sense, the UK released the series in 2004, complete and unaltered.

Now MILLCREEK entertainment has re released it, this time with the original music intact! For you nitpickers, like me, now is your chance to own DD without any disney interference! And at a great buy too!

When this DVD collection lands on my multi-media shelf, it will displace all others as being my favorite DVD title I won. Move over Lord Of The Rings SE and Star Wars Trilogy, there's a new sheriff in town!

I exaggerate, but only slightly.

I think its important to note that you don't have to have played the game or have any kind of experience or even knowledge of Dungeons and Dragons to enjoy the cartoon series. Outside of the unparalleled art and voice talent, it really was the stories that endure. The cartoon series explores the human spirit, and all that it embodies during the kids fantastic trek through a magical realm.

Don't play the game Dungeons and Dragons? Throw the extra material in the garbage - the cartoon series alone is a steal at this price.