D&D General Poll: Did you watch the D&D cartoon when it was new?

[Lakesidefantasy]

I was the little Red Box kid for whom this series was made. Yes, I watched it on Saturday mornings religiously. I had just recently started playing Dungeons and Dragons, and had co-founded an official Dungeons and Dragons club at school.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

I'm sure I would have watched it, but it never aired in my country.

 

[Clint_L]

I was thrilled to see a D&D cartoon. Slightly disappointed, but it was better than nothing.
I always wondered how they ever expected to make level if they didn't kill anything.

I suspect that I'm slightly older than you, as my friends and I, who were in our teens when it came out, hated it with a fiery passion, and were embarrassed to see the game we loved depicted as such a lame kiddy show. It directly contributed to us moving on to other game systems for quite awhile.

I get the nostalgia love for it from some, but I still think it is an incredibly dumb show by just about any standard. To this day, I can't abide any taint of it in my games.

 

[Greg K]

I watched it when it was first released. I found Uni annoying and would have found the show more enjoyable with out Uni. However, at the time, I found there to be many annoying characters that made shows less enjoyable. Examples of such characters in addition to Uni include Snarf (Thundercats), Orko and Cringer (He-Man), Spike (Mr. T), and Scrappy Doo.

 

[Clint_L]

I watched it when it was first released. I found Uni annoying and would have found the show more enjoyable with out Uni. However, at the time, I found there to be many annoying characters that made shows less enjoyable. Examples of such characters in addition to Uni include Snarf (Thundercats), Orko and Cringer (He-Man), Spike (Mr. T), and Scrappy Doo.

Just in general, the idea of depicting D&D as a kiddie game appalled us. We thought D&D was serious business and then it's suddenly being representing in media as something for kids, thus reinforcing all the embarrassing stereotypes about it.

The game being associated with Satanic rituals was not a problem for us - if anything, it gave D&D a bit of credibility. But being associated with Uni, Hank and the rest? The shame. None of us wanted to be caught dead playing it after that - we soon switched to other RPGs and didn't revisit D&D until college.

Also...I wonder if any parents saw their nine year old watching that cartoon, decided D&D was cute, bought the kid a Monster Manual, and then started flipping through the pages...

 

[Zardnaar]

In NZ in the 80s it was on a Sat morning show called What Now?

80s cheese I don't remember much.

 

[Tonguez]

Saturday morning lineups were great, Diana was a favourite for her acrobatic moves (not so much her stupid fur boots) I still remember Child of the Stargazer (where Diana finds a suitably coloured boyfriend and reveals her father is an Astronomer )

 

[Lazybones]

Yep, watched it and enjoyed it.

Bought the DVD set when it came out, but of course it doesn't really hold up. But I have found the callbacks to it in the 2024 books to be fun.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I used to rush to get my chores done so I could watch it on Saturday mornings. Cheesy? Yep. But at the time I was devouring anything fantasy based, especially tied to D&D.

 

[Stormonu]

I remember seeing the episode with "Lolth" in it back in the day and not being impressed. Sometime later (the same year), I saw the episode with the skeleton warrior, and I reconsidered and started watching it. I don't think I've ever sat down and watched all the episodes, just one or two here and there. I have the DVDs, and my kids have watched the entire series multiple times.