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

[dave2008]

Each to their own tastes... I've seen the 2000 movie probably five or six times and love to riff on it precisely because it is so bad it is actually good.

I couldn't even finish the 2023 movie when it finally came out on TV.

I will have to disagree with you for one major reason: the 2000 movie wasn't even a D&D movie.

D&D is about a group, an adventuring party that works together. The 2000 movie focused one character who really did everything. The surrounding group was largely irrelevant. So, regardless of the bad effects, story, acting, or production, it simply wasn't even a D&D movie. So it is not even in the same conversation as the 2023 movie or even the sequel (Wrath of the Dragon God). Both of those movies are actually movies about Dungeons and Dragons. The 2000 movie was not.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Watched the original D&D cartoon when it came out. I also remember being super-excited to discover it again in the early 00s on syndication.

Besides Jeremy Irons chewing the scenery, and that weird Dwarf occasionally breaking the 4th wall and staring into the camera, the 2000 movie is kind of awful, but to each their own.

I remember starting to watch it on VHS, pausing the tape, then calling a bunch of friends because I knew I couldn't make it though watching it alone.

In hindsight, Jeremy Irons and Marlon Wayans were the only people that knew they were filming junk, and hammed it up to the nth degree.

 

[Zardnaar]

You are still playing a kid's game...

In gemany it was aired in 91. So I was 11 when I have originally seen it.

Yeah they had Thundercats as well probably a bit later.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I remember watching it a few times, but I didn't find it nearly as compelling as He-Man. This would have been in the 1983-84 range, so I was 5.

I was old enough to appreciate the campness of He Man.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Hasbro was streaming episodes of D&D 24/7 for a while there on YouTube. I just looked and it seems only Transformers and GI Joe is still up, so the cartoon must have went away.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

I started playing D&D when I was 12 in the fall of 1982... there was a club at school started by one of the science teachers. So when this cartoon came out, D&D was still pretty fresh and new. I was a bit old to enjoy it fully, but I did watch all the episodes. I appreciated that it was like a D&D session brought to life! Same frisson I got from the Dragonlance books when they came out around the same time.

 

[JEB]

Wow, went from about 2:1 yes:no shortly after launch to 4:1 now! That's a lot more than I expected.

Other: I caught a couple of episodes, but was too old for it, and since it was shown in the UK after the US it wasn't really new.

FYI: for the purposes of this poll, if you watched it when it first aired in the UK, that would be a "yes".


For reference, here's when it first aired in various countries (near as I can determine from some quick research):

United States: 1983
United Kingdom: 1984
Australia: 1985
Brazil: 1985
Italy: 1985
Mexico: 1985
Spain: 1985
Taiwan: 1985
France: 1987
Netherlands: 1987
Germany: 1991
South Korea: 1993
Japan: 1996
Czech Republic: 1997
Hong Kong: 1998

I couldn't find the release date for New Zealand offhand, but per @Zardnaar it was sometime in the 1980s. It supposedly also aired in Argentina, Canada, Ecuador, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, South Africa, and Sweden, but I can't find airdates there either.

 

[Greg K]

The 2023 movie is far better than it has a right to be.

Yeah, I, originally, had no desire to see it. However, I, eventually, watched it on Netflix or Paramount+ as I had nothing better to do. Since then, I have watched it on Paramount+ an additional two times.
It is, imo, more entertaining/ watchable than the 2000 movie and the 2012 Book of Vile Darkness (and I can tolerate the 2000 movie).

 

[Zardnaar]

Wow, went from about 2:1 yes:no shortly after launch to 4:1 now! That's a lot more than I expected.


FYI: for the purposes of this poll, if you watched it when it first aired in the UK, that would be a "yes".


For reference, here's when it first aired in various countries (near as I can determine from some quick research):

United States: 1983
United Kingdom: 1984
Australia: 1985
Brazil: 1985
Italy: 1985
Mexico: 1985
Spain: 1985
Taiwan: 1985
France: 1987
Netherlands: 1987
Germany: 1991
South Korea: 1993
Japan: 1996
Czech Republic: 1997
Hong Kong: 1998

I couldn't find the release date for New Zealand offhand, but per @Zardnaar it was sometime in the 1980s. It supposedly also aired in Argentina, Canada, Ecuador, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, South Africa, and Sweden, but I can't find airdates there either.

It screened within another show on Saturday morning.

Probably 83 or 84.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

I watched it on Saturday mornings on CBS. WHEN it aired wasn't consistent. They would move the time slot around. But yes I definitely watched this first run.

Our local affiliate would play it at the very end of the Saturday morning cartoon line-up, so as often as not, I'd be preempted by some college sports game.