D&D: Cartoon vs. Movie

[Nebulous]

Well, Star Wars has its new Clone Wars cartoon show; i think it's high time for D&D to come back into the spotlight. I don't know how these things work behind the scenes, but a brand name like that seems like a shoe-in for a TV show. Good Lord, and think of all the marketing that WotC could tie into it! They could start selling miniatures in Kid's Meals!

Which, of course, would mean that the D&D cartoon is targeted for 6-8 year olds

(I'd still buy them.)

 

[Dragonhelm]

Venger rules; Snails drools.

'Nuff said.

 

[justanobody]

Animation will always be able to do a better job than live action. It isn't affordable to be able to do everything in live action that can be done in a cartoon.

And the cartoon monsters actually looked like the things you see in the game. No horn on a green rhinoceros's, erm dragon's nose, etc.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

I could kinda dig either an Eberron based cartoon, or a classic module based cartoon. Either of those might work as an episodic but ongoing story line.

For some reason my first mental image was for Eberron to be specifically done in the Clone Wars animated style. I dunno wise, but feel like it could work.

 

[Jhaelen]

Well, the first movie is absolutely terrible and really has nothing to do with D&D. The second movie is just awful but seems to at least try to make some connection to D&D. The cartoon series was bad - but still lots better than both movies AND has some classic D&D content.

I really don't want to see another D&D movie, ever. There's hundreds of good fantasy novels that would make better movies.

 

[malraux]

For some reason my first mental image was for Eberron to be specifically done in the Clone Wars animated style. I dunno wise, but feel like it could work.

Yeah, the over the top style of samurai jack/clone wars would fit well with the pulp noir of eberron. If I were pitching such a series, that's what I would go for.

 

[Brown Jenkin]

Of the 3:

Best: D&D Movie 2. Not great but it was actually D&D
Middle: Cartoon. Never seemed that D&D to me but much better than the worst.
Worst: D&D Movie 1. Not D&D, and not even a movie. I banish it to the realm that holds that other movie that was theoretically released after Highlander.

As for not official D&D but more D&D than any of the above are The Gamers 2: Dorkness Rising which perfectly captured how D&D is actually played, and Record of Lodoss War which perfectly captured the ideal of what D&D is often imagined as.

 

[Lord Xtheth]

I remember being so excited to see the first D&D movie. I went out to see it the first day it was in theatres. Granted I was one of the few people still in the theatre when the movie ended, I still regretted ever spending money on that hunk of crap.

The Cartoon was just plain fun. Think back to other cartoons from that day... they're all the same!

The 2nd movie? Yar, better than the first by far, but still not "good".

 

[F5]

Yeah, the cartoon is the best, hands-down.

It was cheesy, yeah, but in its' defense, it was a product of its' times. Compared to other cartoons that were out in the 80s, it was really a risk-taker. The kids in the D&D Cartoon were put in genuine peril, and had real, emotional reactions to the situations they were in. There's an episode where the kids find a way to finally kill Venger. Not just "defeat", or "banish" or whatever euphemism, but KILL him. They address this issue head-on in the cartoon...is killing justified? Does it make them any better than their enemy? This is heavy stuff for the Strawberry Shortcake crowd. This was light-years more sophisticated than anything that was going on in most other shows.

It comes across as corny and hackneyed today, and in a lot of places it is, but there was some good storytelling going on at the heart of it.

The D&D movie? Just sucked. Although, yes, the 2nd one was a lot better.

 

[Klaus]

You gotta be kidding D&D cartoon is reprised until today here in Brazil. They call it "Caverna do Dragão" and people had no clue what D&D is

Indeed. The D&D cartoon has been on continous reruns (and getting decent ratings) since the 80s.

When they first announced a D&D movie, I was insantly hit by the image of Lindsay Lohan as Sheila and Gabrielle Union as Diana.