D&D Movie/TV Dungeons & Dragons Adventures is a 24-Hour Streaming Channel Launching in Summer

This summer, a new free streaming channel will be launched by eOne, the entertainment company owned by Hasbro. It will be ad-supported and available on multiple (as yet unspecified) platforms and feature a mix of animation, third party influencers, and actual play shows.

The old 1980s Dungeons & Dragons cartoon will be available, along with shows like:

• Encounter Party is based on an existing podcast and set in the Forgotten Realms.
• Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill! is a comedy game stream in each episode of which a party of 1st level characters march to their deaths against deadly monsters.
• Heroes's Feast is a cooking/talk show.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Why not any fantasy vintage movie? Those previous 90's. If they are very old, then they shouldn't be too expensive. And classic movies, for example Prince Valiant (1954), Simbad and the eye of the tiger(1977) Krull(1983) Hawk the slayer (1980) . Or some show about vintage speculative fiction. Why not the 1979 Buck Rogers serie? Or old fantasy cartoons: Wildfire, Pirates of the Dark Waters.. I mean, are they going to risk a lot of money releasing those old productions?

Or maybe the translation of Asian fantasy productions.

I doubt that content reflects the modern sensibilities they want to showcase, unfortunately.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I doubt that content reflects the modern sensibilities they want to showcase, unfortunately.

I am also sad about that. I actually love your idea.

 

[MichaelSomething]

I thought that most of the air time would be reruns of previous live play programs?

Maybe live streams of events at conventions, along with other live announcements stuff?

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

So no, there's not going to be a redemption for the 2000s Dungeons & Dragons movie because there's no childhood nostalgia wanting it to be as good as they remember it being as kids and seeking out any positives to justify liking it. The most you'll see is a "so bad it's good" opinion which, yeah, Jeremy Irons chewing every atom of scenery makes the film at least enjoyable to mock. But no "It's good actually" narrative for that movie.

While I suspect that somewhere out there are people that rented it on VHS when they were kids and have a soft-spot for it, I dunno. I rented it on VHS and started watching it only to have to call up a bunch of friends to watch it together because I needed the emotional support to get through something so bad from start to finish.

I still think a lot about how Marlon Wayans was filming the first D&D movie and Requiem for a Dream at the same time.

If there are enough of them, it becomes a noticeable groundswell, rather than a random weirdo just saying "you know, Sword & the Sorcerer was pretty great and Gary Gygax liked it, too!" on social media.

I love The Sword & The Sorcerer.

I do not always have great taste in movies.

 

[Dire Bare]

I'm not talking about any of those networks. I'm talking about D&D TV. Will they make non cheap, low budget programming on their own, or just coast on licensing and cheap interview/live play stuff?

And Pluto isn't all live.

Will the shows on D&D TV be cheap or have decent budgets? Will they be worth watching or crap?

Why are you asking us? We're all going to have to wait and see.

Broadcast TV vs on-demand streaming vs a streaming programming schedule . . . what does that have to do with budget or quality? You can find crap shows with poor budgets on all of these models, and you can find quality shows with decent budgets on all of these models.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Will the shows on D&D TV be cheap or have decent budgets? Will they be worth watching or crap?

Why are you asking us? We're all going to have to wait and see.

Broadcast TV vs on-demand streaming vs a streaming programming schedule . . . what does that have to do with budget or quality? You can find crap shows with poor budgets on all of these models, and you can find quality shows with decent budgets on all of these models.

Have they announced any quality shows with decent budgets?

 

[Dire Bare]

Exactly my point.

What exactly is your point?

If "reality tv" isn't your favorite . . . okay. The described cooking show would be "reality tv", RPG live play shows would be "reality tv" . . . we'll definitely be seeing a lot of that. If it's not your bag . . . okay. Shrug.

Live play RPG shows are a huge part of why D&D is so popular today. Why would they NOT include that type of programming?

Will they have scripted television shows, like Amazon's "Wheel of Time" or "Rings of Power"? Like Netflix's "Shadow and Bone"? They haven't announced anything yet, so it's not super likely. But maybe, we'll see.

What's left? The D&D cartoon and the D&D movies. Nobody will be excited for the first 3 movies, and the current movie is a Paramount joint with the rights tied up there. But yeah, we'll probably see all of that, minus "Honor Among Thieves".

They could play fantasy content from other production companies . . . . but the good stuff has rights tied up with other streaming services, so we're left with the not-so-good stuff from years gone by, whose appeal is mostly nostalgia to old people like me (Gen X). But this kind of content is low-hanging fruit for streaming services, so we're likely to see it on D&D TV . . . again, we'll have to wait and see. "Sorcerer", "Beast Master" . . . maybe "Xena" and "Hercules" . . .

Will D&D TV be this amazing new streaming service with tons of new, well-produced, scripted fantasy content? While that would be awesome, it's not likely. So what? It will be what it will be, you will like or you will not like it. Others will dig it, especially if it brings a bunch of live-play shows together in one easy-to-find place with the D&D logo overlooking the entire schedule.

 

[Micah Sweet]

What exactly is your point?

If "reality tv" isn't your favorite . . . okay. The described cooking show would be "reality tv", RPG live play shows would be "reality tv" . . . we'll definitely be seeing a lot of that. If it's not your bag . . . okay. Shrug.

Live play RPG shows are a huge part of why D&D is so popular today. Why would they NOT include that type of programming?

Will they have scripted television shows, like Amazon's "Wheel of Time" or "Rings of Power"? Like Netflix's "Shadow and Bone"? They haven't announced anything yet, so it's not super likely. But maybe, we'll see.

What's left? The D&D cartoon and the D&D movies. Nobody will be excited for the first 3 movies, and the current movie is a Paramount joint with the rights tied up there. But yeah, we'll probably see all of that, minus "Honor Among Thieves".

They could play fantasy content from other production companies . . . . but the good stuff has rights tied up with other streaming services, so we're left with the not-so-good stuff from years gone by, whose appeal is mostly nostalgia to old people like me (Gen X). But this kind of content is low-hanging fruit for streaming services, so we're likely to see it on D&D TV . . . again, we'll have to wait and see. "Sorcerer", "Beast Master" . . . maybe "Xena" and "Hercules" . . .

Will D&D TV be this amazing new streaming service with tons of new, well-produced, scripted fantasy content? While that would be awesome, it's not likely. So what? It will be what it will be, you will like or you will not like it. Others will dig it, especially if it brings a bunch of live-play shows together in one easy-to-find place with the D&D logo overlooking the entire schedule.

All of that tracks. Just doesn't seem like anything worth writing home about to me.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

While I suspect that somewhere out there are people that rented it on VHS when they were kids and have a soft-spot for it, I dunno. I rented it on VHS and started watching it only to have to call up a bunch of friends to watch it together because I needed the emotional support to get through something so bad from start to finish.

I remain on the record -- two decades later -- that there are plenty of salvageable bits from the original movie and am sorry that WotC never published their clearly planned sourcebook that they trotted out some pretty detailed web articles from.

 

[DarkCrisis]

What exactly is your point?

If "reality tv" isn't your favorite . . . okay. The described cooking show would be "reality tv", RPG live play shows would be "reality tv" . . . we'll definitely be seeing a lot of that. If it's not your bag . . . okay. Shrug.

Live play RPG shows are a huge part of why D&D is so popular today. Why would they NOT include that type of programming?

Will they have scripted television shows, like Amazon's "Wheel of Time" or "Rings of Power"? Like Netflix's "Shadow and Bone"? They haven't announced anything yet, so it's not super likely. But maybe, we'll see.

What's left? The D&D cartoon and the D&D movies. Nobody will be excited for the first 3 movies, and the current movie is a Paramount joint with the rights tied up there. But yeah, we'll probably see all of that, minus "Honor Among Thieves".

They could play fantasy content from other production companies . . . . but the good stuff has rights tied up with other streaming services, so we're left with the not-so-good stuff from years gone by, whose appeal is mostly nostalgia to old people like me (Gen X). But this kind of content is low-hanging fruit for streaming services, so we're likely to see it on D&D TV . . . again, we'll have to wait and see. "Sorcerer", "Beast Master" . . . maybe "Xena" and "Hercules" . . .

Will D&D TV be this amazing new streaming service with tons of new, well-produced, scripted fantasy content? While that would be awesome, it's not likely. So what? It will be what it will be, you will like or you will not like it. Others will dig it, especially if it brings a bunch of live-play shows together in one easy-to-find place with the D&D logo overlooking the entire schedule.

If they can come up with interesting ideas thats great.

What they don't need is 6 randos around a table playing yet another 5E campaign. One maybe 2 sure.

There is only so much content they can recycle. Only so many recipes from the cook boof to put on Rerun.

Like the Purple Work show or whatever. Level 1s vs a big bad? That sounds boring as heck. Unless they REALLY bend the rules somewho and even then.

Being a 5E (and 5.5E) focused channel can only come up with so many producible ideas.

It needs a D&D show, With live actors and scripts. A new cartoon or 3. Something other than just guys around a table talking about the new product out this month.