Knights & Knaves Alehouse

I didn't have any intention at all of getting the D&D DVD until I saw it on the shelf at Wal Mart. I picked it up, looked at it, put it back on the shelf, and then thought to myself, "I guess it goes to the top of the Christmas list."

I don't know why. I didn't think it was a particularly good show when I was a kid, but I'd kind of like to see them again. And I'm almost certain my little girl would LOVE them.

The Hall of Bones is on e of the episodes that I still remember most of today. Another one, I thnk was called Pandora's Box, where the kids moved a treasure chest to different locations and opened into different pocket realms or planes.

WSmith wrote:Another one, I thnk was called Pandora's Box, where the kids moved a treasure chest to different locations and opened into different pocket realms or planes.

It was "Zandora's Box," and this episode is a great example of how planar adventures should work in D&D, as opposed to the bland Manual of the Planes.

Stormcrow wrote:

WSmith wrote:Another one, I thnk was called Pandora's Box, where the kids moved a treasure chest to different locations and opened into different pocket realms or planes.

It was "Zandora's Box," and this episode is a great example of how planar adventures should work in D&D, as opposed to the bland Manual of the Planes.

Yes, thanks. I should have known it wasn't Pandora. I guess I'm loosing it.

I do agree with this as a good representation of planar adventuring. I remember the chess board and giant wasps. I was never a fan of MotP. I won't even bring up that travisty of a 2nd edition line of "plane" stuff.

I'm still holding my breath for a DVD release of Thundar the Barbarian. Best darn fantasy cartoon series EVAR!!!

Ok, maybe the Star Trek cartoon ranks up there with Thundar. I loved 'em both.

The Star Trek cartoon is out on DVD now.

Okay, so now I've gotten to the third disc... currently my opinion is that seeing thie Dungeons & Dragons cartoon should be a prerequisite for playing the game, because it gives many great examples of how to handle certain situations, like planar travel (as others mentioned), the exact variety of adventures you can have (they don't all have to be "go to dungeon, get treasure, exit") and how to handle unusual or challenging situations, like alternate ways to get money or dealing with monster encounters your characters are too weak to realistically take on. I think that last one is especially important, since so many gamers today think the only way to defeat a monster is to whack at it until its hitpoints are zero, like in a video game--no one ever realizes you can trap the monsters or escape from them instead.

Besides that, the show really DOES get better as it goes on. By the time of "The Girl Who Dreamed Tomorrow" this show has become a sight to behold.

I got the DVD for Christmas from my brother. I'm through the first dozen or so shows (about half-way through the 2nd disc).

My thoughts...

1. The sound is a bit muddy and the animation is a bit crude compared to what we see nowadays. The art probably is pretty standard for Saturday morning cartoons of the time, but pales pretty badly compared to what is done now with computer assistance.

2. My 4-year-old daughter loves every minute of it. She laughs at the jokes, she gets scared by the monsters, she constantly asks, "How they going to get out?... What's going to happen?" She smiles the whole time she watches. The indoctrination begins...

3. The characters, especially Bobby and Uni, aren't as annoying as I remembered. This could be because I'm vicariously watching the shows through my daughter. It could also be that kids' cartoons have upped the annoying factor a number of degrees in the last 20 years.

4. Where was the cross promotion? I'm watching this and wondering why there weren't Bobby and Hank action figures. I mean, there was a D&D action figure line occuring at the exact same time as the cartoon. More importantly, where's the game product? Why wasn't there a "TV1 Guide to the Realm of D&D - Compatable with both D&D and AD&D"?!?! It just goes to show how dysfunctional TSR's management was at the time. The action figures both appeared in a couple D&D products (XL1 and AC1) and in about three of the episodes, but it seems to me that they could have rolled things into a much tighter, more coherent package for the kiddies.

5. The best part about the show for the potential DM is the settings. Each show seems to have at least one cool non-standard fantasy setting. The one that struck me the most was the gigantic prison suspended by great chains over an active volcano. But every episode has at least one.

Well, on to watch the rest of the shows, and then dig into the extras.

R.A.

rogatny wrote: 4. Where was the cross promotion? I'm watching this and wondering why there weren't Bobby and Hank action figures. I mean, there was a D&D action figure line occuring at the exact same time as the cartoon. More importantly, where's the game product? Why wasn't there a "TV1 Guide to the Realm of D&D - Compatable with both D&D and AD&D"?!?! It just goes to show how dysfunctional TSR's management was at the time. The action figures both appeared in a couple D&D products (XL1 and AC1) and in about three of the episodes, but it seems to me that they could have rolled things into a much tighter, more coherent package for the kiddies.

I can answer this with two simple words:

BLUME BROTHERS

Remember, these cats weren't willing to spend dime one that didn't directly fall back into their pockets or make their lives in Lake Geneva obviously cushier and more comfortable. While Gary was wrangling with Hollywood, these two sons of bitches were looting the company. For them to have authorized or gone through the trouble to create a tie-in like you suggest (and it's a damn fine suggestion) would've actually been, you know, effort. Effort better used by them to spend Gary's money.

Oh, how's the three-eee supplement? Excerable, I assume?

thedungeondelver wrote:Oh, how's the three-eee supplement? Excerable, I assume?

Oh yeah, I forgot that one...

Did you know Presto has an INT of 20! Little Bobby has a STR of 19! Wimpy, cowardrly Eric has a STR of 18! The whole crew is 7th level!!!

It's laughable. And Venger's page-long stat block is enough to make you cry. Do they really think a 10 year old kid is going to look at those stat blocks and say, "yeah, I wanna play that, it looks like fun"?

It's a 30 page booklet that would be about 15 pages long for a previous edition.

I haven't read the adventure itself yet. It ties into one of the episodes I haven't seen yet. I'll read it after watching the episode, and comment then.

rogatny wrote:3. The characters, especially Bobby and Uni, aren't as annoying as I remembered. This could be because I'm vicariously watching the shows through my daughter. It could also be that kids' cartoons have upped the annoying factor a number of degrees in the last 20 years.

Good Point. After Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, and all kinds of other stuff, Uni isn't that bad after all.

WSmith wrote:

rogatny wrote:3. The characters, especially Bobby and Uni, aren't as annoying as I remembered. This could be because I'm vicariously watching the shows through my daughter. It could also be that kids' cartoons have upped the annoying factor a number of degrees in the last 20 years.

Good Point. After Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, and all kinds of other stuff, Uni isn't that bad after all.

... I actually rather like Yu-Gi-Oh, but it could have something to do with that I'm reading the original comics, in their native language, and not watching the Americanized mangling of the animated series.

But as for Bobby and Uni, the real reason they're not annoying is because the writers wrote them as characters, not as token archtypes put into the story to attract a demographic. I especially love all the times Bobby is about to clobber Eric after he says something bad about Uni.

As for the 3E supplement, I too only looked over the stats and I didn't understand a darn thing they said.

My nephew bought me this...thing...for Christmas. *groan* Back in the day, I watched them out of loyalty. Now with 3E leaving me in the dust, I would never have picked this thing up for myself, not even if it were free. (The last thing I want to do is put more coin into the 3E-producers' pockets.)

Oh well. It makes for a good gag gift, at least.

Algolei wrote:My nephew bought me this...thing...for Christmas. *groan* Back in the day, I watched them out of loyalty. Now with 3E leaving me in the dust, I would never have picked this thing up for myself, not even if it were free. (The last thing I want to do is put more coin into the 3E-producers' pockets.)

Oh well. It makes for a good gag gift, at least.

Remember though that in this case, Wizards has to split the profit with BCI, so you're not giving them THAT much.

Or, to look on the positive side: Buying this will probably encourage companies to release more classic cartoons on DVD.

Now if only someone would release DVD sets of Fox's Peter Pan and the Pirates, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, and Samurai Pizza Cats...

Oooooh, Samurai Pizza Cats! Now that I'd buy!

But no, I don't want the 3E-publishers to get a single dime from me buying Samurai Pizza Cats, either.

Algolei wrote:Oooooh, Samurai Pizza Cats! Now that I'd buy!

But no, I don't want the 3E-publishers to get a single dime from me buying Samurai Pizza Cats, either.

Somehow I don't think they would. Considering Wizards has nothing to do with SPC and all.