In the early 1980s, Dungeons & Dragons reached new heights of popularity. During this time, the company behind the tabletop RPG, Tactical Studies Rules (TSR), started expanding the D&D brand. This included an animated series that ran for twenty-seven episodes before it was cancelled by the CBS network. Here's why Dungeons & Dragons' first cartoon failed, despite being such a popular property.
Running from 1983-1985, the Dungeons & Dragons animated series had a lot going for it. D&D was becoming a recognizable, national brand at the time - and the animation for the show was handled by Toei Animation, the Japanese studio known for shows like Akira Toriyama's Dr. Slump (and later Dragon Ball Z). It was also co-produced by Marvel, which had licensed D&D for comics and other adaptations. It was one of the latest pushes by TSR to make D&D kid-friendly (and pull in younger players), but it was ultimately doomed.
The show itself was a pretty basic introduction to Dungeons & Dragons. A group of friends (mostly kids and young teenagers) are sucked into the world of D&D after riding on a roller coaster and meeting up with the Dungeon Master. For an early '80s cartoon, it wasn't half bad - even if viewership started to decline quickly. For a while, though, the animated D&D series was pretty popular and spawned a number of books, board games, and toys. So, what exactly went wrong with TSR's attempt at a Dungeons & Dragons cartoon?
D&D's Animated Series: What Went Wrong
Ultimately, there were a couple of contributing factors that led to the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon's demise. First, TSR had started to spread itself too thin. The company was simply growing too much, too fast. The number of D&D board games, books, and other media was too great (and with too much overhead), which meant the company was seeing a dip in its profits - despite Dungeons & Dragons being a popular game.
The other major factor was the concerns over the level of violence in the TV show. A number of censors and parental groups were worried about the violence, asking for warnings to be displayed before every episode to show that D&D had been linked to violent crimes and witchcraft (accusations that have since been proven false). A student's disappearance was wrongfully blamed on D&D, which also didn't help public relations. Simply put, there were just so many controversies around D&D and the show at the time, and it hurt viewership in the longterm.
Of course, it also didn't help that the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon was a bit silly and not always up to the standards of the tabletop RPG. It was a cartoon aimed at children, after all, so some concessions had to be made. Still, this animated D&D series remains an interesting part of the game's history.
Source: Art & Arcana: A Visual History
