Dragon's Lair (TV series)

This article is about the television series. For other meanings, see Dragon's Lair.

Dragon's Lair: The Complete Series cover

Dragon's Lair is a short-lived television cartoon series by Ruby-Spears Productions based on the 1983 video game of the same name. Thirteen half-hour episodes were produced for the 1984–1985 broadcast season, airing on ABC. The show was rerun on the USA Cartoon Express and featured Dirk the Daring in the programming block's newly animated intro and bumpers (around 1987-1992). The show has also aired on Boomerang and is currently owned by Warner Bros. Television Studios (along with most of Ruby-Spears' pre-1991 library).

Synopsis

The series chronicles the adventures of Dirk the Daring, who is the best knight in the kingdom of King Ethelred. Dirk performs all sorts of great deeds while protecting the kingdom and his love, Princess Daphne, from the forces of the evil dragon Cinge (using an alternative spelling from the source material). In this program there are several original characters like his stallion Bertram, his squire Timothy, and arrogant knight Sir Hubert Blunt who is Dirk's rival.

Before each commercial break, Dirk the Daring faces a cliffhanger, and, in keeping with the spirit of the game, the storyteller narrates Dirk's options and asks the viewer "What would you do?". After the commercial break, the outcomes of the various choices are shown before Dirk acts on the correct idea (with the occasional exception) to advance the story.

In addition to Cinge, several enemies from the original game also make their appearance as adversaries, including the Giddy Goons, the Mudmen, the Lizard King, the Phantom Knight, and the Smithee. In the episode "The Legend of the Giant's Name", an Arddu giant awakened by Cinge forces Dirk to find his way out of an enchanted cave, which gradually transforms him into a skeleton, much like the death animations of the game. When most enemies are struck by a weapon, they disappear in a bright flash, similar to the arcade game.

Development

In need of money due to the collapse of the arcade video game market, Don Bluth's studio licensed the franchise for television, despite Bluth's dislike for the medium's reputation for minimalistic animation. At least three major production companies approached Bluth, with Ruby-Spears beating out Hanna-Barbera and Marvel Productions Ltd.

The Ruby-Spears production was developed by Rick Merwin and Paul Dini and debuted in ABC's Fall 1984 season of Saturday morning programming. The series' episodic nature focused upon quests of missions undertaken by Dirk at the requests of King Ethelred, resulting in adventure stories themed around the confrontation of good and evil. Although the Bluth Studio retained right of script approval, its involvement in the series was minimal and creatively disinterested. All characters from the game were redesigned for the series, although original Bluth Studio model sheets were used for reference for character expressions. The most drastic character redesign was Princess Daphne, who was given a tiara and a considerably more modest dress, as her skimpy bathing suit and sheer outfit from the arcade game would not have appeased the network broadcast standards and practices. Animato, an independently-published animation-focused magazine, mocked the princess’ wardrobe adjustment with a satirical cartoon.

While ABC aired Dragon's Lair on its Saturday morning block, CBS’s 1984 Saturday Supercade block bolstered several video-game inspired shows, including Ruby-Spears’ series adaptation of Space Ace.

List of episodes

No.	Episode title	Original airdate	Summary
1	Tale of the Enchanted Gift	8 September 1984	In an effort to outdo his competition, Dirk the Daring gives Princess Daphne a golden bird for her birthday. The bird, however, is enchanted and kidnaps the princess, delivering her to Cinge the Dragon.
2	Sir Timothy's Quest	15 September 1984	Timothy is in training to be a knight. His fellow squire is on duty when the King's map to his gold is stolen by the minions of the Lizard King. Timothy sets out in search of the map.
3	The Tournament of the Phantom Knight	22 September 1984	The Phantom Knight invades a tournament and kidnaps the King. Dirk the Daring battles the Phantom Knight, rescues the King, and restores him to the castle.
4	The Smithee's Haunted Armor	29 September 1984	Long ago, two sorcerers gave Smithee a magic hammer. The Smithee used this hammer for evil so they turned him into bronze. When the King needs a suit of armor, Dirk finds the magic armor created by the evil Smithee and must fight the sorcerers and the reanimated Smithee to get it.
5	The Pool of Youth	6 October 1984	Dirk, Daphne, and Timothy travel to Avalon to stop the ancient evil witch Biralla from drinking from the waters of the "Pool of Youth," which will give her the power to rule the world.
6	The Story of Old Alf	13 October 1984	Old Alf the magician chooses Daphne as his new apprentice, but her impetuous use of magic brings the wrath of Cinge the Dragon down on Ethelred and his kingdom. Dirk must battle the dragon to restore order to the kingdom.
7	Song of the Wind Chimes	20 October 1984	The evil Urisk wants to employ magical wind chimes to turn the world into a hot desert that he can rule with his lava men and fire creatures.
8	The Girl from Crow's Wood	27 October 1984	The Princess Daphne and the pauper girl Bronwen trade places when they discover their uncanny likeness. Bronwen uses Dirk to free the evil Sybilla.
9	Mirror, Mirror	3 November 1984	In a plan to fool the King and his people into believing Dirk is a villain, Cinge uses a magical mirror to masquerade as Dirk while attacking the village.
10	The Snow Witch	10 November 1984	Dirk is confronted by a Snow Witch when he discovers a potion that turns fire to ice. Dirk is coerced into giving the witch a vial of the substance.
11	The Tale of Dirk's New Sword	17 November 1984	Dirk and his friends meet Shortbeard, the sole defender of the town of Havenwood against the Trolls. The Trolls steal the town's enchanted timber which they build an invincible war machine and Dirk must help get it back.
12	The Legend of the Giant's Name	24 November 1984	The evil dragon Cinge awakens the last remaining Giant to wreak havoc on the kingdom. Dirk bargains with Cinge that if he survives a night alone in the magical Black Hill of Arddu, the Giant will be banished and the safety of the kingdom guaranteed.
13	The Mist of Wishes	30 November 1984	Dirk and Sir Blunt sneak into the dragon's lair to steal the one weapon that will destroy Cinge. Cinge, however, has captured Puck the Elf to extort the secret of the Mist of Wishes. Sir Blunt ends up with the Mist and turns into a bigger threat than Cinge.

Cast

• Bob Sarlatte – Dirk the Daring
• Ellen Gerstell – Princess Daphne
• Fred Travalena – King Ethelred
• Michael Mish – Timothy
• Arthur Burghardt – Cinge the Dragon
• Peter Cullen – Bertram the Horse, Sir Hubert Blunt
• Clive Revill – Storyteller

Additional voices

• Marilyn Schreffler
• Michael Sheehan

Uncredited voices

• June Foray - Sybilla, Peasant Woman

DVD release

On September 20, 2011, Warner Bros. released Dragon's Lair: The Complete Series on DVD in region 1 via their Warner Archive Collection using the branding of ‘Hanna-Barbera Classic Collection.” A Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) release, the set was originally available exclusively through Warner's online store and only in the US.

Streaming Services

All 13 episodes are currently available for streaming and digital purchase as a season set or individual episodes on Amazon Prime Video, iTunes and Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, and Microsoft Movies & TV.

Reception

Reviewing the "Warner Archive" DVD release for IGN.com in 2011, critic R. L. Shaffer wrote:

Dragon's Lair runs out of ideas pretty much right after the fairly exciting opening credits montage. And that makes sense. After all, the series doesn't detail the adventure we all know and love from the popular '80s video game. Rather, this 1984 Ruby-Spears animated production focuses on the continued adventures of Dirk the Daring. Layered with weak animation, some pretty terrible episode plots (the first episode, for example, has our main character going on a daring quest to get... a birthday present) and clumsy voice work, there's not much appeal to the series. But if you're a hardcore lover of all things Dragon's Lair, you might get a kick out of what this series has to offer. After all, as this 13-episode series progresses it does manage to get a little better, with darker narratives and slightly better animation. But the show can't ever seem to escape its own generic template – one that had already outstayed its welcome by 1984. . . . "Dragon's Lair: The Complete Series" is a great title for Warner Archive. It's not a great presentation, nor does it boast decent audio, or even any extras. However, if you're a hardcore lover of the series, or just a fan of the game, this collection is worth collecting. And I'm pleased Warner has made it available for those fans. Casual fans and newcomers, on the other hand, needn't bother.

Trivia

• Despite being a part of ABC's Saturday morning programming block, many original airdate listings for the show cite the Friday before as its debut.

Gallery

ABC Network Fall 1984 Promotion

ABC Network Promotional Photo