Dungeons and Dragons has been the most popular tabletop role-playing game for the better part of five decades. However, for three years, it was also an animated television series. Co-produced by Marvel Productions, TSR and Toei Animation, Dungeons & Dragons aired for 27 episodes on CBS between 1983 and 1985. But the Saturday morning cartoon was canceled before its final episode could be completed. The script for that finale, "Requiem," is available online, and has been recorded radio play-style so that fans of the '80s cartoon can have some closure.
The series followed six children who are transported to the realm of D&D via a portal in an amusement park ride. They navigated a series of adventures under the guidance of the Dungeon Master, hoping to returning home. From there, each of the characters was assigned a role. There was Bobby the Barbarian, Presto the Magician, Sheila the Thief and Diana the Acrobat. However, most of the plot centered on the power struggle between the group's two oldest members -- de facto leader Hank the Ranger and Eric the Cavalier.
The Dungeons & Dragons Cartoon Was Highly Controversial
The Dungeons & Dragons characters encountered plenty of familiar monsters including orcs, dragons and a Beholder. They made use of in-world items and weapons, like energy arrows and a magic hat. The storylines of most episodes also felt like a campaign, revolving around the heroes making a series of choices, steered by the somewhat suspicious Dungeon Master. Their nemesis was Venger, an evil wizard and one of the scariest villains ever to wreak havoc in a children's cartoon.
In fact, Dungeons and Dragons became the subject of some controversy because of its fear factor as well as its animated violence (or even the suggestion of violence). Per Wikipedia, parent groups complained when one episode had the children consider murdering Venger. The National Coalition on Television Violence demanded the show air with a warning that "Dungeons & Dragons has been linked to real-life violent deaths" after a mother blamed her son's suicide on his involvement with the game. The series got caught up in the culture wars, with detractors believing RPGs contained Satanic influences, and its abrupt cancellation meant that fans never learned whether Hank, Eric and company finally made it home.
But in "Requiem," Dungeon Master and Venger decide to test the group's courage with a quest to find a key that pits their allegiance to the Dungeon Master against temptations levied by Venger. Dungeon Master pretends to abandon them to the realm, leaving the group to fight a seven-headed Hydra. After a hard-won victory, they come to a fork in the road: Hank wants to take the less-traveled road west and Eric wants to take the easier-looking path east. Hank relents, and the group heads east. As they set up camp, they encounter Venger, who posits that it's convenient for people to see the world in terms of clear-cut good and evil. He promises that if the group retrieves a key and throws it into the abyss, he'll grant them their wish to return to the amusement park.
How The D&D Cartoon Ended After Three Seasons
Hank distrusts their longtime antagonist, but Eric takes him at his word and mutinies. The group is split; half of the kids set off in a galleon and half climb aboard a Bronze Dragon, both in search of the key. Supposedly altruistic Hank nearly kills his friends in the galleon, believing his way is the only way home. The tension and division continue through a final battle with an enormous Gelatinous Amoeba. Hank apparently dies after a fall into the abyss, and Eric is about to toss the key when he has second thoughts and instead, uses it to open a sarcophagus. Dungeons & Dragons' big reveal is that Venger is Dungeon Master's son, cursed by an evil rival master. Dungeon Master is happy to have his child back, and Hank reappears having survived his ordeal. With their true purpose achieved, the group is sent back from whence they came.
At one juncture in their journey, Hank says, "We'll worry about that later, if there is a later." That seems to have been how the writers and producers of Dungeons & Dragons operated, too, worrying the final episode's title would give too much away. Part of the goal of "Requiem" was to wrap up the third season and reboot the series, focusing less on weapons and violence and more on the self-reliance and intelligence of the six kids. Unfortunately, the show wasn't renewed for a fourth season, marking the end of D&D's adventures on television.