Dungeons and Dragons

I was soooo psyched to see this airing on the Disney Channel the other night! "Dungeons and Dragons" was about 4 teens and one's younger brother who were thrust into a fantasical world while riding the Dungeon and Dragons roller-coaster at a theme park. Their only guide/help was Dungeon Master (who shall be known, henceforth as DM), a short little wizard with extreme magical powers. He gave each of them a gift. To Hank, their leader, he gave a magical bow that never ran out of arrows (they were in fact made of a magical light and could do neat things like wrap around orcs). To Eric, the cowardly cavalier, he gave a shield that would deflect anything. Red-haired Diana became the thief, and was given a magical invisibility cloak. Sheila, who also happened to be a gymnast, was given a staff that could resize at will. Young Bobby, Diana's younger brother, became the "barbarian" and was given a wooden club that could shake the earth. Last, but not least, was Presto, who was given a wizards hat, but often had trouble conjuering exactly what he wanted though usually got something he needed. The DM instructed the kids that the only way to get home was to defeat the evil Venger, a demonish creature that rode a flying black steed though he himself had wings.

The gang was also accompanied on their journeys by Uni, every little girl's dream pet--a baby unicorn. Uni could teleport once a day, though most often just found herself in trouble.

The show only lasted two seasons, and while a final episode was written, entitle "Requiem", it was never filmed. Follow the link to read what would have happened.

Is it airing: For some reason, I can't find this listed on Zap2it's tv listings scheduled, but I'm fairly certain it was airing on Disney around 5:30-6 either Saturday or Sunday night (though there is a possibility it was ABC Family.

DVD Availability: It appears to be available overseas, so if your DVD player can play Region 2, you can get it at amazon.com.

Captain Planet

"Captain Planet" was an interesting, ecologically minded cartoon in which Gaia, the spirit of the Earth, created 5 magical rings that were given to said number of teens across the planet. When the power of the rings combined (Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Spirit) a green-haired, blue skinned hero would emerge to save the day, Captain Planet. While the cartoon was a little hokey, the message was clear. We all need to work together to save our planet.

Even though there are no new episodes being made, there are several websites devoted to the show, and it even boasts its own charity, The Capitan Planet Foundation. It supports k-12 projects and activities that help children learn to treat our planet responsibly.

It can be seen weekdays at 6 am on the Boomerang Network.

She-ra: Princess of Power

Born out of a need to capitalize on the female market, She-ra, the "twin" sister of He-man/Prince Adam was born. Not only did She-ra possess super-human strength, her sword was a little better (it possessed a gemstone), her animal partner was not only a unicorn but could fly as well (and had beautiful rainbow colored wings), her transformation was better...and yet it was really awesome (at the time anyway!) She-ra (AKA Princess Adora) became leader of the rebellion on Etheria (those pesky "evil forces of Hordak"), with help from Bow, an archer, Frosta (with the power to freeze), Queen Angella and her daughter Glimmer, Double-Trouble, Peek-a-Blue and a few others. I will not admit to owning most of the dolls or the Crystal Water Fall playset, or that I owned She-ra goldenbooks--all of which might be in storage somewhere...*ahem*

Anyway...it seems She-ra figurines are quite collectable these days...so drag 'em out of storage and say hello to Ebay! (or you could always set them up-you know-for their, uh, collectability and coolness.)

Tranzor Z

In a Voltron like cartoon, Tranzor Z was a huge robot that was piloted by young Tommy Davis. A "female" robot, Aphrodite, was piloted by Jessica Davis, Tommy's cousin. Together they attempted to foil Dr. Demon's evil plans to try and take over the world. Was it as good as Voltron...nah, but it was fun in it's own right (though Tranzor Z was the first of the super robot anime cartoons it originally aired in 1972-1974). This series did have an ending, with Tommy and Jessica finally defeating Dr. Demon and his evil team.

What's interesting about Tranzor Z, as it was the first cartoon featuring a super giant robot, you could say it is the father of all the ones that followed...Voltron , today's Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force Go, even the ever popular "Power Rangers" series.

Voltron

Voltron was a really cool 80s cartoon, that has made various comebacks over the years, but they were never as good as the original. Here is the opening sequence, which will fill you in on the story's background.

From days of long ago...

Now that you've watched it...you'll remember that Sven (in the white and black uniform) was killed, and Princess Allura took his place in the blue lion. This was one of my favorite cartoons back in the day. There was a little bit of romance (Princess Allura and Lion leader, Keith), a really cool robot, and of course, the whole thing took place in outer space. From reading various episode guides, it appears the cartoon was never really given a finale, yet has returned in two different formats. One featured vehicles that joined to form the super robot, the other featured three teams, land, water and air (each with like 5 members).
Is it airing now: not that I can find
Available on DVD: It's coming, according to WEP (the company that produced the show). You can however, buy VHS tapes of a few episodes at their site (google World Event Productions).