Fan Page: Dragon's Lair

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

Dragon's Lair was a turning point in my young nerdy life; Dragon's Lair taught me words for the things I had always noticed about cartoons. Dragon's Lair taught me the difference between AWESOME Animation and POOR Animation. The Saturday morning cartoon version? POOR ANIMATION.

But the original video game?

Frickin' AWESOME ANIMATION!!! I started learning the names of animators and paying attention to what I was watching. I discovered "Anime". By the end of 1984 I could tell with 90% accuracy what country and/or what studio had done the animation on any given cartoon. ANd that gave me GEEK CRED at a very early age :)

Got a story you'd like to share about Dragon's Lair? The Cartoon, the video games, the coveted lunch box... feel free to discuss in the comments below! And if this was a favorite cartoon of yours on Saturday Mornings int he 80's don't forget to go vote for it in our Best of 1984 Poll!

Comments

[queeberquabbler.livejournal.com]

I completely agree. WHY they used such cruddy animation in the show when the videogame had graphics WAY ahead of its time is beyond me. Gar!

Speaking of, did you ever see the Family Guy clip that paid homage to DL? Here is the link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpz3mKi1FjY&playnext=1&list=PLE813D25D923E32D3) just in case :)

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

I love that clip... they do some great homage on that show :)

[aurora77]

I agree. The games were gorgeous. But they had to entertain more than just 7-year-olds. They were geared toward quarter-spending teens, who would recognize bad animation and be turned off by it. The series was just passable and fine for the younger audience, though. And far cheaper to produce, I'm sure.

[erin-c-1978.livejournal.com]

Wow, you sure can see the difference!

By the end of 1984 I could tell with 90% accuracy what country and/or what studio had done the animation on any given cartoon. ANd that gave me GEEK CRED at a very early age :)

I'm impressed! I've been able to equal your rate of accuracy within a given show (Gargoyles, specifically), but never across the board.

[artytoons.livejournal.com]

This was one of two Ruby-Spears produced series based on laser video games originally animated by Don Bluth's studios, the other being "Space Ace" for "Saturday Supercade". Naturally the Bluth versions featured better full animation and graphics. The logistics for Saturday AM programming were different...13 half hour episodes produced on time within budget per season. Limited animation was the norm for a tv series as opposed to a video game with 20 minutes of game play plus the intro and death scenes. Some character designs had to be altered for tv network censors (the designs for Princess Daphne from "Dragon's Lair" and Kimmy from "Space Ace" had to be toned down).

"Dragon's Lair" tv show was interesting with Dirk the Daring's death scenes should the viewer select the wrong way of solving a problem Dirk faced...beating Kenny from "South Park" as a character dying each week.