It was definitely pushing the envelope further than most 80’s cartoons. Lot of rough spots, but it’s one of the few D&D properties that feels like D&D to me. Half the show is taking the fantasy world seriously, the other half is modern teens making fun of it. All while being pointed in the right direction by a Dungeon Master*. If anyone is wondering; this show was cancelled before I was born so this isn’t just nostalgia taking.

*one element that intrigued me was the slow reveal of Dungeon Master’s backstory. The show isn’t serialized, at least not in the modern sense, but the way the breadcrumbs slowly built up makes me wonder what a modern crew could do with the idea. >!Over the course of the show it’s revealed that the kids are not the first group he brought into the realm, and that both of the two groups mentioned met a nasty end. The last episode of the show implies a group of teens brought over sometime around the turn of the 19th century, who then tried to fight the big bad of their time, but failed. All but one of them was imprisoned in a pocket universe, and Dungeon Master abandoned the surviving girl, Martha, to wander the realm until the kids meet her as an old woman!<