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by R.J. Carter Published: November 22, 2006
If, like me, you always had a pair of 20-sided dice on hand while participating in the weekly event known as Saturday Morning, you'll recall the excitement of the series, and the way the animators captured the spirit of the Gary Gygax game. And now, thanks to BCI's Ink & Paint division, all twenty-seven episodes of the series have been collected onto this five-disc volume, remastered and looking better than ever. But BCI has never been content to release a mere collection of episodes. Having already stunned the world of fandom with their treatments of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and Groovie Goolies, BCI has set a new standard for coolness with this release of Dungeons & Dragons. The wow element begins with the box itself, designed with a lift-off top, so it has that role-playing game feel right off the bat. With the lid off, the first thing to greet your eyes is not the disc case, nor even the episode guide (done with the traditional BCI depth of information!) No, what you 'll first see is a hardcover booklet, "The Dungeons & Dragons Animated Series Handbook", containing stats for characters and magic items, and a specially made D&D adventure starring the characters and designed by Wizards of the Coast. The adventure, "Beneath the Blade of Sword Mountain", is a prelude to the episode "The Dragon's Graveyard", and adds a whole new level of depth to the show. But not all the special goodies are of the tangible kind. Although two episodes -- "The Night of No Tomorrow" and "The Dragon's Graveyard" -- feature audio commentary from Bob Richardson, Hank Saroyan, Mark Evanier, Michael reaes, Ted Field II, and Judy Price (hosted by BCI mainstay, Andy Mangels), it's the fifth disc of this set, devoted exclusively to special features, that will cast a +7 Stun Spell on the hardcore fans. We start out with the usual making-of featurette, which looks back on the creation of the series and includes interviews with CBS Director of Children's Programming Teddy Field II (gee, why does that name sound familiar?), Hank Saroyan, Bob Richardson and Mark Evanier. Buzz Dixon comes in halfway through, along with Michael Reaves (Blackstar), Bob Kline, and Michael Swanigan (He-Man and the Masters of the Universe), all of whom had real hands-on experience with sculpting the series.
Except... it did! Michael Reaves scripted "Requiem", and BCI cast it as a radio play specifically for this DVD release! Katie Leigh returns to voice Sheila the Thief. And is that her daughter Laura Leigh playing the role of Diana? Daniel Roebuck is there, and his son Buster, as well as Neil Kaplan and Family Guy's Wally Wingert. Listen in and learn the secret connection between Dungeon Master and Venger, and learn Venger's ultimate fate! The fifth disc also has profile information for 30 characters, 10 artifacts, and 10 creatures, all with demo clips. There are alternate opening and closing credits as well as teaser clips, and an animated storyboard version of "The Girl Who Dreamed Tomorrow" with three different viewing angles. A gallery shows off 22 pieces of Dungeons & Dragons memorabilia, as well as 64 model sheets, which you scroll through using the arrow buttons of your remote control. The DVD-ROM content gives you PDF versions of the scripts for episodes 5 thru 12, 15, and 17 thru 22. You also get the script for the unproduced "Requiem". That alone would be super-cool. But you also get PDF storyboards for "The Girl Who Dreamed Tomorrow", "City at the Edge of Midnight", and "Cave of the Fairie Dragons", the series bible developed by Mark Evanier, and CBS's Audience Scores and notes on the series. Did you think we were done with the special features, yet? Well, we're not. There's an interactive Dungeons & Dragons adventure, "Kelek's Crystal", done in the "Choose Your Own Adventure" style. And there's a live action fan film, "Choices", by Sean Kennedy and starring Colter Allison, Katherine Leigey, Jon Fedele and Matthew G. Fullen. The film is four minutes, and features characters Hank and Sheila as Hank has to confront the fact that sometimes people get killed in these battles he has. The acting is a bit flat on this -- but you'll forgive that when Sheila puts on her Invisibility Cloak and Hank draws back on his Energy Bow; very nicely done special effects for a fan film. Kudos to BCI for including this bit -- just one more thing to demonstrate BCI's commitment to the fans of the niche series that the company treats so reverently. So roll the dice on this remastered set of boxed memories. It's a treasure worth battling a cavern of wights, skeletons, and Tiamat herself to obtain.
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