As some of you know, I helped launch the Dungeons & Dragons animated series that debuted on CBS Saturday mornings in 1983. I didn't work long on it. I wrote the bible and pilot script based on a format and some characters created by others, and CBS bought the show on the strength of what I'd done. I had the option of story-editing and/or writing all further episodes but I passed on those jobs due to other commitments. A squad of very fine producers, writers and artists turned it into a successful three-season series that is still fondly-recalled by many.
Recently, a website called Toy Galaxy produced this video about the history of the show. They seem a lot more interested in discussing the toys based on the series (and why there were so few of them) than in the content of the program. I don't know much about the toys but I do know how my name is pronounced and it ain't the way the host says it here. I also know that contrary to what he says, I didn't leave the project to go work on Garfield and Friends. That show didn't come along until several years later.
And I'm pretty sure the outcry from parents' groups decrying the "violence" in the show was not as loud as this video makes it seem. At least, he doesn't claim as many do that the show was taken off the air because of those protests. The truth is that the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon was never a huge hit (as this video suggests it was) and the ratings declined mightily during Season 3. That's why there was no Season 4. I wish there had been. And a Season 5 and a Season 6 and so on…
I suppose someone might argue that the ratings decline was due to those protests but like I said, I don't think they were that loud or that plentiful..or the least bit effective. I also don't think there's any evidence that labeling a kids' show as "too violent" drove viewers away from Dungeons & Dragons — or any program ever in the history of mankind. Here's the video…