Dragon's Lair | |
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Genre | Fantasy Animation Action Adventure Sword and sorcery |
Based on | |
Developed by | Ruby-Spears Productions |
Written by | Michael Charles Hill |
Voices of | Bob Sarlatte Ellen Gerstell Fred Travalena Michael Mish Arthur Burghardt Peter Cullen |
Narrated by | Clive Revill |
Composer | John Debney |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 13 |
Production | |
Running time | 30 minutes (including commercials) |
Production company | Ruby-Spears Productions |
Original release | |
Network | ABC |
Release | September 8 – December 1, 1984 |
Related | |
Dragon's Lair is a television animated series by Ruby-Spears Productions based on the 1983 video game of the same name. [1] Thirteen half-hour episodes were produced and aired from September 8, 1984, to April 20, 1985, on ABC. [2]
The series chronicles the adventures of Dirk the Daring, who is the best knight in the kingdom of King Ethelred. Dirk performs all sorts of great deeds while protecting the kingdom and his love Princess Daphne from the forces of the evil dragon Singe. In his adventures there are several original characters like his stallion Bertram, his squire Timothy, and arrogant knight Sir Hubert Blunt who is Dirk the Daring's rival.
Before each commercial break, Dirk the Daring faces a cliffhanger situation. In keeping with the spirit of the game, the storyteller narrates Dirk's options and asks the viewer "What would you do?" After the commercial break, the outcomes of the various choices were shown before Dirk acts on the correct idea (with the occasional exception) to advance the story.
Several enemies from the original game also make their appearance as adversaries: the Lizard King, the Phantom Knight, the Smithee, the Giddy Goons, and the Mudmen. In the episode "The Legend of the Giant's Name", an Ardu giant awakened by Singe forces Dirk to find his way out of an enchanted cave, which gradually transforms him into a skeleton, much like the death animations of the game.
No. | Title | Original air date | |
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1 | "The Tale of the Enchanted Gift" | September 8, 1984 | |
In an effort to outdo his competition, Dirk the Daring gives Princess Daphne a golden bird for her birthday. The bird, however, is enchanted and kidnaps the princess, delivering her to Singe the Dragon so that he can get King Ethelred to surrender his kingdom. | |||
2 | "Sir Timothy's Quest" | September 15, 1984 | |
Timothy's friend, fellow squire Torgren, is wrongly imprisoned when the King's map to his gold is stolen. Timothy sets out in search of the map which leads him to the kingdom of the Lizard King, the true culprit. | |||
3 | "The Tournament of the Phantom Knight" | September 22, 1984 | |
The Phantom Knight invades a tournament and kidnaps the King. Dirk the Daring must battle the Phantom Knight, rescue the King, and restore him to the castle. | |||
4 | "The Smithee's Haunted Armor" | September 29, 1984 | |
Long ago, two sorcerers gave a smithee a magic hammer. The smithee used this hammer for evil so they turned him into bronze. When the King needs a suit of armor, Dirk finds the magic armor created by the evil smithee and must fight the sorcerers and the reanimated smithee to get it. | |||
5 | "The Pool of Youth" | October 6, 1984 | |
Dirk, Daphne, and Timothy travel to Avalon to stop the ancient evil witch Biralla from drinking from the waters of the "Pool of Youth" which will give her the power to rule the world. | |||
6 | "The Story of Old Alf" | October 13, 1984 | |
Old Alf the magician chooses Daphne as his new apprentice, but her impetuous use of magic brings the wrath of Singe down on Ethelred and his kingdom. Dirk must battle Singe to restore order to the kingdom. | |||
7 | "The Song of the Chimes" | October 20, 1984 | |
The evil Urisk wants to employ magical wind chimes to turn the world into a hot desert that he can rule with his lava men and other fire creatures. | |||
8 | "The Girl from Crow's Wood" | October 27, 1984 | |
Princess Daphne and the pauper girl Bronwen trade places when they discover their uncanny likeness. Bronwen uses Dirk to free the evil Sybilla. | |||
9 | "Mirror, Mirror" | November 3, 1984 | |
In a plan to fool King Ethelred and his people into believing Dirk is a villain, Singe uses a magical mirror to masquerade as Dirk while attacking the village. | |||
10 | "The Snow Witch" | November 10, 1984 | |
Dirk is confronted by a snow witch when he discovers a potion that turns fire to ice. Dirk is coerced into giving the snow witch a vial of the substance so that she can free the world enabling the snow witch and her arctic creatures to rule it. | |||
11 | "The Tale of Dirk's New Sword" | November 17, 1984 | |
Dirk and his friends meet Shortbread, the sole defender of the town of Havenwood against the Trolls. The Trolls steal the town's enchanted timber from which they build an invincible war machine and Dirk must help get it back. | |||
12 | "The Legend of the Giant's Name" | November 24, 1984 | |
Singe awakens the last remaining Arddu Giant to wreak havoc on the kingdom. Dirk bargains with Singe that if he survives a night alone in the magical Black Hill of Arddu, the Giant will be banished and the safety of the kingdom guaranteed. | |||
13 | "The Mist of Wishes" | December 1, 1984 | |
Dirk and Sir Blunt sneak into the dragon's lair to steal the one weapon that will destroy Singe. However, Singe has captured Puck the Elf to extort the secret of the Mist of Wishes. Sir Blunt ends up with the Mist and turns into a bigger threat than Singe when he wishes to be king and successful in entrapping Singe. |
On September 20, 2011, Warner Bros. released Dragon's Lair: The Complete Series on DVD in region 1 via their Warner Archive Collection. This is a Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) release, available exclusively through Warner's online store and only in the US. [3]
The damsel in distress is a narrative device in which one or more men must rescue a woman who has been kidnapped or placed in other peril. The "damsel" is often portrayed as beautiful, popular and of high social status; they are usually depicted as princesses in works with fantasy or fairy tale settings. Kinship, love, lust or a combination of those motivate the male protagonist to initiate the narrative.
Donald Virgil Bluth is an American filmmaker, animator, and author. He is best known for directing the animated films The Secret of NIMH (1982), An American Tail (1986), The Land Before Time (1988), All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989), Anastasia (1997), and Titan A.E. (2000), for his involvement in the LaserDisc games Dragon's Lair (1983) and Space Ace (1983), and for competing with former employer Walt Disney Productions during the years leading up to the films that became the Disney Renaissance.
Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp is a 1990 laserdisc video game by the Leland Corporation. It is the first true sequel to Dragon's Lair. As with the original, Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp consists of an animated short film that requires the player to move the joystick or press a fire button at certain times in order to continue. It takes place years after the original Dragon's Lair. Dirk has married Daphne, and the marriage has produced many children. When Daphne is kidnapped by the evil wizard Mordroc in order to be forced into marriage, Dirk's children and his mother-in-law are clearly upset by the abduction of Daphne, and Dirk must once again save her.
The Big Knights is a British animated television series. It was created by Neville Astley and Mark Baker through their studio The Big Knights Ltd., in co-production with BBC Worldwide and in association with BBC Bristol. It was first broadcast on BBC Two over the Christmas season of 1999–2000. It was the first TV series to be digitally animated using CelAction 2D, while the first release of the software was still under development. It is mixed with cutout animation, traditional animation, and flash animation.
Dragon's Lair 3D: Return to the Lair is an action-adventure game released in 2002 by Ubi Soft. It is based on 1983 arcade video game Dragon's Lair and follows a similar story: Dirk the Daring must enter the evil wizard Mordroc's castle to rescue Princess Daphne from Singe the Dragon. Many of the characters and locations from the 1983 original make appearances in the game, along with new puzzles, rooms and enemies. Animator and director Don Bluth, who produced the cartoon animation for the original Dragon's Lair, produced new animated sequences for the opening and ending of the game. The game uses cel shading to mimic the style of the hand-drawn art of the 1983 game.
Escape from Singe's Castle, also known as Dragon's Lair Part II - Escape From Singe's Castle, is a 1987 video game from Software Projects. The game is sometimes referred to as Dragon's Lair II, but is not the official arcade sequel Dragon's Lair II: Time Warp.
Dragon's Lair: The Legend is a 1991 side-scrolling platform video game for the Nintendo Game Boy developed by Elite Systems. The game is part of the Dragon's Lair franchise and stars Dirk the Daring, who explores the world attempting to collect all 194 fragments of the mythical Life Stone. The gameplay is an extreme departure from other games in the series as it includes no enemies and aside from its protagonist, no other established characters. It does however retain the grueling difficulty that the series is known for.
Events in 1984 in animation.
Events in 1967 in animation.
Dragon's Lair is an interactive film LaserDisc video game developed by Advanced Microcomputer Systems and published by Cinematronics in 1983, as the first game in the Dragon's Lair series. In the game, the protagonist Dirk the Daring is a knight attempting to rescue Princess Daphne from the evil dragon Singe who has locked the princess in the foul wizard Mordroc's castle. It featured animation by ex-Disney animator Don Bluth.
Dragon's Lair is a video game franchise created by Rick Dyer. The series is notable for its Western animation-style graphics and complex decades-long history of being ported to many platforms. It has been adapted into television and comic book series.
Dragon's Lair III: The Curse of Mordread is a video game in the Dragon's Lair series, developed by Don Bluth Multimedia and published by ReadySoft Incorporated for the Amiga, Atari ST and MS-DOS in 1992. An Apple IIGS port was released in 2022.
Events in 1968 in animation.
Events in 1956 in animation.
Events in 1955 in animation.
Events in 1954 in animation.
Events in 1953 in animation.
Events in 1951 in animation.
Events in 1950 in animation.
Events in 1946 in animation.