Television
The CBS network ran a Saturday morning cartoon series called Dungeons & Dragons, in which a group of teenagers visiting a Dungeons and Dragons-themed theme park dark ride get magically transported into the fantasy world of Dungeons and Dragons. The show included the voice talents of Willie Aames of Eight is Enough, and ran from 1983 to 1985.
Innumerable television episodes feature references to Dungeons & Dragons, either as an element of character development or as a humorous or satirical reference. These include:
- Community - the second season episode titled Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (AD&D) centers around the study group, sans Pierce, playing a game of AD&D to cheer up their near-suicidal classmate, "Fat Neil". Pierce's exclusion leads him to barge into the game, and torment everyone.
- Futurama - in the episode "Anthology of Interest I", Gary Gygax guest-starred. Other scattered references to the game appeared throughout the episode.
- Freaks and Geeks - the final episode of the series, titled Discos and Dragons, has Daniel (James Franco) being forced to join the Audio/Visual Club and the geeks invite him to a game of Dungeons & Dragons. He ends up enjoying it.
- The Sarah Silverman Program - in the second season episode Bored of the Rings, a planned date night is disrupted by a Dungeons & Dragons game.
- In the Radio Daze episode of That 70's Show, Donna is asked if she and Eric would like to stay to play Dungeons & Dragons at the radio station she works at. At the end of the episode, two staff members are shown playing a session, with a cameo appearance by Alice Cooper who is also shown playing.
- The Simpsons - Homer tells how he bonded with some new geek friends by playing D&D "for three hours... then I was slain by an elf."
- Corner Gas - in the episode "Happy Campers", Brent is seen playing a game of D&D with a group of teenage boys in the city.
- Dexter's laboratory - in the episode "D&DD", Dexter and his friends are playing "Monsters & Mazes" (which could also be a reference to Mazes and Monsters as well), a game very much like D&D. Also, when prompted to create a player character, Dexter says he will be "Gygax, the 27th-level warrior/mage".
- Recess (TV series) - in the episode "Lord of the nerds", T.J. joins a group of kids who, among other things, play "Daggers & Dragons", which resembles D&D . Apparently, some player classes are: barbarian, cleric, ogre (seems to be a class, much like hobbits were in 1st ed. AD&D), swordmaster, and druid. Only the elf race is mentioned.
Read more about this topic: Dungeons & Dragons In Popular Culture
Famous quotes containing the word television:
“We cannot spare our children the influence of harmful values by turning off the television any more than we can keep them home forever or revamp the world before they get there. Merely keeping them in the dark is no protection and, in fact, can make them vulnerable and immature.”
—Polly Berrien Berends (20th century)
“History is not what you thought. It is what you can remember. All other history defeats itself.
In Beverly Hills ... they don’t throw their garbage away. They make it into television shows.
Idealism is the despot of thought, just as politics is the despot of will.”
—Mikhail Bakunin (1814–1876)
“It is among the ranks of school-age children, those six- to twelve-year-olds who once avidly filled their free moments with childhood play, that the greatest change is evident. In the place of traditional, sometimes ancient childhood games that were still popular a generation ago, in the place of fantasy and make- believe play . . . today’s children have substituted television viewing and, most recently, video games.”
—Marie Winn (20th century)