I Want My D&D TV

After writing a post about a planned tv series based on the writings of JRR Tolkien, I started thinking again about something I've wanted to see for a long while: a tv series inspired by Dungeons & Dragons. Now seems like a good time, with the popularity of Game of Thrones and various fantasy films like the Harry Potter franchise, and improvements in visual effects to make things like non-human creatures and magic effects more achievable.

But there's been a Dungeons & Dragons tv show, you may say. Well, I'm sorry if this offends your nostalgia, but the D&D animated series from the '80s is an awful representation of D&D. It features modern-day characters who are transported to a magical fantasy world, instead of characters who belong there. Much of it is played for comedic effect, and the characters are (rather disturbingly) all teenagers - hence children. That's not the kind of story and characters I want to see.

I want to see characters who belong to that world, who already know how it works. I want them to go on quests rather than being on one continuous mission to defeat a recurring villain. I want the world to be fully realized instead of an ill-defined background for the characters' actions. I want the characters to be fully developed, too, with personalities and histories and reasons for doing what they do, even if their reasons are only to seek wealth or fame (one hopes that not all of them would have those goals).

But there are things I don't want to see in such a show, too. I don't want it to be full of political intrigue, sex, and violence, like GoT. There can be some sex, and some violence, and even a little political intrigue, but not to the level of GoT. The focus of the series should be about the characters, how they relate to each other, and how they overcome great obstacles to achieve success. It should also feature all of the elements that make it D&D - strange monsters, magical artifacts, ancient ruins, creatures from other dimensions, widely varied cultures, ancient prophesies and legends, gods walking the earth in disguise, divine interventions, magical healing, things that are innately and unequivocally evil, and many different species of sentient beings. GoT may have some of those things now, but it lost my interest because it lacked those elements during its early series.

I'd like this show to be a live-action show. I think visual effects for television have achieved the necessary level of sophistication to make that work. But I'd be satisfied with an animated series, too, as long as it wasn't written like a children's' show. The writers could take a page from animated shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender, Adventure Time, and Steven Universe to write shows that will appeal to kids without being simplistic or emotionally shallow. But I'd prefer live-action so it wouldn't have to worry as much about parents assuming if it's animated it's suitable for small children. If we could have a show like Stargate SG-1 with alien planets and spacecraft and raygun-like weapons, and have that show a decade ago, then I don't see why we can't have a show about elves and dwarves and wizards and dragons and magic spells.

Come on, somebody, make it happen.