Plot Details: This opinion reveals everything about the movie's plot.

Ok so last summer I heard DIC re-released a few of there classic tv series on DVD and VHS. Well I found this in the bargain bin at wal-mart and with an episode of a sonic the hedgehog series on it I figure it must be one of the new ones. I kind of wish they had a few episodes of Captain N the game master on sale but since they didn’t I bought this. I remember the legend of Zelda cartoon series being a bit sucky, but since I was an idiot has a kid and hated Zelda I thought that may have jaded my vision. Since Zelda is now my favorite video game series surely this cartoon wasn’t all that bad. I popped it in and found out that it still sucked. The good news is that my little brother liked it enough that when we where stuck over at our grandma’s house he watch this non stop, which was great because it meant I could play Zelda with out being bothered by him. That was worth the 5 dollars I paid.

Anyways first there’s a few things people who haven’t played the original Zelda game might be confused about. The good news Nintendo finally released it in a collectors edition, while it didn’t go retail you can still pick it up by subscribing to Nintendo Power while supplies last.

Why is Link a jerk and Zelda b!tch?
Don’t know why DIC decided to make these two unlikable and it’s probably why the series was so short lived. To DIC credit though there’s not much to go with the original video games, Link never spoke, and all Zelda said in the original was thank you Link you’re the hero of Hyrule is not much to go on. But these are the characters DIC created, and Link’s exxcccuuusee mee princess would live on in video game cartoon infamy.

Why is there only two triforces in this series.
In the original game there where only two pieces of the triforce? Power and Wisdom, courage was MIA intill Zelda 2..

What is with the cross on Link’s shield rather then the usual Triforce design? Simple back in the days of the NES the cross type shield was probably easier to design on the NES. Besides it looked like European shield is what Nintendo was going there.

Why does Link state his surprise about Hyrule having magic?
This is basically the only thing they got right about the series. In the original story according to the instruction booklet Link was an adventure from another land who found out about Hyrules trouble. Of course being a newbie it’s natural to be surprised by a few things.

What’s with the corny sound effects for Link’s sword blasts and other sound effects.
DIC decided to put a lot of the sound effects from the NES games. Don’t 1980 NES games sound awesome (ok so they totally blow but it’s all we had).

Animation.
I can’t really complain about the animation in this show. They capture the look in the instruction book of the classic Zelda games perfect. Hyrule looks exactly what I thought it would like from all the advertising poster and other artwork Nintendo did with it. Link and Zelda might be unlikable but no complaints about the look of Hyrule. The only thing that comes closer to letting people explore an animated Hyrule is Zelda the Wind WakerWind Waker.

Episodes
Episode 1 the ringer.
I do believe this is the first episode in the series and it’s not really that bad, but it’s not that great either. The episode starts with Link getting out of bed complaining about settling down in Hyrule and then spots Zelda out of his window and reminds himself while he stays. He whistles at her, which Zelda of course takes offense to. Just then moblins find there way into Link’s room to get the triforce that he possesses (you know if this triangle is the key to who rules the kingdom shouldn’t be stored in a better place then in his bedroom, you know like maybe a big castle with a gray skull comes to mind). He dispatches them in a decently done action scene. After he’s done finishing them off Zelda knocks on the door and slaps him for whistling at her. She then tells them about an amateur magician contest going on at the castle that she is judging. Gannon gets wind of this and decides to go there to cause trouble. While Gannon causes trouble at the magician show by causing a lizard to turn into a dragon, causing Link to show up to dispatch it. Gannon seizes the unprotected Trifoce. Zelda and Link go after him by using a giant vine to catapult themselves in his direction. After the fight is done though Gannon escapes into an underworld entrance with the triforce. Link throws a bomb into an entrance and blows Gannon up and then recovers the Triforce. The episode ends with Gannon trapped in a jar complaing about his defeat.

Thoughts.
This pretty much sets the standards for the Zelda series. Has I mention above Zelda is a b!tch. In one scene she scolds one of the magicians for having smelly shoes. Link’s no better being a hyperactive jerk that is totally unlikable. Gannon being a villain from the 80’s is completely cheese ball. But unlike the Shredder and Skeletor before him he just can’t ham it up (pardon the pun), and comes off has lame. There are some pretty good fight scenes and there some excellent remixes of the Zelda theme. But that alone doesn’t cover the lame script and unlikable characters.

Number of exxxccuuussseee meee princess 2 (3 if you count the opening theme)

Cold Spell.
Last episode was all right this one is a bit worse. Take out what little humor was in the last episode, has well has the fight scenes and we get all the flaws in the Zelda animated series. Zelda has order Link and Sprite to do spring cleaning and to get out of work Link pretends to have a cold. While working on cleaning the castle sprite stops do get an orange and Gannon zaps her with a spell that screws up her magic. When Zelda tells her to clean a room in the castle she ends up flooding it because of Gannon’s spell. Link arrives to help and they beat Sprites possed water bucket and mops. When Zelda see’s that Link’s cold has suddenly gone away she questions him about it, Link apologizes but figures that Gannon must be after the triforce. And he is doing just that climbing up the castle in a ridiculously huge slug. Gannon gets the triforce and Link and Zelda give chase on horses and then through the underworld. They fall into one of Gannon’s traps and land in a jar that they cannot escape. Sprite shows up and blasts it and breaks it. Zelda blasts Gannon one with her bow and he disappears but not before causing the cave there into collapse. Zelda gets the Triforce of wisdom back but Link pulls her out of the collapsing cave before she can get power. Back at the castle Zelda orders them to reclean the castle only to have Link say he has another cold coming on.

This episodes a mess in till about the last 2 minutes it’s all over the place with no real solid story. You have Link playing sick in bed, Sprite and Zelda cleaning the castle, and Gannon plotting no real plot. There is no real decent action scenes in this one either in less you consider a battle between a mop and a bucket a fight. My main thought if Zelda’s a princess why not hire somebody to do the cleaning. Having the person who is guarding the magical item that can destroy the kingdom doing house work doesn’t seem very smart. But neither is stashing it in a tower that has open windows either.

Number of exxxcccuuussseee mee princess: surprising none but Link still acts like a jerk.

White Knight.
Ok this is a bit of pick up compared to the cold spell but it’s far from being great. It starts out pretty good with Link and Zelda visiting a village. And we get actually hear Link say something that actually shows he’s not from Hyrule when he comments all the magic in Hyrule. Link and Zelda conversation when a bunch of tin suits and an octorock show up and start attacking the village. Link jumps in and starts fighting but he looses his sword when one of the fallen tin suits drops a rupee. Zelda tries to save him with her bow but she runs out of arrow. Link tells her to blow him a kiss because he’s going to be in trouble. The octorock throws him threw a barn and starts fighting with the remaining tin suit of the rupee. The ocotorock wins, but Link has recovered and grabs on to him. The Ocotorock runs away despite Link holding on to a tentacle for dear life. It’s then when a white knight steps in and finishes the Octorock. Zelda shows up and is instantly head over heals for the knight who introduces himself has Prince Façade. Link of course is instantly turn off by this, even more so when Zelda informs him he’ll have to walk back to the castle. Back at the castle Façade tells story about his adventure and Link get’s watch up with a little unwanted help from Sprite (a few jokes I am surprised made into a kids TV show but they there about has funny has this show gets). He get’s dressed up in some real ridiculous set of clothes and makes a fool of himself. When Zelda laughs at him he decides to leave. Meanwhile Gannon hears about Façade and he knows that Façade is a brave knight, but his vanity outweighs his bravery. He won’t get dirty even to save a Princess. He sends a band of Zola and a bunch of Tekites to capture her. When Zelda gets capture Façade runs after her in till they run into a swamp (man Hyrule castle is in a unique area, it’s in a meadow, with a forest directly to the south of it, and a swamp right smack dab on the western gates) . He refuses to go in. But Link hearing the commotion steps and saves her. Zelda gets mad that Façade didn’t come in and save her and pushes him into the mud. Meanwhile Link asks for a kiss for saving her but she refuses.

Ok like I said a lot better. While the ending fight scene with the Zola isn’t great. The one that starts the episode is short but fairly fast paced. The only person that comes out underused is Gannon. And that’s only to explain what happens next with the Zola, besides that Gannon is unneeded.

Number of exxccuusee mee princess ½ (he says it but it’s really fast)

But that’s not all you get. After some ex wrestler finishes doing the Mario. There is an episode of a series I never heard of called Sonic underground. When I saw Sonic the Hedgehog I thought of the ABC classic series. But this ones different, really different. This one sucks.

Now it’s nowhere near what I consider the worsed animated film Return to neverland. But it’s far from being enjoyable. In this one Sonic has a brother and a sister, and there looking for there mother so they can beat Dr. Robotnick. It’s also easy to tell that Jaeel White voices the 3 hedgehog, especially since the girls sounds exactly like Steve Urkel. when the captain of there mother body guards Argest gets kidnapp and robotized. Sonic and his sibs break into the party thrown to celebrate it and try to turn Argest back, using medallions that turn into musical instruments (should show you the amount of suck your in for here). Argest only gives them a broad detail of mom being in an underground sewer before turning back into a robot. Sonic and the gang split before getting captured. Meanwhile Sonic using the few clues Argust gave them sing a song for a bunch of people (when video game characters start singing you know it’s going to suck, but this one doesn’t suck has bad has I thought). When a villager tells them they know where she is they follow him to a sewer, where it turns out to be a trap. The villager turns out to be a brain dead shape shifting dingo working for robotnick, and his partner Slade a wolf get a drop in on them with a bunch of robots. Argust being one of them the Sonic crew turns him back to normal so he can tell her where there mother really is. He tells her she’s nearby but Dingo disguised has Argis is trying to capture her. Sonic helps her escape from Dingo but they get spereated again in the battle. Sonic gang escape from Dingo vowing they will find her again.

Final Recommendation.
None of the 4 episodes are really that great. Both the Sonic and Zelda are really lame. Only die hard fan of both video game series might find the series likeable. I should also tell you that Yahooligans has announce they’ll be airing the series through streaming media over the web

Recommended: No

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: None of the Above
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up Ages 8