Subject: D&D Cartoon On-Line Fan Club Newsletter #6, Part 4 D&D CARTOON ON-LINE FAN CLUB FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ) LIST! * "Where can I get episodes of the cartoon?" Currently, there is only one episode that is available for retail purchase, which is "The Capture of the Dungeon Master" (which was released by Best Video about four or five years ago). There are several tape-trading offers on-line for the rest of the episodes. These are several of the D&D Cartoon-related websites that have offered D&D tape-trading on and off over the past 12 months: Lesley Hickman's page (http://mail.med.upenn.edu/~hickman/index.html) Spud's page: (http://learn.senecac.on.ca/~sjweber/index.html) Patrick Drazen's page: (http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/2599) Stop by their pages to get all the details on their tape-trading programs. * "How many episodes were there of the D&D Cartoon?" There were three first-run seasons of the D&D Cartoon, with twenty-seven episodes in all. * "Are there any other items related to the characters besides the episodes of the cartoon?" Like many other cartoons of the era, the D&D characters were licensed out rather extensively. Besides a board game that TSR did featuring the characters, there was also a series of books featuring each character, a Presto Magix set, even a sleeping bag! Sheila, Hank, Presto and Uni also appeared as PVC figures in one of the Fantasy Forest board games (and rather badly done, I might add). In addition, there was a sticker album with stickers featuring still-frames from the cartoon. I don't know if it ever came out here in the US, but I did pick one up in France around 1986 or so -- unfortunately, my copy and all the stickers in it went the way of the dodo, along with my brother's entire comic collection, when my mom unbeknowingly threw them out when she decided to help us both out and do some "straightening up" while we were both away at school. (I guess this is why old Star Wars figures are so expensive now -- did EVERYONE's mom throw away their cool stuff?) Anyway, recently TSR tried to revitalize the characters in a promotional comic called Forgotten Realms: The Grand Tour that was distributed in 1996. I just got it -- and all I can say is a repeat of what everyone else who's seen it has said. If you haven't seen it, believe me, you're not missing out on much. As for the other items, you might try asking at your local comic shop (mine is looking for the board game and found the promo comic for me), and you may want to try Amazon.com to find the books (I've recently placed a "hard-to-find" order for the six books there, but I haven't heard anything back yet). As for animation cels from the show, I've been looking for over four years now with no luck, so I don't have any helpful advice on the subject...Sorry! * "What IS the D&D Cartoon On-Line Fan Club, anyway?" Right now, the D&D Cartoon On-Line Fan Club consists of the bi-monthly E-Mail newsletter, which is a forum by and for fans of the D&D Cartoon to talk about the show, write about their ideas regarding the show, as well as being an ever-growing forum for fan fiction related to the cartoon. Hopefully we'll be getting a web page up sometime down the road -- but Lesley Hickman provides back issues and a fan fiction archive from the newsletter at her website (see the "D&D tapes" question for her address). * "How do you join the D&D Cartoon On-Line Fan Club? Does it cost anything?" You can join the D&D On-Line Fan Club by sending an E-Mail to Victoria Bishop, or ever-esteemed Director of Membership, at bishop@mb.sympatico.ca, with the following info: You Name, Your E-Mail Address, how long you've been a fan of the show, your favorite character , and your age (which is optional). And membership is, was, and always will be absolutely FREE! So there. * "I just joined the D&D Cartoon On-Line Fan Club -- is there any way to get back issues?" Unfortunately, no. Much as I would like to be able to send out old issues, I find that I barely have enough time just to get out the new issues. You can, however, find summaries and some of the regular features of past newsletters (such as the poll) at the ever-fabulous Lesley Hickman's website, which also contains all the fan fiction from past issues of the newsletter! Hopefully these will help you answer any questions you may have about the D&D cartoon or the D&D Cartoon On-Line Fan Club. If you have any suggestions for questions to post to this FAQ, please let me know. Thanks! ****************************************************************************** INTERVIEW WITH KATHY LAWRENCE! Is this a tasty treat or what? Esteemed fan club member Kim Bremner was able to snag this terrific interview with Kathy Selbert Lawrence, who wrote several episodes of the D&D cartoon. So, without further delay, read what she has to say about our favorite show! And a huge thank you thank you to Kim for putting this whole thing together! Hooray! :) Hello there everyone, Recently, I was talking with Katherine Lawrence who, as Kathy Selbert, wrote the episodes "Citadel of Shadow", "Cave of the Faerie Dragons", and co- wrote "The Winds of Darkness". She told me that she did a legal name change in 1990 for both personal and professional reasons and actually got more work as a result! After plaguing the poor lady incessantly, I ended up with a lot of really interesting answers and bits of trivia that she gave permission to share with all of you. Okay, now I don't know which way you guys go on the issue of whether or not there was anything somewhat romantic going on between Hank and Sheila, but I was curious to see what Katherine had to say. In her coming in at the end of the series and having the other episodes to go by, I asked her if she had a sense of this and if she meant to hint at a romantic relationship in her work. (Here, I was thinking mostly on the embrace scene at the end of "Winds of Darkness" when Hank is rescued.) She responded, "I never heard that there wasn't romantic interest between Sheila and Hank, though mostly she had a crush on him. So, of course I continued what I thought was the original plan. But it was never planned to be taken as far as even a kiss. It was Saturday morning, after all! Kisses weren't taboo, but when the target audience is 7-10 or so, and that's what advertisers buy time (toys aimed at the audience) kissing just doesn't DO much for them. Sure, we knew adults were watching, but we had to deal with CBS Broadcast Standards and Practices, and they had lots and lots of rules." I asked if she were referring to the "series bible" that (I believe) Mark Evanier created for the show when she spoke of this "original plan". Katherine said, "There was no series bible. I looked in the file cabinets when I worked on the show, and there was development done, but it changed, tremendously. "Citadel of Shadow" was my very first credit, and I worked a year to get a job at Marvel Productions because I was in love with the "Dungeons & Dragons" series. (And no, I don't have that original bible. )" When I brought up the scene in "Winds of Darkness" that lent visual support to a potential relationship between Hank and Sheila, I asked if she had a part in writing that scene. She said, "Gad, I wrote that scene, and forgot all about it, on WINDS OF DARKNESS. But it just naturally occurred. Of course Hank would react that way. And Sheila would need the reassurance. It was more big brotherly than romantic, as I recall (barely), because of Bobby's disappearance. Hank took his responsibilities very seriously." Um, I'm not quite sure what it was that she was remembering here guys, but hey, it was after all, like thirteen years ago. So, uh, I guess just go with it. :) Thinking on what she said, I realized that the evidence of the "romantic feelings" I was picking up on were mostly visual rather than actual dialogue. So, I asked her if what we were seeing was her doing, as a writer describing what should happen, or if the animators had free rein to do what they thought should happen. Katherine told me, "The animation script writer on that series (things have changed since then) called every shot: TWO-SHOT - HANK AND SHEILA etc. And we sometimes described reaction shots, but it was up to the storyboard artist to ultimately decide what they'd be. We had Bob Kline, one of the best storyboard artists I've ever seen, on the first couple of seasons which is why they were so brilliant, and Karl Geurs, the producer on the first two seasons, was totally committed to making this a brilliant series. Third season he got put on a different show and we got a producer who didn't have the same passion for the series, and we didn't get the brilliant storyboard artists." Hmm, anyone know Bob Kline's e-mail address! Anyway, I told her that I had been visiting Les Hickman's website The Realm, where an interview with her had been posted. (You should check it out for yourselves!) There, Katherine mentioned that in "Citadel of Shadow", Karena was supposed to have been a new villain, but CBS wanted it otherwise so she had to rewrite the entire second act to what we know it as. I asked her what was supposed to have happened to make Karena stay a villain. I also asked if she had a copy of the original script that she could share! She said, "Karena was supposed to stay bad throughout the episode and keep all the power she got from the ring. But CBS wanted her to turn good. (Sigh). Sorry, I have my old stuff in storage, and don't even know for sure if I have one of the early drafts." After pestering her a bit more, I asked if she remembered any bits of trivia that we would find interesting. Here's what she came up with: "Oh, my favorite line of the whole series was a line delivery from Willie Aames, aka Hank -- "Get away from her" to some villain about Sheila or Diana. He did a marvelous job on the series, as did Donny Most as Eric." "Oh, casting trivia. The reason Laura O'Brien was cast as the voice of Karena was she worked with the voice director on MUPPET BABIES (as Baby Piggy) and we knew she was good. And in Winds of Darkness, Russi Taylor was the voice of the gypsy, for the same reason -- voice of Baby Gonzo on MUPPET BABIES. I think Russi was also the voice of the Queen of Dragons in Faerie Dragons, but I'm not sure." Sounds like it to me. I went back and watched the episodes to check out all this new info, listening carefully to catch nuances of Muppet Babies! Oh, and since Amy had sent us all those neat poll questions to answer, I decided to throw the one about hypothetically what the gang would be doing now, if they returned home or not, etc., at her and see what she came up with. Check this out! "Hypothetical story? Well, I did a bible for a new season, taking them to a new world having realized that they CAN'T return home, psychologically. Hank going back to high school? Bobby in junior high? I don't THINK so. (Inspired by Robert A. Heinlein's TUNNEL IN THE SKY, which had a similar theme.) Anyway, they realize this and agree to help the other Dungeon Master, the female with the braids? in a different world. There was to be a recurring guest character starting as a silhouette only, that would turn out to be Asian, since TSR had just come out with the Oriental Adventures book. Anyway, then CBS cancelled the series, and it all went into files. My copy is technically owned by Marvel Productions, so I don't hand it out." I already tried to bribe her, but woe and alas, to no avail! :> Anyway, she went on to elaborate... "Over time, Bobby would grow up, Hank and Sheila would probably marry, Eric would continue his path towards becoming a paladin (I insisted on that -- make him a paladin and he'd bloody well TAKE that path, imho -- I'm a gamer), Uni would return to the Valley of the Unicorns, etc. I think I had Diana and the new character in mind as a pair. Since both would do more martial arts stuff than anything else, it made sense. Oh, that was one of the rules. NO PHYSICAL CONTACT in battle. Hence the reason Hank's arrows did weird magical stuff, and Diana NEVER used her staff on anyone, nor Bobby his club. It made for interesting fight scenes. " Wow, huh! Can you guys imagine what that show would've been like? I was also talking with her about her other work (she's done short stories, non-fiction, screenplay, etc.) and asked her if she had a favorite medium in which to write? She gave an example with D&D so I figured I'd share this, too. "Favorite medium? Anything anyone will pay me for. But more seriously, I prefer scripts. I mean, think about it. Not only does it employ sometimes hundreds of people constructing sets, craft services, actors, etc. (or story board artists, animators, etc.) but the size of the audience is unbeatable. Going by the ratings of CITADEL OF SHADOW, over five million people saw it when it first aired. I mean WOW! And for someone who likes being subversive, putting out the idea that it's GOOD to think, have an imagination, etc., there's no better medium. And I love it. Short stories are fun and a good break, but for power and income, nothing beats scripts." For those of you who might like to try their hand at script writing, Katherine recommends both William Goldman's Adventures In The Screen Trade and J. Michael Straczynski's The Complete Book Of Script writing as good starting points. And there you have it, right from the e-mail of Katherine Lawrence. I'm glad I could share all this neat stuff with you. Hope you enjoyed it! - Kim Bremner Thanks again Kim for this awesome interview! (applause)! :) ****************************************************************************** D&D CARTOON TEN-YEAR REUNION RESPONSES! ?Well, presuming that they are still in the realm, I would figure the following endings for our heroes. Eric is doing the best financially, since he basically knows how things develop from the Middle Ages on, economics wise. For example, I'm certain the cavalier would introduce Venger to the concept of low interest loans. (easy terms, of course). For the rest, either with or without Eric, I would say that returning to Rahmoud's kingdom would be the likeliest outcome. Sheila and Hank might get together, although Sheila has her other love interest, whose name escapes me at present. By this time though, I doubt anyone goes on any missions for DM, who probably occupies the same place in the Kids universe as the CIA did in the typical 1960's Berkeley students.? -- Charles Gray ?I think if the gang had made it back home, I think that they would have stayed in close touch with each other. I firmly believe that Hank and Sheila would've ended up getting married. And why not? In the Realm, they would've learned just about everything there was to know about each other. They would've seen each other at their best and at their worst under pressure. They went through a lot together and could best share the good times and give comfort with perfect understanding for the bad memories. It's for this reason that I see the gang still together, no matter what. Besides, can't you just hear all the private and inside jokes they would share! As for occupations...I think they all would've gone on to college. Hank could've started out as a Forestry major :) but most likely become a Police man or something along those lines. Sheila could've become a doctor or veterinarian, especially if Uni was able to come back with them! Diana probably went on to become an Olympic athlete and could teach gymnastics to kids. Eric could be a partner or take over his Dad's business as a Defense Lawyer. Presto could've learned to become an Illusionist but I see him working in special effects, or if you will, movie magic! And Bobby could've gotten into college on a baseball scholarship, but I see him making a career as a writer of Fantasy using his experiences in the Realm, of course! What do ya think?? -- Kim Bremner ****************************************************************************** ********