Top 8 Essential Sword And Sorcery Cartoons That Are Packed With Entertainment!
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- Опубліковано 13 чер 2024
- Sword and Sorcery is one such genre that never ceased to amuse the fans. Despite critics badmouthing the content to be majorly mindless action, the audiences have appreciated movies like Conan the Barbarian, Red Sonja, and many others that have offered great entertainment. One of the founding fathers of this genre is the iconic Robert Ervin Howard. This American author penned down several stories and sketched legendary characters like Conan. When his works started being transformed into movies, the audiences latched on to the charm of sword and sorcery films.
While we are greatly indebted to Robert E. Howard, many other makers put together some very creative shows and cartoons that explored the genre further. The main theme remained constant where a mighty warrior would take on the powerful evil forces. Yet, these shows each had a distinct quality that impressed the viewers. In this video, we have assembled some of the cartoons that thrived upon the popularity of the sword and sorcery genre. The following shows are a must-watch if you appreciate and admire such content.
Thundarr The Barbarian (1980) - 1:39 (Buy this here - amzn.to/3236CoY)
Fire And Ice (1983) - 2:51 (Buy this here - amzn.to/3iQKUKY)
The Pirates Of Dark Water (1991) - 3:58 (Buy this here - amzn.to/3gKk3yb)
Berserk (1997) - 5:05 (Buy this here - amzn.to/32aAeB3)
Conan The Adventurer (1992) - 6:13 (Buy this here - amzn.to/2ZZgqNY)
Blackstar (1981) - 7:17 (Buy this here - amzn.to/2Of60V4)
He-Man And The Masters of The Universe (2002) - 8:20 (Buy this here - amzn.to/325zHQQ)
Dungeons And Dragons (1983) - 9:25 (Buy this here - amzn.to/3ebO5Jy) - Розваги
Thing that surprised me about "Thundarr", and something I didn't learn until years afterwards, was that Jack Kirby himself helped design characters and settings for the toon, something that is obvious when you go back and look at his work at Marvel/DC and this series (even down to 'Kirby Dots' at times ^_^)
I thought that head looked a little too much like Kirby's work
Pirate's of Dark Water is my favorite cartoon show its a shame it was never finished
I swear I saw a completion of the story somewhere
Agreed, it’s a damn shame!
I think there might be a comic.
@Ultra CNC voltron was an attempt to pull off what had been done with robotech which took three seperate Japanese anime and made them into one show while robotech used footage from macross, southern cross and, genesis climber mospeda voltron used footage from go-lion and dairugger xv and there had been plans for a third arc but the "vehicle voltron" didn't do as well as the lion one.
Yep. Truly a shame this series was never finished. I only learned about it in reruns on cartoon network in mid-90s when we finally got cable and such, but I do remember liking it a lot.
Left out one of the best sword and sorcery anime’s: Record of lodoss war. Probably the best one honestly and captured the DND feel to perfection.
Funny enough,that also cross my mind that lodoss wasn't on this list.Record of the Lodoss War ova and the tv series are so heavy inspired by d&d it's easy to see the comparison.
Absolutely.
Yep. Easily one of the best Sword and Sorcery animes to ever be produced. Plus it helped define how anime elves would look there after. So yes you get both a comment and a like for your comment. :D
Lodoss is definitely peak AD&D
don't overlook its sequels Legend of Crystania (movie first then OVA) and Rune Soldier
D&D was my absolute favorite cartoon when I was a kid,the story,characters,and music was excellent. Haven't seen Blackstar,Thundar,and Conan in such a very long time.
Forgot that Conan fought Serpentor.
LOL right?
Thundercats, the original and reboot, were pretty good!
Aye yes both the original and the remake were very good. I was skeptical of the remake at first, but then it won me over. So it's real crying shame it got canceled before being able to fully realize it's potential.
@@Archangelglenn But that Thundercats ROAR was just a very bad, last minute, money grab! I'm all for getting my money in but not at the expense of a solid idea that did no wrong!
Word
King Arthur and the knights of justice needed to be on this list what a shame. I was so mad that pirates of dark water never got finished I loved that as a kid
King Arthur was awesome at the time but not really sword & sorcery.
You missed Galtar And The Golden Lance, which was really good and very underrated.
Wish you would have included the original He-Man and also the original She-Ra cartoons. Both were good in their own rights. The animation was good, the stories had wonderful moral lessons, and there was always a joke or two somewhere in the episode that would make almost anyone laugh.
10 cancelled cartoons that need to come back.
@Drew Taylor Yes they would.The 2002 He Man put up a good effort.But something was missing.Better just to buy the DVD's.Good memories and no heart ache. :)
@Cesar Victorino: instead of having the cartoons come back, give the ones that ended too soon (Dark Waters, D&D) movies to explain their endings like Serenity did for the tv show Firefly. Otherwise we'd just get a 'Heroes Reborn' situation when too much time has gone and only fans of the original shows would know (or care) what was going on.
Fire & Ice is heavily rotoscoped, a technique Bakshi did quite often, which is why it looks as smooth as it does.
I thought the animation was some of the best I've ever seen.
This might be the best list that you've put together yet!!!
💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯💯
Bakshi's _Fire And Ice_ might be the most underrated animated film of that era!!!
It's just so sad that so many of these wonderful shows never got proper endings!
Dungeons and Dragons was my absolute favourite cartoon when I was younger. Absolutely loved it.
Still love it; just watched the whole series ago last month. The stories are still fun many decades later.
I have it on DVD
@@colinlaw9752 Cool. You mentioned "loved" and "younger"; I thought it might just be something in the past only.
It would be nice to have these remastered for blu-ray or something and get new interviews with people who made them for 25th anniverary or something. The original DVD box set had some good bonuses, but I don't mind more.
Would be good to see it on Blu-ray
@@colinlaw9752 Same here.
One key element of all these was that they featured strong female characters without sacrificing their femininity or getting preachy about it.
But did have to make the men around them look weak and stupid so I wouldn't call them that strong if that's what they needed to do to make them 'strong'.
@@Gambit771 Not necessarily. Many of the male characters were given both strengths and weaknesses, which any well written character should have regardless of their gender. Thundarr The Barbarian, for example, is strong, agile, a skilled fighter, and fearless, but is quick to anger, uneducated, and often acts without thinking. His companion Princess Ariel, on the other hand, is intelligent, well educated, athletic, and capable of casting powerful spells. So her strengths compliment his weaknesses and vice versa, which is what makes them such an effective team.
The same can be said of Conan and Jezmine on Conan The Adventurer. Or Sheila and Diana in Dungeons & Dragons with Hank, Bobby, Eric, and Presto. He-Man and Teela in He-Man & The Masters Of The Universe (2002). And those are just off the top of my head. The strengths and weaknesses of each character compliment each other so as to make them a very effective team. So the strong female characters are strong alongside the male characters without making them look weak or stupid, and without becoming Mary Sues.
The end of Dungeons and dragons is available on YT, as a comic with couple of original voice actors. Also, you missed Record of Lodoss War, The animated Hobbit & Return of the King (also by Bashki) & Rising of the Shield Hero is excellent!
Return of the King and The Hobbit were actually made by Rankin/Bass. Ralph Bakshi made Lord of the Rings in 1978 which covered Fellowship and Towers.
Actually there's a fully animated version of Dungeons & Dragons: Requiem here on UA-cam. Very well done for a fan made production. (As someone who studied animation as a hobby when I was young, I can tell you that doing a full 30 minute cartoon is incredibly time consuming and NOT easy).
@@Thundarr100 Yes, I saw it.
Dragons Graveyard awesome episode 👍
Record of the Lodoss War. Old school D+D anime.
I HAVE THE POWER!!! Love that line.
first runner up: herculoids
Yes... thinking that one deserves at LEAST Honorable Mention!
Kick out Black-star and put in the Herculoids!
(I'd even be fine with putting it up ahead of Thundar)
Sometimes I wonder how would adapt Thundar the Barbarian to a live action. I see as kind of cross between Conan the barbarian, and a Mad Max, with a heavy steam punk element.
Have thought the same thing myself! As have many others!
I would be happy with the porn parody version. At least then, it would be accurate to the source material.
Check out Son of Zorn.
It's more of a cross between Conan, Mad Max, Planet Of The Apes, and Star Wars.
I've actually written a screenplay for a live action Thundarr movie. It's been quite well received on fanfiction.net.
There WAS a stop motion comic I believe based on a series finale script for Dungeons and Dragons!
There is a video that follows the comic adaptation, which was set to the radio play audio from the time of the first DVD release of the show. Unfortunately only Katie Leigh reprised her role in the RP, plus a couple actors are dead and the other actors were unavailable.
All the episodes and the teleplay for the final episode are here on UA-cam. I watched them all in December and they're even better now than when I was a kid.
I am close to completing the final episode. Check my channel to see what i have done so far.
The box DVD set had an audio-only final episode as a bonus.
8:12, He Man and The Masters Of The Universe! I saw this show after I got home from school. I was hooked when this series would come on.
Dungeons and Dragons did have closure in a way. There was a radio play and this was included in a dvd set of show. It has a red box in case you are wondering.
Totally Epic! Love this! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻💙
Best D&D Cartoon Episode for me was Episode 9: Quest of the Skeleton Warrior. It is on UA-cam if you want to check it out.
I recommend Prison Without Walls.
what’s the episode that they kinda join forces with the Dark Lord?
The Dragons Graveyard
@@slyane7320 "We've beaten you Venger and you know it"
If I had to pick a favorite, it'd either be City at the edge of midnight or the hall of bones
I got the first release of Berserk on DVD when it first came to the US. I only knew about it because of the Dreamcast game "Sword of the Berserk: Gut's Rage." So it was a little weird for me since they called him Gattsu in the game.
And Conan the Adventurer was top notch. That iteration of Conan was closer to the original then the movie version. And the idea of Star-metal really grabbed me and made for a good mcguffin for them to pursue throughout the series.
I even got my brothers in on an idea that we were decended from the Wizards of Xanthis so we each picked an element to master, a star-metal weapon, a wizard's staff, and a magical companion.
Fantastic video, as always! I've shared your channel around as I love your content and my friends are destined to love it too! Keep up the amazing work!
Classic thanks for sharing
I loved the retelling of he man and masters of the universe. The world building was beautiful. Kedor as Randor's brother offered a new dynamic which I loved
"BerserkER" Stop it... Get some help.
2:44, Fire And Ice, an amazing example of rotoscoping animation.
No King Arthur and the Knights of JUSTICE!!?
I agree that was too good not to be on this list
How about Visionaries? That was cool as well.
Dude...no you did NOT just mention that cartoon! I was about to. *amazed*
I would add the original Record of Lodoss War, Thundercats, Flight of Dragons.
Bakshi's Fellowship of the Ring, Rankin & Bass The Hobbit
The final episode of D&D WAS written... and was eventually given a radio drama.
Thundarr the Barbarian was my show!!! Deserves a big-screen updated version. In many ways, (in my opinion) the "Masters of the Universe" live-action movie seems to be loosely based on the Thundarr story. The "Pirates of Dark Water" is just as good. The "Dungeons and Dragons" cartoon was another gem too.
Thundarr and Blackstar were my favorites of that time. It wasn't surprising to see both on this list.
I love the original He-Man, & original Thundercats the best!
I tried the reboots but still like the originals more.
Fire and Ice was awesome...one of the 1st cartoons I remember watching!!!...another great list MV!!!
Loved this show when fox kids reran it I wasn't aware it was a 1980s cartoon same applies to silverhawks being reran on cartoon network I was born in 1990 by the way if you're wondering
Dungeons & Dragons was my all time favorite ! I remember it ending all of a sudden without any closure ... would be nice to see a re-boot plus happy ending (?) great collection of cartoons. I remember Blackstar, too. I always thought as a child that his sword was stupid looking, though. Reminded me of a shipped toothpick or match stick. There was another cartoon by Hanna-Barbara that COULD HAVE made this list: it was similar to Thundar as I had flashbacks during that part of this video (i watched thundar, too); it was the one where the blond hair warrior has two glowing swords as opposed to one and they would connect to make a lance. Any suggestions ? thumbs up. ANSWER TO QUESTION: Galtar and the golden lance. SPECIAL MENTION: MIghty Mightor and Mighty MIghtor Junior and the Herculoids (instead of a sword a sling shot was the main weapon ! wait what ? ). END
If we can include such adult stuff as Berserker, we should also mention Heavy Metal (the film starring that evil green glowing ball).
Wasn't that a anthology?
@@willdgol7501 In a way it was. There were 4 or 5 distinct stories in the film.
A Level 1 party vs Tiamat... that should have been the shortest series ever...
I was sold on this video when I saw berserk and fire & ice on this list
Awesome Video 👍 . I forgot about some of these shows, haven’t watched many of them since I was a kid.
The 2002 remake of He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe is beyond brilliant and a personal favorite. As was Dungeons And Dragons.
Good list, but She-Ra and Thundercats should have made the list as well.
2002 He-Man is legendary, thank you for adding this on the list.
And thank you for NOT putting Netflix's SHE-RAH on this list.
Good Jesus people... Thundaar wielded the Sun Sword. How can you possibly not know that?
Cringed every time she said "Berserker"
And yet everyone has failed to mention "Korgoth of Barbaria".
"I will show you a rainbow of pain."
I loved that show, too bad it didn't garner the ratings it needed to run as a full series!
That only has one episode dude.
I liked Korgoth too.But it never made it past the pilot episode.I guess no one had a taste for a Conan the Barbarian/Thundarr parody.
I have all them all very awesome cartoons I love them thanks for the awesome video.
Blackstar is one of three American Indian cartoon characters made for mass consumption, along with Apache Chief, and Princess Ariel. I salute the producers who tried to bring a more diverse cast to my childhood tv watching.
Nice list. How about Gargoyles, Record of Lodoss War, Escaflowne, Peter Pan and the Pirates, Ronin Warriors, Samurai Jack, W.I.T.C.H., Thundercats, Fate/Zero, King Arthur and the Knights of Justice...?
So many other standout sword & sorcery animated movies and series.
Including Berserk on this list opens the door to the vast anime catalog of sword & sorcery...
Record of Lodoss War is a MUST see, even more than Berserk.
You want closure for Dungeons and Dragons? I have the final episode almost fully animated and scored at this time. 31 minutes long, working off of the final script from Michael Reeves. Done in the style of the original series. Will be finished before the year is up.
This is a fantastic list of great cartoons I mean Black Star Thundarr The Barbarian He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Pirates of Dark Water Conan cartoons like those are literally what made the 80s & 90s so great.
Oh I need to see Conan the Adventurer, I have seen almost all of this shows already. I love this fantasy/sci fi mixed adventure shows that the 80´s loved.
Beside the ones on this list. Thundercats, the Skeleton Warriors, Shadow Skills, Inuyasha, Hataage! Kemonomichi/Rise Up! Animal Road, seven Deadly sins, Akame ga Kill!, Just to name a few.
Not mention the classic of the original Thundercats, He-man and She-ra.
There's a script of what would've been the final episode of Dungeons & Dragons floating around on the internet. There's even a table read of that script by a group that includes one of the original voice actors.
Fire and Ice is one of my favorite movies ever, it's perfect, from plot, simple as it is, to the beautiful hand drawn animation. We need ore of that in this age of soulless reboots and "mystery box" plots.
This is a very good list...
@Phunku: EXACTLY! I was glad somebody mentioned Record Of Lodoss War!
Great story, characters and animation!
You guys failed to mention that Jack Kirby did the character designs for Thundar the Barbarian. I personally preferred the original He-Man and the Masters of the Universe back in the 80's to the 2000 version. I am also disappointed that you left out Goltar, that was a pretty sweet series.
Good to see D&D cartoon getting some love just wish it would has lasted longer, it deserved.
It's actually worth noting that a third Season of Masters of the Universe was allegedly in the planning stages when the Producers pulled the plug. This third Season was apparently going to add She-Ra to the mix, as well as bring in Hordak as the main villain, as opposed to just a spectre hovering in the background. Granted, some people might argue today that this was to pop culture's eventual benefit, given how well the She-Ra Netflix series was received (though one could also argue that the Netflix series had more in common, thematically, with the Avatar franchise than it ever had with MotU). But still, can't help but wonder if the 2002 series would have produced the same "peaches-and-cream" Adora from the 80s or if it would have ultimately used the idea of a hero raised by the villains (in this case, the guy who was supposed to be the ultimate Big Bad of the series itself) to give a darker edge to her. I guess that's up to the fanfic writers now.
Dungeons & Dragons did have a final episode that was not televised,but instead done radio style,the episode is called Requiem!
the pirates of dark water
3:53, Pirates Of Dark Water is a great Animated Series, as I seen it on Cartoon Network.
There is a final episode for Dungeons and Dragons the cartoon. It is called a Requiem and while it never got animated it was partly voiced by the lady that played Shiela (Katy Lee) and is available on UA-cam (I believe)
Fire and Ice all the way.
Frazetta comes to life.
"I'll keep her busy!". Umm... Tiamat is an actual God...
Not in 1983. She became a goddess in Krynn's mythos but originally she was just the queen of dragons and powerful but not a diety.
Just a friendly heads up it's "Berserk" not Berserker. Awesome video regardless.
I have every single series on your list on legit DVD. And I love them all
Anybody remember Den, from the Heavy Metal movie? There was also Taarna.
I totally loved the HeMan reboot. The story lines were so good.
Thundar n blackstar were my favorite
Dungeons and Dragons did have a final episode that was written and storyboarded at the time of the series. It has been voiced for the dvd release.
I think Visionaries should have been included as well.
First it's Berserk not Berserker. I watched Pirates of Dark Water it was amazing.
I watched all of these. Favorites would be He-man, Conan, Fire and Ice, Pirates of Dark Water, Thundar, and Dungeons and Dragons. Thunder Cats too if it counts.
Loved D&D as a kid!
No mention of Thundercats? The 2011 reboot was really good
I don't know this dark lord you speak of. The antagonist for dungeons and dragons was Venger.
Fascinating
Dungeons and Dragons was a magical show.Love it
The last episode of DND called requiem is on youtube.
I am surprised that Galatar and The Golden Lance was not on this list. Visionaries and ThunderCats as well.
There’s a script online with an ending for Dungeons & Dragons. I have a copy and I wish they would have finished the series. It’s was, is still one of my favourites.
Fire and Ice looks the way it does because Ralph Bakshi used rotoscopy to get amazingly fluid results.
I really really wish someday we get a remake of pirates of dark water I also want to see this on Blu-ray. I actually have the DVD version of fire and ice but I want to eventually upgrade to the Blu-ray
For future episodes, do a top 10 obscure Roger Corman martial arts movie's, one of them is Angel Fist a female version of Bloodsport.
Hey guys great list, but you're forgetting a lot of other great cartoons! Specifically by Rankin Bass& Jr! ThunderCats! The Hobbit! Return of the King! Flight of Dragons and The Last Unicorn! Heck, honorable mention should go to Ralph Bakshi's Lord of the Rings!
Let's also not forget Galtar from Hanna Barbera! The show had an excellent soundtrack and intro!
You forgot Galtar and his golden lance
I love Pirates Of Dark Water and Thundarr The Barbarian, such good shows and cancelled too soon. I’d like for Netflix or Hulu to revive them, they would work today
Controversial opinion....Gummi Bears was an awesome sword and sorcery cartoon...
I've had ingrown toenails that could have read this script with more emotion.
Skeleton Warriors and Visionaries are great too.
i know this has nothing to do with the subject but does anyone know if there was ever a deathstalker 3 movie made and where to find it?Thanks for any help
Yes it is, its called Deathstalker and The Warriors From Hell, you can finding here on youtube, and there is a four movie called Deathstalker: Match of Titans, i think is here on youtube too
@@animexperience thank you very much
@@rons9946 you're welcome👍
Best anime of this group is Record of Lodoss war.