DVD Extras
On the first DVD from Contender, there is an extra that contains a number of episode synopsies that were never turned into cartoons. These are just for interest, and lets face it, 99% of the people who will look at this page and DON'T have the DVD would buy it if it came out in the correct format.
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Day of the Dragons
Story premise by Richard Merwin 6 June 1983
Tiamat rears her ugly heads again as our band wends their way through a dense forest. Suddenly appearing overhead, she chases the group through trees and brush and bushes. Hiding inside hollow trees confuses her, but doesn’t get rid of her – Presto accidently accomplishes that by pulling a chest full of treasure from his hat – and treasure is what Tiamat loves above all things.
Eric flings the treasure into a clearing on his shield, which returns to him, and the treasure attracts Tiamat. She grabs the chest and takes off for her lair – a greater success than the band had hoped for.
They make their way cautiously through the woods, coming to a peaceful looking lake. They pause to drink and wash up – when another dragon rears its head right in front of them!
But this dragon is different: He’s a bronze dragon and he can talk! He tries to convince the group that he is harmless and good – and gives a pretty impressive demonstration of his magic abilities in doing so. He turns himself into a very cute and cuddly giant koala, which finally wins the troop over. Thus, Gerus the Bronze Dragon becomes their friend.
The good will doesn’t last long, though, for while Gerus is still in the form of a koala, another dragon, this one a deadly green dragon attacks from the air – and carries away Bobby and Diana in its Iron-grip claws! The green dragon is gone before Gerus can resume his natural form. Hank and the others are ready to take off after their friends but Gerus talks them into waiting…
“Listen to him,” the Dungeonmaster says, standing on the water a distance out into the lake. Attacking a dragon in its lair, he tells them, is a tricky business at best. It will be necessary to obtain some special fortification first – which Gerus can help them find.
Gerus is reluctant to tell them how to obtain the special help DM mentioned. It will cost them a friend! The band is willing to chance it to rescue Bobby and Diana.
Gerus directs them to a part of the wood where the Dryads live. The Dryads, he tells them, can provide a flower called Dragon Bane which dulls the senses of most dragons, except the very good ones.
They have little trouble finding the Dryads – the wood creatures disguise themselves as trees, and can only be seen when they want to be seen. Eric is leaning on just such a tree when the dryad there decides the time is right. He falls over as the tree disappears and the pretty sprite appears in its place. He’s embarrassed, and the Dryad finds this charming.
She agrees to help the impatient heroes, and gives them the Dragon Bane… but only in exchange for Eric. Unless they return the Dragon Bane in one day, Eric will be turned irrevocably into a tree to dwell forever in the Dryad woods.
Eric doesn’t like the idea, but peer pressure leaves him no choice. He stays, and the rest return to Gerus with the Dragon Bane. The magic flowers have no effect on the good dragon, and he flies them to the Green dragon’s lair, where Bobby and Diana are captive.
Beyond providing transportation, Gerus cannot fight the green dragon or otherwise interfere. The heroes are on their own and perform a rescue – with the help of the dragon bane which slows down but does not disable the evil dragon.
All looks good and Gerus is preparing to fly the band back to the Dryad when yet another Dragon attacks, this one a dreaded black dragon. Gerus is involved this time – in self defense, the only way in which he can lawfully fight another dragon. He holds off the black dragon so the band can run for it. Two more black dragons loom on the horizon and Gerus is certain to be killed saving his new human friends.
Time is running out for Eric, though. He has already begun to sprout branches and roots – and he’ll be lost to his friends forever unless they return soon…
Hank and the others know this, and it leaves them no choice but to abandon Gerus to the black dragons. Sheila thinks otherwise, as does Bobby, and they rush back to the scene of the fight despite Hank’s orders to the contrary. To further complicate things, they’ve taken most of the Dragon Bane with them! Hank decides that he and the rest had better get to the Dryad and talk her into accepting the single blossom they have left in exchange for Eric’s return.
Meanwhile, the daring duo assist Gerus. Bobby throws the weight of his club into the balance, distracting the black dragons, while Sheila drapes Gerus with her handful of Dragon Bane. It’s all Gerus needs. He out-manoeuvres the black dragon, and flies up, away from them.
Hank and the others, meanwhile, have their hands full. They cannot convince the Dryad to accept the single flower in exchange for Eric. Eric is looking more and more treelike – and more and more unhappy. Hank knows that they will soon have to head back the other way to rescue Sheila and Bobby - and heroically offers himself in exchange for Eric, making Eric promise hell see to Sheila and Bobby’s rescue. Eric agrees, the Dryad agrees, and it looks like Hank is going to be turned into a vegetable when Gerus flies into scene with the two obstreperous heroes on his back – and the Dragon Bane draped around his neck. The Dryad is licked – and both Eric and Hank are freed of their obligation.
The band - Gerus included – shows no mercy in kidding Eric about his tree-branch arms and root-feet, much to Eric’s chagrin and their (and our) amusement.
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Spell of the Ice Wizard
Story Premise by Richard Merwin – 6 June 1983
Hotly pursued by what appear to be a horde of Gibberlings, with Venger’s own Shadow Demon urging them on, our band of heroes run for what seems like miles. They climb into foothills, then into higher mountains, running into a group of Gibberlings here, evading another group there.
Finally, the Gibberlings give up the pursuit – and for good reason: The band has passed the snow line. They are in the outer reaches of a very frozen mountain range.
Pulling their garments closer around them, they move forward. They must continue into the mountains for behind them lies the innumerable and hungry horde of Gibberlings.
The Dungeon Master steps from behind a snowdrift – dressed in warm furs. The Ice Wizard, he tells them, may provide some clue that will help them escape – and perhaps bring them closer to home.
It is not long before they meet their first Yeti – a surprise visit indeed! The band scatters, outrunning and outsmarting the fierce snow beast. Hank, Sheila and Bobby evade the monster, with Bobby bringing down a piece of the glacier, Hank melting it with a well placed arrow and the giant ice black refreezing with the yeti inside it, it hold the beast long enough for the three heroes to circle back and find their friends.
What they find is incredible – Diana and the others have figured out how to ride the great, prehistoric mammoths that inhabit the region. And the big beasts make first class transportation!
The only problem with riding the great woolly things is… there’s no way to steer them. And once aboard, our band of heroes must ride to the end of the line.
The end of the line is Glacier Peak, the home of the Ice Wizard. The Ice Wizard knew of the presence of the kids, and summoned the mammoths to bring them to him.
It seems the Ice Wizard has need of their services: His power is dwindling and can only be replenished by means of the North Star – and ice-blue stone of magic properties.
Normally our band wouldn’t merely be doing such big favors for perfect strangers, but the Ice Wizard is virtually holding them hostage. They cannot return the way they came – the Gibberlings lie that way. They cannot find their way out of the frozen tundra unless given the secret passes by the Ice Wizard. And they’ll never find out what he can tell them of their own home world unless they help.
They have no choice but to mount their mammoths – which the Ice Wizard tells them how to control – and seek the North Start. It sounds simple…
But between the Ice Wizard’s Glacier Peak and the ice cave where the North Star is to be found are Ice Lizards and the Frost Men who currently possess the North Star.
An attack by the Ice Lizards deprives them of their transportation – for mammoths, despite their size, are easily frightened by flying creatures. The last bit of the trail is covered on foot – finding the ice cave to be a dwelling of the Frost Men.
Sheila’s talents come in handy at first. She manages to reach the North Start – but she’s captured and frozen by the Frost Men. It takes some cunning – a few well placed arrows from Hank’s bow to melt enough ice to flood the Frost Men from their lair , free Sheila, and obtain possession of the North Star.
With the North Star in hand, the Ice Wizard is already regaining his power – and magically whisks the band back to his Glacier Peak just as the Frost Men recover from their flood enough to surround the band of heroes.
The Ice Wizard keeps his promises – giving them a map out of the snowy mountains, and information about their home world. The information is disappointing though: The Ice Wizard cannot transport them home, even at full power (much to Eric’s frustration), but he can give them a glimpse in the window of ice – enough to reassure the heroes that home still exists, if only they could reach it!
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Janapurna and the Stallions of Hokar
Story premise by Richard Merwin 5th June 1983
Our heroes are running – not from human or half-human antagonists this time – but from two fearsome, winged stallions. They’re black and evil looking and their breath withers anything it touches.
They run into a little clearing in the rather craggy, dead-looking terrain, in which rests a smallish hovel. They creep up to investigate and see only an old man bending over a cauldron. The old man gives them refuge, and just when all seems well…
The old man shows his true form, changing himself into Kelek, the evil wizard and lacky of Venger. It’s all too sudden, too swift for the band of heroes to do anything about it – and Kelek works a magic spell that winds them up on another plane!
Our heroes don’t realise what’s happened yet. That all still look normal to each other, but they ARE in a different place – no longer the hovel, but instead a charred, dead looking wood. And the only thing that’s different is that Bobby and Uni are missing.
But that’s only the immediate, obvious difference – for the remaining band can hear Bobby and Uni calling for them – and they’re not far away. Their voices sound close enough to touch them, but they’re not in sight.
They yell for Bobby, but he can’t hear them – so either Bobby’s in another plane, or they are…
The voice of Dungeonmaster joins them – for he cannot join them in the flesh. They are on the astral plane, meaning they are spirits who cannot be seen or heard from the real material world. Presto finds this fascinating, but nobody else is amused. They are further from home than ever – and they must find their way out of the astral plane.
They wander for a beat, searching for some clue, some way out. It isn’t long before they hear, rather than see their clue. A haunting, ethereal song lilts across the barren hills. Hank, Presto and Eric find themselves “enchanted” by it – almost hypnotized. And when several zombies cross their paths, the three boys are uninterested.
It’s up to Sheila and Diana to rescue the boys from certain destruction, which they do, using their magic implements.
The two girls have to virtually drag their male companions onward. They cross a murky stream and the hauntingly beautiful song becomes more distinct – and the three boys fall even more under its spell.
Bobby and Uni are meanwhile trying to find a way to either get into the astral plane or to rescue their comrades from it. He decides, in true Bobby fashion, to face Kelek directly and get him to release the spell. He fails in this – not being anything near a match for the evil wizard – and winds up in a cage until Kelek decides what to do with him. Kelek ignores the “mere unicorn”
While Bobby is getting himself in trouble, the band of astral plane captives find the source of the siren-like melody: the beautiful enchanted princess Janapurna. She’s under the spell of another of Venger’s minions, the sorcerer Hokar. Hokar is long since dead, so there is no recourse there.
The boys are truly enchanted by the beautiful princess, each trying to impress her in their own way. And they don’t have to look far to find a way of doing just that.
The winged, death-breathing stallions of Hokar – the very same stallions that chased them into Kelek’s grasp – are the key to both Janapurna’s and our heroes’ dilemmas. The stallions can traverse both the material and astral planes – anyone riding them can do the same. It’s a way out for our heroes, and will break the spell on Janapurna.
Our five heroes find and barely manage to tame the terrifying horses and ride them with Janapurna out of the astral plane.
They must still find Bobby and Uni, and that means they must face Kelek. Uni turns up, frantic for Bobby’s safety, and leads them back to Kelek’s hovel. Janapurna distracts the wizard while they free Bobby, and gives Presto time to snitch a spell from Kelek’s spell book. It works, much to Presto’s amazement and the wizard is rendered the powerless old man we first saw.
Janapurna returns to her people, bidding the band farewell. Hank, Presto and Eric, though released from her song’s spell, are still humorously “enchanted” by the princess (much to Bobby’s disgust and the girls’ poorly disguised jealousy).
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Also on the DVD is a copy of the original Series Bible, including short synopsies for a few episodes that were never made.
The Lair of the Gamesman
The latest directions from the Dungeon Master send our heroes deep down into an underground civilization where they find themselves in the lair of the Gamesman. The Gamesman is a wild-eyed gent with a high-pitched laugh who informs them that they are to play a game with him... with their magical artifacts at stake. They cannot leave for the way out is blocked by Rogull. They enter into the game of trying to find the Gamesman in his underground labyrinth. If they find him, they win; if he imprisons them, they lose their weapons. One by one, he captures them...until, finally, our heroes are stripped of all their powers and deposited in a dungeon. The Gamesman takes their artifacts and goes off to play the biggest game of his life; he will wager them all against Venger with control of this land as the prize. Can our heroes break out of the dungeon -- without any powers -- and slip past Rogull to reclaim their weapons before the Gamesman loses them all to Venger and, in doing so, loses the entire world?
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