Title- The Ringer (8/9/1989)
Having now watched this series, I can say I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn’t very good at all, but there were moments which I quite liked in the series, and compared to the CD-I Zelda games cartoon cut scenes, it was great. Of course that is like comparing the show to horse manure. Anyway, I went into this show with very low expectations, as it appeared, even for nostalgia value, noone, and I mean noone likes this series. As such, I did like I did with Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, and went in expecting the worst time of viewing a screen in my life. In both cases I’m glad to say that it was better than I thought, and regardless of what critics and general fans say, there are a lot of worse movies/cartoons out there. Was Link in this series sent to Earth to live amongst us with some kid who steals all the limelight? (Sonic X) No. Was he transported to another dimension with beastials (essentially furries) and made to fight some guy called the High evolutionary who wanted to kill all humans for some… reason? (Spider-man Unlimited) No. Was he part of a rock band with his previously unmentioned siblings and fighting against Gannon with his powerful guitar? (Sonic Underground) No. Was he suddenly turned into a high-school kid who fights Gannon in his spare time by warping into Hyrule through his computer/his old grandpa who taught him the ways of the ninja? (From too many kids cartoons to count) No.
Sorry for the long list, but all I’m saying is, after having watched the whole series. I have seen worse. I mean all in all, it is pretty faithful to the original game, Gannon’s after the Triforce of Wisdom, to conquer Hyrule, Link fights him to save Zelda, Zelda is linked to the Triforce. It’s pretty basic, but it’s good we didn’t get any of my previously listed cartoon premises.
This episode is pretty much a basic introduction to the series and it’s pretty good. We get Gannon’s minions being their idiotic selves, launching another pointless attack only to be thrashed. Then Gannon disguises himself as a travelling magician and steals the Triforce. Gannon then tries to escape, gets beaten etc, also there’s a dragon fight which is kinda cool. Overall it’s a typical episode.
We get an introduction to the characters, who to be honest, I think are the reason this show is so reviled. Gannon is the most like the game character (at least the original) who’s dangerous and quite cunning, then Link who’s kinda annoying and famous in this series for ‘Well excuuuuuuuuuussseee meeee princess!’ and Zelda, who can be a real, real bitch in this series.
As I said, Gannon’s ok. Sure he’s nowhere near as badass as some villains, such as Darth Vader, nor even King Koopa, but he’s still not as bad as that frog looking thing in the CD-I games (the one who’s meant to be Gannon). It’s Zelda and Link however, the two characters who you’re supposed to root for, who are extremely annoying. The thing is, when these characters with the same voice actors appeared in Captain N, they were much, much better than here, but this is their own freaking series, and it’s nothing to do with the actors fitting into their roles, it’s the script that flat-out sucks here.
Link is the sort of guy who’d most likely be the pervert in an anime show, but since this is American, he always wants a kiss instead of something else from the girl(s)… He’s supposed to be a wise guy too. This is usually a dangerous line for any character, as it’s far too easy to go from smart-alec asshole that’s likeable and sometimes amusing, to unlikable, unfunny person who makes you actually root for the villains. Turns out Link didn’t even know where the line started, let alone not to cross it.
Next up is Zelda, who’s really quite a bitch, she uses Link in a lot of episodes, and seems to drop him the second some hotter guy comes along. I gather that she’s supposed to be snooty, but heck, even Princess Lana, a character I’ve always found to be pretty boring is more enjoyable than Zelda, and that’s not right. When you have a series called ‘The Legend of Zelda’ you expect it to star Zelda, be about some object called Zelda, or have her as some mystical elusive character. Here you honestly hate her from her first scene.
This is why this show is so bad and hated. It has two of the most unlikable main characters ever. Mario was in the exact same position as Link, he was from a practically storyless game, and saved a Princess, yet Dic, the company responsible for both cartoons, managed to do Mario perfectly, he was slightly corny, not even that well liked by the other characters, greedy, but admittedly enjoyable. Link is a perverted egotistical unemployed slob, who rarely is even likeable.
So why did I start off saying that I was pleasantly surprised when all I’ve now done is complain about the characters? Simple. This is a Legend of Zelda Cartoon. Before you think I mean, ‘it’s Zelda so it must be good’, I don’t mean that. I mean, it is a cartoon that uses the Zelda games, we get to see Moblins, various bosses and other creatures, locations and other things from the games. It’s still a fun little world. Compare this to the Sonic Underground cartoon, or even the fantastic Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. Even if AOSTH rocks, it still uses barely anything from the games, there are lots of invented places, none of Robotnik’s robots look like any of the game robots except Scratch and Grounder (well ok, there were a couple of others but way too few in my opinion). I’m not saying AOSTH sucks at all, I’m saying though, that if it weren’t for the humour, it would suck entirely as it doesn’t even really resemble the games, whereas at least Zelda, despite all it’s faults does.
Well this is a huge review and seems to speak very little of the actual episode, but I always like to give an overview of the series in the first episode reviews. Since this is such a boring series, it’s typical therefore of me to spend so long discussing it. So overall a typical episode in a pretty boring series. Don’t even dream of this being in league with Fire Emblem, or even the Mario bros cartoons.
