The Legend of Zelda

The 1989 "Legend of Zelda" animated series lasted for 13 episodes, and aired as part of "The Super Mario Bros. Super Show". As a huge fan of the video-game series, I was aware of the infamy that this series holds, but I figured I'd give it a shot- I was able to get the entire DVD set online for about $10, it arrived a few days later, I gathered some friends who also knew about the show and how bad it apparently was... and we popped it in!

This was bad. Really bad. Uwe Boll-bad. "Super Mario Brox. The Movie" bad. Just really, truly bad.

You know your cartoon based on a reasonably serious and well-loved game is going to suck when the most compelling episode revolves around our hero Link having to save a water-park. Yup. Whereas the games had Link saving the world, and featured deep plot lines about loss, power and corruption... in this cartoon, Link protects a water-park. I must give credit where credit is due, unlike the Mario series, at least this cartoon didn't have a bad rap song to start out with.

This series follows Link and Zelda, as they struggle against the evil Wizard Ganon. Whereas Link was a noble, good person in the video games, here, he is turned into a snobby, perpetually-randy teen-aged jerk. (With one of the most aggravating, irritating catch-phrases since Scrappy Doo showed up... "Hey!!!! Exc-uuussseee me, PRINCESS!" Makes me want to punch myself in the head.) And Zelda, always the damsel in distress in the games, is actually a capable heroine who more often than not saves Link. The evil Ganon, whom at the point of this cartoons release was just a stock villain, well... he's still just a stock villain. He shows up, cackles and threatens our heroes, is defeated, and flees. Rinse, wash and repeat in the next episode.

I will say a few things to this shows credit. For one, the animation was actually halfway decent, and was much better than Nintendo's other cartoons. The music was also a step-up, and featured some good orchestral covers of the themes from the game. And despite my complaints, some of the gags in the series did work, and I could see a 6-year-old loving this show.

But the writing is just so bad. It really feels like a phoned-in cash grab. It reeks of Nintendo selling the rights just to make a quick buck. None of the writers really seem to be trying with this show. At least the Mario show had puns... This show has one lame catchphrase that it falls back on constantly.

This is a pretty pathetic show. I give it a 4 out of 10, just for the unintentional laughs it will give you if you watch it ironically. But it's not worth buying, even for fans.

The Legend of Zelda is a tv show adaptation of the video game series. It doesn't require any knowledge of the game series, but the intended audience is fans of the early games. Various trends from the series started here.

The show is an episodic interpretation of various exploits by the evil Ganon to steal the triforce of wisdom. The main characters are very different from their game counterparts and the dynamic between them is entertaining.

The plot is repetitive, predictable and there's no overarching narrative. The catchphrases are iconic but cheesy. The animation is pretty generic and the action is simplistic but the sound design is great and has lots of callbacks to the classic game

If you are a fan of 90s cartoons or The Legend of Zelda and don't mind how corny it is you should enjoy this. It's actually pretty fun and humorous if you can get past the faults.

It's a shame not many shows are as good as this nowadays. This show has it all. Gripping plots, amazing writing and super awesome music! I got the whole show for free as a powerup reward from gamestop a few years ago. I will never sell it because I love it.

Story: Even better than the Skyward Sword and Twilight Princess plot combined.

Animation: It's as if Jesus himself animated this before he died.

Music: My favorite song is the one that just plays in the show every five seconds.

Voice Acting: Well exuuuuse me, princess!

9/10 super special awesome

I watched this cartoon in the UK in the early 1990s and thought it was very entertaining. The character of Link is you're average confident but cocky American with a magic sword and Zelda who acts like a Canadian nobility.

The characters and animation are very well drawn and represented though the storylines are slightly wooden it is still entertaining

From what I have read on the Trivia Link was a more sophisticated on noble character committed to his duty, his repetitive catchphrase gets very irritating you would think for such a person with an important job he would have better Sarcasm. Zelda is good as his sidekick as well as the lady protects she is not an annoying damsel in distress with abit of Romance.

If you can just take it for what it is, it's actually pretty entertaining. Don't get me wrong it's horribly, but in a really fun way. Now if your a hardcore Zelda fan that dreams of a Game of Thrones/Lord of the Rings style series about the Legend of Zelda, keep dreaming because this is not that. Just a cheesy over the top so bad it's good cartoon, but that's okay if you can take it for what it is.

On a side note, if I had one thing to say about the show that it actually does really really well, it would be the chemistry between Link and Zelda. How they interact and how that helps drive the story I feel actually really works. It's works completely on accident but it still works.