Dave the Barbarian

This is an amazing cartoon! Having two kids and getting a healthy dose of animation daily, this is one of the most hilarious and entertaining cartoons out there. Not an adult theme, but quite a few quips that adults can appreciate, this show is truly wasted in its time slot. It belongs in Saturday morning or after-school in mass syndication. Each character fills a completely opposite role. Phobic brute, tiny horror, beauty queen, crazy wizard, lazy pet. It's been done before, but not with such pizazz. Even the "evil" characters are highly interesting. More than once I've been stuck in front of the TV at the worst times, unable to peel my eyes from the screen and a smile so big it hurts.

I admit to a certain prejudice here since I lived with a live action version of Fang for 9 years, but Dave may in fact be the most underrated animated series of the past 20 years. Sarcastic, witty and sly, Dave skewers modern fantasy and it's fandom with a zeal not often seen outside an episode of South Park. Dave,a beautiful steroid enhanced muscle man with the heart of the Cowardly Lion, and his two sisters, Fang, a tiny redhead with a big voice and a habit of getting her own way come hell or high water, and Candy, the fairy tale princess left in charge of the kingdom while mom and dad are off fighting evil, deal with Candy's addiction to shopping, defeat the Dark Lord Chuckles (a cute little piggie), engage in sibling rivalry, and in general just struggle to grow up and accept responsibility.

My best guess as to the lack of an audience for this gem is that the targeted demographic, the average fantasy fan and SciFi addict, lacks even a vestigial sense of humor. Dealing with the target group in a sarcastic manner only works if the members of that group are able to engage in enough abstract reasoning to appreciate being made the butt of the joke.

I love this show! Call me immature, but I think it's hilarious. The villains are weirdly pathetic, not really evil at all. The "heros" are almost as pathetic as the villains, yet they always manage to bumble through and set things right in the end. I love Dave, who reminds me of my brother. He wants to do things right, but can't seem to realize that he's doing it all wrong and making a bigger mess. I love that he keeps a small dragon for a pet. I rate this show 4* out of 5.

Well, let's offset the childish negativity of the last comment.

Dave the Barbarian has a wonderfully warped sense of humor. Something completely unexpected to come out of Disney Channel. My only problem is they tend to run through the series too quick then rerun it for ages before putting out new episodes. They seem to do this with all their shows, though. :( I can't wait to see more.

If you like the humor of shows such as Animaniacs, chances are you'll love Dave. The so-called "lazy and cheap" drawings are better than a lot of cartoons out there today (Ed, Edd, and Eddie? Rugrats?), and the style just fits with the humor of the show.

Definite recommendation from me.

I am not a big fan of Disney. I don't like Lizzie McGuire, I don't like That's So Raven, I HATE the stupid sequels that they come out with every month. This show however is absolutely wonderful. This is the kind of off-the-wall humor that kids and adults can appreciate. This show never fails to put a smile on my face.

For Instance: "Dave creates a homemade megaphone using nothing but a squirrel, and piece of string, and a megaphone!"

That is gold. The plots are hilarious but easy enough for a kid to follow, the characters are well developed and reliable, and the character voices just completely make the show. Faffy and Twinkle the Wonderhorse are my heroes! :D