Release calendarTop 250 moviesMost popular moviesBrowse movies by genreTop box officeShowtimes & ticketsMovie newsIndia movie spotlight
    What's on TV & streamingTop 250 TV showsMost popular TV showsBrowse TV shows by genreTV news
    What to watchLatest trailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb SpotlightFamily entertainment guideIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsEmmysToronto Int'l Film FestivalHispanic Heritage MonthIMDb Stars to WatchSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll events
    Born todayMost popular celebsCelebrity news
    Help centerContributor zonePolls
For industry professionals
  • Language
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Watchlist
Sign in
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Use app
Episode guide
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • FAQ
IMDbPro

The Legend of Zelda

  • TV Series
  • 1989
  • TV-Y7-FV
  • 15m
IMDb RATING
6.0/10
2.2K
YOUR RATING
The Legend of Zelda (1989)
Trailer for this animated action series
Play trailer0:49
2 Videos
34 Photos
SuperheroSword & SorceryActionAdventureAnimationComedyFamilyFantasy

Based on the popular Nintendo game of the same name. Link and Princess Zelda protect the mystical artifact, the Triforce of Wisdom, from falling into the hands of the evil sorcerer Ganon.Based on the popular Nintendo game of the same name. Link and Princess Zelda protect the mystical artifact, the Triforce of Wisdom, from falling into the hands of the evil sorcerer Ganon.Based on the popular Nintendo game of the same name. Link and Princess Zelda protect the mystical artifact, the Triforce of Wisdom, from falling into the hands of the evil sorcerer Ganon.

  • Creator
    • Bob Forward
  • Stars
    • Cynthia Preston
    • Jonathan Potts
    • Tabitha St. Germain
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.0/10
    2.2K
    YOUR RATING
    • Creator
      • Bob Forward
    • Stars
      • Cynthia Preston
      • Jonathan Potts
      • Tabitha St. Germain
    • 28User reviews
    • 4Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Episodes13

    Browse episodes
    TopTop-rated1 season1989

    Videos2

    The Legend of Zelda: The Complete Series
    Trailer 0:49
    The Legend of Zelda: The Complete Series
    The Legend Of Zelda
    Trailer 1:49
    The Legend Of Zelda
    The Legend Of Zelda
    Trailer 1:49
    The Legend Of Zelda

    Photos34

    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    View Poster
    + 28
    View Poster

    Top cast11

    Edit
    Cynthia Preston
    Cynthia Preston
    • Princess Zelda
    • 1989
    Jonathan Potts
    Jonathan Potts
    • Link
    • 1989
    Tabitha St. Germain
    Tabitha St. Germain
    • Spryte
    • 1989
    Len Carlson
    • Ganon
    • 1989
    Colin Fox
    Colin Fox
    • King Harkinian
    • 1989
    Elizabeth Hanna
    Elizabeth Hanna
    • Triforce of Wisdom
    • 1989
    Allen Stewart-Coates
    Allen Stewart-Coates
    • Triforce of Power
    • 1989
    Don Francks
    Don Francks
    • Additional Voices
    • 1989
    Marvin Goldhar
    • Additional Voices
    • 1989
    Christopher Ward
    • Additional Voices
    • 1989
    J Bizel
    • 1989
    • Creator
      • Bob Forward
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews28

    6.02.1K
    1
    2
    3
    4
    5
    6
    7
    8
    9
    10

    Featured reviews

    6AgentPhoenixxx

    Corny, but pretty good

    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.
    9discodhl

    If you hate this, you weren't a kid in 1989. It was great.

    I have this on DVD and my 5-year-old loves it. Watching it now as a 43-year-old man, I can see how there are some irritating aspects to the storylines... but those aspects were necessary to perpetuate the series.

    Yes, plenty of times, Link should have zapped Ganon again instead of warning him "one more zap and you're history", giving him the chance to defend himself. Plenty of times, Link or Zelda should have grabbed the Triforce of Power when they had the chance, instead of saying "there's no time". Plenty of times, they should have kissed instead of talking about it for so long that something happened to stop it.

    But if Link destroyed Ganon or got the Triforce of Power, what would've been the plotline of the next episode?

    As a 9-year-old in 1989, I lived for this show. I always watched the Super Mario Bros. Super Show, but Fridays when they played the Legend of Zelda were by far my favorite. There will always be a soft spot in my heart for this. It was awesome, for a kid in 1989, and all of my friends loved it. Okay, so Link does say "Ex-CUUUUUse me, Princess!" too much, but in 4th grade, plenty of us said it and thought we were cool. It became a cultural icon for a brief moment. It was never meant to entertain the adults who complain about it now. And don't forget, when this show was running, all we had in the Zelda series were games 1 and 2. They never had the chance to expand the storyline to the games that came afterward.

    Yeah, it's kind of annoying in retrospect that they changed the roles so that Link was a somewhat derpy teenager and Zelda was a strong and often snarky woman who wore pants instead of the dresses she was shown wearing in the Nintendo games, but think of how it helped show girls that they could and should be strong. It did much better on gender balance than the video games did.

    It only gets a 9 out of 10 because it has nothing to offer adults that didn't grow up with it. But if you'd asked me how I felt about this in 1989, it would've gotten about a 100 out of 10. And obviously it still grabs the hearts of kids.
    6donzabu

    So bad it's awesome!

    The Legend of Zelda is a cartoon contained within the much more successful Super Mario Bros. Super Show based on the game of the same name.

    This cartoon is obviously a big screwup. It does no justice for the awesome game series it is based on, and anyone can you tell that.

    Yet still, there's something about it that is extremely funny. Maybe it's how they turned Link into a cocky jerk, or the nightmarish acting, but it manages to be so funny you just have to keep watching.

    In closing, the show is horrible, but it's hysterical. It's a guilty pleasure. Too bad it only lasted 13 episodes.
    7afillion-03424

    Doesn't deserve all the hate

    I see a few reviews here criticizing this series because it isn't "FaItHfUl tO tHe sToRy oF aLl tHe zEldA gAmEs," but these individuals aren't too bright. You need to keep in mind that when this was aired on TV, there were only two Zelda games in existence: The Legend of Zelda, and Zelda: Link's Adventure. Both of those games contained the most simplistic of plots and little to no story whatsoever. So for the creators of this series to take a couple of 8-bit games and create this animated series, it deserves some applause. Now granted, when you look in hindsight, the writing is pretty bad, the cheesy catchphrases are used way too often to the point that it becomes hilarious, and the trope of Link wanting to kiss Zelda only to have it interrupted each episode does get annoying; however, the sound effects pulled from the game give it an excellent nostalgic feeling. Plus this is a kids show and you can't say that you wouldn't have loved watching this when you were 4 or 5 years old. I mean damn, I remember watching Pokemon every morning before school and loving it, but when I look back at it now I can see all kinds of flaws.
    7NintendoHour

    Funny Scenes and Humorous!

    Next to The Super Mario Bros. Super Show is The Legend of Zelda, Altough not lasting long on it's run. It's still a can't miss!

    More like this

    The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!
    6.3
    The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!
    Super Mario World
    6.6
    Super Mario World
    Captain N: The Game Master
    6.3
    Captain N: The Game Master
    The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3
    7.0
    The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3
    Snorks
    6.4
    Snorks
    She-Ra: Princess of Power
    6.8
    She-Ra: Princess of Power
    A Pup Named Scooby-Doo
    6.7
    A Pup Named Scooby-Doo
    Beetlejuice
    7.3
    Beetlejuice
    He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
    7.5
    He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
    Thundercats
    7.9
    Thundercats
    Heathcliff
    6.5
    Heathcliff
    The New Adventures of Jonny Quest
    7.1
    The New Adventures of Jonny Quest

    Related interests

    Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, and Chris Hemsworth
    Superhero
    Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sandahl Bergman, and Gerry Lopez in Conan the Barbarian (1982)
    Sword & Sorcery
    Bruce Willis in Die Hard (1988)
    Action
    Still frame
    Adventure
    Daveigh Chase, Rumi Hiiragi, and Mari Natsuki in Spirited Away (2001)
    Animation
    Will Ferrell in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)
    Comedy
    Drew Barrymore and Pat Welsh in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
    Family
    Elijah Wood in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
    Fantasy

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Many of the sound effects in this cartoon (Link shooting his sword, Link killing the monsters, items dropping to the ground, etc.) are the same sound effects almost verbatim from The Legend of Zelda (1986) video game.
    • Quotes

      [repeated line]

      Link: Well, excuse me, Princess!

    • Connections
      Edited into The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! (1989)

    Top picks

    Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations
    Sign in

    FAQ16

    • How many seasons does The Legend of Zelda have?Powered by Alexa

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • September 8, 1989 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • La leyenda de Zelda
    • Production companies
      • DIC Entertainment
      • Nintendo Of America
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 15m
    • Color
      • Color
    • Aspect ratio
      • 4:3

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit pageAdd episode

    More to explore

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb App
    Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
    Follow IMDb on social
    Get the IMDb App
    For Android and iOS
    Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • License IMDb Data
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Your Ads Privacy Choices
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2025 by IMDb.com, Inc.