dungeon

Dungeon the Early Years 2: Innocence Lost (Dungeon: The Early Years)
$12.95
Hyacinthe, Dungeon Keeper to be, continues to render justice in a cloak nightly as The Night Shirt and stumbles upon the one he pines for, Alexandra, an assassin, about to be raped! After his valiant and heroic rescue, his wettest dreams come true... with dire consequences. In the second story which happens quite a few years later, he's married and a poor husband, worse even, a poor lover, until Alexandra plots to gain him back. Cloak and dagger with romantic bravura! And you thought he didn't have it in him. Art by Eisner nominated Blain (Isaac The Pirate, Gus) and story by legendary Trondheim and Eisner nominated Sfar (Rabbi's Cat).

DUNGEON KEEPER 2
$49.95
A great game. Too bad they canceled the sequel. I would have loved to have seen a version for the Xbox.

The New Dungeon Game
$99.94

Dungeons & Dragons: The Complete Animated Series
$24.98
When last seen on DVD, Dungeons & Dragons featured a plethora of special features, but one very big problem: music replacement in 9 of the series' 27 episodes. Suddenly gone were all examples of Rob Walsh's music for the show, in all episodes except the third season premiere, "The Dungeon at the Heart of Dawn". Somewhat less annoying, but still notable was the omission of most of the "Today on Dungeons & Dragons" preview clips, and the wrong credits for most episodes (with the ones featured being altered so as to not include the Marvel Productions logo). The darker, more interesting Season 2 opening was relegated to the special features disc, and only in a poorly transferred and time-compressed format. All in all, the set was a big disappointment.

Now, out of the blue, we have this set, a budget re-issue appearing in the wake of the closure of BCI Eclipse. And, happily, the set fixes the main problem with its predecessor: Rob Walsh's music is back! The video is basically the same as the BCI set, though the menus are far more spartan this time around, and the chapter breaks are a bit different. All is not perfect, though, the preview clips are still missing, and the end credits are still wrong (apparently a result of Saban's prior ownership of the series-one has to wonder if a future release will see the Marvel Productions logo return now that Disney owns Marvel Comics). Another big issue are the layer breaks in discs 1 and 2-they occur in the middle of scenes and are quite sloppy. Amazingly, Disc 3's layer change occurs between acts during "Citadel of Shadow". Since the episodes on Discs 1 and 2 with the layer changes both feature no Rob Walsh music, it seems as if someone encoding the discs knew fans would be placing a priority on the 9 improved episodes on Discs 2 and 3, and took proper care with those episodes above all else.

The packaging is ultimately the oddest part of the package. The back of the box has the wrong running order for Season 3, and the discs themselves are within black paper sleeves, which are kept secure in a slot in the package. It looks more like the packaging for a computer game, and is very strange. However, it's the biggest flaw in a generally satisfactory set, though I do find myself annoyed that I must keep two different DVD sets in my possession for the full D&D experience. Otherwise, this set is heartily recommended.