QUOTE
	"It would be difficult to breathe so much life into such pixelated, 2-D characters from the world of a single game, yet that's just what the creators of the animated series accomplished."

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With so many cartoon series being compiled for DVD lately, you can relive an ever-increasing number of your favorite shows from your childhood! Obviously, many publishers are hoping that you'll want to relive them all, but are these shows all as good as we remember? Like anything, quality varies across the board. Sometimes the gloss of quality we remember is largely nostalgia.

Not long ago I picked up The Legend of Zelda, the complete animated series, new to DVD. Is it as good as I remember from my childhood? The world will never know, as I never saw it when originally aired. This means, however, that I can offer a much more objective analysis of the series. The only nostalgia that affects my evaluation is that tied to the classic NES Legend of Zelda game from which the series is inspired and takes many cues. The Legend of Zelda animated series recalls a bygone era when the only Zelda games were for NES, and Link was a brown-haired warrior bearing a cross on his shield.

I was expecting a fairly low-budget series with only passable animation and writing on par with He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. I was then pleasantly surprised to find something more on par with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Animation and writing remain surprisingly decent by today's standards; the series has aged well. Each episode opens with the orchestral translation of the Zelda theme music and the following dialogue:

"This is the Triforce of Wisdom, Link. The evil wizard, Gannon has the Triforce of Power. Whoever gets both Triforces will rule this land forever! You must help me, Link!"
"Hey, for you, Zelda, anything."
(Adventuring ensues with Zelda ending up in the drink.)
"Nice job, Hero."
"Hey, excuuuse me, Princess!"

Link's Triforce of Courage must not have been a fully developed concept yet. His last line is signature in the series. At first glance Link appears a swaggering and overly rude dude. But on closer examination we see in Link's character a reflection of the show's target audience: teenage boys. While Link pursues Zelda as a love interest, she is more often than not an ally, fighting side by side with him to defeat Gannon. Link's rough edges can be accepted as an appeal to target audience through a realistic portrayal of a typical teenage male: attracted to females, but ironically self-defeated through his efforts to appear cool.

That Link and Zelda fight side by side is an excellent choice, which rounds out the target audience from males to believably include females too. This is an extremely far-sighted decision considering that only just now are we hearing about Nintendo and other companies' interest in expanding the gaming market to include more non-gamers and specifically, more women. The Zelda game series has yet to embrace female lead roles to the extent seen in the animated series. It's on the right path with Sheik and Medli, but has yet to approach this kind of cooperative, team equality.

Link's amazing acrobatics are a notable departure from the mostly grounded game Link. His sword is so short it's really more of a dagger, used not for swordplay, but for zapping enemies. Also of note are Zelda's weapons of choice: the more flexible bow and boomerang. We d see this kind of weapon use again until the end of Wind Waker. Additionally anticipated by many years are horseback riding and the expanded role of companion fairy characters.

The animated series explores the most obvious development between hero and princess that each game stops just shy of: love interest. While pursued more openly by Link here, our hero remains frustrated as he never quite gets that kiss he's dreaming of. Like the "Silly Rabbit" of Trix cereal ads, or Wile Coyote and Roadrunner, the ongoing comedic pursuit serves as a central plot element and continuous thread running through the series.

Also ever-frustrated is the traditionally porcine Gannon, who possesses the Triforce of Power, but is always thwarted by the combined efforts of Link and Zelda. Is there some kind of obtuse geometry lesson going on here? Perhaps Pythagorus can shed some light on it: the square of two legs of the Triforce always equal the square of its hypotenuse? But the Triforce is equilateral! Or is it? Only Din, Farore and Nayru, the three godesses whose power it embodies may ever know.

Many elements from The Legend of Zelda NES game carry over directly to the series. The aforementioned orchestral versions of Zelda themes are of excellent quality. Untranslated are classic, low-bit sound effects from the game including the signature energy bolt blast from Link's sword sound, the dual-tone sound of selection, the ka-ching of rupee acquisition and the pop of vanquished enemies.

From characters to enemies to items and environments, the look of the series world carries over from the game, too. Anyone familiar with the game will recognize entrances to Gannon's dungeon domain, which erupt from underground. The series remains true to the rules of Hyrule in many other elements; touching stone statues brings them to life and bombing walls in the dungeons opens a way through to other rooms. Moblins, Stalfos, Octoroks and Centaurs serve as Gannon's vile minions, and weapons from the game (sword, bow and arrows, bombs and whistle) defeat them.

For the nostalgic gamer it is the quality of animation combined with heavy use of elements from The Legend of Zelda NES game that carries this series. The use of these now classic elements keeps the series true to the game world, explored in ways impossible for games to achieve at the time. It would be difficult to breathe so much life into such pixelated, 2-D characters from the world of a single game, yet that's just what the creators of the animated series accomplished.

As more and more games are derived from television and movies it's refreshing to see a television series inspired by a game. The Legend of Zelda the animated series reflects Zelda roots, breathing life into every corner of the only Hyrule in existance at its time. It is therefore a fitting tribute to the game which began a series of its own in the following years, a series in which each installment bears its name: The Legend of Zelda.

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