Dragon's Lair

Games

Dragon's Lair also led to the creation of 1984's Space Ace, another game animated by Don Bluth and his crew. Space Ace was also a ROM and disc upgrade kit for the Dragon's Lair cabinets, complete with new control panel overlay, side art, and header.

Dirk the Daring

Dirk the Daring is the main protagonist of the first game and subsequent franchise. As a knight of the kingdom, Dirk was entrusted with the rescue of Princess Daphne from Mordroc and Singe because all other knights were killed. He becomes heir to the throne upon saving Princess Daphne; following her rescue, Dirk and Daphne are married. In both games, Dirk is voiced by sound editor Dan Molina. Retro Gamer included him on their list of top 50 game characters in the category "Top Ten Forces of Good" and called him "without a doubt, the epitome of the heroic knight."

Adaptations

The game led to the creation of a short-lived television cartoon series, Dragon's Lair by Ruby-Spears Productions, where Dirk the Daring was voiced by Bob Sarlatte and the unseen storyteller that narrates each episode is voiced by Clive Revill. Changes in the TV series included the originally nameless Dragon was given the name Singe (voiced by Arthur Burghardt), Princess Daphne (voiced by Ellen Gerstell) now wore a long pink dress, and included some exclusive characters like Princess Daphne's father King Ethelred (voiced by Fred Travalena), Dirk the Daring's horse Bertram (vocal effects provided by Peter Cullen), Dirk the Daring's squire Timothy (voiced by Michael Mish), and Dirk the Daring's rival Sir Hubert Blunt (voiced by Peter Cullen). Several enemies from the original game also make their appearance as adversaries, such as the Lizard King, the Phantom Knight, the Giddy Goons, and the Mudmen. Thirteen half-hour episodes were produced and aired on the ABC network from September 8, 1984, to April 27, 1985. It was last aired on the USA Cartoon Express between the late '80s and the early '90s. The show was generally run of the mill but boasted an unusual feature: to keep the show in the spirit of the game, before each commercial break the storyteller would ask what the viewer would do to solve the problem facing Dirk. After the commercial break, the outcomes of the various choices were shown before Dirk acts on the correct idea (with the occasional exception) to save the day.

A comic book miniseries based on the game, but incorporating elements from the cartoon series as well, like Dirk's horse Bertram, was released in 2003 by CrossGen, concurrent with a miniseries based on Space Ace. Arcana Studio published the entire comic book series in 2006, as there were three issues that were previously unpublished.

Film

On October 26, 2015, Bluth and Goldman started a Kickstarter campaign to create a teaser for an animated feature-length Dragon's Lair film, their first feature film since Titan A.E. The Kickstarter funding was canceled when not enough funds were made close to the deadline, but an Indiegogo page for the project was created in its place. Bluth promoted the project with the help of the Nostalgia Critic, who had previously reviewed several of his films both positively and negatively. On December 14, 2015, the Indiegogo campaign reached its goal of $250,000 to produce a teaser, 14 days after the campaign launched, and got more than twice the budget on January 16, 2016.

Bluth and Goldman have announced that the film will provide more backstory for Dirk and Daphne and that Daphne will show that she's not a "blonde airhead" as she's depicted in the game.