It’s crazy to think the iconic Zelda video game series is a quarter of a century old. I’m not going to spend a lot of time explaining the appeal of the characters and series, but I will say it is constantly evolving with each game and was one of the first series that had a strong storyline at its core; this has continued through to the newest games. There is something really epic about playing these games and diving into the lore of this universe (or universes, as it were). The 1989 cartoon is … much less epic. But while there’s a lot of bad in the cartoon, it has its own charm at the same time. I’m going to get into both sides.
Funnily enough, a lot of people forget that The Legend of Zelda wasn’t actually a show on its own. It was a part of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show, and the Zelda episodes were only shown on Fridays. I’m not sure why, but as a kid, I don’t remember the Zelda episodes. I remember the Mario cartoons and the live-action segments with Lou Albano as Mario himself, but I either never saw the Friday episodes or didn’t connect the episode to the video game (thanks to not having an NES and relying on my neighbor’s system, which only had Mario Bros.). I really only got into the Zelda games starting with Ocarina of Time, and by then the cartoon was far gone. Luckily, the quirks of the cartoon found their way onto the internet, which is where I found them.
So, what’s so quirky about the show? Well, for one, the characters talk, while the video game character didn’t. Not only do they talk, but they have the most ridiculous voices and dialogue. The King of Hyrule and villain Ganon are particularly goofy, but the most well-known pain in the ass is our hero Link. In the games, he has no lines and is kept more-or-less a blank page, but in the show he’s just annoying and cocky. The one thing everyone remembers from the series is that one line he says … “Well, excuuuse me, Princess!” Why do people remember it? Because he says it at least five times every episode. And every episode is only 10 minutes long. That makes for him saying that one particular line once every two minutes. Don’t believe me? Check out this short compilation:
And I don’t even think this video caught them all. It’s like the writers knew there would be an internet and said internet would need a truly annoying meme. And boy, did they provide one. Hell, there’s even a drinking game for every time that line is said. However, I would suggest taking another drink every time Link asks for a kiss from Zelda or almost gets a kiss from Zelda. Here’s a hint: he never gets a kiss from Zelda and he tries every storyline. I don’t even like the guy, and I still just hate seeing him getting cock-blocked! Even in an episode when Zelda all but admits that she loves Link (and he’s leaning in to kiss her), he trips and falls into a hole. Zelda laughs at him until the scene fades and the credits start to roll. You couldn’t just let him have a kiss just once? Cocktease!
Link isn’t the only frustrating character. Probably the most annoying “new” character is Sprite the fairy. Remember Navi from Orcarina of Time? Sprite is worse. See, Navi has one line that she says over and over (“Hey, listen!”), but Sprite has a bunch of crappy dialogue in an equally annoying voice. Oh, did I mention Sprite has an unnatural romantic fixation on Link? Yeah, pretty damn creepy.
Clacked by Katie Schenkel 
on Feb 26, 2011 @ 11:00 EST5EDT
Another wonderful thing to come out of the 80s (child of the 80s speaking)!
You captured it’s essence well.
That sound you hear is my eye twitching at the “Excuse me” quotes.
Zelda has always been a tease, least Peach kissed Mario once or twice.
One thing that you didn’t get to was animation. While it was seemingly better than the Mario Bros. shorts which usually were fairly poor, it still had choppy, sometimes missing animation.
Although, I would have to agree that while not the worst cartoon, it was just one of the many crappy 80’s cartoons.