There is something that really didn’t line up with the games. The games have three triforces: Wisdom, Courage and Power. Ganon has the Triforce of Power and if he gets all three, he becomes all-powerful. In the cartoon, Ganon still has the Triforce of Power, but only needs the Triforce of Wisdom … because there are apparently only two Triforces. How can there only be two Triforces when “tri” means three? And while Link’s faithful horse Eponya wasn’t introduced in the games at this point, the show’s writers decided to name Link’s horse “Catherine.” Why Catherine? That seems like a terribly random name for a horse!
Some of the storylines are super silly, like Zelda judging a magician contest or when Link and Zelda fix the King’s waterslide or when Zelda makes Link clean the castle. To be fair, that usually resulted in some actual battles, but it was still just so goofy. Maybe the most ridiculous was “The White Knight,” which had Zelda falling for a handsome rider named Prince Facade. Just from his name, you pretty much know where it’s going. Link leaves brokenhearted, Zelda is put in danger, the Prince doesn’t live up to his title and Link saves her. And he still doesn’t get a kiss.
You have to appreciate that the cartoon kept so many of the sounds and music from the games. Most of the monsters are right from the game, as well as Link’s weapons. They even kind of explain how he carries so much stuff around!
To be fair, even the more silly episodes are better than some of the stupider cartoons of the late ’80s, early ’90s (check out the 1994 Fantastic Four cartoon sometime … the Human Torch raps). Actually, if you want to check out one of the better episodes, I’d suggest “Sting the Stinger.” Link helps save a tradesman from some brutes; the man offers to give him an awesome sword and takes Link’s old one off his hands. It turns out the brutes were in on the con and Link’s new sword breaks immediately. In a turn of events, Ganon captures Link and Zelda, but then throws the con-man in his dungeon when the sneak tries to sell him Link’s sword. The three have to work together to get out. It was clever and fun. The conman even tries to steal the Triforce of Wisdom at the end, so the writers didn’t have him change his ways (which was rare in ’80s cartoons).
Zelda herself is much more proactive than most of her fellow ’80s cartoon heroines, especially the princesses. She can fight, she’s the one coming up with the majority of the plans and she even wears pants … stretchy, camel-toe creating pants, but still pants! Sure, she’s really bitchy to Link even when he’s not being annoying, but let’s face it — most of the time, Link is annoying. I’d probably give him crap, too. The fact is, most of the times she’s getting kidnapped, Link is kidnapped along with her– so she has that over Princess Toadstool.
Is this the best cartoon of our childhood? No, not really. Is it fun in small doses? Absolutely. Will Link saying his one catchphrase drive you nuts? Most indubitably. Happy Birthday, Zelda series. May your wallet be full of rupees and your sword be masterful.
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.