The Girl Who Dreamed Tommorrow is the first episode in the second season of the 1983 Marvel Productions Ltd., D&D Enterprises and TSR nonlinear animated series, Dungeons & Dragons. The episode first aired on the 15th of September, 1984.
Short Summary: The children meet a girl who has been swept into the Realm, as they have, on a rollercoaster car. The girl, Terri, has the ability to dream the future. Together they set out to find the portal home that is hidden at the end of Venger's Maze of Darkness.
Complete Summary: Warning, the following episode summary is complete and will spoil the episode totally for those who haven't seen it.
Like most episodes of D&D, this part begins with a battle; in this case between the group and bullywugs. In the process Eric stumbles on a rollercoaster car similar to the one they entered the Realm in. The group wonder if Presto can use his magic to make the car work again and perhaps take them home, but they are forced to hide when the bullywugs arrive and begin smashing the car to pieces.
Concealed in the bushes, Eric is set upon by a huge dog who tries to drag him off into the forest. Bobby theorises that the dog is trying to lead them somewhere and they set off in pursuit. They come upon a girl tied to a tree, surrounded by lizard men, who begs them for help. In the ensuing chaos the girl is freed and both the bullywugs and lizard men defeated.
The girl, who is about Bobby's age and wears a golden heart medalion, introduces herself as Terri (and her dog as Freddy). That night, around the campfire, she reveals to them that she too has been mysteriously transported into the Realm aboard the rollercoaster car, along with her dog who jumped on at the last minute. What is stranger for her is that ever since she entered the world she has been able to see the future in her dreams, a skill she used in the previous battle to warn Diana of a lizard men ambush.
At this point, true to form, Dungeon Master appears. He tells them that there is a portal that will take them home, but adds "before you leave you must destroy it" - which as Eric correctly counters means "...if we destroy it, it can't get us home - right?"
During the night Terri's medalion begins to glow and she sees the group facing terrible dangers in the maze that guards the portal home. The next day, the group sets out for the portal. Venger, who has learned of the girl who can see the future, determines to get the power for himself and sets off to interfere.
The group find themselves in a forest of razor-sharp glass shards sticking up from the earth. At this point Venger uses his powers to conjur up a whirlwind which sweeps the characters off their feet and hurls them in all directions. They flee behind a huge door and close it, which turns out to be just what Venger had in mind as he welds it closed after them. They now find themselves in a maze full of traps at whose end stands a pedestal of light upon which is the portal home. Enthusiastically they set out into the maze.
After a number of deadly encounters with traps in the maze the characters lie down to rest. Terri dreams that she will meet up with Bobby outside what looks like a school, and that when they meet he will return to her her golden medalion.
Terri is awakened by Dungeon Master, who tells her that this dream, just like all the others, will come true. He reveals to them that suits of armor they saw earlier on in the maze were pupils of his from long ago, who perished trying to get home through the maze. The Maze of Darkness exists as bait to draw in and kill those from the real world with the promise of a way home.
Dungeon Master tells them that the maze will try to stop them from reaching the portal, and at that moment the walls start to collapse (what convenient timing). Dungeon Master mysteriously disappears and the group are in trouble until Terri remembers that she dreamed the way out of the maze the night before. Following after her they emerge before the pedestal.
Waiting to greet them is Venger, who politely offers them passage through provided they leave Terri at the door - to this they refuse. Venger changes himself into a hideous creature and attacks them, but in the process fails to notice Bobby and Terri running up the stairs of the pedestal to the portal. Bobby tells Terri that he can't come with her, since they have to destroy the portal. Remembering her dream Terri quickly gives him her medalion before being swept with her dog through the portal.
The group use their weapons to destroy the pedestal and the maze collapses. In the next scene the group are sitting glumly on sand dunes (of all things!?). Bobby prepares to hurl Terri's locket into oblivion, but is stopped by Dungeon Master who tells him to keep it so that he might return it someday. He then reveals to Bobby what Terri's last dream was, and Bobby excitedly runs to the rest of the group to tell them what he has heard.
Trivia:
- When Terri introduces herself to Eric at the beginning of the episode, the voice actress fumbles and calls the dog "Fritz" instead of "Freddy."
- Dungeon Master tells Terri that all her dreams come true, but in her second dream she sees herself falling into a deep pit - which never actually happens in reality.
- Dungeon Master tells the group that the dead knights they saw in the center of the maze were pupils of his from long before. Clearly, Dungeon Master has spent years bringing hapless people into the Realm and taunting them with promises of home.
- Dungeon Master tells them that the Maze of Darkness has lured innocents for "a thousand years" - is this yet another case of the group arriving exactly at an improbable time?
Best quotes from the episode:
(Eric is polishing his shield)
Presto: "Sheesh, Eric, enough with the spit and polish."
Eric: "You can never have enough polish, Presto, (of course I ran out of spit an hour ago)."
Sources:
Dungeons & Dragons Titles and Air Dates Guide at http://epguides.com/DungeonsandDragons/
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