You know the line. You probably hear it in your head the second someone mentions the 1980s or Nintendo's early attempts at multimedia dominance. "Well, excuuuuuse me, Princess!" It’s become a meme, a punchline, and a weird badge of honor for those of us who grew up with a bowl of cereal in front of a CRT television on Friday mornings. The Legend of Zelda TV show—officially titled The Legend of Zelda—is a fascinating relic. It wasn’t a standalone series, technically. It was a segment of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, filling in that Friday slot when Mario and Luigi took a break from their live-action Brooklyn basement antics.
It only lasted 13 episodes. Just thirteen.
Yet, here we are, decades later, still talking about it. Why? Because it represents a wild-west era of video game adaptations where nobody really knew what they were doing. Nintendo hadn't yet become the protective, brand-policing titan they are today. DIC Enterprises, the production company, basically had a manual and some concept art, and they just... went for it. The result was a Link who was a snarky teenager and a Zelda who took zero crap from anyone. It’s messy, it’s loud, and honestly, it’s a lot more interesting than people give it credit for.
What Actually Happened in the Legend of Zelda TV Series?
If you go back and watch it now, the first thing that hits you is the personality shift. In the games, Link was—and largely remains—a silent protagonist. He’s a vessel for the player. But 1989 television demanded a "hero." So, they turned him into a thirsty, sarcastic teen who was constantly trying to get a kiss from Zelda as a reward for his heroics. It was a weird dynamic. Link was voiced by Jonathan Potts, who gave him this nasally, energetic vibe that perfectly matched the "radical" energy of the late 80s.
Zelda, on the other hand, was the real MVP of the show. She wasn't a damsel. She wore a practical tunic and leggings, she fought with a bow, and she was often the one saving Link’s skin. Cyndy Preston voiced her with a perfect level of "I'm surrounded by idiots" energy. They lived in North Castle, protecting the Triforce of Wisdom from Ganon, who lived in the Underworld.
Ganon was... interesting. He wasn't the hulking, terrifying beast from Ocarina of Time. He was a pig-man in a cape who spent most of his time teleporting around and berating his incompetent minions, like the Moblins and Stalfos. Every episode followed a pretty rigid formula: Ganon tries to steal the Triforce of Wisdom, Link tries to get a kiss, Zelda gets annoyed, they fight some monsters, and Ganon retreats via a magical "jar" or teleportation spell. It was simple. It was repetitive. And for a seven-year-old in 1989, it was the highlight of the week.
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The Weird Influence on Modern Zelda Lore
People love to dunk on this show. It’s easy to do. The animation by DIC was, let's be real, pretty budget-friendly. There are coloring errors everywhere. Characters' heights change from shot to shot. But if you look closely, you can see how the Legend of Zelda TV show actually influenced the games that followed.
For one, the show leaned heavily into the idea of the Triforce as a physical object that could speak. In the show, the Triforce of Wisdom would often chime in with cryptic warnings. While the games haven't given the Triforce a literal mouth, the concept of it being an entity with a "will" or a voice became a recurring theme in titles like A Link to the Past.
Then there’s the world-building. The show introduced "the Underworld" as Ganon's domain. This dark, parallel space feels like a precursor to the Dark World or the Depths in Tears of the Kingdom. It’s a stretch to say the animators at DIC predicted the future of Nintendo's game design, but they were tapping into the same mythic archetypes that the developers would eventually lean into more heavily.
Why a Live-Action Legend of Zelda TV Show (or Movie) is Finally Happening
We’ve moved past the era of "Well, excuuuuuse me, Princess." In late 2023, Nintendo officially confirmed that a live-action Legend of Zelda movie is in development. It’s being directed by Wes Ball (Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes) and produced by Shigeru Miyamoto alongside Avi Arad.
This is a huge deal. For years, fans speculated about a Netflix Legend of Zelda TV series. There were rumors, leaks that turned out to be false, and fan-made trailers that looked suspiciously good. But Nintendo decided to go the theatrical route instead of the episodic one. They saw the billion-dollar success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie and realized that Link deserves the big screen treatment.
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The challenge for the new movie—or any future TV spin-off—is how to handle Link's voice. The 1989 show gave him a mouth, and it was polarizing. Do you make him silent and stoic? Or do you try to give him a personality that doesn't feel like a 90s sitcom character? It's a tightrope walk. Most fans want something that feels like The Lord of the Rings meets Princess Mononoke. They want the majesty of Hyrule, not the slapstick of North Castle.
Breaking Down the 13 Original Episodes
Since there are so few, each one feels like a weird time capsule. Here’s a quick look at how the series spent its limited time:
- The Ringer: Link enters an amateur wizard competition to impress Zelda. Ganon, naturally, tries to ruin it.
- Cold Spells: Zelda is cleaning the castle. Ganon uses a "cold spell" to make everyone sick. It’s as thrilling as it sounds.
- The White Knight: This one is actually funny. A "perfect" knight named Prince Facade shows up, making Link jealous. It turns out Facade is a coward.
- Kiss 'N Tell: A classic "Link turns into a frog" story.
- Sing for the Unicorn: One of the better episodes involving a giant unicorn and the kidnapping of the King.
- That Sinking Feeling: Ganon tries to pull the entire castle underground.
The rest of the episodes—Doppelganger, Hitch in the Works, Sticky Business—mostly involve Ganon coming up with a hair-brained scheme and Link and Zelda bickering their way to victory. The finale, The Fragile Shield, didn't even feel like a finale. It just stopped. Nintendo and DIC moved on to Captain N: The Game Master, where Link and Zelda made a few guest appearances, looking slightly more "heroic" but keeping the same voice actors.
The E-E-A-T Perspective: Why This History Matters
As a gaming historian, I’ve spent way too much time looking into the production of these early Nintendo shows. According to various interviews with the original staff at DIC, the production was incredibly rushed. They were trying to capitalize on the massive success of the NES, which was at its absolute peak in 1989.
There's a persistent myth that Nintendo hated the show so much they buried it. That’s not entirely true. While Nintendo became much more restrictive with their IP later on, the 1989 series was released on DVD several times in the early 2000s via Shout! Factory and NCircle Entertainment. They didn't hide it; they just let it exist as a product of its time.
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The real experts—people like the folks at The Zelda Dungeon or Zelda Universe—often point out that this show was the first time Hyrule felt like a lived-in place with its own internal logic, however goofy it was. It gave us a King of Hyrule (Harkinian) long before the games gave Zelda a father figure with any screen time.
How to Experience the Legend of Zelda TV Legacy Today
If you’re looking to dive into this weird corner of history, you don't have to go hunting for old VHS tapes at a garage sale. Much of it is accessible if you know where to look.
- Watch the episodes: Most of the 13 episodes are available on various streaming platforms like YouTube (via official retro channels) or through the DVD sets that are still floating around on eBay.
- Check the Comics: Shortly after the show, Valiant Comics produced a Legend of Zelda series that felt like a more polished version of the TV show's world. It kept the "snarky Link" vibe but with much better art and storytelling.
- The Cameos: If you’re a completionist, find the Captain N episodes "Quest for the Potion of Power" and "Having a Ball." They are essentially "lost" episodes of the Zelda series.
The Legend of Zelda TV show is a reminder of how far the medium has come. We went from "Well, excuuuuuse me, Princess" to Breath of the Wild, a game that won't even tell you where to go, let alone crack a joke about it.
The upcoming live-action film will undoubtedly be a massive shift in tone. It will likely be serious, epic, and visually stunning. But a small part of me—the part that remembers waking up on Fridays in 1989—will always have a soft spot for the Link who just wanted a break, a kiss, and for Ganon to stay in his jar for five minutes.
Your Next Steps for Hyrule History
Don't just stop at the TV show. If you want to see the full evolution of Zelda’s media presence, look into the 1990s manga by Shotaro Ishinomori, which was serialized in Nintendo Power. It bridges the gap between the cartoonish 80s and the epic storytelling we expect now. Also, keep an eye on official Nintendo Directs for the first teaser trailer of the live-action movie; it's expected to drop sometime in late 2025 or early 2026. Knowing the "bad" history of Zelda on screen makes the prospect of a high-budget film so much more exciting. You've seen the bottom; now you're ready for the peak.