A group of teens stand at a grave under a tree. One leaves a red garment near the headstone. "What now, Hank?" one asks the ranger. He does not answer. Instead, they five leave. Time passes. The grave is covered with snow. The grave is overgrown with brush. A much older Hank leaves his cabin in the woods and goes hunting. Something on a nearby mountain catches his interest. He climbs it, noting a mountain goat on his way up. He finds clear signs of a summoning circle. The goat, which is an avatar of Presto the Magician, explains that something terrible has been summoned. Sure enough, a beast climbs out of the lava of a nearby volcano and battle commence.
Meanwhile, two teens are wondering around an abandoned amusement park. It closed 30-years ago because some kids disappeared. They discover that an old rollercoaster still works. Despite warnings not to do it, Gary jumps in and rides it. He finds himself in another world, within a D&D campaign world. He is rescued from an owlbear by the arrival of Hank. "Come with me if you want to live!" Nice.
This promises to be the first of a 10-episode series that will carry on the 1980s cartoon series, perhaps to a final return home. The 20-minute short was generated with AI, but proves to be quite good nonetheless. It is a much more serious take on the material than the original cartoon. One expects that future episodes will cover Eric the Cavalier, Diana the Acrobat, Shiela the Thief, and Bobby the Barbarian, most of whom were gathered at the grave at the beginning of the episode.
There is a trailer that opens with an extended exploration of the amusement park by Gary and his girlfriend before jumping into previews of future episodes which show the other classic characters fighting a variety of D&D monsters.
Highly recommended.
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