Fantasy High Review

“Hello, Intrepid Heroes!”

Just because two things are great, doesn’t mean they’re great together: French Fries and Lucky Charms, arm wrestling and driving, Dungeons and Dragons and John Hughes movies…

Except that last one totally does work. College Humor’s D&D show Dimension 20 began its first season, “Fantasy High,” back in 2018 with a simple premise: what if you took all the trappings of a 1980’s American suburb (shopping malls, high school, fast cars, and house parties) and put them into a fantasy world. Then they put the brilliant Brennan Lee Mulligan in charge of six other College Humor comedians and actors/actresses, and it became one of my favorite things to watch.

The first episode begins by introducing each of the main characters on their first day of “adventuring” school, and you soon have a Breakfast Club-esque motley crew (with perfect D&D party coverage) known as “the Bad Kids.” You’ve got the prep-school wizard, the rich jock son of a fearsome pirate, the punk rock daughter of a literal devil, a prayer-group teen starting to face some doubts, a shy half-orc, and a spunky goblin ready to solve a mystery. It almost sounds crazy when I write it all down. But each character brings something to the table and when fantasy violence starts to rear his head, these kids start plucking away at a mystery involving kidnapping, monsters, a biker gang, ancient prophecies, and the end of the world.

It’s a wild, wild ride, and I can’t recommend it enough. 6 Bad Kids out of 5. The entire first season is on Youtube, go give it a shot.