Tom Hanks Vs. Dungeons and Dragons (Mazes and Monsters Review) | The Goblins and Growlers Podcast

The Goblins and Growlers Podcast

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Episode Introduction

Tom Hanks is a true treasure. He's probably the best thing about "Mazes and Monsters," a 1982 television movie about a group of friends who take their roleplaying game a little too far. The movie was made in the period right before Hanks really took off, so he was affordable, but after he'd been in "Bosom Buddies." If this had been made any later, there's no way Hanks would have been in it.

----more----

Anyway.

Even though it was made during "The Satanic Panic" and was the adaptation of a wildly sensationalized and factually challenged novel, "Mazes and Monsters" actually manages to be about friends who are trying to be helpful and supportive to one of their own as he's dealing with some severe mental health issues.

We dunk on it a little in this episode, but I'll reiterate that it's not a *terrible* movie. Its production is competent and Hanks really shines in it. You can find it on YouTube and it's free with ads. Just be sure to read up on the actual history of the event that inspired it; we talk about it a little toward the end of the episode.

Links!

Mazes and Monsters (YouTube free with ads link)

Wikipedia article on the novel

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The Goblins and Growlers Podcast is produced by Goblins and Growlers, a Richmond, Virginia-based tabletop-roleplaying-game content and events company dedicated to inclusivity through TTRPGs.