The Legend of Zelda · Cartoon · 1989 · DIC Entertainment
The 1989 Legend of Zelda cartoon adapted Nintendo's adventure games into a 13-episode series best remembered for its brash, wisecracking Link and his endlessly repeated catchphrase, "Well, excuse me, Princess!" — a line that became an enduring internet meme.
The Legend of Zelda animated series was produced by DIC Entertainment and distributed by Viacom, airing thirteen episodes from 8 September to 1 December 1989 as a Friday feature within The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! Adapting the first two Zelda games — 1986's The Legend of Zelda and 1987's Zelda II: The Adventure of Link — it followed the hero Link (voiced by Jonathan Potts) and Princess Zelda (Cynthia Preston) as they defended the kingdom of Hyrule and its Triforce of Wisdom against the evil wizard Ganon (Len Carlson), who already possessed the Triforce of Power, with the addition of a fairy companion named Spryte. The cartoon's most defining and infamous element was its characterisation of Link. Far from the silent, noble hero of the games, the animated Link was a brash, cocky, wisecracking teenager perpetually angling for a kiss from Princess Zelda and reacting to her rebuffs with exasperated sarcasm. This interpretation was reportedly inspired by the bickering romantic dynamic of the television series Moonlighting and by a snarky line from a Steve Martin routine, and it gave the show a tone quite at odds with the mystique of the games. That characterisation crystallised in a single line. Link's catchphrase, "Well, excuse me, Princess!", delivered with withering annoyance whenever Zelda criticised him, was spoken an astonishing 29 times across the thirteen episodes — appearing in every single one. Repetitive to the point of self-parody even at the time, the line became the show's signature and, decades later, its lasting legacy: resurfacing on the early internet, it became a widely referenced meme that far outlived the series itself and remains its most remembered contribution to gaming culture. The series is generally regarded as a minor and somewhat maligned entry in Zelda's history, its irreverent Link and low-budget animation contrasting sharply with the reverent tone Nintendo would cultivate for the franchise. Yet its very ridiculousness has given it a durable cult afterlife. "Well, excuse me, Princess!" endures as a piece of gaming folklore, and the cartoon stands as a curious artifact of the era when Nintendo's properties were being hastily adapted into Saturday-morning television, before the company exercised the tight control over its characters' portrayals that would come later.
Its brash reinterpretation of Link and the endlessly repeated catchphrase "Well, excuse me, Princess!", which became a lasting internet meme.
The cartoon's Link bore little resemblance to the stoic hero players knew. Reimagined as a cocky, sarcastic teenager forever chasing a kiss from Princess Zelda, the animated Link drew reported inspiration from the sparring romance of Moonlighting and a Steve Martin comedy routine, resulting in a brash personality wildly at odds with the games' silent protagonist. This interpretation defined the show's irreverent tone and has made it a curiosity in Zelda history — a portrayal so far from Nintendo's later carefully guarded image of the character that it could only have emerged from the loosely licensed Saturday-morning cartoon boom of the late 1980s.
The series' lasting legacy rests almost entirely on four words. "Well, excuse me, Princess!" — Link's exasperated retort to Zelda's criticisms — was uttered 29 times across just thirteen episodes, appearing in every one and quickly becoming the show's trademark to the point of unintentional comedy. Decades later the line found new life on the early internet, becoming a widely quoted meme that vastly outlasted the cartoon that spawned it. Today the show is remembered less for its plots than for this single endlessly repeated phrase, a piece of gaming folklore that keeps a minor, maligned 1989 cartoon alive in cultural memory.