Dragons: Riders of Berk discussion thread

[JD]

Cartoon Networks' Dragons: Riders of Berk premiers tonight. The series is a continuation of How To Train Your Dragon, and follows Hiccup, Toothless, and their friends and fellow Dragons' adventures after the end of the movie.
I really enjoyed the movie, so I'm looking forward to this. Most of the previews and stuff I've seen for it look pretty good.
EDIT: Turns out they showed the first couple episodes early last month, but I missed it. Tonight's episode is the third.

 

[Tom Hendricks]

My son is the hugest How To Train Your Dragon fan, has all the dolls and bed sheets and posters. We watched the first two episodes when they premiered back a few weeks ago, still on the DVR. He wont get to see tonights episode until next week, were going away on vacation and he was in bed before it was shown. So he is eagerly waiting to see it and be honest, so am I.

 

[Mr Light]

I missed it, and I didn't know the show had already started! I'll definitely try it out, but the Kung Fu Panda and Penguin shows never really caught my interest in spite of really liking the movies.

 

[Christopher]

I haven't seen the movie, but I caught the preview episodes. I'm lukewarm toward it. The lead character has a very annoying voice. At first I thought it was an impersonator doing a forced, awkward job trying to imitate the original actor from the movie, but then I found out it was the original actor, Jay Baruchel -- whom I've vaguely heard of, but haven't seen in anything else as far as I know. I dunno, his voice has kind of a Wallace Shawn quality, but I like Wallace Shawn's voice. Somehow Shawn manages to wield his annoying voice in a way that makes it fun and entertaining to listen to, but Baruchel (at least playing this character) is just rather grating.

From what I remember of the episodes I saw, they were reasonably okay, but the world and the characters don't really grab me. It's no Kung Fu Panda. I'm not sure how motivated I'll be to watch this.

And why did they choose that title for the show? Why not just keep the How to Train Your Dragon title? As it is, it sounds uncomfortably, almost-infringingly close to Dragonriders of Pern.

 

[JD]

Yeah, I don't know why they didn't just call it How to Train Your Dragon: The Series. That just seems like a much simpler link to the series for those who aren't 100% familiar with the story.
As for episode itself, I enjoyed it.

 

[Avalon]

What? I had no idea they were doing a tv series!

 

[RJDiogenes]

I only knew about it because I noticed a commercial while watching Scooby Doo (I usually fast forward through them). I didn't realize that two episodes had aired last month, although I realized a couple of days ago that I missed this last Tuesday's episode. I must remember to check On Demand....

 

[Mr Light]

I saw the episode, it was decent. Surprised how much of the movie cast is in it! I'll try another one.

 

[Brikar99]

The movie was great. I thought they were working on a sequel, though? Where did this TV show come from?

 

[Tom Hendricks]

There is a sequel coming but not until 2014, I believe they are producing this show to keep the series relivent until the next movie comes out. As an aside, if you haven't seen the short "Gift of the Night Fury" you should give it a watch. It is surprisingly good, better then some full length movies.

 

[Christopher]

The movie was great. I thought they were working on a sequel, though? Where did this TV show come from?

They're not mutually exclusive. Dreamworks has several franchises with both film and TV incarnations running side by side, including Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda as well as this (although the KFP series, Legends of Awesomeness, didn't come out until after the second movie, even though it's set soon after the first). And there are plenty of older examples of animated series running alongside live-action film series, like Ghostbusters and Men in Black (although the sequel films usually ignore the TV continuities). And generally the TV shows are produced by different teams than the movies, so they can be made side-by-side. This one is no exception.

 

[Brikar99]

The movie was great. I thought they were working on a sequel, though? Where did this TV show come from?

They're not mutually exclusive. Dreamworks has several franchises with both film and TV incarnations running side by side, including Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda as well as this (although the KFP series, Legends of Awesomeness, didn't come out until after the second movie, even though it's set soon after the first). And there are plenty of older examples of animated series running alongside live-action film series, like Ghostbusters and Men in Black (although the sequel films usually ignore the TV continuities). And generally the TV shows are produced by different teams than the movies, so they can be made side-by-side. This one is no exception.

True enough. It's just that, I'd heard there was work on a sequel, whereas the TV show is a surprise to me. Perhaps I should have phrased it differently.

 

[Destructor]

I'm six episodes in and am very impressed. It really has all the wit, charm, warmth, intelligence and heart of the movie (which, if you haven't seen, you should not watch this show until you have- it's a great movie and they tie perfectly together) and is almost as visually excellent. I'm amazed at what a great job they've done. It's such a great world they've created, and such a great metaphor for a world that is in the grip of momentous change that they are doing a great job of exploring. I'm really enjoying it.

 

[Christopher]

Yeah, I've become considerably more fond of the show than I was when I made my initial post. I've seen the movie since then, which helped get me invested in the world. But some of the episodes have been really well-written and really well-animated. I'm hoping that in this case, unlike the usual pattern, the sequel movie will be consistent with the TV continuity, alluding to some of its characters and elements or at least not contradicting them.

 

[Tom Hendricks]

They are already working on the second season, in fact already completed two episodes. The second season will be called, Dragons: Defenders of Berk. Hiccup and the gang will be a little bit older, as they will be much older in the second film.

 

[Destructor]

Yeah, I've become considerably more fond of the show than I was when I made my initial post. I've seen the movie since then, which helped get me invested in the world. But some of the episodes have been really well-written and really well-animated. I'm hoping that in this case, unlike the usual pattern, the sequel movie will be consistent with the TV continuity, alluding to some of its characters and elements or at least not contradicting them.

I'm really glad to read this post Christopher as I've come to really respect your viewing choices and have been following your blog posts on older shows and so am happy to hear you are enjoying the show (and have seen the movie!) It feels like Dreamworks is making a concerted effort to have the series link up with the first film so hopefully they will continue that tradition with the second film (at the very least have Stoic riding Thornado!)

The line that really stayed with me from the film was when Hiccup says: "Everything we know about you is wrong." It's a very, well, 'Trekkian' moment, and you can almost feel the weight of an entire culture being to tilt just with that one realization, and in many ways the show is about well, yes, radical change CAN occur, but what are the consequences of that?

I was reminded of this as I just watched the episode where all the Dragons become ill, and Stoic looks at Thornado, sighs, and says quietly: "I spent my entire life trying to kill you." It was a beautiful moment, as good as anything in the film.

My only question about the show is: Where are the rest of the Dragons? It seems like the only dragons on Berk are the ones tamed by the kids, plus now Thornado. At the end of the film and in the first episode of the show there were heaps of them. Even when they went back to Dragon Island there were no other dragons. Have they just... spread out?

 

[Christopher]

The line that really stayed with me from the film was when Hiccup says: "Everything we know about you is wrong." It's a very, well, 'Trekkian' moment, and you can almost feel the weight of an entire culture being to tilt just with that one realization, and in many ways the show is about well, yes, radical change CAN occur, but what are the consequences of that?

That's what I loved about the movie -- the message that intelligence and compassion are better at solving problems than brute force. And the series does continue that theme pretty well.

My only question about the show is: Where are the rest of the Dragons? It seems like the only dragons on Berk are the ones tamed by the kids, plus now Thornado. At the end of the film and in the first episode of the show there were heaps of them. Even when they went back to Dragon Island there were no other dragons. Have they just... spread out?

I've noticed other dragons showing up here and there in the series, but the show doesn't have as high an animation budget as the movies and thus can't show random dragons wandering around all the time.

 

[Destructor]

I just watched eps 13 and 14 and they were both really, really enjoyable.

13 was the one where thunder keeps striking the village and so they think Thor is angry with them. Great commentary on religion and interpretation. I loved Stoic's line: "I don't pretend to know the will of Thor." but especially loved the final analysis: "Now if we can only figure out why Thor is angry at metal..."

14 was the one with Toothless' nemesis (the burrowing dragon). Really loved the moment where Hiccup stepped into the ravine to let Toothless save him- so he could save Toothless. Really clever moment that was both touching and followed by an awesome dragon fight.

I'm really surprised this show doesn't have a larger fanbase online- I guess it has more of a 'kid's show only' aura about it than Clone Wars does, but I think it is almost as good, and sometimes better.

I haven't seen past 14, but I'm really hoping that they touch on a bit of the Viking's history as dragon-slayers, maybe have them wrestle with some of the consequences of that? I know the show never gets too heavy, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if it went in that direction for an episode.

 

[Mr Light]

It's a cute show but it doesn't have as much of an action premise as I hoped it would given the movie.

 

[JD]

I've only seen three or four episodes, but I really enjoyed them.