A writer from the acclaimed Avatar: The Last Airbender is back with The Dragon Prince, so let's see if he can deliever another great series. Narration starts us off explaining that, in the distant past, magic came from the sun, moon, stars, earth, sky, and ocean. Then, everything changed when the fire- sorry, wrong show. Everything changed when a human mage discovered dark magic, which harnesses the energy of living magical creatures. Horrified, the elves remained in the magical land of Xadia and forced the humans west, with the King of the Dragons guarding the border. Due to his powers, the humans called him Thunder, and the winter prior to the show, used dark magic to kill him and destroy his only egg. Like with Avatar, the seasons an episodes are split into books and chapters, with this one opening on a sleeping Prince Ezran (Sasha Rojen) and his pet, Bait. In an adjacent room, his stepbrother Callum (Jack De Sena) is drawing adventurous pictures, and comforts him after a startling crack of thunder. Treading through the night's storm, a scout comes across a band of Moonshadow elf assassins, only to be surprised when the one giving chase lets him go. He rushes back to the castle, where High Mage Viren (Jonathan Holmes) covers a mirror before hearing him out. Viren wakes King Harrow (Luc Roderique) the next morning, to the king's joking displeasure. Harrow shrugs off the threat of assassins at first, noting they've stopped attempts before, but becomes concerned upon hearing of Moonshadow elves. Agreeing that the scout had to be very lucky to escape, Harrow calls for General Amaya and the Standing Battalion, but Viren replies they wouldn't make it back from "The Breach" before the full moon, when the elves will be at their strongest. Deciding not to wait for destruction, Harrow declares they'll go on the offensive while the sun is still out. We then head to the elf who let the guard go, Rayla (Paula Burrow). Knowing she'd get in trouble back at camp for her inaction, she smears red berry juice on her blades. Although awkward and a clearly bad liar, Rayla's succeeds in fooling the group's leader, Runaan (Jason Simpson). We get a cutesie kind of typical scene with Ezran and Bait getting scolded by the castle chef for stealing food, then it's off to the training grounds. Immediately Callum lets us know he's not much of a fighter, cracking jokes to the annoyance of his teacher Soren (Jesse Inocalla), who looks like a light-haired version of Craig from the game "Dream Daddy." Soren and the other guards have no qualms about seeming to dislike Callum, with the others watching as Soren gives him no chance in his parrying lesson and notes that he's bad at fighting, but it's expected of a prince, correcting himself to "step-prince." The two are distracted when Soren's sister Claudia (Racquel Belmonte) enters, and Soren pouts when Callum doesn't let her, not paying attention, walk into a tree. Callum asks to try again, and though he does better, he earns more mockery for trying to sweep Soren's leg with his sword. Realizing Callum is trying to impress Claudia, Soren allows himself to be "stabbed" and puts on an overdramatic show, earning Callum some praise from her. An adviser calls Callum to see the King, who tells the him and Ezran they'll be going to their winter lodge, confusing the boys as it's currently spring. Harrow gets serious and refuses to hear any objections, and though both boys are worried, Callum reassures Ezran that everything's fine. Viren tells Soren and Claudia, shown to be his children, of the impending attack, and directs his son to lead an attack on the camp of assassins. Soren is skeptical about leading an attack on a secret camp, but Viren hands over a box containing a Giant Moon Moth that will follow the lunar energy the elves use. Soren is less than discreet upon deducing the potential danger of failing, so Viren slams a window shut as a worried and confused Callum looks on. After Viren shuts down Soren's sarcasm, Claudia declares that she'll find a way to stop the elves. Callum tries to join Soren, only to be mocked for wearing the overly heavy and under-protective ceremonial armor. Despite Callum's pleading and noting that he wants to help his father, Soren again points out his "step" relation and knocks him into the mud with a tossed apple. The elves, meanwhile, get a speech from Runaan about why they're there, going over the history we learned at the start. He wraps some kind of ribbon around his forearm, then ties them all together in a circle by their wrists as they make an oath to get justice. He cuts the ribbons, and what remains on everyone glows to show their oath. Runaan says he'll send a message back to their queen once everything's over, and brushes off Reyla's concern that the humans might know they're coming. With Runaan still unaware of Reyla's deceit, things get complicated as they and the humans march toward each other and the princes try to decide if they'll obey their father's wishes or not. For me this was an interesting introduction to a kind of series I'm always interested in, with some never-before-done aspects.
Prior to seeing this, I saw a post on Facebook that felt the show was rather "meh" overall, and though I don't know how I'll feel later, for now I'm excited. A complaint I saw there was that it took time for the person to get used to the elves having Scottish accents, which I actually found interesting. Normally a fantasy series will be more likely to give dwarves Scottish accents, which over time I'd started to get bored with. Here things are flipped on their heads, and I was somewhat confused but intrigued with Runaan, because he seems to have a more English accent than Scottish. I'm also liking the design for the elves here, as normally we see them as regal, more beautiful versions of humans. Here they have a different complexion along with horns and markings, and them being designated as Moonshadow elves makes me thinks we'll get to see a cool variety of designs for the different types of each race in the series. I did find myself agreeing with another complaint, though: the animation is incredibly clunky, despite the art being fantastic. Perhaps this is the creators' first foray into this kind of animation, but the characters have jerky movements and it occasionally looks too slow. Obviously there were easy to make comparisons to Avatar in the first episode alone, as Aaron Ehasz worked on both. Along with the "books and chapters," there was the stated "everything changed" intro, and a group of warriors drawing strength from the moon reminded me of waterbending. A more obvious reference is Callum, as he is played by the same actor who played Sokka, and the two are rather similar. Like Sokka, Callum is eager to learn how to fight and be a man to protect others, but clearly lacks the ability to do so, at least for now. He's also a wisecracker, but knows when to be serious, especially when it comes to looking out for Ezran. The show overall isn't too similar to Avatar, as it has its own story, world, and unique visual style, which is definitely a plus. It's clear Reyla will have some sort of falling out with her people due to not wanting to kill, and one thing I'm interested in learning more about is the mirror that Viren covered at the beginning. It's suspicious already that he feels the need to cover it when someone arrives, and the prior backstory on humans causing so much destruction after one mage learned how to control dark magic makes me suspicious of a mage who counsels the king. But for now I'm just speculating, and I'll just have to keep watching to find out if my ideas are right, which I'm more than happy to do.
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AuthorI love the entertainment side of things. Video games, tv shows, superheroes and movies are my passion and I'd love to get the news out for things I enjoy. My contact page has links to my social media, so if you enjoy what I have to say, likes, shares, comments, and follows are always greatly appreciated! Archives
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