“This is Berk. For generations it was Viking against Dragon. The battles were ferocious. Then one day, everything changed. I met Toothless and together we’ve shown people here that instead of fighting dragons, we can ride them, live with them, even train them.”
Dreamworks Dragons: Riders of Berk revisits your favorite characters from the How To Train Your Dragon film, chronicling the further adventures of Viking teenager Hiccup, his friends, and their dragons. Last November, Fox Home Entertainment released the first 4 episodes of the series on DVD. Now viewers can get all 20 episodes of the TV series with across the two new DVD releases for the Cartoon Network series. This release, Part 1, contains the first 11 episodes of the series, including 7 new-to-DVD episodes:
Disc 1:
While peace has been made with the dragons, some citizens—such as the cantankerous Mildew (Stephen Root)—are getting sick of the dragons running wild. They are eating them out of house and home and causing damage across the village. So when the citizens demand the dragons be kicked off the island, Hiccup takes it upon himself to use the arena to train and tame the dragons.
Former dragon slayer Gobber (Chris Edgerly) tries to find a purpose in the village now that he is out of a job. Stoick tries to let him take over some of his duties, but this soon proves to be a disaster.
The animals on the island are spooked with the constant presence of the dragons and are no longer producing milk, eggs and wool. With a huge winter storm coming, the teenagers must help the livestock learn to trust their dragons.
Hiccup comes across a wounded baby fire-breathing dragon of unknown species. He takes Torch home to nurse him back to health and study him, but Toothless doesn’t like sharing the attention. Meanwhile, when Torch’s mother returns to the woods to find him missing, she goes on a rampage looking for her baby.
(Part 1 of 2) The dragons are blamed for a series of desrtuctive events in the village—from destroying Mildew’s roof, to stealing all of the villager’s boots, to burning down the armory, and more. The dragons are banished from the town, but Hiccup and his friends suspect that they are being framed and form the Dragon United Monitoring Brigade (D.U.M.B.) to investigate and prove their innocence.
(Part 2 of 2) Alvin the Treacherous (Mark Hamill) and his band of Outcasts arrive on Berk to find and take on “the dragon conqueror”. However, with the armory destroyed and the dragons no longer protecting the island, Berk’s defenses are down.
Disc 2:
Stoick discovers the advantages of ruling Berk from the air and decides that it’s about time for him to learn to fly dragons. However, with his father claiming Toothless as his own, Hiccup must find a suitable replacement in order get his dragon back.
When the painting of the chief and his son is revealed, Hiccup discovers that Bucket has taken some liberties with his image, making him look a lot buffer than he is. Meanwhile, the kids discover a treasure map and decide to seek out the treasure that not even Stoick could find.
Shortly after Trader Johann arrives on the island, Toothless and the rest of the dragons are getting from an allergic reaction to something new on the island. When Stoick returns from his annual meeting with the chief of the Shivering Shores he helps Hiccup and his friends discover the source of the problem and find a cure.
(Part 1 of 2) A girl (Mae Whitman) is shipwrecked on Berk and Hiccup takes her in. While Astrid doesn’t trust Heather, the others think she is just jealous of Heather getting all of Hiccup’s attention. Astrid is worried about Heather’s sneaking around and the fact that the others are sharing all of their dragon secrets with her.
(Part 2 of 2) Alvin the Treacherous now holds the Book of Dragons. Astrid heads to Outcast Island disguised as Heather to retrieve the book before Alvin can learn all of their dragon secrets.
DreamWorks Dragons: Riders of Berk successfully re-captures the spirit of the original film in a weekly TV series. Many of the original voice cast from the film has returned for the series, including Jay Baruchel (Hiccup), America Ferrera (Atsrid), T.J. Miller (Tuffnut) and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Fishlegs). And those who have been replaced do a great job at recreating the voices of their characters. There are also some wonderful guest stars in these episodes, including Stephen Root, Mark Hamill and Mae Whitman.
Each episode is a great mix of humor, action and adventure, and while most episodes are self contained, they still do a great job at developing the characters and advancing the story. Instead of resetting the world with each episode, they build upon one another, leading to a much richer story and environment by the end. The series also introduces some fun and interesting new dragons over the course of the season, each with its own personality and abilities.
I was really happy to see that instead of just continuing to release 4 episodes of the series at a time, Fox Home Entertainment has decided to release the entire season at once (split into two DVD releases, making it more affordable for those who wish to buy in installments).
While the series originally aired in HD on Cartoon Network, this standard definition DVD release looks quite nice. The picture is for the most part incredibly sharp and well defined. The audio soundtrack is also really well done—dialogue is clear and music and sound effects are well balanced. However, despite it being a 5.1 track, I didn’t notice much use of the surround channels.
The selection of bonus features is a little meager, but I do appreciate what is there. I like that we are given a glimpse—albeit brief—into the design of one of the new dragons. However, I would love to have had a more in-depth featurette looking at the design, animation and voice recording aspects of the series, but this is at least a step in the right direction.
I really enjoyed these episodes from the first season of DreamWorks Dragons, and I am looking forward to the second season, Defenders of Berk, coming this Fall to Cartoon Network. I highly recommend picking up the two-part DreamWorks Dragons: Riders of Berk release.
What’s Included on the DVD:
- Episodes:
- The first 11 episodes of the series (4:08:15)
- “How To Start a Dragon Academy”
- “Viking for Hire”
- “Animal House”
- “The Terrible Twos”
- “In Dragons We Trust”
- “Alvin and the Outcasts”
- “How To Pick Your Dragon”
- “Portrait of Hiccup as a Buff Young Man”
- “Dragon Flower”
- “Heather Report” (Parts I & II)
- Widescreen 1.78:1
- Audio: English DD 5.1
- Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French
- Closed Captioned
- Dragon Tracker Part 1 (6:18)
A look at some of the new dragons discovered by Hiccup and his friends in the episodes on this DVD set. Play All or select from Thunderdrum, Fireworm, Typhoomerang, Scauldron and a teaser for a yet-undiscovered dragon. - Evolution of Thunderdrum (3:01)
Visual Effects Supervisor David M.V. Jones talks about designing a dragon that could match the stature of its rider, Stoick. - “Heavy Metal” Dragon Mash-Up (2:21)
Montage of scenes from the series set to an original heavy metal style dragon training song. - Sneak Peeks
Trailers for DreamWorks Dragons Toys, Turbo, The Croods and Epic - World of DreamWorks Animation
Music videos and trailers for popular DreamWorks franchises- Shrek — “I’m a Believer” music video; trailer for Shrek The Musical on Blu-ray & DVD
- Madagascar — “I Like To Move It, Move It” music video; trailer for Madly Madagascar
- How To Train Your Dragon — “Fly High” music video; trailers for DreamWorks Dragons: Riders of Berk Parts 1 & 2 on DVD, DreamWorks Dragons: Defenders of Berk on Cartoon Network, How To Train Your Dragon on Blu-ray & DVD and DreamWorks Dragons: Gift of The Night Fury on Blu-ray & DVD; ad for the upcoming DreamWorks Dragons toys
- Kung Fu Panda — “Kung Fu Fighting” music video; trailer for Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness — Good Croc, Bad Croc on DVD
- Megamind — “Megamind” music video/trailer; trailer for Megamind on Blu-ray and DVD
- Puss in Boots — Dance Fight video; trailer for Puss in Boots on Blu-ray & DVD
- Free Battle Pack Code for School of Dragons Online/Mobile Game
Insert includes activation code for the Ultimate Battle Pack redeemable at www.schoolofdragons.com/DVD - DreamWorks Dragons Toy Coupon
Insert includes $3 manufacturer’s coupon for any DreamWorks Dragon Toy regularly priced $12.99. Valid 7/30/2013-1/31/2014.
Extras:
Final Thoughts:
DreamWorks Dragons: Riders of Berk is a great follow-up which really re-captures the spirit of the hit How To Train Your Dragon film. The 11 episodes included on this set are highly entertaining and provide a lot of re-watch value. While not in the show’s original HD format, the picture quality is quite remarkable. The extras were entertaining but a little meager. I’m just happy to see the entire season of the series being released all at once—even if you have to buy it in two parts. Highly Recommended!
