“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 year 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 2, contains the final 9 episodes of the series, all of which are new-to-DVD:
Disc 1:
It’s time for Berk’s annual Thawfest Games where the young Vikings compete in feats of strength and endurance. While Hiccup usually dreads the games, this year he’s excited because three new dragon-related events have been added to the lineup. However, the competition soon brings out the worse in Hiccup and reigning champion Snotlout.
A series of lightning storms hits Berk and Mildew (Stephen Root) is quick to blame the dragons. He convinces the villagers that Thor is angry at them because of the Night Fury and wants to banish the dragon. Meanwhile, Hiccup and his friends build a statue of Thor as a tribute, but that just seems to make the situation worse.
A Whispering Death dragon arises from beneath Berk and attacks the village before it singles out Toothless, who seems to have some sort of history with this dragon. When Hiccup and his friends discover Toothless has gone off on his own to find the dragon, they start their own quest to find and train it first.
With Osvald the Beserker and his son Dagur the Deranged (David Faustino) coming to Berk to sign the annual peace treaty, Stoick puts Hiccup in charge of hiding all the dragons. However, with Ruffnut and Tuffnut fighting over how to train Barf & Belch, this leaves their Zippleback out in the open and in danger.
While on their first dragon search and rescue mission, Toothless, Hiccup and Snotlout find themselves stranded on Outcast Island. Now Hiccup and Snotlout must deal with their own personal issues and find a way off the island while avoiding wild dragons and being captured by Alvin and his Outcasts.
Disc 2:
Trader Johann is late to arrive at Berk with something important to Stoick, so Hiccup and his friends head off to find him. When Johann tells them he got too close to Breakneck Bog and lost his ship, the young Vikings head to Breakneck Bog to find the ship, hoping the legends of the bog’s deadly fog monster are just that…legends.
Fishlegs finds a stone of good fortune, but soon discovers it is actually a dragon’s egg, so he and the gang return it. Just as the young vikings are breathing a sigh of relief, they discover that Snotlout brought back a bunch more of the eggs to sell. Now Berk is in imminent danger of an attack from the mother Changewings—chameleon-like dragons that spray hot burning acid—who want their eggs back.
(Part 1 of 2) It’s Bork Week on Berk—celebrating the ancestor who gave the Vikings the Book of Dragons—and Stoick has entrusted Hiccup with Bork’s collected writings and personal notes on dragons. While going through the materials, Hiccup discovers there is an Isle of Night where the Night Furies live. So he and the other young Vikings go on a quest to find he island and Toothless’ family.
(Part 2 of 2) Stoick and the others discover that Hiccup and Toothless have been taken to Outcast Island, and head there to rescue him. Meanwhile, Alvin (Mark Hamill) threatens to kill Toothless unless Hiccup trains his dragons; and Mildew has a change of heart.
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 David Faustino.
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 (though I did notice it slightly more in this second half of the season).
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 final episodes from the first season of DreamWorks Dragons. The finale ends in such a way that viewers will be anxiously awaiting what happens in 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 final 9 episodes of the series (3:23:00)
- “Thawfest”
- “When Lightning Strikes”
- “What Flies Beneath”
- “Twinsanity”
- “Defiant One”
- “Breakneck Bog”
- “Gem of a Different Color”
- “We Are A Family” (Parts 1 & 2)
- Widescreen 1.78:1
- Audio: English DD 5.1
- Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French
- Closed Captioned
Extras:
- Dragon Tracker Part 2 (6:05)
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 Changewing, Smothering Smokebreath, Whispering Death and a teaser for a yet-undiscovered dragon. - Evolution of Whispering Death (4:34)
Visual Effects Supervisor David M.V. Jones talks about designing this menacing dragon and the challenges it posed to the production. - “Fly High” Dragon Mash-Up (2:06)
Montage of scenes from the series set to the original song “Fly High”. - 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.
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 9 episodes included on this set are highly entertaining and provide a lot of re-watch value, and lead to an exciting season finale. 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!
