“The first rule of Dragon Flight Club is that there is no Dragon Flight Club”

Dreamworks Dragons: Defenders 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. This release picks up right where the first season left off. Hiccup and his gang have just returned from Outcast Island, where Alvin, the leader of the Outcasts, has amassed a his own collection of dragons and is attempting to train them.

While the first season of Dreamworks Dragons (Riders of Berk) concentrated on the Viking teenagers learning about dragons and learning how to fly, the second season (Defenders of Berk) finds Hiccup and his friends concentrating their efforts on training and being ready to protect Berk from outside threats. This release collects the first half of the second season of the Cartoon Network series with 10 new-to-DVD episodes:

Disc 1: (1:53:14)

“Live and Let Fly”
Hiccup and the riders are afraid that Alvin will learn how to train his dragons and return with the Outcasts to attack Berk. So when Stoick grounds all the dragons and puts a ban on flying, the riders form a Dragon Flight Club to secretly train at night.

“The Iron Gronckle”
After Meatlug gorges herself on rocks, she produces a new indestructible metal from her lava. Soon everyone in the village wants weapons and armor made from the new Gronckle Iron, but Gobber can’t keep up with the demand, and Fishlegs can’t figure out how to create more of the metal. Meanwhile, the riders search for an Outcast ship that has been circling the island.

“The Night and the Fury”
Astrid chooses the group’s next training exercise—as a test of their survival skills, the riders must cross Dragon Island at night, with no camping gear, or dragons. During the exercise, Hiccup runs into an old friend, Dagur, who’s gone a bit crazy and is now determined to hunt down a Night Fury. Meanwhile, Tuffnut struggles to wrangle the dragons while the others are busy.

“Tunnel Vision”
When the village well goes dry, Hiccup goes underground to investigate. He discovers cracked dragon eggs and crates with the Outcasts logo. Soon, a swarm of Whispering Death hatchlings attack and make their way to the surface, wreaking havoc on Berk. But things get even worse when a new Screaming Death dragon also surfaces.

“Race to Fireworm Island”
Snotlout has been training non-stop since the Whispering Death attack, and has pushed his dragon Hookfang so hard that he has lost his ability to flame up. Now the gang must make their way to Fireworm Island in order to reignite this stoker-class dragon before he becomes too weak to fly.

 
Disc 2:

“Fright of Passage”
Every ten years the sky lights up with Aurvandil’s Fire and the Flightmare returns to attack Berk. Ten years earlier, Astrid’s Uncle “Fearless” Finn froze in terror at the Flightmare’s last appearance. While the rest of the village heads to the bunkers, Astrid hopes to clear her family’s name by stopping the dragon before it arrives at Berk.

“Appetite for Destruction”
While investigating the mysterious influx of dragons to Dragon Island, Hiccup and Astrid discover that the Screaming Death has been destroying all of the other islands in the ocean. The riders must stop it before it destroys Dragon Island, causing all of the dragons to flee for Berk!

“Zippleback Down”
The twins go a mission to clear old dragon traps that were still around from when Berk and the dragons were enemies. When Tuffnut gets caught in one of the traps, Ruffnut heads back to get help. However, Tuffnut soon finds himself in a bit more danger as he is surrounded by dragons, and a wild fire has broken out in the forest.

The DreamWorks Dragons series is filled with action, adventure and humor. Every episode builds off of the previous ones—many of the episodes included in this set make references back to characters, dragons or events we were originally introduced to in the first season of the series. This is very rewarding for long-time viewers and loyal fans. But since each episode also contains a self-contained story, new viewers can easily appreciate the series as well. This collection of 10 episodes builds up to an exciting cliffhanger that makes me anxious for the Part 2 DVD release!

The series does a great job at recapturing the same spirit and fun of the original film, and even brings back many of the original voice cast from the movie. The animation is really well done—the 3D environment and characters come to life on the TV screen. The dragons look amazing as they fly around, shoot fire, and attack their targets. I especially loved some of the scenes in this collection that find the riders atop dragons while flying through caves and tunnels at high speed.

For the most part the video quality is really great, with lots of detail. However, there is the occasional scene that has a bit of a dull look. I also found that text—like the credits or episode titles—also have some ghosting. While the series originally aired in HD on Cartoon Network, it is only receiving a DVD release. I wish Fox would release the animated DreamWorks series on Blu-ray as well so that they could be viewed in their full HD glory! The DVD release also comes with a Digital Ultraviolet copy, but it only redeems in Standard Definition as well.

As for the bonus features, they are similar to those found on the Season 1 DVD releases. There’s featurettes on the new dragons seen in these 10 episodes, an interview with the visual effects supervisor about the new “Screaming Death” dragon, and a musical montage.
 

What’s Included on the DVD:

Episodes:
• The first 10 episodes of the season (242 min)
  

  • “Live and Let Fly”
  • “The Iron Gronckle”
  • “The Night and the Fury”
  • “Tunnel Vision”
  • “Race to Fireworm Island”
  • “Fright of Passage”
  • “Worst in Show”
  • “Appetite for Destruction”
  • “Zippleback Down”
  • “A View to a Skrill Part I”

  DVD

  • Widescreen 1.78:1
  • Audio: English DD 5.1, Spanish Surround DD 2.0
  • Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French
  • Closed Captioned

  Digital Copy (Redemption Deadline 3/25/2017):

  • UltraViolet Digital (Standard Definition) Copy redeemable via Flixster, Google Play or Vudu

Extras:

• Dragon Tracker Part 3 (6:46)
  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 Fireworm Queen, Flightmare, Screaming Death, and a teaser for the Skrill.
• Evolution of Screaming Death (5:12)
  Visual effects supervisor David M.V. Jones talks about the introduction of the Screaming Death this season, and how it differs from the Whispering Death. He discusses the design of the character—the look, firing mechanism and other powers of this new dragon. The featurette also includes a look at some of the original concept art for the Screaming Death.
• “SuperFly” Dragon Mash-Up (1:47)
  Montage of scenes from the season set to music.
• Sneak Peek (9:26)
  Trailers for Monsters vs. Aliens Series, Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, “Shrek the Musical”, School of Dragons, “Turbo”, “The Croods” and “Walking With Dinosaurs”.
• World of DreamWorks Animation (11:02)
  Music videos and trailers for popular DreamWorks franchises
  • Shrek — “I’m a Believer” music video
  • Madagascar — “I Like To Move It, Move It” music video; trailer for Madly Madagascar
  • How To Train Your Dragon — “Fly High” music video
  • Kung Fu Panda — “Kung Fu Fighting” music video
  • The Croods — “Shine Your Way” music video
  • Turbo — “The Snail is Fast” music video
• Ultimate 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. Offer expires 04/03/2015
• DreamWorks Dragons Toy Coupon
  Insert includes $3 manufacturer’s coupon for the Real Flying Toothless toy. Valid March 25, 2014-Jan 31, 2015.

Final Thoughts:

In its second season, DreamWorks Dragons continues to be a thoroughly entertaining series. This DVD collection gives viewers 10 more fun and exciting adventures with Hiccup and his friends. The bonus features included on the disc are a little slim, but still a nice, welcome addition. As always, this series comes Highly Recommended.