Netflix gets into the popular business of training dragons
13-part series set between first, second films
Dragons: Race to the Edge When: Starts streaming June 26, Netflix
Who knew there was such a big market for dragon training and its related shenanigans? Horse training, sure. Dog training, ditto. Cat training? Well, good luck — they’ll never succumb to us humans as overlords.
But as the How to Train Your Dragon film franchise has proven, kids and adults alike are invested in the adventures of lanky dragon trainer Hiccup (voiced by Montreal’s Jay Baruchel) and his animated friends.
To wit, the 2010 How to Train Your Dragon film grossed $494 million US worldwide, the 2014 sequel earned $618 million and a third instalment is planned for summer 2018. Plus, there have been four related short films and a TV series on the Cartoon Network.
No wonder Netflix is breathing fire about Dragons: Race to the Edge, its new 13-part animated series that starts streaming Friday.
In it, Hiccup and Toothless lead the Dragon Riders beyond the borders of Berk, where they find the mysterious Dragon Eye — an artifact that will lead them to new lands and new dragons. Alas, the marauding dragon hunters will stop at nothing to seize the power of the Dragon Eye.
Executive producers Art Brown and Doug Sloan recently broke down some key elements of Dragons: Race to the Edge.
THE MOV I E CONNECTION
Dragons will slip into the franchise as easily as Hiccup slips into his itsy-bitsy belt. Calling it “the prequel to the sequel,” Brown and Sloan say Dragons: Race to the Edge will be set between the first and second How to Train Your Dragon films.
Viewers will find out how Stoick (voiced by Nolan North, who replaces the films’ Gerard Butler) and Gobber (Craig Ferguson) got their dragons, how Berk became built up and about Hiccup’s inventions, including the dragon blade.
THE CAST
With just 13 episodes in the season, Brown and Sloan decided to focus on a few of the main characters — Hiccup, Astrid (America Ferrera) and Stoick — with some of the story touching on the side characters. Christopher Mintz-Plasse will revive his role as Fishlegs, and T.J. Miller will be back as Tuffnut.
There’ll also be some new faces in the How to Train Your Dragon universe: two strong female characters as well as Alfred Molina (Spider-Man 2, Rango) as a new baddie.
THE ACTION
The How to Train Your Dragon movies have always boasted eye-popping action scenes, and Dragons: Race to the Edge will be no different.
Thanks to new technology, Brown and Sloan were able to step up the action sequences involving the dragons flying and fighting. Some scenes will even contain thousands of dragons, which they weren’t able to do in the past, as well as water interactions and dragon effects.
That doesn’t mean Dragons will be mindless entertainment. Brown and Sloan say the family-friendly series will help prompt conversations, such as those about bullying, between parents and children.
THE NETF LIX DIFFERENCE
Working with an online streaming service like Netflix, which doesn’t rely on the traditional broadcast networks’ ratings system to determine renewals, has its perks. The pair say that they’re thankful for the freedom that Netflix gives in terms of making a creative vision a reality, and it allowed them to focus on the storytelling.
And for the record, Brown and Sloan are in favour of binge-watching Dragons: Race to the Edge. With 13 half-hour episodes being released in one shot, you can down them all at once — a sort of six-and-a-half hour movie, if you will — or savour each instalment days apart.