Dragons: The Nine Realms

Everyone talks about how bad the animation is... lets talk about the story.

It's called Project Icarus. Well that's original.

Mom says, "Poisonous gas, razor sharp rocks, rivers of lava..." So she takes her son there?!

In fact, all the adults at this facility have a child on board, each of distinct ethnic backgrounds. The big tough black guy is security, the tiny asian lady is the boss, so naturally they have a loud-mouth Black kid, a cool girl love interest, the nerdy girl, etc. Etc. (Face palm)

This is remedial writing at its worst. Nothing new or different. What made the original HTTYD movies and series so special is hard to sum up in one review, but this follow up series definitely didn't hit the mark. They're trying to hit all the diversity checkboxes but struggled to make it make sense.

My kids and I sat through all the films and the series together but I'm not even going to tell them this came out. Can't risk them damaging brain cells.

There was an opportunity to make this show as exciting and as wonderful as The Race To The Edge. But it fell short on just about every count. Weak storyline, weak characters and the ending was just a huge let down. What exactly was the point of doing this series any way. If the point was to make sure that not another How To Train Your Dragon series ever gets written again, then mission accomplished. I doubt any network would gamble on another spin off especially with the show runner that created this monumental stinker of a show. I really hope the show runner has a back up job that isn't writing for TV.

It has the same animation as How to Train Your Dragon, so it's a guarantee of a good job.

It has an interesting story that takes dragons to the modern era, or more accurately to the future, coordinating how Toothless and Hiccup's adventure ended. The first 5 episodes introduce the protagonists and their dragons, and then a final episode. The only bad thing is that this final episode is not an ending in itself, it feels like a normal chapter of the previous series rather than a final episode.

In fact, the reason I give it a 6 as a rating is that my son looked at me with a "put the next chapter" face and I had to explain that it ended like that, which seemed strange to him too.

It promises to be a fun series, as its predecessors had been, but hopefully they will give it a season finale if they return.

My personal favorite piece of HTTYD content is Race to the Edge, I thought it was fun well developed and interesting. This show is not that. It honestly feels more akin to a bad modern AU fanfic than a proper show. It also doesn't help that the animation might be the weakest the series has had since Riders of Berk. The characters just aren't as interesting as the original Dragon Riders in RTTE and you can try so hard they're trying to emulate those dynamics but without any of the chemistry or dialogue that made it work. The issues for this show are made more frustrating by the fact that the show is only 6 episodes which prevents any interesting or real change from happening.

The only character that really works is the nerdy character who has some very good delivery and some of the only good lines in the show. They alone are keeping it from a 1/10 Even if you're a big fan of HTTYD I still wouldn't suggest checking it out honestly if you like the concept just go on a fanfic site and I guarantee there's something that does concept better.

Granted I do have nitpicks with the series, but those are small. I came into this show with low expectations and left the first season pleasantly surprised and intrigued. The stories and characters are really good here and each character gets their time to shine with their dragon companions.

While there are some things to potentially gripe about, like the animation and a few other things, it doesn't bring the show down as much as you would think. This show is worthy of future seasons and I cannot wait to see what lies ahead for this show.