Geeks logo

'The Dragon Prince' Is Almost Great

Is Netflix's 'The Dragon Prince' the next 'Avatar: The Last Airbender?'

By Danny DuffPublished 5 years ago 5 min read
Like

'The Dragon Prince' Episode 1 Impressions:

The Dragon Prince is a fairly new animated fantasy show on Netflix created by Justin Richmond and Aaron Ehasz, the later of which worked on Avatar: The Last Airbender. I was interested in this show not only because of Ehasz's involvement, but also because Netflix recently announced a live action series adapting ATLA. I realized that I have no interest in that adaptation whatsoever and would rather see something original and new. So I sat down and watched the first episode, and already I have much to say.

The show begins with a Lord of the Rings style opening about the history of the world of the show. Big war, there were dragons, humans and elves don't get along; you get the idea. Now I don't want to compare this show to ATLA, but I immediately have to. In The Lord of the Rings opening, The Dragon Prince mentions how in this universe there are several sources of magic: the sun, the moon, the stars, the sky, the earth, and the ocean. Much like the four elements of Avatar, water, earth, fire, and air.

Problem 1: I don't know why these different types of magic are important or what role they play in the story.

In ALTA, you immediately know both of these things: they are the different elements of the four nations and they are important because each nation has the ability to manipulate them. This is relevant to the story because the fire nation (antagonists) started a war with the rest of the world, but they could be stopped by the Avatar (protagonist), who can control all the elements. This intro also lets us know who our main characters are: "My brother and I discovered the new Avatar, an airbender named Aang." Which leads me to:

Problem 2: By the end of the intro, I don't know who the characters are.

There was a dragon king who died, and I think a human king maybe? All I know at this point is the elves don't like the humans cause they killed the last dragon. But who am I following? Who am I supposed to relate to? Then the show starts, and here's my first real issue:

Problem 3: The Storytelling

Instead of being really effective with its storytelling, and telling us everything we need to know about the main characters within the first couple scenes they show up, the show is like "Fuck it! We're a Netflix show. You gotta binge every episode if you want these characters to be developed."

So the characters are Black Kid, Adopted Prince, Lancelot-Quarterback, Lancelot-QB's sister, and Elf Girl who doesn't want to kill. There's also Black King, and Lord White Guy. Adopted Prince is played by Jack De Sena, who played Sokka in ATLA, so I immediately latch onto him because he is the only thing I can relate to at this point. The characters are well written, but they lack emotional relatability due to:

Problem 4: The Animation Style

The biggest thing this show suffers from is their style of animation. The landscapes and some of the action is gorgeous, but when it comes to simple character interaction it falls short. I realized what the problem was when I closed my eyes for a moment. The voice actors all do a great job and the writing is clever and witty, but the characters aren't expressive enough in this style for any of the emotional beats to really land. Animation is designed to be over exaggerated, to squash and stretch characters in ways that wouldn't work in live action, but in turn, gives the characters even more life than anything real. But this low frame rate, semi-3D style feels stilted and clunky. You can hear from the voice actors, especially De Sena, that these characters are just begging to be brought to life, but the limited expression range of their character models just won't let them. You could make the argument that comic books don't move at all, and so why should the amount of movement matter? The answer is that comics are well aware of this limitation and so they overcompensate with extremely exaggerated expressions and movement. For each character, no two facial expressions are the same. Every panel is carefully planned out to keep your eye moving around the image. Action scenes are even more dynamic, to capture the weight, the stress, the life of every movement. With The Dragon Prince you just don't see the emotion, and when you don't see it, you can't feel it.

I'm still going to watch the rest of the season, because I am hungry for new stories. But also, I want to see if I'm right about how the whole series will play out. This is my prediction:

So the show is called The Dragon Prince right? And we are told that the dragons went extinct years ago, which logically means that there is at least one left, as is the case in all fantasy stories where "the dragons are extinct"(ATLA, Game of Thrones, Eragon maybe?) So logically Sokka, Black Kid and his pet: Ugly Frog Momo, are gonna meet up with Elf Girl, and then, together they are going to discover the Dragon Prince around episode 4 or 5, based on the usual slow pacing of these Netflix shows. Meanwhile, the tensions between the elves and the humans are growing, and if they don't find a way to settle their differences soon, there will be all out war. With Lancelot-Quarterback on their trail, and the elf assassins not far behind, Sokka and friends find themselves in a world of trouble and on the run from both sides of a brewing war. But there is hope. If the kids can safely bring the Dragon Prince to X location, they can prove the humans innocent, end an age old feud, and save the day. But can they do it in time? No. In the season finale they are moments too late and Black King gets assassinated by the elves leaving a Game of Thrones style cliffhanger promise of an all out war for season 2. (Oh sorry, Book 2, because Avatar.)

I haven't seen the rest of the season yet so I don't know if this is what happens. But I will be checking it out, and reporting back to see if the show is truly as predictable as I hope it isn't.

review
Like

About the Creator

Danny Duff

Danny Duff is a writer and filmmaker. He likes writing about movies, TV, and sometimes video games.

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.