THE DRAGON PRINCE SEASON 1 VS 2 ANIMATION SERIES
The series primarily grapples with the crucial period between childhood naivety and adult responsibility. Those defining moments then feed into the continued development of their overall character arc and factor into the next choices they make. Even (and especially) when we do not agree with a character’s choice, we can clearly see their reason for doing so. So that by the time they are forced to make it, we are able to understand their exact rationale. It ensures we have a concrete understanding of their drives and motivations before forcing them into difficult situations and decisions. It takes its time building each principal character from the ground up and their relationship to the others. The Dragon Prince accomplishes character beats better than almost any show I’ve seen. It more often than not fuses exposition with character building, and constructs its world and our characters’ place in it with a strong sense of humbleness and scope. The Dragon Prince’s story world and narrative have all the makings of a Dungeons & Dragons campaign brought to visual medium, but are elevated by the layered themes and ideas it never shies away from and the rich characters into which it makes our access point. And in doing so cleanly evades the trap of comparison. It even has Jack de Sena (Sokka) as the voice of Callum and other Avatar voices make appearances as well. But rather than straying down the path of derivation and mimicry, The Dragon Prince, having aired its second season in February, definitively constructs its world and stakes in a wholly different dynamic. Between its episode structure, traveling companions, expressive animal sidekicks, complex politics, inspired culture-building and grown-up concepts for a TV-Y7 rating, Ehasz’s Avatar roots and influences are palpable. If that sounds similar to Avatar, it is because it is. Meanwhile Viren, the king’s former royal advisor and dark magic-wielder, sends his children, Soren and Claudia, after them and attempts to balance the domestic political unrest with the growing threat he perceives from Xadia. After the death of their father and discovering the thought-destroyed egg of the dragon prince, heir to the throne of Xadia, Cal, Ezran and Rayla, an elvish former-assassin, embark on a journey to return the egg to Xadia and stop the war. The series centers around Princes Ezran and Callum of the human country of Katolis as it waits on the brink of all out war with its magical neighbor, Xadia. In an age in which animation enjoys a verifiable renaissance between the phenomenons of Rick & Morty, Big Mouth, BoJack Horseman, Steven Universe and more, it is an injustice that The Dragon Prince has yet to hit the mainstream the way Avatar did. The bizarre thing is how small a ripple The Dragon Prince made when it was dropped into Netfix’s ever-growing pool of content.
The surprise is not that the successor to Avatar’s throne has been found thanks to The Dragon Prince, nor is it that it comes from Airbender’s head writer, Aaron Ehasz. Despite having more of the Avatar world to chew on, Korra failed to fill the hole Aang left in our hearts for an intelligent and original fantasy epic with vibrant world building and complex, dynamic characters. It briefly reached Airbender levels of greatness in its third season, but failed to either recognize or replicate that which made it special in its concluding episodes. The Legend of Korra was an uneven collection of ideas thrown at a mixed bag of characters with almost no real sense of direction.
THE DRAGON PRINCE SEASON 1 VS 2 ANIMATION TV
While Avatar: The Last Airbender critically and commercially carved out its place as one of the best TV series of the 21st century, giving it a worthy follow-up proved to be a Herculean task.
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