by Lauren
Last week, Netflix unveiled 13 episodes of the new animated series How to Train Your Dragon: Race to the Edge.
This series takes place before the events HTTYD:2, about 3 years after the end of the Cartoon Network series HTTYD: Defenders of Berk. Speaking of which, if you did not watch the two previous TV cartoon series, Riders of Berk and Defenders of Berk, you might be a little lost - the new show deals with characters and dragons that were featured exclusively on those series, and they do very little to catch up any new viewers on who they are.
The animation is, of course, not as detailed as the feature films or even the CN shows, but most of the original cast voices are still on board, so it's forgivable. The plot lines for these 13 episodes vary wildly from the big over-arching stories (re-capturing Dagur The Deranged and discovering new islands/dragons with the 'Dragon Eye') to really random stand alone character studies of the more minor characters. So if you wanted more of the Twins, Fishlegs and Snotlout, you are in luck.
Me? Not so much.
Me? Not so much.
Their new clubhouse/island, Dragon's Edge, is pretty cool - but definitely keeps the action away from Berk, and focused mostly on the Riders.
My biggest problem with the series was episode 13, which was a random stand-alone about Snotlout's dragon finding a girlfriend. It seemed a strange place to end this part of the series when their are bigger stories going on. The two-parter with Dagur and Heather would have been a way better place to stop and leave you wanting more.
I know it sounds like I didn't like the series - which is totally not true, I guess I just hold the show and the characters in such high regard that I just wanted or expected MORE. If you are a fan of HTTYD, you should totally watch the show - if you wan to get into it fresh with this series, do your homework and watch the movies and older series first.