Thoughts on Race To The Edge (Spoilers)
Posted: 04 Jul 2015, 15:29
I debated whether or not to make a new thread, but the existing ones seem to be focused on individual aspects of the show rather than the total package. After unexpectedly having access to Netflix and viewing all 13 episodes, these are my general impressions of the show so far.
Starting off with the good, the animation is a huge step up from DOB/ROB and is in fact possibly the best I've seen in a TV series. On a related note, Toothless is far more expressive than in past seasons, which is most certainly welcome.
I'm also really liking the new dragons so far. I honestly like some of them (especially the Razorwhip which is awesome) better than the new species introduced in HTTYD 2. That titan wing Monstrous Nightmare was also a sight to behold. That concept was introduced all the way back with Book of Dragons, but we'd never actually seen one until now which was pretty exciting.
Unfortunately, the story and characters up to this point just aren't clicking with me as much as I had hoped. I'll start with Dagur. His role has been exactly what I feared when it was revealed that he'd be back. He's offered nothing new or interesting at all thus far. Just that he's escaped prison to rebuild an armada and get revenge on Hiccup. All the while, he's still a bumbling buffoon whose plans never work for more than half an episode, yet he keeps managing to escape to fail another day. Speaking of which, the ending of episode 12 really annoyed me. It just baffles me that what started as a mission to capture him ended with Toothless and Stormfly trampling him and then flying off. Why on earth did one of them not grab him and take him back to prison? I understand that most kids shows have recurring villains, but he's really stale to me and I expected a little more out of something in the official HTTYD continuity.
Moving on, I've also been a bit disappointed in the portrayal of Hiccup and Astrid's relationship. The end of the first movie (which I'm pretty sure was made without any definite plans for sequels and spin-off series) strongly leads you to believe that they're an item right then and there, so it confused me enough for ROB/DOB to backtrack from that. Still with the press material for HTTYD 2 describing Astrid as "Hiccup's longtime girlfriend", I assumed that their relationship would be more certain a mere year before the events of that film. Instead we're getting more of the same non-committed skirting the issue that we got in previous seasons. I'm guessing that somewhere in the remaining 39 episodes we'll be shown the moment they made it official, but it seems like they're sacrificing plausibility a bit to force a "big moment" into the show. I simply have a hard time believing that two people who so clearly had feelings for each other at the end of the first movie could then stay in the "friendzone" for 4+ years without one of them either making a move or getting frustrated and moving on, and I really don't know what the writers are aiming for by dragging the progression of their relationship out for so long.
Finally, I was hoping for more character development from the crew in general. We've gotten a little bit of good insight into Fishlegs coming to accept himself as a thinker and not a fighter, but the rest of the gang has been pretty static. Snotlout is a still a braggart who never backs up a word he says, the twins are still complete idiots who enjoy random destruction, and Astrid has barely received any attention at all. Such one note characters work just fine as background pieces in the movies, but since the show seems to be trying to put them more in the spotlight, it would be nice to see some actual growth out of them.
Ultimately, I don't dislike the show as much as I probably made it sound. It looks great, and it has its moments for sure. The story and characters will have to improve in future for me to consider it anywhere near the same level as the movies. Feel free to share and discuss your own thoughts and agreements/disagreements.
Starting off with the good, the animation is a huge step up from DOB/ROB and is in fact possibly the best I've seen in a TV series. On a related note, Toothless is far more expressive than in past seasons, which is most certainly welcome.
I'm also really liking the new dragons so far. I honestly like some of them (especially the Razorwhip which is awesome) better than the new species introduced in HTTYD 2. That titan wing Monstrous Nightmare was also a sight to behold. That concept was introduced all the way back with Book of Dragons, but we'd never actually seen one until now which was pretty exciting.
Unfortunately, the story and characters up to this point just aren't clicking with me as much as I had hoped. I'll start with Dagur. His role has been exactly what I feared when it was revealed that he'd be back. He's offered nothing new or interesting at all thus far. Just that he's escaped prison to rebuild an armada and get revenge on Hiccup. All the while, he's still a bumbling buffoon whose plans never work for more than half an episode, yet he keeps managing to escape to fail another day. Speaking of which, the ending of episode 12 really annoyed me. It just baffles me that what started as a mission to capture him ended with Toothless and Stormfly trampling him and then flying off. Why on earth did one of them not grab him and take him back to prison? I understand that most kids shows have recurring villains, but he's really stale to me and I expected a little more out of something in the official HTTYD continuity.
Moving on, I've also been a bit disappointed in the portrayal of Hiccup and Astrid's relationship. The end of the first movie (which I'm pretty sure was made without any definite plans for sequels and spin-off series) strongly leads you to believe that they're an item right then and there, so it confused me enough for ROB/DOB to backtrack from that. Still with the press material for HTTYD 2 describing Astrid as "Hiccup's longtime girlfriend", I assumed that their relationship would be more certain a mere year before the events of that film. Instead we're getting more of the same non-committed skirting the issue that we got in previous seasons. I'm guessing that somewhere in the remaining 39 episodes we'll be shown the moment they made it official, but it seems like they're sacrificing plausibility a bit to force a "big moment" into the show. I simply have a hard time believing that two people who so clearly had feelings for each other at the end of the first movie could then stay in the "friendzone" for 4+ years without one of them either making a move or getting frustrated and moving on, and I really don't know what the writers are aiming for by dragging the progression of their relationship out for so long.
Finally, I was hoping for more character development from the crew in general. We've gotten a little bit of good insight into Fishlegs coming to accept himself as a thinker and not a fighter, but the rest of the gang has been pretty static. Snotlout is a still a braggart who never backs up a word he says, the twins are still complete idiots who enjoy random destruction, and Astrid has barely received any attention at all. Such one note characters work just fine as background pieces in the movies, but since the show seems to be trying to put them more in the spotlight, it would be nice to see some actual growth out of them.
Ultimately, I don't dislike the show as much as I probably made it sound. It looks great, and it has its moments for sure. The story and characters will have to improve in future for me to consider it anywhere near the same level as the movies. Feel free to share and discuss your own thoughts and agreements/disagreements.