Pocket Dragon Adventures
Pocket Dragon Adventures | |
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![]() DVD Cover for "Brave as they can Be!" | |
Also known as | Pocket Dragons Adventures Pocket Dragons (Spanish) |
Genre | Children's adventure Fantasy |
Created by | Real Musgrave (Original Characters) |
Developed by | Craig Miller Marv Wolfman |
Directed by | Antoni D'Ocon (Earlier episodes) Kurt Weldon (Later episodes) |
Starring | Ian James Corlett Jason Gray-Stanford Sam Vincent Kathleen Barr Tabitha St. Germain Venus Terzo Terry Klassen Christopher Gaze Robert O. Smith Saffron Henderson |
Theme music composer | Matt McGuire Sandy Howell Laura Cerdan (Spanish) |
Composer | Matt McGuire |
Country of origin | Spain United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 52 (104 Segments) |
Production | |
Executive producers | Antoni D'Ocon Craig Miller Marv Wolfman Kaaren Lee Brown Andy Heyward Robby London Michael Maliani |
Producers | Antoni D'Ocon (Earlier episodes) Kurt Weldon (Later episodes) |
Animators | Earlier episodes D'Ocon Films Productions Later Episodes Animation Services Hong Kong Hang Yang Production Hong Ying Animation Young Woo Production Co. |
Production companies | D'Ocon Films Productions Bohbot Entertainment DIC Productions, L.P. |
Original release | |
Network | TVE (Spain) Syndication (BKN) (North America) |
Release | March 15, 1998 January 3, 1999 | –
Pocket Dragon Adventures (Spanish: Pocket Dragons) is an animated series produced by the Spanish animation studio D'Ocon Films Productions, in co-production with Televisión Española, Bohbot Entertainment, and DIC Productions. The series is based on the Pocket Dragon character created by artist Real Musgrave, best known from Pocket Dragons figurines also based on his work.[1] The cartoon is about the Pocket Dragons (a group of very small dragons) who live with a kindly old wizard, and their many adventures.[2] The show premiered in early 1998 in the United States on the Bohbot Kids Network syndicated programming strand.
The show itself was created by Craig Miller and Marv Wolfman, who produced and story edited the series. Together or separately, they wrote over 40% of the total number of episodes. Pocket Dragon Adventures was also the first animated series signed to a labor contract with the Writers Guild of America.[3]
Synopsis
[edit]The setting is shown to be in the Medieval era, with other elements thrown in, often bizarre ones (e.g., yellow-painted taxicabs pulled by rhinoceroses). Stories have included standard Medieval fare, such as armored knights, and some science fiction elements, such as flying saucers.
Characters
[edit]Pocket Dragons
[edit]- Filbert, who wears a red bandanna around his neck, is the largest and oldest of the six Pocket Dragons, and assumes the role of leader, even though he's seldom in control of the others. Voiced by Ian James Corlett.
- Zoom-Zoom, who wears an old-style aviator's helmet, wishes that he could fly, despite the Pocket Dragons' inability to fly. He's the fastest runner of the group. Voiced by Jason Gray-Stanford.
- Specs, who wears a pair of human-sized eyeglasses balanced on his nose, is the bookworm of the bunch. He has a crush on the Princess. Voiced by Samuel Vincent.
- Scribbles, one of the two female Dragons, is a somewhat scatterbrained inventor whose creations tend to cause more problems than they solve. She and Specs disagree as to which of them is smarter. She wears a special quiver in which she carries a pencil. Scribbles often fills in the leadership position when Filbert is incapacitated. Voiced by Kathleen Barr.
- Binky, the other female, is the smallest and youngest of the six dragons. In one episode, "Attack of the 50 Foot Binky", she wanted to be as tall as Filbert, so she used a growth potion and because she didn't put a limitation on it, she gradually grew bigger until the others found the antidote. Despite her childlike qualities, she sometimes surprises the others with her competence and clear-headedness. She's the only one who usually wears nothing. Voiced by Tabitha St. Germain.
- Cuddles, who wears bedroom slippers and carries a pillow, is usually either drowsy or sleeping. Sometimes when he sleeps, he "sleep-plays" that he's a daring adventurer named Sir Cuddles; he snaps out of this and wakes up whenever someone says "Cushladoo". Voiced by Venus Terzo in Season 1 and Terry Klassen in Season 2.
Other characters
[edit]- Wizard, who owns the castle in which the Dragons live, is a kindly, avuncular fellow who watches over them and tries to keep them from getting into too much trouble. An accomplished magician, he has a vast library and a laboratory in the castle. Voiced by Christopher Gaze.
- Library Cat is a winged-cat who is the wizard's familiar and a helpful companion to the pocket dragons. The cat also wears spectacles.
- Theobearus is a living teddy bear, who occasionally aids the pocket dragons.
- Sparkles is a full-sized dragon who's not very bright. He's able to float through the air by inflating himself like a balloon. Voiced by Robert O. Smith.
- Princess Betty Bye Belle runs the town library; when the former librarian retired, the Princess offered to let him live in the royal castle while she took over the library, because of her love of literature. She seems to be aware of Specs' feelings toward her, although she sees him more as a friend. Voiced by Saffron Henderson.
- Shmahz, a short wizard who hates the Dragons for disrupting his evil schemes and often tries to get revenge on them.
- Sir Nigel is a full-sized dragon who's a friend of the Wizard and the Pocket Dragons. He's a figure of culture and learning. Voiced by Garry Chalk.
- Trafalgar is a villainous full-sized dragon, who takes tips on how to be evil from his guidebook.
- The Pie-Rats are a trio of rodent thieves named Cuda, Wuda, and Shuda who specialise in stealing pastries.
- Gnorman the Gnome is a bumbling, sometimes villainous, sometimes helpful character. The "G"'s in his name are not silent (it is pronounced "G-norman the G-nome"). His brother is called Gnasty and his sister is called Gnoxious. Voiced by Brian Drummond.
- Chumley is Sir Nigel's bumbling artistic brother, he has a Welsh accent and is based on a Welsh Dragon.
Cast
[edit]- Ian James Corlett as Filbert
- Jason Gray-Stanford as Zoom-Zoom
- Samuel Vincent as Specs
- Kathleen Barr as Scribbles
- Tabitha St. Germain as Binky
- Venus Terzo as Cuddles (earlier episodes)
- Terry Klassen as Cuddles (later episodes)
- Christopher Gaze as the Wizard
- Robert O. Smith as Sparkles
- Saffron Henderson as Princess Betty Bye Bell
Additional voices
[edit]- Long John Baldry
- Jay Brazeau
- Don Brown
- Garry Chalk
- Michael Dobson
- Jesse Moss
- Richard Newman
- Mark Oliver
- Doug Parker
- Bill Reiter
- Russell Roberts
- French Tickner
- Lee Tockar
- David Ward
- Alec Willows
- Dale Wilson
Production
[edit]Each half-hour episode contained two 11-minute cartoons. The stories contained some educational quality, but were mostly written for fun and imagination. The plots usually involved the Pocket Dragons getting into some kind of mess, either due to their own actions or those of others, and going through some wild and crazy situations while trying to make things right.
Some of the episodes' plots and titles are parodies of movies or TV shows, such as the episodes "Binky, Warrior Princess", and "Attack of the 50 Foot Binky".
104 eleven-minute episodes were produced. They aired as 52 half-hour episodes in the US, with some countries airing them as 15-minute programs (in the UK, for example, the series ran seven days a week on BBC1 and BBC2 for six years).
Episodes
[edit]No. | Title | Original air date | |
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1 | "Day for Knight / All Alone and Feeling Boo" | March 15, 1998 | |
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2 | "Zoom-Zoom's Wish / Gnome Alone" | March 22, 1998 | |
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3 | "The Art of Magic / Never Wish Upon a Star" | March 29, 1998 | |
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4 | "Stop! Pay Troll! / Whookerpop" | April 5, 1998 | |
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5 | "Speed of Flight / Just Desserts" | April 12, 1998 | |
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6 | "In Your Dream / Science Friction" | April 19, 1998 | |
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7 | "A Harp Day's Night / It Came from Outer Space" | April 26, 1998 | |
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8 | "Sea Sickness / A Clear and Present Scribbles" | May 3, 1998 | |
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9 | "The Unicorn Hunters / Down Deep" | May 10, 1998 | |
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10 | "Snow Job / A Rocky Friendship" | May 17, 1998 | |
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11 | "A Cold, Cruel World / Pen Pals" | May 24, 1998 | |
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12 | "Pocket Dragons vs. the Flying Saucer / Minky Business" | May 31, 1998 | |
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13 | "Masquerade / Ducks Amok" | June 7, 1998 | |
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14 | "Shmahz Strikes Again / The Nervous Novice" | June 14, 1998 | |
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15 | "A Dragon in This Dress / Malice with the Chalice" | June 21, 1998 | |
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16 | "King of the Hill / Disguise in Love with You" | June 28, 1998 | |
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17 | "Follow the Leader / Trashmandu" | July 5, 1998 | |
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18 | "Surely you Joust / Tree's a Crowd" | July 12, 1998 | |
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19 | "Mulch Ado about Nothing / Mission: Indigestible" | July 19, 1998 | |
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20 | "A Dry Spell / Weather or Not" | July 26, 1998 | |
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21 | "Yonder Lies the Castle of My Wizard / Pillow Squawk" | August 2, 1998 | |
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22 | "First Pocket Dragons on the Moon / All's Faire" | August 9, 1998 | |
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23 | "Hail, Hail, the Ghengis here / Thief in the Night" | August 16, 1998 | |
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24 | "Something Wicker This Way Comes / There's No Place Like Gnome" | August 23, 1998 | |
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25 | "Winter Take All / The Big Nap" | August 30, 1998 | |
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26 | "The Trouble with Scribbles / Attack of the 50 Foot Binky" | September 6, 1998 | |
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27 | "Snow Binky and the Six Pocket Dragons / Reservoir Clogs" | September 13, 1998 | |
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28 | "Brother, Can You Spare a Dragon? / The Frill of a Lifetime" | September 20, 1998 | |
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29 | "A Babe in the Woods / A Really Bad Hair Day" | September 27, 2998 | |
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30 | "Sleepwalk on the Wild Side / To Hex or Not to Hex" | October 4, 1998 | |
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31 | "Binky, Warrior Princess / Rose-Colored Specs" | October 11, 1998 | |
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32 | "Now You See Me, Now You Don't / Mortal Wombat" | October 18, 1998 | |
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33 | "Monster Mashed / Here There Be Dragons" | October 25, 1998 | |
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34 | "The Echoing Dwarf / Binky and the Beanstalk" | November 1, 1998 | |
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35 | "Fled a Good Book Lately? / A Knight to Remember" | November 8, 1998 | |
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36 | "Altitude Adjustment / The Unbearable Lightness of Zoom-Zoom" | November 15, 1998 | |
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37 | "Jester Round the Bend / Dumb Diddy Do" | November 22, 1998 | |
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38 | "Nothing But the Roof / Clanks a Million!" | November 29, 1998 | |
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39 | "Trap Happy / Opposites Distract" | December 6, 1998 | |
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40 | "All That Glitters / Clockwork Berserk" | December 13, 1998 | |
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41 | "Bewitched, Bothered and Bedragoned / The Ransom of Sparkles" | December 20, 1998 | |
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42 | "Sharp Dressed Gnome / Dragon Snaps" | December 27, 1998 | |
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43 | "Slice of Ice / Another Fine Hex" | January 3, 1999 | |
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Release
[edit]Pocket Dragon Adventures has been released on DVD in the US and in other countries (including the United Kingdom, France, etc.) but availability is limited. DVDs contain selected episodes only. The entire series is currently available on the free streaming platforms Tubi, Pluto TV, and Peacock. In the United Kingdom, the show currently airs on London Live as part of Bounce!.
References
[edit]- ^ Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 469. ISBN 978-1538103739.
- ^ Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. p. 626. ISBN 978-1476665993.
- ^ Hulett, Steve (22 October 2011). "Women in Animation Panel". animationguildblog.blogspot.com/.