Netflix's The Dragon Prince

Mind if I ask for input on the unintentionally unsympathetic clean up thread (long term projects) in regards to the examples listed on the ymmv page? I brought up my own thoughts there but would like some from others, including those familiar with the random in general.

I can't help wondering if there will be any prohibition in human-elf love relationships.

That is, when Callum talked about it, Rayla took it as a simple joke.

A hypothetical case is that Rayla's parents disapprove of their relationship, even if Callum helped save them.

Edited by JoLuRo075 on Dec 11th 2019 at 5:40:54 AM

I decided to start watching Dragon Prince. I'm 5 episodes in.

God, scenes with Lord Viren give me sympathetic anxiety attacks. He reminds me so much of me. I know that probably doesn't reflect well on me given the type of character he is, but it's uncanny.

Specifically, his manner of trying to argue with people. Where he's constantly trying to say the right things, and make the right gestures to convince people and put them at ease, but it never works and he always comes off like a completely unlikeable dick. Like, he literally can't say anything right.

So I'm into Season 2 now.

Is it me or is the writing kinda... spotty in some places? It's hard to describe, but it seems to oscillate between being really good, and feeling kinda hokey. Especially in the ending third of season 1.

I think part of it is that the comedy can get pretty awkward. A lot of it is charming or cute or genuinely great in a way that hits me surprisingly hard (anything involving Commander Gren in Viren's dungeon legit kills me whenever it comes up), but sometimes it really causes scenes to drag.

Edited by GNinja on Dec 13th 2019 at 2:59:41 PM

Something I’ve noticed about a lot of Avatar esque shows is their need to use comedy in any serious scene, almost as a constant reminder to not get too invested, to maintain that distance and skepticism. It feels like the writers going “No, we’re cool, we get this is silly.”

It's supposed to bring levity after something seriousness goes down, which Avatar was good about.

This isn't just a problem with it either, a number of anime also have that same tonal problems where it goes from serious to goofy to serious back to back.

it happen in movie too, marvel is infamous for the tendency to forced joke in a constant wink to the audience to said "this all silly :P" a some point it feel insincere.

I get there is taking to seriously but some series need to learn there is such thing as not being serious enough.

Marvel has it, but it never gets to the point of infuriating that Western cartoons have.

Doesn't Hawkeye literally say "None of this makes sense right now" in the middle of a pitched battle?

Sometimes that’s a fair assessment. More so than cheap fart jokes like TDP likes to indulge in.

To be fair, that is him try to resure wanda to do something, what is bad tho is Thor being choked by ultron and the "I dont know what else to said", that joke was bad and ruin any menance ultron have.

what is weird is that avatar didnt run so much in this.

My problem with the gags in The Dragon Prince is that a lot of them just aren't funny.

When I find them funny, I don't tend to mind their placement. Like I said, I found the lackadaisical way Gren was thrown in the dungeon to be amazing.

Edited by GNinja on Dec 13th 2019 at 5:30:59 PM

What were some of the jokes that didn't work for you, out of curiosity?

I can only speak for myself of course, but some of the more childish humor clashes tonally with the intellectual, political nature of the show's central plot. One moment, characters are discussing the weight of vengeance and the fate of nations, and the next- fart joke. It can be rather jarring, to say the least.

I liked the fart joke, although it is only because of the character in that joke was used.

Instead of being Soren (The classic rude male) was Claudia (the Girly Girl).

Edited by JoLuRo075 on Dec 14th 2019 at 5:02:21 AM

I loved that gag too. Reasons like that are why Claudia is the best girl.

The fart flowers in the most recent season not so much, but most of the humor, even the kiddie stuff, lands for me. I'm an easy mark like that. And if not, it's a gag, it's over in a few seconds. And I've never felt that the show didn't take itself seriously enough.

x4 Do you at least like Human Rayla? I don't see how anyone can not like Human Rayla.

Oh, I love Human Rayla.

I've been rewatching the series to show it to my sister (she really likes it), and after looking at it again I think episode 8 of season 1 is the absolute worst when it comes to the jokes.

It's hard to explain because it's not any specific joke that's the problem, it's more the length that certain comedic bits can drag on for.

Like, the "Flash, Woof, Whoosh, Slish-Slash!" thing where Callum is explaining his plan for dealing with monsters. It's awkwardly introduced, which I know is the point, but then it goes on for a relatively long time. It's not funny, you get weird, bad lines like: "That monster won't know what hit it! Oh, wait, it will. It'll be wind." and the entire part with Rayla.

It's supposed to be good natured banter, and the dummy line sets up Rayla to remember the Fulminis spell, but I think it goes on for way too long for the point it ultimately serves, and there's not really a joke to it. Later you get stuff like the "Did we accidentally wander up Humdrum Hill?" scene, where the entire punchline is that Callum drags out the joke for too long. Some of it feels like padding actually, and it makes certain scenes awkward or ends with them overstaying their welcome.

Edited by GNinja on Dec 16th 2019 at 3:10:40 PM

I do recall someone saying that writers seem to be convinced that just because Callum is voiced by Jack De Sena, everything he will say will be automatically funny.

If there's one thing I'm slightly concerned about after finishing Season 2 it's that I don't want Viren to become completely subservient to Aaravos in terms of coming up with ideas.

One of the things I like about Viren is that for all the things Viren lacks, he's very pro-active. He comes up with ideas. They might not always work, but there's a base competence to them and he works towards his goals. At the very least they're good attempts, that are then let down either by his personal failings like his condescention or his lack of charisma. In that sense he's like Admiral Zhao. Zhao wasn't a traditional mastermind, but he was nothing if not ambitious and possessed of unique ideas. Even if those ideas were short-sighted lunacy (heh) like karate chopping the moon.

It'd be dissapointing if all Viren ever did from now on is just whatever Aaravos tells him to do.

Edited by GNinja on Dec 16th 2019 at 6:08:51 PM

Season 3 thoughts

I love that Viren is one of the most morally ambiguous villains out there, but he makes up for it by doing everything super creepy. "Your wife saved me, Harrow. She must be avenged! Anyway, I cough her last breath and had my daughter kill a unicorn. Now I just need your blood."

With that said, I think the war is in the end his fault (and I guess Harrow's, for agreeing to his plans.) There was a relative peace that could last as long as someone wouldn't do something war-starting. Yes, Thunder killed Queen, three Queens in fact, but he was just defending his territory. He didn't know or cared who were the invaders, so he can't be blamed. Lets be serious, if those were three random soldiers who died that day, no one would want to avenge them.

Thunder didn't literally went out of his way to kill a monarch and then their child for a good measure. And it's not like Viren didn't know that this would cause a reaction - he just hoped that elves would be too scared of humans after that. He literally switched from emotional decision to kill Thunder to logical decision to kill Zym and I know that doesn't sound so wrong, but's it honestly a bastard move - he conveniently kept changing what is "right thing to do" to whatever he wanted.

BTW, I'm not sure where was Dragon Queen in the whole scene and why she didn't pose a threat to humans.

I really loved the scene where Viren convinces Soren that he never asked him to kill the princes. Not only because it's disturbing and incredibly cruel. But also because I've never seen writer take advantage of fact that someone is comically stupid and use it for drama (I'm not counting if they're crazy like Ice King)

I was however disappointed with with Rayla's parents reveal. One, because it's not really shocking. Hey, you know how heroine's parents were traitors? Nevermind, they were good, the goodest in fact! Two is that everyone is so convinced that they betrayed the Dragonguard while in the end, evidence turned out to be really flimsy. I honestly had to sit down and figure out why Moonshadow Elves even thought that they deserted their post.

Honestly the fact Thunder mentioned it was a day of birth and her missing makes me think there was a complication, since dragons likely work the way egg layings animals who only lay one at a time do. Investing all their energy into a single child(and the ones with more than one child, well poor younger sibling)

Edited by OmegaRadiance on Dec 18th 2019 at 2:21:42 AM

The fartflowers were a bit much...

I was actually fine with the fart flowers, but Claudia's fart joke definitely fell flat for me.

I guess some people like fart jokes, and other people think they stink.

like a fart