How To Train Your Dragon in 2020: Looking Back At The Cartoon Network Show
By: Priya Sridhar
Tags: Dreamworks, Animation, Culture, How To Train Your Dragon, Television

How To Train Your Dragon in 2020: Looking Back At The Cartoon Network Show Priya Sridhar Follow Feb 28 · 4 min read

Sometimes 2012 and 2013 feel like a bygone era. I was still in college then. We also had a TV show on Cartoon Network that showed us dragons, adapting to life.

Riders of Berk was season one, and season two was called Defenders of Berk. It was meant to show the change in the status quo from peacetime to full-on war. Hiccup can tame dragons, and that makes him the most valuable Viking in the archipelago. It makes enemies interested, and potential allies suspicious.

Riders and Defenders of Berk

Cartoon Network greenlit a show that would follow Hiccup and his friends after he had lost his leg, saved his village from the Green Death, and shows how Vikings can work with dragons. It should be easy-going since he and Toothless fell into a fireball and almost died. Hiccup assumes so until he has to handle dozens at once to keep them from harassing the villagers.

I appreciate the show doesn’t make it easy for Hiccup to tame all the wild dragons that are running loose. Some are babies that love the idea of being away from home. Others, like the Scauldron, don’t appreciate being tied down to get its fangs milked for venom. Stoick decides the solution is for Hiccup to start a Dragon Academy, where the riders can lead Berk in learning about dragons and how best to use them.

This was a great setup, if a dubious one. The Vikings had all seen the benefits of dragons and how the beasts saved their lives. Even so, I could believe it; sometimes people don’t want progress even when it stares them in the face.

The Good And The Okay

The first thing to note is that the show had a low budget for 3D animation, compared to the movie. Hiccup never wore his movie armor for riding and instead would have leather vests, as opposed to the furry ones from the film. The twins’ braids became stiffer, and models were reused for side characters.

I think this added to the show’s charm; at the time it did seem stiff to me. That’s only natural, however; of course, we aren’t going to get fluid water scenes or fluttering hair. That depended on how much of a budget the animation department would get for Hiccup’s bangs. He also never changed his outfit, even while sleeping.

Characterization could also be spotty. One episode you have Snotlout and Astrid having a serious heart-to-heart about what it means to feel sad, the next they would be tearing at each other’s throats over their dragons fighting. Or Hiccup being arrogant over winning makes him seem petty, even though give the guy a break after his butt-monkey status at the beginning of the movie. Sometimes you wondered what was going on there.

When characterization was nailed, however, it made for a spectacular episode. I love a pair of Stoick episodes from season one: “How To Pick Your Dragon” and “Portrait of A Hiccup As A Buff Young Man”.

In the former, Stoick tentatively agrees to dragon training, though he overworks Toothless once getting the hang of flying. Hiccup decides that he needs a beast that can handle his dad’s expectations, but Stoick won’t listen to him about how to win a dragon’s trust. Eventually, Stoick puts the lessons to use and gets a Thunderdrum mount. He implicitly thanks Hiccup by echoing the lessons about trust. Hiccup and Toothless are relieved, especially the Night Fury

“Portrait” features Hiccup getting a portrait with his dad, and feeling disappointed that Stoick portrayed his son as a buff warrior. It doesn’t help that Ruffnut and Astrid ogle the painting. He decides to seek a treasure that Stoick and Gobber failed to find, as a means to prove himself. By the time Stoick catches up, he’s apologetic towards Hiccup and says he didn’t want his son to do something so dangerous to impress him. They share several sweet hugs, and Stoick insists on putting a new painting up. It shows Hiccup as gangly, tiny, and smiling.

Both of these episodes consistently focus on Stoick’s love for his son. They’ve had a rocky relationship and yet they’re both working on being a better family. That doesn’t change throughout any season, though Stoick gradually gets less protective of Hiccup. He just needs a while.

Riders of Berk to its credit never bit off more than it could chew. They knew they couldn’t show that much violence, so we got Dagur the Deranged as a younger foe that could fight Hiccup as opposed to the larger Alvin the Treacherous. Fanfic would fill in the gaps that the show wouldn’t tackle. There were very few moments where you would rage-quit. You could skip the iffier episodes without missing continuity.

In short, this was a great addition to the franchise despite a low budget and inconsistent writing. I will always treasure that Dreamworks gave to this to us, with a lot of heart.