Personally I was disapointed. Except for Word implying that Moordryd is incapable of doing a good job (hires bounty hunter to track down Word and make him pay for that), there ws nothing worth seeing! Unless there was somthing after when Dragon Booster askes Vociferous if he's speechless, 'cause I ran out of tape! :(
Yeah, yeah, I know that they needed to intro the Voices, but that was realy all that happened.
:lol: On the upside, Artha eats dragon food! HAHA! :lol:

It's practically as humiliating to watch as "Three Times a Hero". The gags didn't seem too overused, though. Vociferous also just looks like Inner Order member Sarjo with a makeover. (Though Vociferous is kinda cool with his smooth talking and certain appeal...*is deranged and knows it* :P )

I'll get to discussing this later; I gotta go somewhere now.

I like the comedy of the eppie, but the return of Artha's ego, after it's vacation in Wraith Booster, was annoying. I ean, we already know that he's very self-coplemantary, so why do that all over again! I think Spyyn's cooler than Voicy (can't spell his name), becuase she an fight, he couldn't even hit Artha, and just drained his dragon's energy!
*Artha: (dryly) I'll bet Propheci would just love him!*

My shipping side is kicking in. *makes heart-shape with fingers* Vociferous/Spynn, what a lovely item! :lol:

Spynn: *grabs mag-staff and conks Skylii's head*

And you're right, Spynn seems much cooler than Voicy (omg what a cute nickname for him! :lol:). I'll point out what I think later, after I dissect this episode.

In the humor department, yet again, and not as sad as "Three Times a Hero". Set even one gag aside and you have a mess. Let's start at the beginning.

1: Artha. Okay, it seems like the whole "happened once, so forget about it next day" thing going on. Artha creamed Moordryd in the illegal street race, then saved him, then Artha won the Gauntlet, and then Artha jumped the Leap of Lorius. How is this guy not drac enough to get support from everybody else? (Feel free to argue this point.) Also, as Sarah Frost once said "It's back to Mr. Personality-Flaw-Every-Episode". Aren't they done with these? Basically, Artha was just...blah, himself. The Canon Sue/Gary Stu of 1337 d00m.

2. Lance, Kitt, and Parm. I get the impression that the writers suddenly realized the sidelick overload, but then really, some of the roles were just snipped in here. I like how they tried giving roles, but they seemed extremely incomplete. Lance seemed like the only one with a good role in this one. Parm was there as good friend (which is fine), and Kitt was there as other good friend (which is also fine), but still...seemed iffy.

Other issues too, but I'm too lazy right now to list them. Now, as for Vociferous and Spynn, they are cool characters. Vociferous sure knows how to talk the talk, and seems like an interesting parallel to Moordryd Paynn, who at times acts similar to Vociferous. (Interesting tidbit: seems as though the Dragon Eyes and the Voice of the Dragon are rivals instead of allies. It was unclear when Moordryd argues about Voicy's crew to his father; it was more of "Hey, what about me?!" than "But they're our rivals, you can't hire them!". Know what I'm saying?) Spynn is quite an interesting character, even though all she usually does in here is record with the camera (but she can fight with two mag-staffs and she uses green trapping gear).

Errors:
- Word's hair seemed to fade in his clothes when he turned around to face Moordryd and talked to him.
- Moordryd's eye peeked a bit from the top of his unibrow. (:huh:)
- Vociferous' goatee (or whatever the heck it is) seems to be going backwards and forwards from his chin. (Double :huh:)

Other than those, I didn't see much continuity errors.

Trivia:
- Okay, is it just me...or is that Word on that Dragon Taxi that bypassed Artha and Kitt on that scene where Kitt questions Artha about the goofy glasses? :blink:
- Dragonola bars are obviously a pun of real-life granola bars (no duh :P)

This episode didn't really do much for me. I was disappointed that we're back to Artha being egotistical and ignoring his friends again. I thought the story line had progressed beyond that by now. And as you point out Skylii, making the Leap of Lorius should have brought Artha some degree of fame. After all, he was the first person in 15 years to do that.

Some of the gags were OK, but nothing as funny as last week's episode. And act 2 really dragged along.

How did Vociferous know to be there ready with his director schtick? The kid wandering onto the track and Artha having to save him was clearly a fluke that hadn't been planned. Or was Vociferous just improvising and seizing on the opportunity?

I was thinking the same thing! Artha is getting dumber and dumber every episode, and how could he not have a few fans by now? Where I'm from, the underdog always has fans, just because they love it when the got-no-chance wins! I will argue that Artha did nothing wirthy of being called drac in this episode, but he has in others! The forget-about-it thing is something I'm always complaining about, especially with Wraith Booster. :angry:
:D On the upside though, I loved Moordryd's little bow when he was announced at the race! :D

That's true. This episode ought to be wholly revamped somehow, considering how other previous episodes had made Artha look drac already - maybe it should be put on earlier. However, it has one redeeming gag - Artha literally gagging on Dragonola Bars. :lol: I think every Canon Sue should go through that at one point or another. I also like the effect on how the bar looked so moldy and unattractive upon close-up (a throwback perhaps to traditional animation where they show how something ugly is upon closer inspection?)

Is it just me or did he have the same fans that Kitt Wonn has on the other side of the race track? I think that should count as lazy animation. :P

I'm not really sure. One thing to note: the blue-haired mother had seemingly lost interest in her baby's hero while Vociferous was conniving Artha. Also, I was a bit ticked off that everyone is just standing there and looking off into space during the conversation between Artha and Vociferous. On a sidenote, I liked how they showed a blue dragon independently walking, without any rider. Maybe the whole equality between dragons and humans is beginning to catch on. ;)

And another thing: what happened to the race? Was it really that short or did everyone forget about it entirely? Also, I think it's just incredulous that nobody within a few meters from the baby had the courage to just sprint there and grab the oblivious child, not even the mother. <_<

True, and Lance has shown more of his 10-year-old wisdom - more reason why Lance is my favorite character - that seems reminiscient to what Mortis would say if he were Artha's ten-year-old brother. Huh, wait a minute, where the heck was Mortis in all of this? Why didn't he reprimand the snots out of Artha with his oh-so-righteous morals of the week thing? :angry: This is like the second time where he's not in an episode, "The Choosing Part 1" being the first.

I kind of like how they handled Kitt and Parm in this episode (Parmon hugged Lance again! :lol: He should be a babysitter!), particularly Kitt being her obnoxious self, belittling Artha's fame and all. I only wish that they could have given her more active roles - most of the time when she's ready to fight, she either gets distracted by a flash stick, tackled and pinned, trapped in a gear or in her most active fighting role, charges the thrusting red gear in reverse to create a firewall. I mean, even Spynn, who's a minor character, did more actual combat than Kitt has ever done in all episodes as far. :(

As for Parm, he absolutely rules with that spinning staff slam! Yes, I like to play with alliteration. :)

That's true. He treats Lance just like how Moordryd would, but other than that, I don't see much similarity between Vociferous and Moordryd. :unsure: And I'm not sure if they're really considered rivals, seeing as how Word explained that the Voices made and broke more alliances than any other crew. And yes, those two are cool: did you see the way they slid on that broken street, acrobatically somersault off and get magged by their dragons? It was like watching a great circus act. :D

Other tidbits about Artha:
- Was it just me or did Artha remove the visor from his helmet to make room for his glasses? This is the second/third time an eye accesory has been used by a canon character (the first was Parmon using his monocle during the ramming of the wall in "The Track of Doom". I don't know if Parm's wearing of a knight's visor in "Misjudged" counts.)
- The way that Artha narrowly escaped from a gradually breaking piece of street. It amused me in a way that he expertly climbed on his way up, literally running for his life, until near the end, where he literally skipped the last gap and assumed he was in a safe place. Where's his common sense? He wasn't even on solid ground - maybe his arrogance had caught him and literally caused his downfall. :huh:
- The way he as Dragon Booster whacked the bar right into Vociferous' mouth. Perhaps he should consider a career in baseball/golf?
- Artha's arrogance doesn't extend to just fame - he apparently risked his life for his helmet (which I'm certain he could just get another one of those from a store).

Well, that's all I can think of. :)

Maybe becasue it's his dad's helment, he wouldn't want it destroyed. Or because the writers really wanted to show that Voicy couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat! :lol:

Plus the fact that he has no fans is inconsistent with previous episodes. In "Misjudged," the crowd gives a big cheer during the drag ball game when Artha and Parmon from Penn Racing are introduced. The crowd reaction in this episode doesn't line up with that, which is noticeable and unfortunate.

I lost my freakin' post I was about to post when I accidently pressed the "Refresh". Damn... :angry:

So let me sum what I would've said earlier since I'm too lazy to type out a whole huge post over 8000 characters. Episode pathetic, gags sad, Vociferous and Moordryd interesting parallels, Voicy and Spynn cool, and LOL-ing at most of the things you guys are saying.

Overall, this is another episode that seems out of sequence with everything else. Back when we discussed "All is not Lost," I said that one seemed like it belonged more like around episode 3 or 4 instead of where it aired. And "Artha the Drac" looks like it would belong better around where "All is not Lost" aired. Artha falling into a trap based on his egotism fits better there, plus he's much less well known as a racer back then. Airing where it is just doesn't fit the continuity well. This kind of makes it a disappointing episode for me.

The only thing it does show is that the whole Penn racing team is working together much better in the act 3 rescue sequence than they did in earlier episodes. So that's one little thing in its favor.

True that; I definitely got the feel that this should've happened earlier. Okay, I'm not lazy anymore, so let's get to work.

Lazy animation, like you said about Kitt and her fans and Moordryd (though it's possible to like two riders, but I thought the crowd booed Moordryd). Oh yes, Kitt's racing sequence was too short. More action on her, please.

And yes, the blue dragon walking independently was also one of the nice things about his episode (though it looks turquoise, which leads to second question: those dragons Vociferous and Spynn rode, Green or Turquoise?), and was that bipedal Purple Dragon in that scene also walking independently?

I'm guessing that it was improvising. Here's how I see it: right before the events in "Artha the Drac", Word calls up Vociferous, hires him to steal Beau, offers some unexplained offer that Vociferous takes (I would've liked to see how Vociferous was bribed into doing this task as well; he doesn't seem like Phistus or Pyrrah, ready to have Word's other offer in "Fanning the Flames"), Vociferous and Spynn hear that there's a race going on and that Artha's in it, so they go over and start planning on how to capture Artha's dragon. When baby is saved, Vociferous realizes that things just got easier for them, and decides to be a director while Spynn's behind the camera. He goes up to Artha after rescue, smooth talks him, offers him a turquoise card with a big fat purple "W" on it that clearly represents Paynn Incorporated, as in ebil Word Paynn (and I sincerely hope I'm mistaken and that's actually a "V" and not a blind Artha <_< ).

I found that humorous, since obviously the animators/writers weren't thinking clearly when this happened.

The second time he isn't on an episode? And the first being an episode where Mortis isn't even vital to the plot yet? Oh dear, and the fact that Artha and the gang were in the Dragon Temple when Artha was busy with his new hype. :rolleyes:

Ironically, Lenore Zann plays Spynn's voice as well. You're right, our little racer girl needs more action scenes that actually have her doing something, like in "Fanning the Flames". She needs another episode starring her.

And Parm was very nice in this episode...all except for the whole "We know when we're not wanted!" stick-nose-in-air-and-walk-away-with-huff thing. I found that so cheesily cliche. However, Parm's laughter made me burst out laughing too. You're right, Daigerus, the Dragonola bar gag was the most redeemable. :)

But on the central website (which seems to be ignored by the show), it claims that the Dragon Eyes' main opposition are the Voices, and that's interesting, since I thought at first that they would be allies. Think about it; both are on the same side, erm, the Dark Side, if you will, and yet they're rivals, even though they both use the same manipulative and deceptive tactics in their own ways. And the similarities between Moordryd and Vociferous is easy. Both run their own crews, one being the most known for its badness, and the other for its continuous lying. Both Moordryd and Vociferous are sly and ambitious characters. The difference is that Vociferous puts himself with other people, and Moordryd seems to go against other people, from what I've seen. (He's done this in "Misjudged" and "Pride of the Hero".) Once I compared the two, I knew they were interesting parallels, as well as their crews, not the common Penn Racing Artha/Dragon Eyes Moordryd "omg lyk I h8 u 2 death" thing. And yes, the whole acrobatic thing those two did was extremely drac.

That's true too. What I also like about Vociferous is that he doesn't seem like the member type instead of the leader type. When Cain said that he was Vociferous, I was all standing up and like "Huh? WHAT?! THAT'S VOCIFEROUS?! COOOOOL!!!" because it was not at all what I expected him to be.

Yeah, there wasn't much rivalry as I expected. I thought it would be like Zuko and Zhou from Avatar thr Last Airbender, or Crow and Tal in The Seventh Tower-Book Four-Above the Veil.

They're all Parm fangirls. Just like any other sensible person.

Well I'm sensible and a Moordryd fan, but I'd rather cheer for Parm than Artha!

Maybe I should have said "They're all Parm fangirls, or sensible people?"

Hmmn...

Just stick with the fact that they were all Parm fangirls. Makes more sense. ;)

Hang on, I just realized something...was Artha holding his butt as well as his mouth when he gagged on that Dragonola bar?! :blink: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Yeah, I noticed that, too. I guess eating something like that would make you really sick, wouldn't it? :P

I liked 3 times a hero.. the first time around.. after the second time, well...it sucked. Artha the Drac was cool the first time too... And Vociferous (spelling?) does sorta look like Sarjo re-done... but not quite. and did anybody notice that when the two were taking beau away, they didn't ride their own dragons? I know bull class were needed to tow the beau's weight, but really, wouldn't one of the two ride their own dragon? <_<

Not particularly one of my favs either to be honest, the next one "Prophet's Motive", really begins to crank things up as the series heads toward some very big reveals, especially a two part cliffhanger at Episodes 25 and 26 called "The Return of Drakkus".

Where do you live?? I haven't heard of those last two! :( Do you know if they're going to play them in Canada anytime soon??

AGHH!!!!

When will they be aired in MEXICO!!!!!???

Okay, please don't swamp me with questions as I really can't totally answer a lot of them for various network and other contract reasons and also well, I'm really busy too...but within the next three months in US and Canada. How do I know all this you ask? Well, I'm Rob from The Story Hat. Fun site people, lots of good discussion. Cool stuff is coming!

Oo-kay. well, I still say that Artha is a sue because I've just re-watched three DB eppies, and he did nothing but be the oh-so-special-hero-boy-who-had-done-nothing-to-deserve-it!

Are you the Rob who created Dragon Booster and also writes on the show?

Unfortunately, Artha's a character who can't improve that much--the Sue-episodes already exist, and there's not much that can be done to change him. He was given near-absolute power and then proceeded to get himself into trouble by personality flaws, which theoretically should have dictated that Prophecy would never have chosen him in the first place (unless we want to go really sophisticated here and have Destiny the Dog of a Female Gender Goddess). (Note also, the sort of people who take three-thousand-year-old texts as utterly infallible are not exactly the sort of people I tend to like.) There's also the Problem of the Inconsistent Personality.

I really don't like characters who are chosen by some idiotic Destiny (which is essentially another word for 'plot device'), with no logical explanation for it. And characters who are given enormous powers and then proceed to whine about it and let their own personalities let them down are also irritating--you've got all the ability you need, go out and do something about it! I also don't like the theme of 'elitism' raised by the text. Artha is set up as the Chosen One (implied by text that he deserves it while few of his actions justify it, ubermensch above common humanity without even a good reason for it), and the "good" characters seem obliged to follow him rather than, say, work on plans for the future that don't involve relying on one single Savior Figure, but rather working on democratic solutions that require more than one person's input. It would be better to have some suggestion of not everything in the city revolving around the Dragon Booster--where are the people neither worshipping nor loathing him, but considering the war in their own way? (And no, the Prophets don't count; they're textually placed in a position very much inferior to Artha et al.)

Not to mention, Kitt is also one-dimensional--Standard SpunkyGirl with little individual qualities--and I really don't like that the one important female character is both anorexic-appearing and willingly allows her love interest to supersede her in her chosen career.

Evil!Mortis, though (because anyone who abandons their children for the sake of an ancient prophecy is a dangerous fanatic IMO, and he's quite clearly manipulating Artha and Co., pulling the strings to Artha's absolute power) would manage to make the series somewhat redeemable in my eyes, but it's doubtful canon will go there. Like Dumbledore, Mortis' more negative qualties will in all likelihood go unnoticed.

'Neway, enough ranting. I probably shouldn't expect things like a well-developed fantasy world from a kids' cartoon--this paint-by-numbers cliched-character sort of thing is very much par for the course.

YAY!!!!

How do a Screenwriter feels to visit a one fo your creations Fan site??

Sorry if it's mispelled but english is my second languaje :D

Please excuse me for going nuts. *clears throat and inhales*

I knew it! I knew it, I knew it, I knew it! I kneeeew it! *bounces around screaming "I knew it!" at the top of her lungs*

So I won't swamp you with a bazillion questions. :P All in all, as a kids series, Dragon Booster is A-okay. We're hoping that Artha might develop a bit. True, he's irritating to the critical eye, but perhaps we can see him becoming more responsible. Besides, Artha seems like a nice guy, annoying, yes, but nice, and hey, he's bishie. :P Positive qualities, for once.

So for Season 2, it goes like this:

14. If It Ain't Broke
15. The Rules of Power
16. Broken Bonds
17. Faster Than Fear
18. Leap of Lorius
19. The Wraith Booster
20. Artha the Drac
21. Prophet's Motive
22. Still Water Freezes
23. The Mechanist (According to TV.com, which is NOT, IMO, to be entirely trusted)
24. When Darkness Falls
25. The Return of Drakkus: Part 1
26. The Return of Drakkus: Part 2

Hmm...Drakkus is the name of one of the moons though...I guess I'll just have to wait. :)

Thanks. I thought the first impression we'd give off is being a bunch of unsatisfied ingrates (AAH, NO OFFENSE, NO OFFENSE! *dodges flying bricks*).

and Moodryd's second name. Altough I guess that Drakkus couyld be other person, do you remember the comment about a shady figuere in "Faster than fear"??


He could b Drakkus. As Connor gives his son second name "Tannis" , Pernaps Word did the same name his Drakkus in "Honor" to someone instead the moon's name

Yes, I am that Rob and be patient, Artha and all the characters are going to develop quite a bit more. Artha especially has got a very long road ahead and it's full of surprises. A lot more info begins to come out starting with Eps 22 "Still Waters" and Eps 23, "The Mechanist" thru 26, then in 27 and on, where we really begin to crank up the stakes.

There are a few new fighting techniques ahead and they're quite cool. Since dragons power gear with their mag energy, some humans when trained well enough, can learn to channel this energy through their bodies to use ancient fighting techniques, needless to say, things are going to get much more dangerous.

Yes, to sombody else's post, Drakkus and Ababdon are the names of the planet's moons which open the treacherous shadow track, which as you know, some "things" kinda escaped from in "Faster Than Fear"....wait till Eps 22 and see huh?

I'm going to coax my biz partner Kevin on here soon as well and perhaps we can create a section (when your web master gets back) that's dedicated to asking questions of us, our wonderful friends at Alliance Atlantis and the intrepid folks at Nerdcorps who do such a killer job producing the show.

YAY!!!!

(Jumping around happily)


HURRAH FOR NERDCORPS AND ALLIANCE ATLANTIS!!!!

Would be nice that and a First Dragon Booster series be aired and perhaps a Movie or live action movie :D:D:D (daydreaming look)

Well, I'm back. Welcome. :)

What exactly did you have in mind?

who?

me?

I think she's talking to Rob. :)

Yes. Rob. Sorry, Aishadow.

you help WRITE dragon booster!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?????????????????!?!?!?!? :o :o

I LOVE YOU!!!!!! (falls to the floor, bowing like crazy!!!!) :D :lol: :D :lol:

<you can ignore the insane talking here, don't have ta answer, i'm just REALLY REALLYREALLYREALLYREALLYREALLYREALLY EXCITED!!>

How'd you come up with such a great plot? why are grey dragons almost extinct, are they all as big as libris? are they all awsome like libris!!!!!!!!?

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! *wets pants in excitement and runs off, squealing in delight... comes back all dressed fancy and stuff*
I'm gonna make you a really awsome dragon!!! I'll design it for you very special!!! It'll be freaking awsome!!! *runs off, still squealing and starts working on designing a really awsome dragon.. pauses and comes back over* what's the bone color going to be?

Mari, we must calm ourselves down and lower the questions. Rob's already got a lot on his hands with us going nuts. :) And I'll bet he'll want it gold, because gold's cool. B) :rolleyes:

Yes, I write a lot of Dragon Booster, some of the episodes as you already know and many of the episode premises. We have lots of great writers working in the show who have done some really great things with the series, namely Mark Leiren Young, Jules Dennis, Jay Falconer, Alan Gregg, Raul Sanchez Inglis, Sean Jarra, Steve Ball and the team of Richard Elliot and Simon Rascioppa. The man at Nerdcorps aside from Ace Fipke who produces who has the most impact on the series is Jay Falconer who I work closest with on scripts and story. Kevin who also designed many of the characters and the look of the show, works closely with Arlyn Bantog at Nerdcorps on designs and art style. Alan Gregg at Alliance Atlantis was a big part of the show's development as was Jermaine Turner at Disney. Needless to say, we are having a blast and are totally stoked that you guys dig the show.

Dragon Booster was originally based on a short story by Kevin and he and I had been developing it together for years when we met Ken Faier of Alliance Atlantis (now with Nerdcorps). Currently, there's a five year long series arc leading to...(well, you have to wait for that ;) )which means I know what's going to happen far into the future. To answer your question, gray draconium is very powerful and it can be used to enhance all other colors in terms of energy and power. There are traces of it in all racing gear as gray is like the bridge between technology and life force. There is a lot of it in Elite Class Gear but years ago, humans used for warfare and hunted the gray dragons to near extinction. Episode 23 "The Mechanist" talks more about this and further answers your question. I wouldn't want to give too much away ; )

Look forward to your dragon design, you pick the color, after all, what color is your inner dragon?

The question is for all?

Are you read the fansfics based in your shows??????

Actually, yes, if you think about it, the question doesn't have to be directed to Mari. It directs to us all; what is our Inner Dragon...okay, now I'm being weird. :P

I doubt Rob has read some of the FF.net fanfics/other fanfics yet. :)