Dragons Riders of Berk Reviews: Episode 7 - How To Pick Your Dragon

Now before I get to the review I'd just like to say...........

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Merry Christmas Everybody!!

Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas One and All!

I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Enjoy it while it lasts it folks! Until next year of course. And now onto the review.

The episode opens with a very damaged ship being pulled into port, it was attacked by a rogue dragon. Stoick is on the ship and helps the villagers hoist it in. Hiccup and Toothless watch in pity. The narration tells us that there's two ways of handling sticky situations, The Dragon way and the Viking way. Since Dragons and Vikings came together, the Viking way has become the hard way. And Stoick refuses to do anything other than the Viking way. So he's a conservative, has two perfectly good feet but just can't walk forward. 

Hiccup suggests that if Stoick had a dragon he could have gotten there in 5 minutes instead of two hours and he might have even been able to fight the rogue dragon off. But just like any stubborn conservative, Stoick refuses to break tradition. However Gobber backs Hiccup up, pointing out what he could do on the back of a dragon. Stoick however credits Gobber with the idea as if Hiccup said nothing. I sense father-son drama. Stoick wants to learn to fly, and asks Hiccup to teach him.

So Hiccup tries to teach Stoick the basics of flying Dragons. However Stoick doesn't understand the trust/friendship part of the equation. And he also doesn't have the basics down either. They're take-off turns into a complete disaster as Stoick nearly kills them and rams Toothless into numerous rocks and finally a hard landing on the beach. Toothless is about to drop from exhaustion.

What have you got me into?!

Hiccup gives toothless a very sincere apology. Stoick decides he's had enough of this shit and goes off to look after his village. Or he would if he wasn't stuck on a beach surrounded by cliffs. He asks Hiccup for a ride home.

Hiccup has a different idea however. He takes his dad to see what shit they can get done on the back of a dragon. They catch Ruffnut and Tuffnut tipping over Yak's. And they fend off wild boars eating Mildew's cabbage, or at least I think it's Mildew's cabbage. Actually I kinda wish it is Mildew's Cabbage. Serves ya right, ya old fuck!

Hiccup then takes Stoick on a ride through the clouds with the Romantic Flight track from the movie. Which, although I'm happy to hear it again, it does make this scene seem a lot more romantic and awkward than it should. But, it's still a nice touching little scene.

OK, tone it down a bit.

The next day. Hiccup wakes up to find Toothless gone. He goes outside and catches Stoick riding Toothless. He crashes into a bunch of houses and Astrid and Fishlegs comment on how unexpected and disturbing this is. Stoick then lands at the house. Toothless looks like he's ready to quit on life. 

Stoick tells Hiccup they've been all over the village, and that chiefing has never been so easy. Hiccup tries to explain to him that Hiccup is his dragon, or at least he would if Stoick didn't interrupt him. I like how these two still have problems after the movie. They're relationship is nowhere near as bad as the movie, but there's still kinks to work out. And Stoick still has listening problems. Not to mention that Hiccup's little plan kinda backfired as now he can't get his dad off Toothless.

Stoick goes through the village fixing the problems that would have taken longer before, but now only take a few seconds. He's obviously warmed up to the idea of riding dragons. Toothless however is not too cuddly over the idea, as Stoick pushes him real hard. More than he can take. Hiccup has a dilemma, he managed to get his dad on a dragon but now he has to get him off one. Astrid just suggests using the Honey and the Hatchet, telling him something he wants to hear then slapping him with something he doesn't want to hear. 

Back at the house, Stoick can't find Toothless and asks Hiccup where he is.

Shhh, I'm not here.

Hiccup says he doesn't know, but makes a positive comment about Stoick's beard. Stoick gets the gist and tells Hiccup to give him the hatchet. Hiccup then clears the air with Stoick, telling him that he just can't keep taking Toothless. Stoick takes this surprisingly well and thinks that's fair. I find this interesting, as it would suggest that Hiccup still feels like his relationship is still a little one-sided. But it turns out that his dad is more reasonable than he thought. Or maybe I'm thinking this because that's how my relationship with my dad was like, and this just reminds me of that.

So Stoick agrees that Hiccup's request is reasonable, but asks Hiccup to find him his own dragon. Something he thinks shouldn't be too difficult for Hiccup. So Hiccup takes Stoick on a presentation of the dragons specie's on the Island and see which one suits him best. The teens present their dragons. Snotlout presents his Monstrous Nightmare as the only dragon suitable to men of Stoick's stature. And he also presents Hookfang as if he were in a modern commercial, which is pretty funny. But Stoick gets burned by Hookfang's Flammable skin. Next is Astrid and her Nadder, who launches spikes at Stoick. The twins just fight, making Barf and Belch imitate them. And Fishlegs makes a presentation that is far too sentimental for Stoick's tastes. Just as it seems there isn't a suitable dragon for Stoick, Gobber barges in and gives Stoick the news that a fishing boat is being attacked by the rogue dragon. Stoick and Hiccup fly off on Toothless to deal with it. And we meet our first new dragon (that was actually mentioned in the movie), the Thunder drum. 

Finally, some of the more epic dragons arrive.

And for its first appearance, the ThunderDrum is an awesome dragon. Hiccup mentions that it's a very powerful dragon that gets its power from Thor himself. And it proves to be a match for Stoick and Hiccup on Toothless. 

But after a few blasts, they think they've scared the ThunderDrum away and land on the boat with Bucket and Mulch. Just as they're about to escort them back, The ThunderDrum pulls Stoick under the water. Stoick's chances don't look good.

But Stoick just punches logic in the face and kicks the ThunderDrum's ass onto the ship. And on the ship he manages to immobilise the ThunderDrum. He then asks Hiccup to train it for him with Bucket, Mulch and Hiccup just staring in disbelief. I kind figured the Rogue Dragon would end up being Stoick's Dragon.

Back at the arena, The Thunderdrum is held inside a cage, and Hiccup now has to train it for Stoick. Hiccup once again has to get Stoick to understand the trust/friendship part, though it's no easier now than it was before. Hiccup tries comparing it to Stoick and Gobber's friendship. And we learn that Stoick and Gobber first met when Gobber was hitting on Stoick's wife. That's not what Hiccup had in mind though. He instructs Stoick to make eye contact, and to concentrate on trust. Something Stoick still kinda brushes off. So Hiccup opens the cage and allows Stoick to attempt to tame him. The Thunderdrum tries to bite him and Stoick punches the shit out of it!

Falcon Punch!!

Stoick then proceeds to pull its tail as it tries to get away and jump on its back against its will. Stoick flies off on the ThunderDrum's back as it tries to throw him off. Hiccup is not the least bit impressed. 

Hiccup talks to Gobber about his dad, he tries to talk to him but he never listens. Gobber just tells him that it's a father's job to listen to his son, without ever letting on that he's heard a word. A dynamic I can't get behind. 

Just as they're discussing Stoick, he shows up looking like he's been through a rough patch. Hiccup inquires what happened, and Stoick tells him the dragon threw him off and went to who knows where. Hiccup asks Stoick what he expected, since all he did was fight him. Stoick thinks he loved it, and then goes off to try and find the ThunderDrum. Hiccup reluctantly follows.

So Stoick and the Dragon Riders spread out across the island trying to find the ThunderDrum. Stoick and Hiccup fly around on Toothless. Hiccup tries to tell Stoick to approach the dragon differently, but Stoick spots the Dragon and brushes Hiccup's advice aside. 

They set down, the ThunderDrum charges at them with its harness still on, Toothless rears up but Hiccup calls him off. Stoick then pulls out a hammer and advances on the Dragon.

Yes, because that sure won't antagonise him.
Not in the slightest.

However just as he's about to kick some scaly dragon ass, he notices another in injured ThunderDrum in its lair. He realises why the Dragon was so hostile and why it was stealing all the fish, and sees an opportunity. He sends Hiccup to go get the others. It's just him and the dragon now.

But just as Stoick tries to gain the dragon's trust, a pack of demon boars that crawled out of Satan's asshole appear out of the fog to chow on the injured Dragon. Usually I'd think that fighting a bunch of pigs would be pretty silly and more funny than exciting, but these are boars and they're apparently really fucking crazy. 

Stoick shows off what a badass he is by taking his hammer and smacking the shit out those boars. And we get a pretty awesome fight scene that's Stoick just being awesome and he also manages to bond with the Thunderdrum. Although, I think he gains its trust just a little too quickly. As a matter of fact I think this episode should have been a 2-parter, because Stoick getting a dragon is a pretty big deal and I don't feel that the episode brought this concept to its full potential. But it's still pretty well done though.

Funny, we were beating the crap out of each other
not even a few hours ago.

But the bonding will have to wait, as there's still pesky boars to take care of. So Stoick gets on the Dragon's back and they blow away those damn boars with a sonic blast. Hiccup and the others arrive and Hiccup is awe-struck that his dad managed to gain the dragon's trust without his guidance. Stoick just says that it's all about trust. So Stoick actually did listen to Hiccup. 

They bring the injured Thunderdrum to Gobber. And Stoick finally converts to the Dragon way. The ending Narration tells that us although Stoick still does things the Viking Way, Toothless and Hiccup showed him that the Viking Way could also be the Dragon way. Take that conservatives!

And we end with Stoick and Hiccup riding together on their dragons together, which is a very touching Father/Son moment and we also get to hear a really epic rendition of Flight Test from the Movie.

It couldn't have had a better ending.

Summary

This was another Great episode. We got introduced to one of the more epic dragons that had a cameo in the movie and the Book of Dragons. Stoick gets his own dragon, and one that actually really suits him. And this should write in stone that the dragons are here to stay. Mildew won't be able to get rid of them now, or at least with Stoick's consent. But what's he honestly going to do now?

And this episode also has a great focus on Hiccup and Stoick's relationship. While their relationship has greatly improved, there still are problems to work out. It's good to know that their relationship hasn't got so good that there aren't any problems at all. Although that one moment with the Romantic Flight track was a little awkward, the father/son moments were great. And I especially love the renditions of John Powell's score.

So another great episode, and next episode is another concentrating on Hiccup and Stoick's relationship. 

9/10