Dragons Riders of Berk Reviews: Episode 3 - Animal House

God damn, last week was a pretty good week. The Walking Dead Mid-Season Finale "Too Far Gone" was amazing as holy hell, and the latest episodes of Defenders of Berk, "A View To A Skrill" parts 1 and 2 were epic! I want to just spill my heart out about that episode right here, right now. But all in good time, as I'm only on the third episode of Riders and I'll get to it when I get to it. I've got 26 episodes before I reach that awesomeness, so let's jump into the third episode, shall we?

So, The episode opens with a narration from Hiccup saying that although they made peace with and can trust dragons, their livestock don't know that. Two Dragons fly to the farm where Bucket and Mulch are trying to collect wool, milk and eggs from the Yak's, Sheep and Chicken's. Bucket is confused as to which animal has which resource, so Mulch has to explain to him which is which. Only to find out that the yak's aren't producing any milk. This is gonna lead to problems.

Meanwhile, Hicup and Astrid are sliding down the mountain with their Dragons. Astrid gets a little too competitive and they start hurling things at each other to knock each other out of the race. But Oh Shit! An Avalanche starts and Hiccup and Toothless can't fly because Toothless' metal tail is frozen solid. Hiccup's feeble efforts to get them out of shit creek is futile, as he and Astrid fall down into a chasm and are buried beneath tonnes of snow.

Does this mean what I think it means?

This episode just got interesting. So what's going to happen? Are Hiccup and Astrid going to be stuck underneath a large snow mound, and will have to face the cold, starvation, and have to dig themselves out? Will this be an opportunity to explore their relationship? The Possibilities! So, what happens next?

Well, Toothless shoots a couple blasts and puts a hole in the snow freeing them from... wait, WHAT!!! So that's it? They just get out of this in a matter of seconds? What a waste of a great storyline! And as for further exploration of Hiccup's and Astrid's relationship, they just get close to almost kissing and they break away in an awkward moment. Uhh, I had such high hopes.

So after what could have been a great main plot for the episode, we get to our not-so-great real main plot. So Gobber and Stoick go over to see what's wrong with the farm animals, and Gobber's conclusion is that the animals are so spooked by the dragons that they're not producing milk and other resources they need. Which I find questionable. Do domestic animals really stop producing things like milk when they're scared? But to make matters even worse, Bucket predicts that a large snow storm is coming, but Gobber and Stoick don't believe a bucket can predict a storm, so they consult Gothi the village Shaman. She backs up Bucket's claim.

So Bucket was right!

Hiccup and Astrid are telling the others about they're experience in the mountain and how the dragons used their wings to protect them from the snow. However before they can elaborate further on this, Stoick calls Hiccup to try and deal with the Livestock problem. Hiccup has to show the animals that they don't have to be afraid of Dragons so they'll be able to produce provisions again.

Next we see the teens trying to push the animals toward the dragons to show them they're not a threat to them. They tell the animals that there's nothing to be afraid of.... You know, I'm really not liking this episode. I don't know what it is, but I just really don't like this plot. Animals are going to be afraid of dragons because they're big, fire breathing reptiles. You can't teach an animal to not be afraid of something. If they hang around each other long enough, they'll probably just get used to each other. The idea of trying to teach animals to not be afraid of something I find to be, just stupid. I'm not even sure if it's the plot itself that is the problem, or maybe it's just me.

And not only that, but I think the comedy is also lacking here a bit. But maybe that's because I'm too busy face palming to take notice of it.

.............................

You know what, can I just skip right to "A View to A Skrill"?

GAAHH!!!

Anyway, Hiccup's plan is not working at all. The animals are still scared, and the storm is fast approaching. No matter what they try, they don't get any progress. The storm finally comes, and Gobber evacuates the kids and tries to get the animals to the barn. However, the barn is covered in snow and inaccessible. So they have to herd the animals to the Great Hall with the dragons. This can't end well.

And it certainly doesn't, as WTF!!

When has there ever been lighting during a snow storm?

So Lightning strikes near Stormfly, who panics and scares the animals away. Hiccup and the teens ride after the animals on their dragons, against Gobber's protests. Gobber returns to the Great Hall and tells Stoick the bad news. They both go after the teens.

So the teens are still looking for the animals. And I didn't notice this until now, but the animation has improved quite a bit from the previous two episodes. The backgrounds and the snow storm are pretty nice to look at. 

The teens find the animals and try to herd them into a large group. They fail for the most part due to the storm. A baby sheep falls off a cliff but is saved by Toothless. Hiccup spots what he thinks are two Yaks. Ruffnut and Tuffnut retrieve the Yaks, only they're not Yaks. Stoick and Gobber have come to try and lead the teens back to the Great Hall. However, the storm has covered their tracks and now they don't know the way back. So the group huddles together. Scenes like this are always more awkward than they should be.

Toothless then rallies the other dragons, which is actually pretty cool, Toothless is a leader among the dragons much like Hiccup is a leader among the teens. So Toothless rallies the dragons and they all spread their wings to protect the group from the cold. Which to me looks kinda silly. Uh Dammit! I don't know what it is! But I'm just not digging this, at all! It's supposed to be a heart warming moment, but to me, it's just silly and dumb! 

And as if it couldn't get any worse, the sheep with the baby come along. So let me guess, they're gonna trust the dragons now and come into the big circle. God, I'm really starting to get sick of this shit.........

Oh, Damn this show! It couldn't get me in the rest of the episode, but it got me with this! Toothless going to coerce a baby sheep to the circle. It's stupid, it's dumb, but god dammit that scene when Toothless looks at the baby sheep is so heart-warming it makes me tear up! What is it, why does this scene work when the other doesn't? It's just as dumb and sappy, but it just works! Although this little moment is short-lived, as what I predicted happens immediately after, and it was just as dumb and sappy as I predicted. 

So the animals and the Vikings spend the night under the Dragons wings and return to the Great Hall in the morning. We do get a nice rendition of the Romantic Flight score from the movie, so I guess we did end on a bit of a high note. 

Summary

Uh, this episode. It started off promising. Hiccup and Astrid were having a race down a mountain and got trapped in a chasm under piles of snow. This would have been a much more interesting plot than what we got. 

The thing about the the Dragon's gaining the animal's trust, it just felt really sappy and stupid to me. I guess it's because I'm a cynical guy and, although I love feel-good sappy moments, there's a point where it just crosses a line and it is far too sappy for my liking. I don't like what's in this episode for the same reason I hate the movie War Horse.

The animation in this episode is noticeably improved though, and that one moment with toothless and the baby sheep made this episode worth watching. It didn't make up for it faults, but it made them worth it. And the episode wasn't terrible, for all its worth.

I just hope the next episode is a lot better. 

5/10