Dragons Defenders Of Berk Reviews: Episode 18 - Bing, Bam, Boom

Hiccup is overlooking what appears to be a giant, horn? Hiccup asks for Toothless' honest opinion on it, but Toothless doesn't think it's all that. Hiccup blows it off, Toothless will see for himself in a bit. In comes Stoick, who'll be the first Guinea Pig to test this device out. Hiccup calls it the Thunder Ear! In short, it's supposed to pick up the tiniest sounds from afar. This is for another attack by the Screaming Death, who we haven't seen in a good long while. What's he doing these days?

So Hiccup instructs Stoick to put his ear into the end of the horn and Toothless gives a signal for Fishlegs, who is miles off shore, to start singing 'I'm a Viking through and through'. Stoick thinks Fishlegs voice sound heinous, even from afar through the Thunder Ear. He wanders if this is all some practical joke, but Hiccup proves beyond reasonable doubt that he's not fucking with Stoick. 

Stoick admits that he's quite impressed, he thinks that this could even be used to pinpoint enemy ships . . .  though that thought will have to wait. As Stoick hears something else in the distance. 

Stoick! Pff, that joker? He'd be nothing without me.

Mother Fucker!

Aside from two-faced traitorous swine, Stoick hears something else on the horizon. He asks Hiccup to tell Fishlegs and Meatlug that they don't need to sing anymore, 'cause at this point he can't tell who sings worse. Hiccup listens, but he deduces that this is something else entirely. They decide to head out and find out what's causing a ruckus out there. But first Thornado has to make a cool-ass dramatic entrance with the sun at his back, something that Stoick never gets tired of. 

Stoick and Hiccup head off to find the source of the sound. On the way, Thornado gets a whiff of something and immediately heads in it's direction in a burst of speed. Stoick tells Thornado that he'll be doing the steering if he doesn't mind.  Hiccup tells Stoick to let Thornado lead the way 'cause he knows what's going down. Thornado leads the way to . . . 

Oh, how precious.

A trio of baby Thunderdrums are camped out on a rock. Hiccup wanders why they're out there all alone. The Thunderdrums then decide they want to goof around with Hiccup and Stoick and start flying around them. Stoick tells them to watch out and reminds their punk asses that he's a god damn Chief. Hiccup reminds Stoick that they're babies and baby dragons at that. They don't understand the concept of human hierarchy. 

Then they start to screw around with Hiccup and Toothless, Toothless runs away rather than deal with a trio of little Thunderdrum shits. Stoick thinks somebody has to let these little shits know that playtime's over. Thornado gives one good sonic blast that disciplines them. Hiccup is impressed, Stoick claims he taught Thornado how to discipline the younger generation. 

Now they've come to a dilemma, they've come all this way and found baby Thunderdrums who are all alone. Hiccup is about to ask Stoick something, but Stoick already knows what he's about to ask. It can't be done, there's enough racket on the Island with the Twins around. Hiccup just wants to be sure they'll be OK. Stoick thinks they'll be just fine, they're Thunderdrums! The toughest dragon in the archipelago, a comment Toothless doesn't appreciate. 

Fuck you say, Old man?!

  
Stoick is just like, "That's right, I said it bitch!". So they leave the Thunderdrums behind and head back to Berk where they meet Gobber. Stoick decides to toy with Gobber for that conversation he heard through the Thunder Ear. He puts Gobber on watch duty with the Thunder Ear all night, despite Gobber's plans to sing in the Great Hall. Gobber tries to get out of it, then Stoick unsubtly spills the beans that he knows about his conversation. Hiccup explains to Gobber that it was the Thunder Ear, Gobber has a different name for it. 

But before we can hear what it is, it cuts away to morning at the main household. Toothless and Hiccup are sleeping peacefully and everything is peace and quiet, until they hear shit breaking and feel large tremors coming from outside. Hiccup asks Stoick what's going on, but Stoick is just as clueless as Hiccup. 

They step outside to find Chaos, Anarchy, and madness! The baby Thunderdrums have followed them back to the village and are destroying shit and disorientating sheep and livestock. Stoick asks Hiccup if he still thinks they're cool, Hiccup's just on the fence at this point. Stoick tells him to get his ass off the fence and do something about those little shits! 

Fishlegs however is excited that there's baby Thunderdrums. He thinks their cute and tries to give them a hug. 

They're so . . . uidhfedhfudihfu!!

Ouuuuuooohhh, What hit me?

Hiccup decides that the time for fucking around is over, it's time to get serious. He tries chasing the Thunderdrums around town, but it only causes more chaos every step of the way. Especially in Gobber's shop. Astrid asks Hiccup if he's needs a helping hand, Hiccup most definitely needs a helping hand. He tells Astrid they need to corral the Thunderdrums into the academy. That proves to be a near impossible task as they're slippery little bastards. 

As if the situation couldn't get any worse, the Twins are now on the scene with Barf and Belch. Hiccup tells them that they need to stop them, but the Twins think they need to own them! But luckily the Thunderdrums give them the slip through trickery. Snotlout also attempts to catch one of them, but it also gives him the slip through trickery. Stoick complains that he always has to do everything himself, a lot Alvin did back in season 1. Coincidence? 

The Thunderdrums continue to cause chaos and there seems to be little the Teens' feeble efforts can to to stop them. But Stoick has an ace up his sleeve. He brings out Thornado, who manages to bring the little brats under control. Hiccup and Fishlegs are impressed, the little Thunderdrums are putty in Thornado's hands. The Twins immediately try to claim one or two, or the whole set of them. Stoick tells them to shut the fuck up and tells Hiccup to get those troublemakers off his Island. The Twins claim their mother will miss them, but Hiccup points out Stoick means the dragons. 

Oh, shit! Ha ha ha, almost had us there chief.

Hiccup tries to convince Stoick to let the academy train them, they're fast, powerful . . . destructive, loud, and out the fuck of control! As Stoick so eloquently puts it. The Twins say that Stoick's just making Hiccup's point for him. Gobber decides to throw his lot in with Hiccup, a squadron of Thunderdrums could be quite useful against Dagur and the Berserkers. Hiccup even reminds Stoick how great Thornado turned out. 

With all the evidence piling up for keeping the Thunderdrums around, Stoick gives in. But at the first sign of trouble, they're asses are gone. but Hiccup is confident that they can trained, and he already has a plan in place to accomplish this. 

- Let me guess, you don't have a plan?!
- Yes! No! Maybe. Ok, I don't have a plan.

Hiccup is absolutely clueless on where to begin with the Thunderdrums, Snotlout just wants to make them stop screaming before they blow their ear drums out. The Twins are facinated by this possibility and stick their faces in the path of the Thunderdrum's sonic blast. Hiccup tells them not to encourage them, but the others are not quite sure whether he means the Thunderdrums or the Twins. Meanwhile, Thornado watches this spectacle from outside, but Stoick quickly calls him away. You know, I'm really beginning to realise how underused Thornado is. 

Hiccup decides that the first course of action is naming them. Snotlout begs to differ, he thinks the first course of action would be to get them to shut the fuck up! Fishlegs manages to give them some dragon nip, which calms them down for the time being. Hiccup says they can't have them doing nothing all day, but Snotlout says that's what the Twins are for. The Twins don't appreciate that, since they already did something. When asked by Snotlout, Ruffnut is clueless to what they did. But Tuffnut explains they named the Thunderdrums Bing, Bam, and Lloyd. 

Fishlegs thinks there's something a little more logical than Lloyd, Boom. Although the Twins protest, Hiccup decides it's time to train them now. That goes about as well as you'd expect. Hiccup tries the hand on snout thing, but they blast his ass right into Fishlegs face and into Toothless' arms like he was a football. Astrid tries to get them to stay, but they swarm Stormfly and come back after she flings their asses off. 

Snotlout tries to get them to destroy something they're supposed to destroy. He sets up a bunch of target barrels and tells them to destroy the shit out of them, they destroy the shit out of him instead. Fishlegs tries to show them how to disarm a human opponent, which they do immediately. They steal his sword and Fishlegs tries to get it back. But they pass it to each other and it eventually ends up with Meatlug. 

Meatlug, pass it over here!

What the fuck?!

You too Meatlug?! Why are you doing this?!

The Twins tell Bing, Bam and Boom to repeat after them. They let out large belches that the Thunderdrums repeat, they seem to like it. Hiccup and Astrid want to know how this is helping, they ask how it's hurting? Then Bing, Bam, and Boom blast their asses into Snotlout, whose just finished rearranging the barrels. 

By the end of the day, Hiccup has completely lost control of the situation and Toothless is starting to get fed up with this shit. Hiccup uses 'excruciating' to describe it. But suddenly the Thunderdrums calm down and behave, looks like they've finally got through to them. Or at least, Thornado has. Hiccup gets Thornado to lead Bing, Bam and Boom on a lap around the Academy and has them well under control. Astrid says she can hardly recognise them. 

What have you done to them?! They're well behaved now!!

Stoick however comes to retrieve Thornado for Chiefing duties, Thornado reluctantly goes with Stoick, who compliments Hiccup on the massive improvement with Bing, Bam and Boom. He's gone with Thornado before Hiccup can tell him that it was Thornado that brought them under control, not him. Bing, Bam and Boom follow Stoick and Thornado out. Hiccup tells Tuffnut to make for the gate, but Tuffnut points them out instead of shutting the gate. 

The Thunderdrum trio are let loose on the village to cause more chaos. Stoick appears to give Hiccup shit, Hiccup tries to bullshit his way out of this. But after a death stare from Stoick, he admits he never had the situation under control. Stoick wants to know if they'll ever shut up, Fishlegs says that they will when they find their grown up voice in two years. 

They start tearing shit up once again, giving the teens the slip, blowing out Snotlout's ear drums and blasting a bunch of sheep that Fishlegs tried to defend at first, then decided he wasn't very close to anyway. Stoick and Thornado have to once again bring them under control. Stoick reminds Hiccup how he told him that he wouldn't be sorry if Stoick let the Thunderdrums stay. Well, Stoick is very sorry and decides the Thunderdrums have to go. 

So Hiccup and the gang bring Bing, Bam and Boom to Dragon Island. 

Here there's plenty of dragons to anno. . . I mean meet!

Although Hiccup explains to them how awesome Dragon Island is, he's finding it hard to reject their cute little faces. The Twins think this is sad, and recall the time their dad took their pet Yak Sam to go live on a farm. Though they also recall the delicious Yak steaks they had the day after. Snotlout decides to get the ball rolling on leaving, then they all take to the air. 

Hiccup and Fishlegs along the way try to convince themselves that they did the right thing. Hiccup says they could even visit them whenever they want. Tuffnut points out they could, but Bing, Bam, and Boom won't be there, since they're right behind them. Snotlout thinks they need to ditch them, so he heads back to Dragon Island and loses them in the cave. He mocks them for being stupid, right before they come up behind him and blast him off Hookfang. Astrid thinks they should try Snotlout's plan again. 

Next Hiccup and Astrid try feeding them fish, then while they're distracted, make a break for it and take the long way home. The first person they meet when they get back is Stoick. 

We're Back!!

OH. FOR. FUCK. SAKE!!

Stoick decides that these so called "Dragon Geniuses" need a hand from him and Thornado. So they head back to Dragon Island, this time with Thornado to keep them in check. Stoick thinks that sometime's you just have to show Teenagers tough love. 

So Hiccup has to go through the whole you gotta stay here routine. Only this time Bing Bam and Boom start making sad faces at him and whimpering. Hiccup asks them to stop it, they're tearing his heart out and making it harder than it already is. Stoick decides to let Thornado have a word with them. Thornado roars at them and they stay when they get left behind this time. 

Hiccup looks back but Stoick tells him not to, tough love he says. But Thornado smells danger afoot and immediately turns around against Stoick's orders. Back at the beach, Bing Bam and Boom are being surrounded and antagonised by wild dragons. They suddenly realise why they found the Thunderdrums in the middle of the ocean, they must have been chased off Dragon Island by dragons who don't appreciate their kind. Stoick decides to go in and help Bing Bam and Boom. 

Bing Bam and Boom are being cornered by a Zippleback, a Monstrous Nightmare and the Punk Ass Nadder?

Wait, this one's red, never mind. 

No matter where the Thunderdrum trio goes, there's always some pissed off dragon wanting to kick their ass. As a Monstrous Nightmare closes in for the kill, Thornado blasts that bitch out of the sky. Stoick and Thornado then charge at the other three dragons. Hiccup and Fishlegs take care of a couple that sneak up after Thornado and Stoick. 

As the trio takes care of each dragon, two more keep popping up to replace them, including the Punk Ass Nadder!

Surrounded by insurmountable odds, Thornado coordinates a plan with Bing, Bam and Boom. Stoick warns Hiccup and Fishlegs to cover their ears, as their about to get an earful of Thunderdrum sonic blast. Thornado and the babies use their combined sonic blasts to knock all the hostile wild dragons out of the sky. Hiccup thinks that taught them, but Fishlegs points out that's only for now. The wild dragons ain't gonna fuck off any time soon. Hiccup doesn't even know what to do with Bing, Bam and Boom. They can't take them back to Berk, but they can't leave them there to die. 

Stoick makes a big decision, he decides to set Thornado free. He realises that the babies won't survive without him, so he'll leave Thornado behind to look after him. In a tearjerker moment, Stoick says goodbye to Thornado. 

As Hiccup, Fishlegs and Stoick take off from Dragon island, Hiccup tells Stoick that he did the right thing. Stoick turns around for one last goodbye as they fly away. 

Summary

That ending alone rewards this episode a 10/10 for me! Thornado truly is the most underused dragon in the entire show, but we finally got an episode where he was the focus. But it unfortunately turned out to be his departure as well. Which is a real shame and somewhat illogical too. If Stoick was willing to give up Thornado, why didn't they just bring Bing Bam and Boom back to Berk and Thornado could keep them in check. Or what about Thornado's purple friend that was with him back in How to Pick Your Dragon? There's plenty of logical solutions to this problem, but this still doesn't make that good bye at the end any less sad. 

And this was by far one of the most spot on episodes when it comes to comedy. Everything with Bing, Bam and Boom was just hilarious (and the little guys were really cute too). Every joke, every failed attempt to train/contain them, every time they were just spreading chaos got a laugh out of me. Meatlug joining in on passing Fishlegs' sword around was gut busting (why not make Meatlug their surrogate mother? She seemed to get on with them well enough). 

And there was a great fight scene at the end with a ton of wild dragons that led to that incredible end. This is one of the best episodes, better than The Night And The Fury? Possibly, this is the only episode that managed to make me tear up a bit. If that doesn't count it as one of the best, nothing will. 

10/10