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Lately, there has been a remarkable increase in series spin-offs and revivals starring our old favorites. Whether you loved The X-Files or Twin Peaks, Full House or Degrassi, Harry Potter or Star Wars, there seems to be a spin-off continuation for every fan base under the sun. Whenever news about these revivals pops up, it always spawns the same question: Will the new spin-off hold up to the original?
We all act like this obsessive remake cycle is a new thing, but if you partook of any children’s programming in the 90s, it definitely should not be new to you. Children’s programming as a whole thrives off the audience appeal of sequels and spin-offs. If a movie does well in theaters, you can almost bet that you’re going to see another installation of that animated universe in the next few years. However, with the exception of basically everything Pixar does (because Pixar is next to perfection), I think we can all agree that most of these continuations are pretty terrible. That’s what makes the Netflix’s original Dragons: Race to the Edge so remarkable — it shows viewers how great a continuation can be.
Dragons: Race to the Edge is the series spin-off to the Dreamworks hit, How to Train Your Dragon. Featuring the voice-acting talents of Man Seeking Woman’s Jay Baruchel, the franchise has already spanned a theatrical sequel, entitled How to Train Your Dragon 2, and has been met with both commercial and critical praise. It’s cute with a compelling story, beautifully made, with enough gross out humor for young kids and genuine character development for older viewers, plus it’s fun. I mean, it’s an outsider comeuppance tale featuring dragons. That characters ride. This movie was about as close to a guaranteed win with kids as you’re going to get.
Netflix just recently released the second installment of its four-part Race to the Edge plan. Race to the Edge is actually the third season of the How to Train Your Dragon spin-off series, entitled Dragons. Season One and Two (Dragons: Riders of Berk and Dragons: Defenders of Berk) were shown on Cartoon Network, and all seasons are set to take place between the original 2010 movie and its 2014 sequel. Netflix still two more Season Three installments, each 13 episodes long, that it plans on distributing over the next couple of years. So yeah, that’s a lot of hype, time, talent, energy, and money spent on a kids spin-off series. Why, you ask? Because it’s really good.
The Dragons franchise is exactly what a series spin-off should be. It’s a continuation of the original that is true to the tone of its parent creation and fair to its characters. Audiences loved How to Train Your Dragon because it was about training dragons and going on Nordic adventures with a ragtag group of warrior-bred teenagers. The show’s creators didn’t take that premise and, say, make the main characters airplane pilots that skirted the edges of the law or turn them into private eyes. Those are the spin-offs related to The Jungle Book, which spawned Tale Spin, and old Disney shorts, which spawned Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers. While these were both successful 90’s shows, you may notice that they have next to nothing to do with their originals.
Conversely, Dragons works to keep the integrity of its characters and its universe intact. Hiccup (Baruchel) remains the optimistic outsider, even when he is the reluctantly-accepted leader of his tribe. Astrid (America Ferrera) is still Hiccup’s tough yet lovable and highly competent foil, and the Viking twins Tuffnut and Ruffnut (T.J. Miller and Andree Vermeulen) are still the mischievous scamps they are in the movies. No one is too far from the original version of their character, which isn’t always the case when it comes to other continuations. Another element that I’m sure has contributed to Dragons’ success is its high production value. The series doesn’t look as polished as the movie version, but it looks pretty great, and, you may have already noticed, the show has most of its original voice actors.
Through these choices, the show has made a commitment to quality, and fans have respected that commitment by continuing to watch. That’s partially why spin-off series like Star Wars: The Clone Wars have been praised by the most obsessive fans and live-action adaptations like The Last Airbender have been completely rejected. It’s a matter of fan and creator respect. So if anyone reading this is thinking of making an investigative crime spinoff of My So-Called Life or the 37th film revival of the Spider-Man franchise, think about what your fans really value before you create. We don’t need another Star Wars: Episode I. Also, watch Dragons: Race to the Edge.
