Dragon Tales

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Dragon Tales
Genre
Created by
Developed by
Directed by
  • Tim Eldred
  • Curt Walstead
  • Phil Weinstein
  • Michael Hack
  • Gloria Jenkins
  • Steven DeNure
Voices of
Theme music composer
Composers
Country of origin
  • United States
  • Canada[1]
No. of seasons3
No. of episodes94 (155 segments)[2] (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
Producers
  • Richard Raynis
  • Jeff Kline
  • Ron Rodecker
  • Cliff Ruby
  • Elana Lesser
  • John Mariella
  • Cheryl Hassen
  • Pamela Aguilar
Running time30 minutes (per episode)
Production companiesSeasme Workshop
KOKO
Sony Pictures Television (S3)
Decode Entertainment
Original release
NetworkPBS Kids
Qubo (U.S.)
TVOKids
Knowledge Kids
SCN
Access TV, (Canada)
ReleaseAugust 16, 1999 (1999-08-16) –
November 25, 2005 (2005-11-25)

Dragon Tales is an American and Canadian animated educational fantasy television series produced by Seasme Workshop.

Characters[change | change source]

  • Emmy (voiced by Andrea Libman) is a 6-year-old girl, who commonly appears as the leader of the group until she gave her position to Enrique while helping him get used to Dragon Land. She's Max's older sister. Her best friend is Cassie, and she's perhaps known for saying "Definitely!" whenever a good idea arises. Though Emmy is not ashamed to do "girly" things with Cassie, she's also heavily into sports and games and generally is up for any activity. Though she experiences occasional jealousy of her brother, the 2 are otherwise usually together within Dragon Land and share many adventures. Though a brave, smart natural leader, she's also impulsive and does not always think before she acts.
  • Max (voiced by Danny McKinnon) is 4 years old, and is Emmy's younger brother. For the most part, he and Emmy get along fine, but occasionally have arguments due to him being prone to anger. His best friend is Ord. Though Max loves Emmy, he sometimes struggles with being the younger brother, and is usually frustrated about being too little to do certain things, or when Emmy acts in certain ways. He's of an adventurous sort and sometimes helps to give courage to Ord when he's afraid of certain things. He's kind to others, but often enjoys acting silly or goofy. He sometimes acts in a stubborn manner, determined to prove that a child his age can do things on his own, even when he really needs help. Max was named after the son of executive producer Jim Coane.[3][4]
  • Enrique (voiced by Aida Ortega) is 6 years old. He is Emmy and Max's new best friend and next-door neighbor who moved from Colombia to the United States and also once lived in Puerto Rico. He first appears in the Season 3 episode "To Fly with a New Friend", and travels to Dragon Land with the children when Max encourages Emmy to share their secret. His recent experiences in South America provide more opportunities for the characters to demonstrate the meanings of new Spanish words.[5] He misses his homeland of Colombia and saddened by reminders of times from his old home. He rides with Zak and Wheezie, the two-headed dragon who rarely flew with any human friends prior to Enrique's debut in Season 3. His personality is somewhat bashful but he is sometimes shy to join in on new experiences. However, he finds that he enjoys himself when he allows himself to let go, express his feelings and then move forward to have fun. He's raised by his grandparents and described as an intensely smart, good, and logical character. A series of moves throughout his early life has left him jaded and wary of both making new friends and trying new things.[5] Enrique received mixed reviews. The presence of Enrique on the program, in conjunction with Max and Emmy, was the subject of a study "'They Are?!' Latino Difference vis-à-vis Dragon Tales," which was critical of the show's use of the characters, feeling that the series ultimately "undermines multiculturalism because it fails to nurture children's ability to live fearlessly with and within difference.
  • Ord (voiced by Ty Olsson) is a strong blue male dragon who is Max's best friend. He is extremely fond of food and always carries some just in case; a running gag in the show features Ord making "Dragon Corn" by throwing the kernels in the air and popping them with his fire breath. He's also allergic to dandelions. Despite his physical strength, Ord is sometimes scared due to his fear of the dark and thunder, and possesses a magical tendency to turn invisible when he is upset or frightened. Ord's sun-shaped Dragon Badge glows when he faces his fears. Ord is extremely sweet and kind in nature, he learns moral lessons when he is not kind. For instance, in "Kingdom Come" he refuses to share his huge cupcake, but finally gives in and learns moral lessons.[6]
  • Cassie (voiced by Chantal Strand) is a shy, cute, reserved and sweet pink female dragon who is Emmy's best friend. She possesses a magical tendency to shrink when she is too shy, sad, or scared, may occasionally come across as slightly insecure and uncertain, and is prone to worrying, especially about making a mistake. However, Cassie is distinguished by her kind heart and maternal sweetness, primarily as a result of her responsibilities as an older sister and babysitter to a myriad of younger siblings. Cassie also is characterized by her color combination of pink and yellow, along with blue speckles in some areas. Cassie knows just about everything there is to know about Dragon Land and has a deep love of fairytales, both stemming from her love of reading, as well as being an amazing singer and dancer. Her dragon orb-shaped badge glows when she feels confident and believes in herself.[7]
  • Zak (voiced by Jason Michas) and Wheezie (voiced by Kathleen Barr) are conjoined twin green and purple dragons with opposite personalities; Zak is male, and Wheezie is female. Zak is neat and clean, worries a lot, and is pessimistic about many things. His catchphrase is "Take it easy, Wheezie!", which he often says when Wheezie takes off running, dragging him with her. Wheezie, on the other hand, is bold, hyper, confident, and free-spirited, with a tendency to be messy, much to her brother's annoyance. Her catchphrase is "Love it!", when she loves something. The two have a shared love of music and performing and they often perform in talent shows and recitals together.[6] Zak and Wheezie always fly with Enrique, though they rarely flew with any human friends in the first two seasons. In the third season, Enrique became their partner following his debut. Their dragon badges are musical notes that glow when they work together and get along, though they will sometimes glow independently when one of them accomplishes something on their own of significance. Although they fight a lot, they are very close and they love and care about each other a lot. In the episode "Not Separated at Birth" the viewers get a view of what Wheezie and Zak would look like separately as if they were born that way. They get in a fight and Queztel decides to grant them their request to be separated. Finally being able to live separately, it is short lived as they want to be back together.
  • Quetzal (voiced by Eli Gabay) is an elderly yellow male dragon originally from Mexico who is the teacher at The School in the Sky where young dragons attend. He tries to encourage his students to find solutions to their problems on their own, but is a sounding board who offers stability and comfort, as well as sound advice.[6] In the episode "Snow Dragon", Quetzal mentions it has been hundreds of years since he visited the dragon snow sculpture as a child, implying he is centuries old. He speaks Spanish with a very strong accent. He also has an identical twin brother named Fernando who works in his garden.

Broadcast[change | change source]

PBS Kids and PBS Kids Sprout from 2005-2010 (US) CBeebies (UK) France 5 (France) Playhouse Disney (Latin America Mexico And Spain) TVO (Canada) TV12 (Singapore) EBS (Korea) Kids 1 (South Korea)

References[change | change source]

  1. "American Animation Directory- KOKO Productions Inc". Archived from the original on 2019-12-22. Retrieved 2020-01-15. Award winning recording studio and production house. Selected animation credits: Ed Edd n Eddy, Dragon Tales, Johnny Test, Transformers, Bratz, Care Bears, He-Man, Krypto, Madeline, Martin Mystery, Strawberry Shortcake, Noddy. Features: Barbie (Island Princess, Christmas Carol, Thumbelina, Diamond Castle), My Scene, The Condor, The Chameleon, Edison & Leo, My Little Pony.
  2. "TV.com – Dragon Tales episode listing". Archived from the original on December 18, 2014. Retrieved December 18, 2014.
  3. Cite error: The named reference chardesc was used but no text was provided for refs named (see the help page).
  4. Cite error: The named reference eurewebsite was used but no text was provided for refs named (see the help page).
  5. 5.0 5.1 Cite error: The named reference officialfaq was used but no text was provided for refs named (see the help page).
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 "Sprout Online - Dragon Tales - Parents - "Who are the main characters in the series?"". Archived from the original on December 13, 2014. Retrieved March 7, 2017.
  7. "Dragontales - characters - "Meet Cassie!"". Archived from the original on June 20, 2000. Retrieved December 5, 2014.