Merry Snoggletog Everybody! (a How to Train your Dragon thread)

[Shyria Dracnoir]

So I was poking around Fry's Electronics trying to find something to watch and came across this. I loved the original film to bits and enjoyed the "Legend of the Boneknapper" short they put out a while back, so I figured I'd give it a look.

Watched "Book of Dragons" first. Not really a plot so much as a series of vignettes describing different dragon species and their cataloging by the author of the Book. Has a mix of 3D and 2D animation like "Boneknapper" but the 2D bits are choppier than the previous short; whether this is a stylistic choice or the result of a lower budget is unclear. A lot of footage from the original film gets reused at points, mostly for the dragons that have already been covered, but there are some new faces. We get to see critters like the Skrill, the Timberjack and the Thunderdrum in action for the first time. Considering that all of the new dragons have a 3D model that appears in the short, I'm hoping this means we get to see much more of them in the later full films.

"Gift of the Night Fury" is a typical Christmas special, with the Vikings preparing for the annual Snoggletog festivities. Hiccup is excited because he's recently designed a new prosetetic to let Toothless fly without him. However, tension appears when all the village's dragons suddenly disappear to far away and unknown lands. Well, unknown provided you didn't look at the DVD cover.




Yes, it turns out Snoggletog falls right around the same time as the dragon's breeding migration and they've all clustered on a far-away volcanic island to rear the eggs (the location is important because submerging the eggs in the mineral springs help contain the explosion caused by the baby dragon's hatching. ( No Night Fury babies though, Toothless was really just out looking for Hiccup's helmet that got lost in the ocean when they first ran into the migrating dragons during flying practice.. Once Hiccup finds a way to get the baby dragons back to Berk safely (since they're too young to fly), the holidays can proceed as scheduled.

A very bare bones description, but it's actually an enjoyable short. All the old actors are still there and we get to see some fun interaction with the Viking kids as they try to cope with the loss of the dragons. The baby dragons are absolutely fucking adorable and worth buying the disc just to see them toddle and flutter around. And there's a nice show of friendship at the end where Toothless decides to keep his old tail because he likes spending time with Hiccup. Still, I might recommend waiting for either the price to drop or to try and rent; $15 dollars for both disks may not be worthwhile unless you're a REALLY rabid fan (like me).

P.S: The special features include a game card in the "Book of Dragons" disk for www.DreamWorksDragons.com to register an avatar on the site (there's two codes, one for yourself and one for a friend). Looks like a typical pet sim; you pick a dragon, raise it and then either battle it against other player dragons or take it on adventures. I've haven't actually used the code yet though, so a full look at the game might be in a later post. "Gift of the Night Fury" also includes the Dragon Training Shorts that were featured on DreamWork's Youtube page, deleted scenes and a promo for the arena show opening in 2012.