Pocket Dragon Adventures
Pocket Dragon Adventures | |
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Genre |
Children's adventure Fantasy |
Created by |
Craig Miller Marv Wolfman |
Directed by | Eric S. Rollman |
Starring |
Ian James Corlett Jason Gray-Stanford Samuel Vincent Kathleen Barr Tabitha St. Germain Venus Terzo Terry Klassen Christopher Gaze Robert O. Smith Saffron Henderson |
Country of origin |
Canada United States |
Original language(s) | English |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 52 |
Production | |
Executive producer(s) | Eric S. Rollman |
Production company(s) |
BKN Entertainment DIC Entertainment |
Release | |
Original network | Syndication |
Original release | September 9, 1996 – January 1, 1997 |
Pocket Dragon Adventures was a short-lived 1996 syndicated cartoon series, based on the Pocket Dragon character created by artist Real Musgrave, best known from Pocket Dragons figurines also based on his work. The cartoon was about the Pocket Dragons (a group of very small dragons) who live with a kindly old wizard, and their many adventures. The series was produced by BKN Entertainment, D'Ocon Productions and DIC Entertainment. The show first aired in the late-1990s/early-2000s (decade) in syndication in the US and about 50 other countries. The series is still playing in some countries, including just having been sold to Russian television in 2008.
The show itself was created by Craig Miller and Marv Wolfman, who produced and story edited the series. Together or separately, they wrote over 40% of the total number of episodes. Pocket Dragon Adventures was also the very first animated series signed to a labor contract with the Writers Guild of America.[1]
Setting
The setting is shown to be in the Medieval era, with other elements thrown in, often bizarre ones (e.g., yellow-painted taxicabs pulled by rhinoceroses). Stories have included standard Medieval fare, such as armored knights, and some science fiction elements, such as flying saucers.
Characters
The Pocket Dragons
- Filbert, who wears a red bandanna around his neck, is the largest and oldest of the six Pocket Dragons, and assumes the role of leader, even though he's seldom in control of the others. Voiced by Ian James Corlett.
- Zoom-Zoom, who wears an old-style aviator's helmet, wishes that he could fly, despite the Pocket Dragons' inability to fly. He's the fastest runner of the group. Voiced by Jason Gray-Stanford.
- Specs, who wears a pair of human-sized eyeglasses balanced on his nose, is the bookworm of the bunch. He has a crush on the Princess. Voiced by Samuel Vincent.
- Scribbles, one of the two female Dragons, is a somewhat scatterbrained inventor whose creations tend to cause more problems than they solve. She and Specs disagree as to which of them is smarter. She wears a special quiver in which she carries a pencil. Scribbles often fills in the leadership position when Filbert is incapacitated. Voiced by Kathleen Barr.
- Binky, the other female, is the smallest and youngest of the six dragons. (In one episode, "Attack of the 50 Foot Binky", she wanted to be as tall as Filbert, so she used a growth potion and because she didn't put a limitation on it, she gradually grew bigger until the others found the antidote) Despite her childlike qualities, she sometimes surprises the others with her competence and clear-headedness. She's the only one who usually wears nothing. Voiced by Tabitha St. Germain.
- Cuddles, who wears bedroom slippers and carries a pillow, is usually either drowsy or sleeping. Sometimes when he sleeps, he "sleep-plays" that he's a daring adventurer named Sir Cuddles; he snaps out of this and wakes up whenever someone says "Cushladoo." Voiced by Venus Terzo in Season 1 and Terry Klassen in Season 2.
Other characters
- The Wizard, who owns the castle in which the Dragons live, is a kindly, avuncular fellow who watches over them and tries to keep them from getting into too much trouble. An accomplished magician, he has a vast library and a laboratory in the castle. Voiced by Christopher Gaze. He has a winged-cat for a familiar and a living teddy bear called Theobearus.
- Sparkles is a full-sized dragon who's not very bright. He's able to float through the air by inflating himself like a balloon. Voiced by Robert O. Smith.
- Princess Betty Bye Belle runs the town library; when the former librarian retired, the Princess offered to let him live in the royal castle while she took over the library, because of her love of literature. She seems to be aware of Specs' feelings toward her, although she sees him more as a friend. Voiced by Saffron Henderson.
- Shmahz, a short wizard who hates the Dragons for disrupting his evil schemes and often tries to get revenge on them.
- Sir Nigel is a full-sized dragon who's a friend of the Wizard and the Pocket Dragons. He's a figure of culture and learning. Voiced by Garry Chalk.
- Trafalgar is a villainous full-sized dragon, who takes tips on how to be evil from his guidebook.
- The Pie-Rats are a trio of rodent thieves named Cuda, Wuda, and Shuda who specialise in stealing pastries.
- Gnorman the Gnome is a bumbling, sometimes villainous, sometimes helpful character. The "G"'s in his name are not silent (It is pronounced "G-norman the G-nome"). His brother is called Gnasty and his sister is called Gnoxious. Voiced by Brian Drummond.
Format
Each half-hour episode contained two 11-minute cartoons. The stories contained some educational quality, but were mostly written for fun and imagination. The plots usually involved the Pocket Dragons getting into some kind of mess, either due to their own actions or those of others, and going through some wild and crazy situations while trying to make things right.
Some of the episodes' plots and titles are parodies of movies or TV shows, such as the episodes "Binky, Warrior Princess", and "Attack of the 50 Foot Binky".
104 eleven-minute episodes were produced. They aired as 52 half-hour episodes in the US, with some countries airing them as 15-minute programs (in the UK, for example, the series ran seven days a week on BBC1 and BBC2 for six years).
International broadcasts
Singapore - Premiere 12 (Kidz Blitz)
- Kids Central
Cast
- Ian James Corlett as Filbert
- Jason Gray-Stanford as Zoom-Zoom
- Samuel Vincent as Specs
- Kathleen Barr as Scribbles
- Tabitha St. Germain as Binky
- Venus Terzo as Cuddles (season 1)
- Terry Klassen as Cuddles (season 2)
- Christopher Gaze as the Wizard
- Robert O. Smith as Sparkles
- Saffron Henderson as Princess Betty Bye Bell
Additional voices
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Episodes
No. | Titles | Original airdate |
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1 | "Day for Knight / All Alone and Feeling Boo" | TBA |
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2 | "Zoom-Zoom's Wish / Gnome Alone" | TBA |
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3 | "The Art of Magic / Never Wish Upon a Star" | TBA |
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4 | "Stop! Pay Troll! / Whookerpop" | TBA |
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5 | "Speed of Flight / Just Desserts" | TBA |
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6 | "In Your Dreams / Science Friction" | TBA |
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7 | "A Harp Day's Night / It Came from Outer Space" | TBA |
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8 | "Sea Sickness / A Clear and Present Scribbles" | TBA |
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9 | "The Unicorn Hunters / Down Deep" | TBA |
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10 | "Snow Job / A Rocky Friendship" | TBA |
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11 | "A Cold, Cruel World / Pen Pals" | TBA |
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12 | "Pocket Dragons vs. the Flying Saucer / Minky Business" | TBA |
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13 | "Masquerade / Ducks Amok" | TBA |
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14 | "Shmahz Strikes Again / The Nervous Novice" | TBA |
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15 | "A Dragon in This Dress / Malice with the Chalice" | TBA |
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16 | "King of the Hill / Disguise in Love with You" | TBA |
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17 | "Follow the Leader / Trashmandu" | TBA |
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18 | "Surely you Joust / Tree's a Crowd" | TBA |
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19 | "Mulch Ado about Nothing / Mission: Indigestible" | TBA |
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20 | "A Dry Spell / Weather or Not" | TBA |
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21 | "Yonder Lies the Castle of My Wizard / Pillow Squawk" | TBA |
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22 | "First Pocket Dragons on the Moon / All's Faire" | TBA |
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23 | "Hail, Hail, the Ghengis here / Thief in the Night" | TBA |
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24 | "Something Wicker This Way Comes / There's No Place Like Gnome" | TBA |
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25 | "Winter Take All / The Big Nap" | TBA |
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26 | "The Trouble with Scribbles / Attack of the 50 Foot Binky" | TBA |
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27 | "Snow Binky and the Six Pocket Dragons / Reservoir Clogs" | TBA |
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28 | "Brother, Can You Spare a Dragon? / The Frill of a Lifetime" | TBA |
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29 | "A Babe in the Woods / A Really Bad Hair Day" | TBA |
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30 | "Sleepwalk on the Wild Side / To Hex or Not to Hex" | TBA |
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31 | "Binky, Warrior Princess / Rose-Colored Specs" | TBA |
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32 | "Now You See Me, Now You Don't / Mortal Wombat" | TBA |
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33 | "Monster Mashed / Here There Be Dragons" | TBA |
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34 | "The Echoing Dwarf / Binky and the Beanstalk" | TBA |
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35 | "Fled a Good Book Lately? / A Knight to Remember" | TBA |
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36 | "Altitude Adjustment / The Unbearable Lightness of Zoom-Zoom" | TBA |
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37 | "Jester Round the Bend / Dumb Diddy Do" | TBA |
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38 | "Nothing But the Roof / Clanks a Million!" | TBA |
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39 | "Trap Happy / Opposites Distract" | TBA |
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40 | "All That Glitters / Clockwork Berserk" | TBA |
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Episodes
No. | Titles | Original airdate |
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1 | TBA | June 27, 1999 |
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2 | TBA | July 4, 1999 |
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3 | TBA | July 11, 1999 |
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4 | TBA | July 18, 1999 |
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5 | TBA | July 25, 1999 |
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6 | TBA | August 1, 1999 |
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7 | TBA | August 8, 1999 |
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8 | TBA | August 15, 1999 |
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9 | TBA | August 22, 1999 |
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10 | TBA | August 29, 1999 |
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11 | TBA | September 5, 1999 |
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12 | TBA | September 12, 1999 |
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13 | TBA | September 19, 1999 |
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14 | TBA | September 26, 1999 |
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15 | TBA | October 3, 1999 |
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16 | TBA | October 10, 1999 |
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17 | TBA | October 17, 1999 |
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18 | TBA | October 24, 1999 |
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19 | TBA | October 31, 1999 |
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20 | TBA | November 7, 1999 |
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21 | TBA | November 14, 1999 |
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22 | TBA | November 21, 1999 |
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23 | TBA | November 28, 1999 |
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24 | TBA | December 5, 1999 |
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25 | TBA | December 12, 1999 |
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26 | TBA | December 19, 1999 |
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27 | TBA | December 26, 1999 |
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28 | TBA | January 2, 2000 |
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29 | "Cuddles, Zoom-Zoom, The Bed, The Ball" | January 9, 2000 |
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30 | "Binky Drinks Too Much Orange Juice" | January 16, 2000 |
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31 | "Looking For Each Other" | January 23, 2000 |
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32 | "High And Low" | January 30, 2000 |
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33 | "Filbert, Binky And Scribbles Have A Busy Day" | February 6, 2000 |
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34 | TBA | February 13, 2000 |
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35 | TBA | February 20, 2000 |
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36 | TBA | February 27, 2000 |
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37 | TBA | March 5, 2000 |
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38 | TBA | March 12, 2000 |
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39 | TBA | March 19, 2000 |
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40 | TBA | March 26, 2000 |
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Availability
Pocket Dragon Adventures has been released on DVD in the US and in other countries (including the United Kingdom, France, etc.) but availability is limited. DVDs contain selected episodes only. The entire series is not currently available.