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Dragon Tales
Created by	Ron Rodecker Jim Coane
Developed by	Jim Coane Wesley Eure Jeffrey Scott Cliff Ruby Elana Lesser
Directed by	Tim Eldred Curt Walstead Phil Weinstein Michael Hack
Voices of	Andrea Libman Danny McKinnon Aida Ortega (Season 3) Ty Olsson Chantal Strand Jason Michas Kathleen Barr Eli Gabay Scott McNeil Garry Chalk
Theme music composer	Mary Wood, Jesse Harris, and Joey Levine
Composers	Joey Levine & Co. Jim Latham Brian Garland
Country of origin	United States Canada
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	94 46 (segments)
Production
Executive producers	Jim Coane (1999-2001) Nina Elias Bamberger (1999-2003) Jeff Kline (2001-2005)
Producers	Richard Raynis (1999-2001) Jeff Kline (1999-2001) Ron Rodecker Cliff Ruby (1999-2001) Elana Lesser (1999-2001)
Running time	30 minutes per episode
Production companies	Children's Television Workshop (1999-2000) Sesame Workshop (2000-2005) Columbia TriStar Television (1999-2002) Sony Pictures Television (2002-2005) Taffy Entertainment (2004-2011) Mike Young Productions (2003-2014) DQ Entertainment (2000-2015) Fox Television Studios (2000-2005) Alliance Atlantis (2003-2004) Oasis International (2002-2007) Studio B Productions (2000-2009) AAC Kids (2001-2007) 20th Television (2007-2010) 20th Century Fox Television (2001-2003)
Original release
Network	PBS Kids (USA) Kids' CBC (Canada) BBC
Release	September 6, 1999 (1999-09-06) – November 25, 2005 (2005-11-25)

Dragon Tales is an American-Canadian animated pre-school children's television series created by Jim Coane and Ron Rodecker and developed by Coane, Wesley Eure, Jeffrey Scott, Cliff Ruby and Elana Lesser. The story focuses on the adventures of two siblings, Max and Emmy and their dragon friends Cassie, Ord, Zak, Wheezie, and Quetzal. The series began broadcasting on the Public Broadcasting Service on their PBS Kids block on September 6, 1999, with its final episode aired on November 25, 2005. Re-runs ceased in September 2010.

Origin

Dragon Tales is based on the characters created in 1965 by Laguna Beach, California artist and retired educator Ron Rodecker. In 1997, Jim Coane, then a producer at Columbia TriStar Television, found the artwork and developed it into a television series with several writers. Coane then brought the project to Sesame Workshop, where Marjorie Kalins helped him and Columbia TriStar Television obtain a grant from the Department of Education and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The grant proposal was written by Wesley Eure. Coane was the executive producer for the first two seasons.

Show premise and overview

The series focuses on the exploits of two siblings, Max and Emmy, in possession of an enchanted dragon scale capable of transporting them to a whimsical fantasy land inhabited by colorful anthropomorphic dragons upon their recitation of a rhyme. Befriended by four friendly talking dragons with distinctive personalities, Cassie, Ord, Zak, and Wheezie, they frequently travel to Dragon Land and assist their friends in fulfilling particular quests, assisting them in their daily problems, and learning important morals through their experiences with the educational whimsy of Dragon Land.

Designed to educate preschoolers mildly in Hispanic culture (because of the Spanish origins of a portion of the central characters), during the program's final seasons a new character named Enrique debuted, providing the series with a third protagonist. Surrounded by a variety of unique characters and faced with numerous differing situations, Emmy and Max commonly embark on adventures with their anthropomorphic friends, conquering fears or achieving goals in spite of any obstacles preventing them from doing so.

Characters

Emmy

Emmy, voiced by Andrea Libman, is six years old. She commonly appears as the leader of the group until she gave her position to Enrique while helping him get used to Dragonland. She is Max's older sister. Her best friend is Cassie, and she is perhaps known for saying, "Definitely!" whenever a good idea arises.

Max

Max, voiced by Danny McKinnon, is four years old. He is Emmy's younger brother. For the most part, he and Emmy get along fine, but occasionally have arguments. His best friend is Ord.

Enrique

Enrique, voiced by Aida Ortega, is six years old. He is Emmy and Max's new friend who moved from Colombia to the USA. He first appears in the beginning of Season 3 and travels to Dragon Land with the children. His recent experiences in South America provide more opportunities for the characters to demonstrate the meanings of new Spanish words, much like Dora the Explorer.

He rides with Zak and Wheezie, the 2-headed dragon who rarely flew with any human friends prior to Enrique's debut.

Ord

Ord, voiced by Ty Olsson, is the blue male dragon who can turn invisible when he's scared. He is best friends with Max, who rides on his back. A running gag in the show features Ord making "Dragon Corn" by throwing purple popcorn kernels in the air and frying them with his fire breath.

Cassie

Cassie is a shy, demure, and sweet female dragon and Emmy's best friend. She possesses a magical tendency to shrink when unhappy, and may occasionally come across as slightly insecure and uncertain, and is prone to worrying. However, Cassie is distinguished by her maternal sweetness as a result of her responsibilities as an older sister and babysitter to a humongous myriad of younger siblings, and has been shown to be gifted with great singing and dancing abilities, as revealed in one episode. Cassie also is characterized by her color combination consisting of pink and yellow, albeit her body is spotted with blue speckles in some areas. She is voiced by Chantal Strand.

Zak and Wheezie

Zak & Wheezie, voiced by Jason Michas and Kathleen Barr, are a two-headed dragon and are siblings; Zak (green) is the male, and Wheezie (purple) is the female. Zak prefers to pursue things in a logical manner. Wheezie is very messy, loud, and ignorant much to her brother's annoyance, and is perhaps known for saying, "Loooove it!", when she loves something.

Zak and Wheezie always fly with Enrique, although prior to his debut, Zak and Wheezie rarely flew with any of their human friends.

Quetzal

Quetzal, portrayed by Eli Gabay, is a dragon who is the teacher at The School in the Sky where young dragons attend. He has an identical twin brother named Fernando who works in his garden. Quetzal typically speaks with a Mexican accent, and is likely named for the Aztec deity Quetzalcoatl.

Lorca

Lorca, voiced by Lenore Zann, is Max, Emmy, Zak, Wheezie, Ord, and Cassie's friend. He is on a wheelchair and is incapable of flight.

Sid Sycamore

Sid Sycamore, voiced by Scott McNeil, is a talking tree who loves telling jokes that relate to the concept of trees; the dragons' tree house is attached to him.

Finn

Finn, voiced by Ellen Kennedy, is Cassie's younger brother. He is light blue.

Other characters

Each of the following have appeared more than once:

• Kiki, Cassie's younger sister. Kiki is green. (Ellen Kennedy)
• Cyrus, a lizard-like "slinky serpent"; he often tries to steal others' eggs to eat. (Ian James Corlett)
• The Giant of Nod, leader of a group called the Nodlings. While much bigger than his fellow Nodlings, he is smaller than any of the main characters, but is enormously strong. (Blu Mankuma)
• Mungus, a giant who lives in a castle in the clouds; he knows many folks in Dragon Land since he can travel far and wide in just a few steps. (Garry Chalk)
• Polly Nimbus, the operator of the cloud Factory, which controls Dragon Land's weather. Her surname is a pun off of nimbus clouds. (Kathleen Barr)
• Wyatt, a talking wishing well that immediately grants any wish for a single coin. Often tells stereotypically bad puns. He is old friends with Quetzal. Whenever coins pile up too high, he knows it is time for them to emptied and taken to the First Dragonland Bank. Earlier in the series, he was called Willy. (Doug Parker)
• Dr. Booboogone, a veteran pink dragon who works as a doctor. She wears a doctor's coat. (Shirley Milliner)
• Captain Scallywag, a pirate who captains a flying galleon. (Scott McNeil)
• Eunice, a winged unicorn. She can't see very well, so she wears glasses. (Janyse Jaud)
• Arlo, a dragon who works at the Dragon Dump; he has a machine at the Dragon Dump which he calls his lil' ol' recycler that sorts out things that can be used again. (Scott McNeil)
• Priscilla, the manager at the lost and found, who during her first appearance, was feeling embarrassed because her wings (often called "feathers") were bigger than other dragon's. She eventually realized that boy dragons like girl dragons with big wings and raises her self-esteem. (Erin Fitzgerald)
• Emmy and Max's parents, they are not seen in the series, but their voices are often heard off-screen in most episodes. They call out to Emmy and Max from downstairs at the beginning or end of an episode. Their mom is voiced by Kathleen Barr, and their dad is voiced by Eli Gabay.

Places in Dragon Land

• Dragon Beaver Dam – A dam where the dragonbeavers reside.
• The School in the Sky – The school where the dragon children are taught by Quetzal.
• Dr. BoobooGone's office – Where dragons go when sick or hurt.
• Dragoon Lagoon – A large lagoon seen in many episodes. It is home to creatures called silliguanas and hissyfish. Iteven has a plug at the bottom just like a bathtub.
• The Forest of Darkness – A large forest that holds trees with glowing stars, but is very dark. Ord is very afraid of this forest because of its darkness and other things that inhabit this strange Forest.
• Turtle Rock – A rock that is shaped like a turtle.
• Singing Springs – A gold fountain that plays music. It is seen in the opening and closing of the Dragon Tunes segment.
• Rainbow Canyon – A canyon with pigments that make paint. When it rains, the pigments turn to mud.
• The Cloud Factory – Where a dragon named Polly Nimbus manufactures rain clouds, snow clouds, etc., and ejects them into the sky as needed.
• Snowy Summit – A frigid, snow-covered mountain range, where Chilly the Snowman and his snow puppy Nippy live.
• Stickleback Mountains – Another mountain range, with colored sticks that have to be pulled out carefully.
• Chile Valley – A valley with lots of tasty, yet spicy chilly peppers, which are red in color and resemble dragonberries.
• Crystal Cave – A giant, crystallized cave where crystals are stored and special crystals dance, with the aid of water from Singing Springs, and some Dandelion fuzzies from the Dandelion Forest.
• Crystal Fountain – A fountain inside Crystal Cave for cleaning.
• Dandelion Forest – A forest made of dandelions that actually roar and growl and are as tall as trees just like real lions. Ord is so allergic to dandelions that when he sneezes in front of the dandelions, he usually does so with an incredible force that the dandelions lose their seeds and turn sad.
• Wyatt the Wishing Well – A well where dragons or people can make wishes, which actually come true if they flip a coin into the well. The well is inhabited by a purple walrus named Wyatt (named Willy in his first appearances) who laughs at lame jokes.
• Marshmallow Marsh – A swamp full of sticky marshmallow goo, which is almost impossible to clean off and it is near Mushroom Meadow.
• Rainbow Falls – A waterfall where there are always rainbows.
• Dragon Land Laundry – A place where dragons do laundry.
• Dragon Dump – The place where the citizens of Dragon Land send their garbage to be recycled or disposed of. It's run by a dragon named Arlo.
• The Knuckerhole, where Zak & Wheezie live. Of course, there are also lots of other knuckerholes all over Dragonland.
• Mushroom Meadow, a large field of mushrooms with "bouncy" tops. The dragons and the children often play there.
• "Lost Forever" Hole, a small tunnel formed by a river. According to Ord, any thing that flows on the river through the hole is "lost forever". Because it isn't really explored, it is unknown if this is true or not.
• Treasure Trove a cave where dragons keep their treasure it's guarded by a magic door located in knuckerhole

Episodes

Main article: List of Dragon Tales episodes

Dragon Tales aired a total of 99 episodes, including the two special episodes "Let's Start a Band!" and "Big Big Friends Day."

Video game

On July 28, 2004 a tie-in video game titled Dragon Tales: Dragon Adventures was released for the Game Boy Advance.

Awards

• 2000 Parents' Choice Silver Award Winner
• 2001 Parents' Choice Approved Award Winner (for "Dragon Tales: Dragon Tunes" CD)
• 2003 Parents' Choice Silver Award Winner (for "Let's Start a Band" video)
• 2005 Parents' Choice Approved Award Winner (for "Dragon Tales: More Dragon Tunes" CD)

References

1. Millennium Web Catalog. 0-infoweb.newsbank.com.dbpcosdcsgt.co.san-diego.ca.us. Retrieved on 2011-10-13.
2. Chantal Strand (2013-08-26). "I remember their Mom was played by Kathleen Barr, pretty sure Eli Gabbay played their Dad". Retrieved 2013-08-26.
3. "Dragon Tales". Parents' Choice. Retrieved November 11, 2011.
4. "Dragon Tales: Dragon Tunes". Parents' Choice. Retrieved November 11, 2011.
5. "Dragon Tales "Let's Start a Band"". Parents' Choice. Retrieved November 11, 2011.
6. "Dragon Tales: More Dragon Tunes". Parents' Choice. Retrieved November 11, 2011.

External links

• Dragon Tales at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com show
• Sony Pictures Television official Dragon Tales site (DVD Series)
• Detail account of series' genesis

• PBS network shows
• Television series by Sony Pictures Television
• 1999 American television series debuts
• 1999 Canadian television series debuts
• 2005 Canadian television series endings
• 1990s American animated television series
• 2000s American animated television series
• 1990s Canadian television series
• 2000s Canadian television series
• Television programs featuring anthropomorphic characters
• English-language television programming
• Television series by Sesame Workshop