CassieTheDragon
Active Member
INTRODUCTION
Of all of the cartoons PBS has aired, Dragon Tales has one of the most interesting stories. While not particularly "90s" (it premiered as the 90s were ending in 1999), it is still technically a 90s show, placing it with both The Magic School Bus (1994) and Arthur (1996) as the "big three" 90s cartoons from PBS. Unlike the other two shows, which are still relevant in pop culture to some extent, Dragon Tales has become pretty much irrelevant today.
Once a massively popular, well-known and beloved big name show of educational programming in the 2000s, the show faded from public memory after leaving PBS stations in 2010, having a much shorter run overall (including reruns) than either of the other two big 90s cartoons from PBS that preceded it, and a short run for PBS programming in general - 11 years would be pretty long for many cartoons on other networks, but for PBS it's actually below average for an animated show, and well below the average overall, including their live-action kids programming. Most PBS shows last at least 15 years if not more in total, including reruns.
Despite this, it was extremely popular back in the early 2000s - it had tons of merchandise, live stage shows running from 2001 to 2006, and much more. The character of Cassie even had a Macy's parade balloon in 2000 and 2001. It was promoted heavily on all PBS networks and was still very popular in the mid-late 2000s, even after production ended in 2005.
So let's dive in and take a different look at this show - the history, the characters, and more!
HISTORY
Dragon Tales is based on drawings from artist Ron Rodecker, who was recovering from a coronary artery bypass graft when he began sketching dragons as a means of symbolizing forces in life that were too big to control. In 1995, Rodecker was approached by a producer at Columbia TriStar Television named Jim Coane, who was so impressed with Rodecker's drawings that he and a group of writers began development on a television series, entitled "Dragon Tales".
According to Jeffrey Scott in this article, who created the show's bible and did a lot of the story-editing, had the writers been forced to follow the original directives, Dragon Tales would have been a dull show. They were given a manual to write from which was very heavy on enforced curriculum, but after delivering the first batch of scripts, all parties involved agreed that they were awful. After this, they were told to put entertainment first and just find ways to shoehorn the morals and lessons in. Scott states from the experience he learned an important lesson on how to create a successful preschool series. The series debuted on PBS Kids on September 6, 1999, with the episode "To Fly With Dragons".
The premise of the series is that Emmy and Max, two Hispanic siblings, have moved into a new house, and while exploring the playroom of said house, wind up finding a magical dragon scale. Engraved into the box containing said scale is the following phrase: "I wish, I wish, with all my heart, to fly with dragons in a land apart." This phrase transports Emmy and Max to a magical world inhabited by dragons called Dragon Land. There, they meet a group of friendly dragons: the blue Ord, who is big, loves food and is fearful, the pink Cassie, who can be quite insecure and nervous but is intelligent and very kind, two cojoined twin dragons - the worried neat-freak Zak, who is green, and wild and imaginative Wheezie, who is purple. They also meet the yellow Quetzal, who is the wise and helpful teacher at "The School in the Sky", which Ord, Cassie, Zak and Wheezie go to every day. They are then shown by Quetzal how to get home when the time comes, with the rhyme "I wish, I wish, to use this rhyme, to go back home until next time." They are then transported back to their playroom.
Every day, the kids join their friends in Dragon Land, with educational focus on social-emotional scenarios such as learning not to hit or kick people, properly coloring within the lines, following directions, learning to remember things you're supposed to do, babysitting, basic math, etc.
Various new characters were introduced in the show's run, some of whom appear more than once. The first season ran from September 6, 1999 to April 28, 2000 with 40 episodes total.
The show was an immediate success, with ratings rivaling Arthur on some stations, and the series was ordered for a second season. DVDs, merchandise, and more would follow - meet and greets, books, and, for the 2000 Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, a giant Cassie balloon.
The second season premiered in 2001 and contained 25 episodes. The first 20 episodes aired from June 4, 2001 to September 14, 2001; the last 5 episodes did not air in the United States until September and October 2002. It is possible, but never confirmed, that the last episodes were delayed by the attacks of 9/11, which had occurred the same day that the 17th episode of the season ("Hide and Can't Seek/"The Art of Patience") was aired. After the attacks had occurred, PBS stations drastically changed their programming schedules, with some airing non-stop news programming and others choosing to air PBS Kids series throughout the day. However, this may have been a coincidence that had nothing to do with the attacks.
In late 2001, live stage shows based on the series began showing across America - "Missing Music Mystery", "The Journey To Crystal Cave", and "The Riddle of Rainbow River", all of which are now lost media - only about 30 minutes of "Missing Music Mystery" footage has surfaced, along with a couple of pictures of the three shows in question.
In March of 2003, a special titled Let's Start A Band was aired on television. This special contains the music videos for multiple songs from the show mixed with live-action segments featuring child actors dancing to the aforementioned songs and talking about Dragon Tales. Near the end of the special, Ord, Cassie, Zak and Wheezie fly in from Dragon Land to greet the children and dance and sing along with them. Despite it's popularity remaining well into a post-9/11 world, there were still no new mainline episodes of the series, and many believed the series had been cancelled. However, in 2004, a third season was revealed to be in the works with Enrique as a main character to join Emmy and Max on their adventures.
The third season of the show premiered on February 21, 2005. Unlike the previous two seasons, this season contained repeats of season 2 episodes, with only 26 original stories being made for this season. The final episode to be aired was "Flip Flop" and a repeat of the season 2 episode "Just For Laughs" on April 11, 2005. However, the episode "A Storybook Ending" is clearly intended as the series finale, despite airing prior to "Flip Flop" on March 30. Beyond a mention of the name of the show by Emmy, "A Storybook Ending" plays out much like any other episode in the series.
Dragon Tales aired 78 original episodes, and 94 in total (counting episodes of repeats). It would make it's way to the cable-exclusive channel Sprout when that channel launched on September 26, 2005. Despite ending production by now, you'd think that Dragon Tales would still air for many years to come, and well into the 2010s.
But reruns wouldn't last long.
In August 2010, PBS announced that Dragon Tales would leave all stations, as well as Sprout, on August 31, 2010, ending an 11 year run.
This is an article from KUAC addressing this.
This basically the death nail for Dragon Tales, as it never transitioned to another network afterwards, and as explained earlier, lost any possible reach into the 2010s and to kids born in the late 2000s and 2010s. It's probably the main and biggest reason that Dragon Tales isn't nearly as well-remembered as Arthur or The Magic School Bus, the other two big PBS cartoons from the 90s, both of which continued in some form well into the 2010s.
Now for something less depressing, let's talk about the main characters!
THE CHARACTERS
Humans
Emmy: The older sister to Max at 6 years old, Emmy is sort of intended to be the more "responsible/mature" (well, relatively speaking) of the two. While not ashamed to do typical girly things with her friend Cassie, she is still down for any activity regardless. While Emmy is quite brave and smart for her age, she can get quite arrogant at times and can be very irresponsible, as shown in "A Smashing Success" after breaking Wheezie's trumpet. Her best friend is Cassie and usually rides on her back when flying. She also has a catchphrase whenever a good idea arises: "Definitely!" She is voiced by Andrea Libman.
Max: The younger brother to Emmy at 4 years old, Max is the more immature/childish of the two. While Max is usually friendly towards Emmy, they do occasionally get into arguments, especially in "Hand In Hand" where the two's arguments causes Enrique to make a wish to get them to stop arguing (however, this ends up getting Max and Emmy's hands stuck together). Max is quite goofy and can be quite stubborn at times, but is also fun-loving and adventurous. His best friend is Ord, who shares his silly nature. Max usually rides on the back of Ord. He can be prone to anger sometimes, especially in "No Hitter" where he punches Emmy in the arm and then kicks Ord's tail. In this episode, Max learns the number one rule of Dragon Land, as told by Quetzal: "You must not hit or kick anyone." He finds other, non-sentient things to hit and kick instead (such as grass or a stack of leaves). He is voiced by Danny McKinnon.
Enrique (Season 3 only): In 2005, the character of Enrique was introduced in an effort to incorporate more Hispanic themes into the show. Enrique is from Colombia and the same age as Emmy. He has moved many times in his life (he once also lived in Puerto Rico), and this causes him to miss many of the traditions he enjoyed back home. He also teaches the dragons (and, by extension, the audience) many new Spanish words. Enrique is shown to be rather shy, most apparent in his first appearance. Whereas Emmy and Max weren't scared of the dragons when they first visited Dragon Land, Enrique is shown to be very scared of Ord at first sight, hides behind a tree (which turns out to be Sid, a talking tree), and then runs off, trips over a mushroom, bounces off a much bigger mushroom into the air, and then runs away when Ord catches him - warning Max and Emmy of the "danger" of a cute, cuddly, friendly and big blue dragon. He then bumps into Cassie, who asks him if he's okay, to which he responds, nervously, with "a... a... talking dragon!" Eventually, he befriends the dragons and finds Dragon Land to be a fun, welcoming place rather than a dangerous and scary one. He is voiced by Aida Ortega.
Dragons
Ord: The biggest and most fearful of the group, Ord is a blue dragon with a love of food, especially his favorite thing to eat: dragonberries. He is very fond of his best friend Max, who he calls his "little buddy"; he hugs him and Emmy all the time whenever they come visit Dragon Land. But Ord is also allergic to dandelions and is very fearful of multiple things, mainly the dark, stormy weather, and most bugs. He has a magical tendency to turn invisible when he's scared or upset, although this does not occur in season 3. Ord is silly, sweet and loving in nature, and his badge glows when he faces his fears. He is voiced by Ty Olsson.
Cassie: The 35th hatchling of a whopping 72 brothers and sisters, Cassie is a small pink dragon and is Emmy's best friend. She has a love of fairytales, singing, animals, and nature, and knows all sorts of things about Dragon Land. However, she can be very insecure, is prone to getting nervous, and can have a hard time speaking up or voicing her opinion. In the first season, Cassie usually shrinks to a very small size whenever she is afraid, nervous or upset, although this is not present in the second and third seasons. She is also tasked with babysitting her baby brother Finn and her baby sister Kiki from time to time. Cassie is a kindhearted, sincere, compassionate and generous dragon and never wants to hurt anyone's feelings, which leads to her having trouble speaking her opinion. Her badge glows after she speaks up or shows confidence. She is voiced by Chantal Strand.
Zak and Wheezie: Cojoined twins Zak and Wheezie are polar opposites in personality - Zak is an often pessimistic green dragon who is prone to worrying, such as about being hurt or going to the doctor. He's also much more snarky than the other three dragons, is quite sarcastic, can be rather grumpy, and prefers things clean, orderly and calm. His catchphrase is "Take it easy, Wheezie!" He is voiced by Jason Michas. Wheezie is an optimistic purple dragon who is fun-loving, happy-go-lucky, wild, messy and loud, much to Zak's annoyance. She is much more confident and imaginative than Zak is. Her catchphrase is "Loooooove it!", with a distinctive laugh. She is voiced by Kathleen Barr. While Zak and Wheezie argue frequently throughout the course of the series, they still have a shared love of music in general, and perform in talent shows and recitals together. Their dragon badges glow when they work together and get along, though one badge will sometimes glow independently when one of them accomplishes something on their own of significance. In the episode "Not Separated at Birth" the viewers get a view of what Wheezie and Zak would look like separately if they were born that way. They get in a fight and Quetzal 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 by the end of the episode, which is approved by Quetzal who gives them their wish to be conjoined again.
Quetzal: An elderly yellow dragon, Quetzal has been in Dragon Land for centuries. He teaches the other dragons and the children at The School in the Sky. Kind, wise and helpful, Quetzal could easily solve any problem that may arise, but he instead wants the dragons to figure out the solutions to their problems, although he does offer advice to them. Quetzal is originally from Mexico. He also has an identical twin brother named Fernando. He is voiced by Eli Gabay.
For a full list of supporting characters, visit the Wikipedia page for Dragon Tales and scroll to the "Supporting Characters" section. For detailed information on recurring characters, visit the Dragon Tales Wiki.
Some of the more memorable ones include Lorca, an optimistic and encouraging red/pinkish dragon in a wheelchair, Sid Sycamore, a talking tree who frequently told bad puns, Priscilla, a shy dragon with unusually large wings (to which she is embarrassed by), and Cyrus, a surprisingly unsettling looking snake/lizard who would frequently steal eggs and is the show's only recurring villain/antagonist (he appears in two episodes as well as the 2004 PC game "Learn and Fly With Dragons).
A FORGOTTEN CARTOON
A thread can be found on this very site, titled "Cartoons that made a big pop culture splash but are now disproportionately forgotten". The thread can be found here.
Here was my reply, citing Dragon Tales as a prime example:
TRIVIA
According to Rodecker in a November 2004 article from The Union, talks about a movie - and "some direct-to-video projects" - were underway, but these never went to fruition.
Dragon Tales is the last new PBS Kids cartoon to use traditional cel animation rather than digital animation at any part of it's run (in season 1 only), as George Shrinks (along with the other "Bookworm Bunch" cartoons), Clifford The Big Red Dog, Sagwa The Chinese Siamese Cat, and Cyberchase all used digital hand drawn animation.
Another curious piece of lost media is the Dragon Tales Imagination Celebration exhibit, which toured in multiple cities in 2000. The only evidence that this show existed are of brief articles in newspapers from 2000 as well as this Denver Post article.
A brief description:
This article states the exhibit was cancelled in Roseville, Minnesota after a storm damaged parts of the tent and some parts of the show, although Cassie was still able to greet kids at the local Toys R Us.
In 1999 when the series was about to premiere, ads on buses in NYC could be found announcing the premiere on September 6 - Labor Day 1999.
There also exists an ad of Dragon Tales from January 2000 announcing that the show is already a huge success, and that new merchandise will come soon.
Indeed, books, DVDs, plushies, and the aforementioned Imagination Celebration exhibit all would arrive this year, among other things.
The costumes for the dragons in the meet-and-greets varied heavily.
For example, some of the designs seen at local meet-and greets, as well as Sesame Place theme parks:
Cassie and Ord, circa 2002
Zak and Wheezie, unknown year (this is the only image I could find of an alternate costume outside of the live show)
...all have a much different design than their live stage show counterparts, shown here:
However, while I have no evidence that Ord, Zak and Wheezie's live stage show costumes appeared elsewhere, it's quite plausible, considering that Cassie's live stage costume would be re-used for meet-and-greets:
(this one was at a school!)
In fact, there's even another design for Cassie that's different from either the first costume seen above with Ord, or the live stage show costume!
So, while highly unlikely (given that every screenshot I can find of the live shows are with their typical stage designs), it's even possible that the live stage shows might've even used completely different costumes (ones typically used for meet-and-greets) for the main dragons!
The Dragon Tunes musical album, containing 20 songs from the show, peaked at #14 on the Top Kid Audio chart on June 16, 2001 (now known as the Kids Albums chart), and later hit the same #14 peak on July 14, 2001. It last appeared on the chart on March 2, 2002 at #25. It exited the chart in late 2001, but re-entered the chart very briefly in 2002.
CONCLUSION
It's no secret that Dragon Tales is the black sheep of the 90s hit cartoons from PBS, in more ways than one. It's not only far more obscure than The Magic School Bus and Arthur, but it's also far more different in tone and in target audience, aired for much shorter, is the only one to not be based off of a book series, and, considering it came out in 1999, is barely even a 90s cartoon at all. While Dragon Tales may not be among the most famous PBS cartoons, it was still a very popular series in it's prime and is remembered fondly by a relatively small, but vocal group of people who still hope for it to be revived or brought back in some way (which, while theoretically possible, is highly unlikely for multiple reasons). It even got a Defunctland video on August 31, 2019 - 9 years after the show last aired on PBS stations, so it's certainly not entirely forgotten.
"Dragons are with us in one form or another, but we have the choice with how we live with them. They can engender fear and helplessness, or challenge growth and risk. I choose to view and portray them as the latter."
- Ron Rodecker, 1930-2021
Of all of the cartoons PBS has aired, Dragon Tales has one of the most interesting stories. While not particularly "90s" (it premiered as the 90s were ending in 1999), it is still technically a 90s show, placing it with both The Magic School Bus (1994) and Arthur (1996) as the "big three" 90s cartoons from PBS. Unlike the other two shows, which are still relevant in pop culture to some extent, Dragon Tales has become pretty much irrelevant today.
Once a massively popular, well-known and beloved big name show of educational programming in the 2000s, the show faded from public memory after leaving PBS stations in 2010, having a much shorter run overall (including reruns) than either of the other two big 90s cartoons from PBS that preceded it, and a short run for PBS programming in general - 11 years would be pretty long for many cartoons on other networks, but for PBS it's actually below average for an animated show, and well below the average overall, including their live-action kids programming. Most PBS shows last at least 15 years if not more in total, including reruns.
Despite this, it was extremely popular back in the early 2000s - it had tons of merchandise, live stage shows running from 2001 to 2006, and much more. The character of Cassie even had a Macy's parade balloon in 2000 and 2001. It was promoted heavily on all PBS networks and was still very popular in the mid-late 2000s, even after production ended in 2005.
So let's dive in and take a different look at this show - the history, the characters, and more!
HISTORY
Dragon Tales is based on drawings from artist Ron Rodecker, who was recovering from a coronary artery bypass graft when he began sketching dragons as a means of symbolizing forces in life that were too big to control. In 1995, Rodecker was approached by a producer at Columbia TriStar Television named Jim Coane, who was so impressed with Rodecker's drawings that he and a group of writers began development on a television series, entitled "Dragon Tales".
According to Jeffrey Scott in this article, who created the show's bible and did a lot of the story-editing, had the writers been forced to follow the original directives, Dragon Tales would have been a dull show. They were given a manual to write from which was very heavy on enforced curriculum, but after delivering the first batch of scripts, all parties involved agreed that they were awful. After this, they were told to put entertainment first and just find ways to shoehorn the morals and lessons in. Scott states from the experience he learned an important lesson on how to create a successful preschool series. The series debuted on PBS Kids on September 6, 1999, with the episode "To Fly With Dragons".
The premise of the series is that Emmy and Max, two Hispanic siblings, have moved into a new house, and while exploring the playroom of said house, wind up finding a magical dragon scale. Engraved into the box containing said scale is the following phrase: "I wish, I wish, with all my heart, to fly with dragons in a land apart." This phrase transports Emmy and Max to a magical world inhabited by dragons called Dragon Land. There, they meet a group of friendly dragons: the blue Ord, who is big, loves food and is fearful, the pink Cassie, who can be quite insecure and nervous but is intelligent and very kind, two cojoined twin dragons - the worried neat-freak Zak, who is green, and wild and imaginative Wheezie, who is purple. They also meet the yellow Quetzal, who is the wise and helpful teacher at "The School in the Sky", which Ord, Cassie, Zak and Wheezie go to every day. They are then shown by Quetzal how to get home when the time comes, with the rhyme "I wish, I wish, to use this rhyme, to go back home until next time." They are then transported back to their playroom.
Every day, the kids join their friends in Dragon Land, with educational focus on social-emotional scenarios such as learning not to hit or kick people, properly coloring within the lines, following directions, learning to remember things you're supposed to do, babysitting, basic math, etc.
Various new characters were introduced in the show's run, some of whom appear more than once. The first season ran from September 6, 1999 to April 28, 2000 with 40 episodes total.
The show was an immediate success, with ratings rivaling Arthur on some stations, and the series was ordered for a second season. DVDs, merchandise, and more would follow - meet and greets, books, and, for the 2000 Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, a giant Cassie balloon.
The second season premiered in 2001 and contained 25 episodes. The first 20 episodes aired from June 4, 2001 to September 14, 2001; the last 5 episodes did not air in the United States until September and October 2002. It is possible, but never confirmed, that the last episodes were delayed by the attacks of 9/11, which had occurred the same day that the 17th episode of the season ("Hide and Can't Seek/"The Art of Patience") was aired. After the attacks had occurred, PBS stations drastically changed their programming schedules, with some airing non-stop news programming and others choosing to air PBS Kids series throughout the day. However, this may have been a coincidence that had nothing to do with the attacks.
In late 2001, live stage shows based on the series began showing across America - "Missing Music Mystery", "The Journey To Crystal Cave", and "The Riddle of Rainbow River", all of which are now lost media - only about 30 minutes of "Missing Music Mystery" footage has surfaced, along with a couple of pictures of the three shows in question.
In March of 2003, a special titled Let's Start A Band was aired on television. This special contains the music videos for multiple songs from the show mixed with live-action segments featuring child actors dancing to the aforementioned songs and talking about Dragon Tales. Near the end of the special, Ord, Cassie, Zak and Wheezie fly in from Dragon Land to greet the children and dance and sing along with them. Despite it's popularity remaining well into a post-9/11 world, there were still no new mainline episodes of the series, and many believed the series had been cancelled. However, in 2004, a third season was revealed to be in the works with Enrique as a main character to join Emmy and Max on their adventures.
The third season of the show premiered on February 21, 2005. Unlike the previous two seasons, this season contained repeats of season 2 episodes, with only 26 original stories being made for this season. The final episode to be aired was "Flip Flop" and a repeat of the season 2 episode "Just For Laughs" on April 11, 2005. However, the episode "A Storybook Ending" is clearly intended as the series finale, despite airing prior to "Flip Flop" on March 30. Beyond a mention of the name of the show by Emmy, "A Storybook Ending" plays out much like any other episode in the series.
Dragon Tales aired 78 original episodes, and 94 in total (counting episodes of repeats). It would make it's way to the cable-exclusive channel Sprout when that channel launched on September 26, 2005. Despite ending production by now, you'd think that Dragon Tales would still air for many years to come, and well into the 2010s.
But reruns wouldn't last long.
In August 2010, PBS announced that Dragon Tales would leave all stations, as well as Sprout, on August 31, 2010, ending an 11 year run.
This is an article from KUAC addressing this.
This basically the death nail for Dragon Tales, as it never transitioned to another network afterwards, and as explained earlier, lost any possible reach into the 2010s and to kids born in the late 2000s and 2010s. It's probably the main and biggest reason that Dragon Tales isn't nearly as well-remembered as Arthur or The Magic School Bus, the other two big PBS cartoons from the 90s, both of which continued in some form well into the 2010s.
Now for something less depressing, let's talk about the main characters!
THE CHARACTERS
Humans
Emmy: The older sister to Max at 6 years old, Emmy is sort of intended to be the more "responsible/mature" (well, relatively speaking) of the two. While not ashamed to do typical girly things with her friend Cassie, she is still down for any activity regardless. While Emmy is quite brave and smart for her age, she can get quite arrogant at times and can be very irresponsible, as shown in "A Smashing Success" after breaking Wheezie's trumpet. Her best friend is Cassie and usually rides on her back when flying. She also has a catchphrase whenever a good idea arises: "Definitely!" She is voiced by Andrea Libman.
Max: The younger brother to Emmy at 4 years old, Max is the more immature/childish of the two. While Max is usually friendly towards Emmy, they do occasionally get into arguments, especially in "Hand In Hand" where the two's arguments causes Enrique to make a wish to get them to stop arguing (however, this ends up getting Max and Emmy's hands stuck together). Max is quite goofy and can be quite stubborn at times, but is also fun-loving and adventurous. His best friend is Ord, who shares his silly nature. Max usually rides on the back of Ord. He can be prone to anger sometimes, especially in "No Hitter" where he punches Emmy in the arm and then kicks Ord's tail. In this episode, Max learns the number one rule of Dragon Land, as told by Quetzal: "You must not hit or kick anyone." He finds other, non-sentient things to hit and kick instead (such as grass or a stack of leaves). He is voiced by Danny McKinnon.
Enrique (Season 3 only): In 2005, the character of Enrique was introduced in an effort to incorporate more Hispanic themes into the show. Enrique is from Colombia and the same age as Emmy. He has moved many times in his life (he once also lived in Puerto Rico), and this causes him to miss many of the traditions he enjoyed back home. He also teaches the dragons (and, by extension, the audience) many new Spanish words. Enrique is shown to be rather shy, most apparent in his first appearance. Whereas Emmy and Max weren't scared of the dragons when they first visited Dragon Land, Enrique is shown to be very scared of Ord at first sight, hides behind a tree (which turns out to be Sid, a talking tree), and then runs off, trips over a mushroom, bounces off a much bigger mushroom into the air, and then runs away when Ord catches him - warning Max and Emmy of the "danger" of a cute, cuddly, friendly and big blue dragon. He then bumps into Cassie, who asks him if he's okay, to which he responds, nervously, with "a... a... talking dragon!" Eventually, he befriends the dragons and finds Dragon Land to be a fun, welcoming place rather than a dangerous and scary one. He is voiced by Aida Ortega.
Dragons
Ord: The biggest and most fearful of the group, Ord is a blue dragon with a love of food, especially his favorite thing to eat: dragonberries. He is very fond of his best friend Max, who he calls his "little buddy"; he hugs him and Emmy all the time whenever they come visit Dragon Land. But Ord is also allergic to dandelions and is very fearful of multiple things, mainly the dark, stormy weather, and most bugs. He has a magical tendency to turn invisible when he's scared or upset, although this does not occur in season 3. Ord is silly, sweet and loving in nature, and his badge glows when he faces his fears. He is voiced by Ty Olsson.
Cassie: The 35th hatchling of a whopping 72 brothers and sisters, Cassie is a small pink dragon and is Emmy's best friend. She has a love of fairytales, singing, animals, and nature, and knows all sorts of things about Dragon Land. However, she can be very insecure, is prone to getting nervous, and can have a hard time speaking up or voicing her opinion. In the first season, Cassie usually shrinks to a very small size whenever she is afraid, nervous or upset, although this is not present in the second and third seasons. She is also tasked with babysitting her baby brother Finn and her baby sister Kiki from time to time. Cassie is a kindhearted, sincere, compassionate and generous dragon and never wants to hurt anyone's feelings, which leads to her having trouble speaking her opinion. Her badge glows after she speaks up or shows confidence. She is voiced by Chantal Strand.
Zak and Wheezie: Cojoined twins Zak and Wheezie are polar opposites in personality - Zak is an often pessimistic green dragon who is prone to worrying, such as about being hurt or going to the doctor. He's also much more snarky than the other three dragons, is quite sarcastic, can be rather grumpy, and prefers things clean, orderly and calm. His catchphrase is "Take it easy, Wheezie!" He is voiced by Jason Michas. Wheezie is an optimistic purple dragon who is fun-loving, happy-go-lucky, wild, messy and loud, much to Zak's annoyance. She is much more confident and imaginative than Zak is. Her catchphrase is "Loooooove it!", with a distinctive laugh. She is voiced by Kathleen Barr. While Zak and Wheezie argue frequently throughout the course of the series, they still have a shared love of music in general, and perform in talent shows and recitals together. Their dragon badges glow when they work together and get along, though one badge will sometimes glow independently when one of them accomplishes something on their own of significance. In the episode "Not Separated at Birth" the viewers get a view of what Wheezie and Zak would look like separately if they were born that way. They get in a fight and Quetzal 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 by the end of the episode, which is approved by Quetzal who gives them their wish to be conjoined again.
Quetzal: An elderly yellow dragon, Quetzal has been in Dragon Land for centuries. He teaches the other dragons and the children at The School in the Sky. Kind, wise and helpful, Quetzal could easily solve any problem that may arise, but he instead wants the dragons to figure out the solutions to their problems, although he does offer advice to them. Quetzal is originally from Mexico. He also has an identical twin brother named Fernando. He is voiced by Eli Gabay.
For a full list of supporting characters, visit the Wikipedia page for Dragon Tales and scroll to the "Supporting Characters" section. For detailed information on recurring characters, visit the Dragon Tales Wiki.
Some of the more memorable ones include Lorca, an optimistic and encouraging red/pinkish dragon in a wheelchair, Sid Sycamore, a talking tree who frequently told bad puns, Priscilla, a shy dragon with unusually large wings (to which she is embarrassed by), and Cyrus, a surprisingly unsettling looking snake/lizard who would frequently steal eggs and is the show's only recurring villain/antagonist (he appears in two episodes as well as the 2004 PC game "Learn and Fly With Dragons).
A FORGOTTEN CARTOON
A thread can be found on this very site, titled "Cartoons that made a big pop culture splash but are now disproportionately forgotten". The thread can be found here.
Here was my reply, citing Dragon Tales as a prime example:
TL;DR - The much bigger target audience of both The Magic School Bus and Arthur combined with the lack of longevity and no reach to those born in the late 2000s and onwards led to Dragon Tales being largely forgotten to the general public, even compared to newer programming.
TRIVIA
According to Rodecker in a November 2004 article from The Union, talks about a movie - and "some direct-to-video projects" - were underway, but these never went to fruition.
Dragon Tales is the last new PBS Kids cartoon to use traditional cel animation rather than digital animation at any part of it's run (in season 1 only), as George Shrinks (along with the other "Bookworm Bunch" cartoons), Clifford The Big Red Dog, Sagwa The Chinese Siamese Cat, and Cyberchase all used digital hand drawn animation.
Another curious piece of lost media is the Dragon Tales Imagination Celebration exhibit, which toured in multiple cities in 2000. The only evidence that this show existed are of brief articles in newspapers from 2000 as well as this Denver Post article.
A brief description:
This article states the exhibit was cancelled in Roseville, Minnesota after a storm damaged parts of the tent and some parts of the show, although Cassie was still able to greet kids at the local Toys R Us.
In 1999 when the series was about to premiere, ads on buses in NYC could be found announcing the premiere on September 6 - Labor Day 1999.
There also exists an ad of Dragon Tales from January 2000 announcing that the show is already a huge success, and that new merchandise will come soon.
Indeed, books, DVDs, plushies, and the aforementioned Imagination Celebration exhibit all would arrive this year, among other things.
The costumes for the dragons in the meet-and-greets varied heavily.
For example, some of the designs seen at local meet-and greets, as well as Sesame Place theme parks:
Cassie and Ord, circa 2002
Zak and Wheezie, unknown year (this is the only image I could find of an alternate costume outside of the live show)
...all have a much different design than their live stage show counterparts, shown here:
However, while I have no evidence that Ord, Zak and Wheezie's live stage show costumes appeared elsewhere, it's quite plausible, considering that Cassie's live stage costume would be re-used for meet-and-greets:
(this one was at a school!)
In fact, there's even another design for Cassie that's different from either the first costume seen above with Ord, or the live stage show costume!
So, while highly unlikely (given that every screenshot I can find of the live shows are with their typical stage designs), it's even possible that the live stage shows might've even used completely different costumes (ones typically used for meet-and-greets) for the main dragons!
The Dragon Tunes musical album, containing 20 songs from the show, peaked at #14 on the Top Kid Audio chart on June 16, 2001 (now known as the Kids Albums chart), and later hit the same #14 peak on July 14, 2001. It last appeared on the chart on March 2, 2002 at #25. It exited the chart in late 2001, but re-entered the chart very briefly in 2002.
CONCLUSION
It's no secret that Dragon Tales is the black sheep of the 90s hit cartoons from PBS, in more ways than one. It's not only far more obscure than The Magic School Bus and Arthur, but it's also far more different in tone and in target audience, aired for much shorter, is the only one to not be based off of a book series, and, considering it came out in 1999, is barely even a 90s cartoon at all. While Dragon Tales may not be among the most famous PBS cartoons, it was still a very popular series in it's prime and is remembered fondly by a relatively small, but vocal group of people who still hope for it to be revived or brought back in some way (which, while theoretically possible, is highly unlikely for multiple reasons). It even got a Defunctland video on August 31, 2019 - 9 years after the show last aired on PBS stations, so it's certainly not entirely forgotten.
"Dragons are with us in one form or another, but we have the choice with how we live with them. They can engender fear and helplessness, or challenge growth and risk. I choose to view and portray them as the latter."
- Ron Rodecker, 1930-2021
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