SAVAGE DRAGON
(USA Network, September 21, 1995-December 21, 1996)
Universal Cartoon Studios, Lacewood Productions
(season 1), Studio B Productions (season 2)
MAIN CAST:
The
Savage Dragon is an ongoing comicbook series published by Image Comics
and one of the company’s original launch titles. The title character, Dragon, is
a green-skinned, muscular alien with a large fin on his head and the ability to
rapidly heal. He had no memory of his past before he was found in a burning
field by Lt.
Frank Darling. He eventually joined the Chicago PD to
help them battle “superfreaks” (the term for superpowered beings) that were
part of the criminal organization known as the Vicious Circle run by the
Overlord.
 |
| The Dragon and his universe. |
Dragon was created by Erik Larsen
as far back as elementary school, appearing in many of his homemade comics. The
character underwent some revisions and maturation by the time it saw legitimate
publication in the pages of Graphic Fantasy, a self-publishing
effort by Larsen and two friends in 1982. By the time Larsen left Marvel Comics with
his fellow creators to co-found Image, Dragon had evolved into his current
form. Initially, The Savage Dragon was a three-issue
mini-series, but its success turned it into a regular series
the following year completely written and drawn by Larsen.
 |
| The Dragon and Alex. |
The success of Batman: The Animated Series marked a renewed
interest in networks for shows based on comic books. The additional success of
Image’s debut drew networks towards their properties for potential adaptations.
Universal
Cartoon Studios acquired the rights to adapt Larsen’s
comic into an animated series that would run on the USA Network’s
USA
Action Extreme Team programming block, which was part of
their Carton
Express block.
 |
| Overlord. |
The series largely boiled down and condensed
the essence of Larsen’s book: Dragon (Jim Cummings) was recruited to the
Chicago PD to deal with Overlord (Tony Jay) and his legion of superfreaks. Those
superfreaks included Mako the Shark (Jeff Bennett), a criminal in the army who
was mauled by a shark when an experimental bomb was detonated, turning him into
a human shark; Octopus
(Rob Paulsen),
a seemingly-immortal being with octopus tentacles coming from his torso;
Bludgeon (Cummings), a super-strong low-level member of the Circle; Arachnid
(Frank Welker),
a mutated man-spider with multiple arms and matching abilities; Basher
(Peter Cullen),
another Circle strongman with ambitions that often led him to act outside of
Overlord’s orders; and Horde
(Rene Auberjonois),
a being comprised of mind-controlling worms. Aiding Dragon was his partner,
Alex Wilde (Kath Soucie), and his female counterpart, She-Dragon (Jennifer
Hale), as well as the occasional outlaw Barbaric (Bennet).
 |
| The Fiend looking for his next host. |
Savage
Dragon debuted on September 21, 1995 and ran for two seasons. Season 1 was
co-produced by Lacewood
Productions and season 2 by Studio
B Productions. AKOM
Productions handled the animation based off of character
designs by Frank
Suarez. Larsen himself had little involvement in the
production of the show. He has often described the comic as a practice in
self-indulgence, tossing in anything he thought would be cool without much
rhyme or reason. That meant it often featured content that wasn’t appropriate
for Saturday audiences. As a result, the show was considerably more toned-down
than the comic, and featured a more typical stand-alone story structure that ignored
any sort of ongoing character arcs. The series was written by producer Duane Capizzi,
Steve Roberts,
Henry Gilroy,
Ernie Jon,
Steve Cuden,
Richard Stanley,
Bob Forward,
Wendy Reardon,
Reed Shelly
and Jess Winfield.
 |
| Dragon vs. Warrior King. |
During the second season, Savage Dragon participated in a
four-program crossover with fellow USA shows Street Fighter: The Animated Series, Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm, and Wing Commander Academy. During that
crossover, the original character, Warrior King (Michael Dorn),
traveled between the four shows in a quest to retrieve an object of power. The
shows’ actual characters, however, remained on their own programs.
 |
| She-Dragon: NOT a bootleg. |
Larsen has described the show as a “meh”
effort on the part of those involved, praising the decent animation but panning
the watered-down tonality of its overall presentation. He continues to publish
the comic through Image, having surpassed 200 issues with no signs of stopping.
The show, however, has largely faded into obscurity beyond dedicated fans of
the character and animation. While bootleg versions of it have been made
available on YouTube and for sale at
conventions, the show has yet to have any sort of legitimate release on either
DVD or VHS.
EPISODE GUIDE:
Season 1:
“R.S.V.P.”
(9/21/95) – Overlord and Arachnid kidnap Frank and Alex to lure Dragon into a
trap.
“Possession”
(9/28/95) – Horde uses his mind-control leeches to turn lab workers into
criminals and send Barbaric on a rampage.
“Undercover”
(10/5/95) – Alex goes undercover to infiltrate Overlord’s operation but she is
quickly discovered.
“Dragonsmasher”
(10/12/95) – OpenFace and Octopus create a cyborg to battle Dragon, distracting
him from the plot between Overlord and a congressional candidate.
“Locomotion”
(10/19/95) – Overlord’s men take over a train and plan to use it to destroy a
state-of-the-art tunnel under Lake Michigan.
“She-Dragon”
(10/26/95) – Dragon teams-up with She-Dragon to rescue Alex from Overlord, and
Dragon learns about She-Dragon’s vendetta against him.
“Hurt”
(11/2/96) – Bludgeon looks to spring his partner Lowblow, and Alex falls for a
paramedic who’s prejudiced against freaks.
“Web”
(11/9/96) – Dragon has to team-up with a local sheriff in order to figure out
why people keep disappearing from the town.
“Hit-Man”
(11/16/96) – Overlord creates a clone of Dragon in order to get close enough to
the mayoral candidate and kill him.
“Red-Handed”
(11/23/96) – Dragon finally captures Overlord, but Barbaric breaks him out.
“Loathing”
(11/30/96) – Dragon tries to trick The Fiend into taking over his body in order
to defeat him.
“Rampage”
(12/7/96) – She-Dragon confronts a group of bikers bent on mayhem, and they seek vengeance on
her after one of their bikes is damaged.
“Armageddon”
(12/14/96) – Horde is resurrected and sets his sights on destroying the ozone
layer.
Season 2:
“Bull”
(9/28/96) – Dragon investigates mysterious high rise robberies while Alex falls
for an actor who stars on a show mimicking Dragon’s life.
“She-Friend”
(10/5/96) – The Fiend takes over She-Dragon and feeds on her hate for Overlord.
“Homecoming”
(10/12/96) – Doubleheader gets a picture of a young Dragon setting Dragon and
Alex to investigate its origins.
“Loose
Cannons” (10/19/96) – She-Dragon finally becomes a police officer after she
protects the mayor from three freak bikers who tried to get in good with
Overlord.
“Star”
(10/26/96) – There’s a new vigilante in town and Dragon is determined to figure
out who he is.
“Barbarism”
(11/2/96) – After Barbaric’s place is destroyed in a fight, he bunks with
Dragon for a while.
“Ceasefire”
(11/9/96) – A group of former Vicious Circle members form their own group and
meet with diplomats to tout the benefit of freaks in society.
“Endgame”
(11/16/96) – An orb comes to Earth and gives The Fiend even more power.
“Negate”
(11/23/96) – Negate can turn off a freak’s powers, making him a target for the
Vicious Circle and freaks who want to be normal again.
“Ball
of Fire” (11/30/96) – A rash of bombings around town lead to one major target:
the annual policeman’s ball.
“Femme
Fatale” (12/7/96) – A new woman enters Barbaric’s life, but she may have
checkered associations.
“Bride”
(12/14/96) – Octopus and Openface make a bride for Arachnid, but her defective
brain makes her a nightmare.
“Dragonlord”
(12/21/96) – Evidence is found that Dragon may have been Overlord before the
current holder of that title.
No comments:
Post a Comment