Dragon Hunters is a French 52-episode 24-minute animated fantasy comedy television series created by Arthur Qwak and produced by the French company Futurikon. It follows the adventures of two hunters for hire through a medieval world of floating land masses that is terrorized by a widely varying menace of monsters known collectively as dragons. A 3-D feature film and a videogame based on the film have also been released. The original French title is Chasseurs de Dragons.
It was featured in the United States on Cartoon Network for a few weeks around January 2006, but, after having its time slot moved, vanished from the line-up. Unlike the other cartoons around its Saturday morning time slot, several episodes of Dragon Hunters were rated TV-PG. It reappeared on Cartoon Network in September 2006, but disappeared again in October 2006. Up until June 2007, it was available for viewing on Cartoon Network Video. As of 2011, it was airing in the U.S. on Starz Kids & Family. 50 of the 52 episodes were watched in English on Netflix through their partnership with Starz though the episodes were out of order. They have long since been removed.
A second season of 26 additional episodes began airing in France in August 2007. International releases of both seasons have occurred in over 70 countries. The show has received a fanbase in Arabic speaking countries, after its repeated airings on MBC 3. In October 2017, Duranta TV started broadcasting all 2 seasons of the programme in Bengali language in Bangladesh.
Characters[]
- Lian-Chu is a sword-wielding, muscle-bound warrior who actually deals out the dragon slaying. In contrast to Gwizdo, he is more kindhearted and honorable. He is also an avid knitter. In the episode "Farewell Lian Chu", it is revealed that his parents were killed by a dragon because his uncle did not give notice to the people when the dragon was on his way to the village. He only knows how to count to 10 and can not read and thus depends on Gwizdo for this.
- Gwizdo is the brains of the group, and negotiates their contracts with the helpless people terrorized by dragons. He has a gap in his teeth. He speaks with a New York or New Jersey accent. He and Lian-Chu have known each other since childhood, and were raised together in an orphanage called Mother Hubbard's Farm. He is a coward and swindler at heart, but shows his good side occasionally. He is the one who can read, write and count at the inn, therefore depend on it for business and contracts. He also flies their airship, the St. George, and wears a pilot's cap and goggles.
- Hector is their pet dragon who does not possess the evil nature or the great size of the ones they hunt and acts like a dog. With his fur and ears he seems to be based on a variation of the Asian dragon (similar to Falkor the Luck Dragon in The Neverending Story). His hobbies are eating and picking on other animals such as chickens or sheep. While Gwizdo is the pilot of the St. George, Hector is required to pedal for the propeller, a task he is not fond of. He speaks with a mixture of grunts and pidgin English.
- Jennyline runs the Snoring Dragon Inn, where Lian-Chu and Gwizdo live. Lian-Chu and Gwizdo owe her an ever-growing debt for room and board. She is a heavyset woman who is short-tempered and strict. She has had three past marriages, which have resulted in Zoria, Zaza and possibly other children. Her name is given as Jennyline on the DVDs and Janelynn on the official website. The German variation of her name is Jeanneline.
- Zoe is Jennyline's oldest daughter, and is an accomplished dragon hunter in her own right. Like Zaza, she was inspired by Lian-Chu and Gwizdo at a young age, and trained with them to learn the moves and arts of the business. She is not a resident of the inn and makes few appearances, but is well known by the main characters. A victim of sexism, she has donned a male disguise in some parts to get more bounties.
- Zaza is Jennyline's youngest daughter. She resides at the Snoring Dragon Inn as an assistant. She idolizes Lian-Chu and has dreams of becoming a dragon hunter when she grows up, of which Jennyline disapproves. She spends most of her time at the inn, but occasionally joins the hunters on quests, often through her own means.
- Noble Kayo is an elderly doctor whom the hunters sometimes turn to for advice regarding strange conditions, such as poison and paralysis. While intelligent, he is almost completely blind and a bit absent-minded, which makes having a straightforward conversation with him very difficult.
- George and Gilbert Forrestal are a two-brother hunter duo, who know Lian-Chu and Gwizdo from growing up alongside them in the orphanage. They look down on Gwizdo and refer to him as a pipsqueak, and often bring up embarrassing childhood events of his. They see no room for competition, and often try to get the hunters' bounties themselves.