Life After Dudley
Although production ended for Dudley the Dragon, showbiz life continued for his creators and producers.
Peter Williamson and Ira Levy‘s company, Breakthrough Entertainment, expanded its television production to an impressive degree. Today, according to their website, they have produced over 2600 half-hours of programming, licensed to broadcasters in over 200 territories. Their digital media division encompasses websites, and online, mobile, iphone and ITV games. A list of their productions can be found here.
Alex Galatis, the main creative force behind Dudley, tallied credits as a writer, story editor, developer and creator for many shows. In particular, he served as story editor for Atomic Betty, a series created and Flash-animated by Atomic Cartoons in Vancouver.
By day, Betty Barrett is a seemingly ordinary schoolgirl. By night, she becomes Atomic Betty, Defender of the Universe, aided by her trusty sidekicks Sparky the Martian and Robot X-5. Commander-in-chief Admiral DeGill of the Galactic Council sends them to combat Supreme Emperor Maximus I-Q of Lynxia and other galactic scum. After that, it’s bedtime for Betty and another day at school.
Martin Goodman details how Atomic Betty was sold here, with a followup article two years later here.
Kevin Gillis and Ira Levy of Breakthrough Entertainment became interested in the series, and partnered up with Atomic to produce it. Breakthrough provided the writers—led by Alex Galatis—while Atomic handled the artistic end.
Said co-creator Rob Davies, “If something doesn’t work we either re-jig it with Alex and Kevin, or it gets sent to the bin. We have some fantastic writers on board and the scripts are progressing wonderfully. Some of the stories actually originate with us, too. In this case, Alex fine-tunes them and hands them out to writers, depending on schedule needs.”
In Canada, Atomic Betty premiered on Teletoon September 6, 2004. In the U.S., it premiered on Cartoon Network on September 17, 2004. Atomic Cartoons produced 78 half-hours (three seasons), plus a one-hour Christmas special.
Tajja Isen provided the voice of Betty. Adrian Truss gave her orders as Admiral DeGill.
These actors would work together again—this time, on a series unlike any before on television.
Source: Martin Goodman, Animation World Network, “Atomic Betty Redux: A Toon’s Progress,” posted January 12, 2004.
A New Beginning?
The Adventures of Dudley the Dragon ceased production in 1997. No DVDs have been released.
For fourteen years, the property languished, existing only in reruns. In 2008, Breakthrough licensed the series for broadcast on APTN (Aboriginal Peoples Television Network) in Canada, and in 2009, through Ameba.tv for the internet.
Will the duh-ragon and his friends return in new adventures? There is hope.
On February 9, 2009, Global License! magazine reported Breakthrough’s desire to launch a CG version of Dudley. Executive producer Joan Lambur said, “We’re very excited about giving the lovable Dudley and his friends a large-scale makeover and introducing the series to a new generation of kids’ audiences.”
C21 media.net also passed along the report: “Breakthrough revamps Dudley.”
A computer-generated Dudley? That would be akin to turning Kermit the Frog into a CG character. It wouldn’t be the same.
Ideally, Dudley and his puppet friends could still be puppets, performed by the people who know the characters best. Certainly Kirk Dunn, Jim Rankin, and Sue Morrison know best how they move and emote, more than any overseas animator.
Still, it is possible to construct a CG character and have it look like a puppet. Richard Taylor’s Weta Workshop proved that with his breakthrough TV series, The WotWots.
Spotty Wot and Dotty Wot may be computer-generated and human-animated, but they look and move like puppets.
See for yourself.
If the show is totally key-framed in CG, and outsourced overseas, one takes the risk of employing inexperienced animators for the sake of saving a buck. Case in point: Animalia, a CG series animated in Australia, had its characters move stiffly in robot-like fashion. Personality animation was minimal. Four seasons of the show were produced, but only one-and-a-half seasons aired in the U.S. Viewership was inadequate and for good reason: Kids are used to Pixar-quality animation. Anything less than that, they ignore.
For Dudley, CG could still be applied to the characters in scenes beyond the physical capability of the puppet–say, in scenes that call for the Robins to fly or Caveman to throw Dudley through the air.
The press released noted Graham Greene’s interest in doing the show. Presumably, he would engage in motion-capture—like John Hurt, here, performing The Great Dragon for BBC’s Merlin series. What a relief not to wear a heavy, cumbersome rubber suit!
Ideally, a new Dudley series would blend CG with live-action. Richard Taylor proved it could be done seamlessly, and convincingly.
Can it happen? Certainly. Will it happen? Hopefully.
To quote another green-skinned character, “Always in motion is the future.”
Finale
In the denouement, our friends relax at a campfire, with Sally wrapping up her story.
“And while it was true that Dudley never actually saw a dragon, he did find out who his true dragon friends really were.”
They look at the moon, and see the faces of Dudley’s true dragon friends that he’s had over the past five seasons, including Mr. Crabby Tree, Matt and Terry.
Chloe, the fairy, is one of several faces we see during the tribute. The final song is a reprise of “Somebody Like You,” this time sung by Jackie Richardson, the Gospel/blues/jazz singer and actress. Richardson sang the series theme and appeared in two episodes, as the Face of Nature and as the Wishing Well.
“Love you,” Dudley says to Sally, for the first time in the series. It’s sincere. Actor Kirk Dunn underscores the sentiment with a Dudley head nod.
“Love you back,” Sally says. The feeling is mutual.
The girls retire to their tent; Dudley thinks it’s not so bad being the only dragon.
The end? Not quite yet.
Dudley photos © Breakthrough Entertainment Inc.
Just Desserts
Dudley, Sally and Julia leave Mezmra behind bars. The occupant of the box will release him after they are “long gone.” He and Mezmra have, shall we say, a funny exchange.
Mezmra could easily squeeze through the bars, but he had nowhere to go. Only three minutes remained for the episode—for the entire series, in fact.
The actor playing Mezmra did have a happy ending. In 1998, Rick Mercer won a Gemini for his performance, and deservedly so.
Photo © Breakthrough Entertainment Inc.
Bogus Rain Forest Preserve Workers
Sally and Julia come by Dudley’s cage, posing as rain forest preserve workers. They offer Mezmra something rare and valuable in the box—a baby unicorn—in exchange for Dudley. But Mezmra needs to see it from inside the cage because the unicorn might escape. Mezmra agrees. What’s really in the box? You’ll have to watch the episode to find out. Enjoy.
Photo © Breakthrough Entertainment Inc.
The Value of Friends
The Robins learn of Dudley’s plight, not knowing before of his deal with Mezmra. They want to contact Sally, but where could she be? Up in a balloon, of course. With Julia.
Note the size of Sally’s phone. 1997 technology.
This might have been an opportunity for another celebrity guest star. Jackie Burroughs had appeared several times in the first and second seasons as Aggie, an enthusiastic adventurer who traveled the world in her balloon. Burroughs was nominated in the 1994 Gemini Awards for playing Aggie in “High Flying Dragon,” but lost out to Graham Greene for playing Mr. Crabby Tree. However, Burroughs did win a Gemini for Best Performance by an Actress in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role, for Road to Avonlea—for the third year in a row.
For “The Last Dudley,” perhaps Burroughs wasn’t available, or the show’s budget didn’t allow for another guest. No matter. Sally knew how to fly a balloon. She also had her Everything Bag with her, which contained everything needed for any occasion, even a rescue. Julia said, “I’ve got to get one of those bags.” A recurring series joke.
Dudley’s time has run out. Mezmra cages him, and Dudley learns that there’s no such place as “the other side of the Moon.” The dragon he saw in the moon was just a hypnotic trick. And, as Mezmra points out, he left his friends behind, so they can’t help him. “This is terrible,” Dudley understates.
But with six minutes left in the show, the rescue attempt was but a cut away.
Photos © Breakthrough Entertainment Inc.
Dudley’s Nightmare
Our hero huffs and puffs along for a second day. That night, he’s still not close enough to the moon to touch it.
The poor fellow. Listening to the desperation, the anguish in his voice, one can’t help but feel pity for him. Either that, or laugh at his stupidity for trying to reach it by foot. Or both.
It’s a wonderful performance by Dunn and Galatis.
Dudley falls asleep and dreams, and we dissolve into a song-and-dance sequence. In this case, it works perfectly in context. It’s a dream. Dreams can have psychedelic backgrounds and rapid screen cuts and people making faces at the camera. Dudley is behind bars and The Great Mezmra is prancing about, showing off the key. The mood is festive and distressing at the same time, depending on the character’s point of view. Mezmra is gleeful for owning a real live dragon, the last of his kind; Dudley is anguished, facing imprisonment for the rest of his life.
Dudley wakes up, realizes he’s been wasting time sleeping, and off he runs again. He reaches the “southern rain forest”—in less than a day from British Columbia!—and encounters Sammy the Frog’s cousin, Yammi. It’s a surprise appearance by the character, his third on the series.
The Hispanic frog learns why Dudley is there and concludes, “My dragon friend is in very big trouble.” He phones—who else?—Mr. and Mrs. Robin.
But what can they do?
Photos © Breakthrough Entertainment Inc.
Robins to the Rescue
The next day, Dudley is still chasing the moon. He runs into Mr. and Mrs. Robin, Charles and Tiffany, who have been looking for him. They’ve been worried. He’s far away from home and far away from friends. Mrs. Robin asks him to come home and she’ll make a nice strong cup of dragonberry tea. But our stalwart dragon says he can’t, not much time left. And off he goes.
Mr. Robin sighs, “Well he’s a big dragon, Tiffany. He knows what he’s doing.” Mrs. Robin turns to Charles and gives him a look, and Charles realizes he’s talking about Dudley the Dragon. “What am I talking about?”
The robins fly home—off-camera, of course.
There’s nothing more they can do for Mr. Dudley. Or is there?
Photo © Breakthrough Entertainment Inc.
Reach for the Moon
So Dudley runs all day to get to the other side of the moon. Before he leaves Canada, he runs into Julia and tells her he’s heading for the moon to find his dragon friends. Julia, who suspects Dudley’s in over his head, wants to come. Dudley says no, and repeats Mezmra’s advice: Because dragons are shy and she might scare them. And off he goes.
The first night, Dudley tried to reach for the moon, even on his tippy toes. No success.
It just so happens the Great Mezmra has been following Dudley. He puts him under a spell and has him look at the moon.
And this time, Dudley sees an image of a dragon. His hopes are raised, but he doesn’t realize it’s just a trick.
Photos © Breakthrough Entertainment Inc.
