Your top 10 favorite episodes

The pilot episode showed us the beginning of a new and final legend of Green Land, the last dragon, who will protect everyone and give them hope that the tyrant, who had been harassing the land for centuries, will be defeated one day. Though.. he is way too young yet for fighting, but he already shows some intelligent abilities, which will help him overcome the enemy, while his fire is still weak. He outsmarts Arktos for the first, but definitely not last time, the snowman fears him, as the only one capable of resisting him.
He meets his father, Tyrion, the legend of Green Land, who gives him advises and teaches him.
Even though it had bad animation(as only a beginning of the cartoon) it still had great things in it, beautiful and wonderful moments.
It will always remind me how it all began.














What a nice episode! We finally see Arktos coming up with a plan, which even Shouhu thinks may be not bad, to confuse Greenlanders with a false dragon, a decoy, an actor, looking like a dragon, to fool them and make forget Tabaluga, so he left Green Land, or lost faith in himself and stopped protecting Green Land. The Dracosaurus was acting excellently, but he hardly can be compared to Tabaluga in heroism, kindness, and purity of heart, this is why Arktos failed, he didn't expect, that Tabaluga's heart will make him fly for saving Happy first, and actually succeed in it better than dracosaurus did.



What I liked in the episode - we see Tabaluga's kindness and faith in others, this was the second episode of Tabaluga I ever saw(the first one was "A very hot thing") and I was astonished by the dragon's kindness, he was believing in dracosaurus being confused, not meaning anything bad to happen... and he was right about him not meaning being evil, it was Arktos who set it all up again, and dracosaurus himself was very nice, it's another thing I liked in the episode - we see that he isn't evil actually, he just wanted to display his actor talent, not hurt anyone, I wish he was more often in the cartoon though, but still it was nice to see dracosaurus at least in this one particular episode, and in the finale too

№8

This episode, in particular, was close to perfect in my opinion, and very imporant to the storyline of the whole season, revealing one of the most important objects, the Tree of Life. It feels like this episode, as close to season final, was made in pace and style, which simply feels like it was made professionally, with a lot of action, some humor and the message  of how it's importrant to keep the balance(one more thing for the main message of the finale). In some episodes of the cartoon(like in all cartoons) it feels like creators make some episodes to "fill the space" so it would fit the 26 epsiode cartoon standard, and this one was definitely not one of them. It told us and excellent story we had been waiting for, and also weren't bored for even for a second. Now to the events of the episode itself.



The beggining was such a great idea - celebrating the "day of life", a day, when everybody appreciates living,dances, sings songs, and makes sport contests. This embodies one of the biggest cartoon messages - to appreciate life - "live and let live, appreciate every moment of your life". I, personally would have a party like this than stupid, ignorant and unkind parties and discoes of our world.
Next goes, Arktos'es "vision" a fear that Tabaluga is his enemy, the king on the other side of a chessboard. And this is quite symbolical and intelligent scene, this is one of many(or I'd rather say huge amount) things I love in this cartoon, for being  so intelligent, and one of things which makes it as we know it is chess.I won't go deep in this topic here, but I think my point is clear - the whole cartoon is a long game of chess between good and evil, or a series of matches between them, in that last one of which evil side loses.
Shouhu tells him that Tabaluga isn't thinking he's the king of Green Land though( another goof in season 2 where Tabaluga actually claimed as crowned prince) so Arktos thinks that The Tree of life is. and of course he wants to destroy it, despite all Shouhu's warnings.



The way Tabaluga saves the tree was magnificent, another point for using your mind instead of forse(if he was a big dragon he could had melted all snow on it, though he could damage the tree), I also loved the action music playing when he blew up the baloons with his fire, I'm definitely going to order it to the composer to re-create
And when the snow melted, a huge wave of water came down from the tree right to the Glass town, I also liked the moment, when Tabaluga warned icelanders about it, even though they are his enemies, he cared about their lives and didn't want them to get hurt.
Overall, I enjoyed this episode a lot
even though there is one plot hole(why wasn't the tree effected  when Arktos tried to freeze Green Land other times) but the answer is probably because the Tree itself wasn't frozen so fast during other attacks on Green land overall. So this episode is still great




                                                                  

№ 7

This was the first Tabaluga episode I saw 10 years ago, and as you may guess, it was one of things which influenced me to become a fan. The first major catastrophe, first Tabaluga's leadership in order to save Greenlanders, his first big respnisbility and a risk to lose someone's life.



It all begins as it should, Tabaluga and his friends walk along the beach, enjoying their childhood together, and having a dragon to light fire for a barbeque must be something convenient! It's is still very weak, but it's enough to start a little fire. I liked that we saw at least something from their childhood before the tide of disasters from Arktos arrived, they gotta have some childhood, until Tabaluga will have to take all responsibilities on his shoulders, becoming the protector of Green Land forever.
However, the happiness doesn't last for long, this isn't an ordinary cartoon about cheerful youth, and Green Land embraces the fire it probably never witnessed before. Tabaluga has to experience such a terrible thing as a risk of destruction of the whole land by his own fire, and he claims himself responsible for it! This was another thing which amazed me in this cartoon when I started watching it - one example of the dragon's kindness and commitment after another. It made me feel there is something special about this cartoon which, as I found out later - was true.

Now to the certain aspects of the episode itself.
The animation became better, brighter and more detailed than before. Bit by bit we see the cartoon becoming whole, becoming what we came to see and love as we know it now. Some scenes were decent, a couple were amazing. Probably the best part of animation in this episode was the fire in the crystal ball, which we saw and the circle of orange and red spinning around it and a music of doom is playing in the background.

Music was probably my favorite part of this ep, it was playing almost all the time and there were so much of brilliant soundtracks! For example when the fire started and we saw it in the crystal ball as I mentioned before, "The great eagle" as I would call it, as Akila arrived and asked how the fire started.
The scene when he was waving his wings creating a little wind was my favorite part(of music). Also, the part when all birds(and bees ) were trying to turn the fire away from Green Land was incresdible; it's a bit hard to hear, but it had chorus in it.


Now to the the story. I absolutely loved the way how the little dragon was so responsible for his actions at such a young age.


He put the fire out while others(his friends) didn't care about it) with the sand. He said he is responsible even though it was Arktos'es work(of his servant to be precise). Also setting Green Land on fire is such a good idea - as he said "Green Land will destroy itself".
When the fire started, Tabaluga didn't run away, he wasn't scared, all he cared about were the lives of Greenlanders, and he did his best to lead them to safety, and saved those who weren't able to go by themselves.
The episode was made in an excellent pace, so many events in such a short time! it made the episode look longer than it's actually is. Arktos didn't just set Green Land on fire, he also prepared everything to envade it, after throwing snow over the ashes of the defeated country.

Overall, I think this episode was more than just good, it showed us who this little dragon really is - the leader, the hero, a very kind and smart creature, who you can trust your safety and your life. It had good animation, amazing music, and a very intence story, which excellently filled it's timeslot.






Kindness is, no doubt, the greatest quality we have. It tells us doing good to others, anyone we know, not just our friends.It tells us to have compassion towards others, think about others ahead of ourselves. And this episode in particlular, is about this quality.
The episode begins with yet another Arktos'es attack on Green Land, and we see James'es nastiet side here, which as we know, will be gone forever soon. With this attack, Arktos ruins the feast GreenLanders prepared, and James actually sais he likes it...
After the ruined feast, Tabaluga and Happy discuss how they don't understand why are some guys are just... nasty... Why do they do that?  Nessaya sais it's Arktos'es influence, which, as we all know, true. This episode raises the great topic of good and evil, and later on, shows which side is superior.
We move to the Glass Town where Arktos celebrates his yet another small victory, so James suggests him to eat fruit, telling the snowman that he'll live longer eating "what's good for you" (though Arktos is an immortal, does he need something to live longer anyway?), and sends James for another mission in Green Land, to steal all fruit. This day's constume - a clown, Arktos wants James to truck Greenlanders into giving away their fruit, and giving his most loyal servant limited time(is there any limit of Arktos'es tyranny?)
Before James arrives, we see Greelanders working in a field with Tabaluga. I think this is an excellent example for everyone, an excellent lesson about working and not being lazy in your life. After succeeding in his plan, James carries all those fruit away, still being in the clown costume. Encountering the penguin many times before, Tabaluga recognizes his voice and follows him. While trying to escape, James loses control of the arktoplan and starts falling, but of course, a hero like Tabaluga will not let someone die, even his enemy.




Our young dragon hero rescues James with a kind smile on his face. I am unable to fully describe how much I love the scene where James feels uncomfortable being around enemies who mean him no harm, and the dragon, the archemeny of his master, suggests him friendship with the same kind smile he rescued his life. And as Digbe will be fixing the arktoplan, Tabaluga decides to cover James by replacing him in Glass Town, wearing the clown constume and infecting everyone with cheerful kindness and love

Still wearing the costume on the grounds of being stuck in it, Tabaluga says that he didn't bring the
fruit Arktos ordered James to.
"Stealing is dishonest" -that line completely shocks everyone in the room, hearing such words from THAT
penguin!



Arktos orders him to make the fruit ice cream with the last apple remaining in their hothouse, after Tabaluga leaves:
"Shouhu, do you detect a hint of decency in the air?" One of those lines that makes me proud of this
series. Although looking like a show for little kids for most people on the first sight, this show has a
lot mature and intelligent lines which you can never hear in a regular show for little kids, making it a
really great cartoon series for everyone.
I also am unable to expresshow much I loved seeing Tabaluga disguised as James, helping everyone
and making them... happy.






As kindness flows through us all, and we share this feeling just like this little dragon shared the the
glastown dwellers, it fills us with with the undescribable feeling of inner joy and happiness, and desire
to share it with others.
When James stayed in Green Land, Tabaluga suggested him to try helping others, while Didbe is fixing his
arktoplan. The scenes where he in fact, does that... are also filled with true peacefulness and kindness
which shown as an example throughout this whole series, that kindness is the best way of life, which
brings peace and eternal happiness in our souls... a way, which we should all follow. Kindness and
friendship.
"Goodness is catching... Just like badness" - Nessaya
After ruining the overall desparate and hostile mood of the Glass town people, and turning it into
kindness and happiness, Tabaluga(with his kind like always smile) walks around the Glass Town happy of
joy.
Arktos is totally sick of it, so he decided to punish James for ruining his tyranny in the glass town
"No one's ever been happy in Ice world, it's unnatural!"
The episode contains a message of kindness, which has always been the most important quality for me in
life. It also gives hope that maybe one day, our inner common sence and desire to help others around us
will finally prevail over meaningless selfishness and bring peace to our hearts by allowing us to share...
to love... to feel, that we are not alone, never, and there is always somebody beside us who will not look
the other way if we are in trouble.

i will be Tabaluga

№5




Here comes one of the most epic episodes in the list. And boy, would I be a liar to say that it didn't influence my perception about the whole series.
This is one of those episodes, which make it close to perfection, everything in it feels in place, and everything has a reason. While the opening sequence of abducting Digby didn't seem like something out of the ordinary, what was happening next is just what this series is(and in my opinion should be) about.

After Digby gets abducted by Vulture, he is taken to Ice World and everyone who saw this happen rush to Tabaluga to ask him for help. Even though he is so young, everyone already seems to be counting on him. So he immediately devices a plan to save his friend. And this plan is unlike any resque plan I've ever seen before.
He askes Greenlanders for help, and they don't hesitate.



This is actually another example of Tabaluga becoming a great leader, and because he is a dragon and carries legacy of his father, the other Greenlanders follow him.
After the snowthrowers are captured by the Greenlanders thanks to cowardice of Arktos'es servants and Arktos leaves along with James



And while Glass Town dwellers are in a disarray, Tabaluga and Happy sneak into the dark throne room, looking for Digby:



And there we find the wisest character of all - Shouhu. The mysteriousness of this scene is astounding. The whole atmosphere - the colors, the soundtrack, everything is in it's place here and every little bit of it is executed flawlessly. Shouhu invites them to look into the crystal ball. Naturally, Happy doesn't trust the Glass Town dweller, so she decides to look at it first, protecting Tabaluga, who on the other hand seems to be more naive and trusting than her. However, this owl is not what he may seem. From the first time I ever saw him in Glass Town with Arktos, I thought he was an ordinary sidekick of a villain, who possesses magic and assists the main villain in all ways he can(for example, when I was a kid I used to watch a fantasy show "The Legend of William Tell" where the main villain had a sidekick wizard with a crystal ball). But This is not some simple and cliched show, no, it's not. Not even close. Shouhu indeed is a friend an ally of Tabaluga and Green Land and he proves it with what he shows to Tabaluga and Happy, the story about the end of Tyrion's age in Green Land....of Tabaluga's father.
Shouhu shows the last day of Tyrion's life to the dragon and the snow hare:
"It has never been our intention to defeat Arktos completely. Never forget, that just as the existence of Green Land is essential to the harmony and balance of our planet, so is Ice World"
"It may be the Arktos'es own foolishness and conceit will keep Green Land safe, but... a close watch but be kept on him... I must ask you for a great sacrifice... If Arktos thinks he controls you and the crystal, he will become complacent, you will be close to him, you will be able to use your wit and cunning for the good of Green Land and of my son, Tabaluga "



This is honestly among the best writing I've ever seen in animated shows. This scene truly shows how incredible this series is. This is not some silly kiddy show(like seasons 2 and 3 are), this is something much greater.
Giving Shouhu with the crystal ball is indeed a very wise decision, because Arktos would think he already won and would not do serious harm to Green Land, only harassing it from time to time(like as saw in the first episode), but Shouhu's wisdom and cunning kept Arktos from freezing Green Land for a whole thousand years until Tabaluga was born. He is not just a smart advisor, he is actually a hero, who sacrifices his happiness in his home to keep it safe:



As for Tyrion, we see him fly to his final battle against Arktos'es minions, destroying all of the snowthrowers in mere seconds, showing how powerful an old dragon can be, until he loses his strength and, realizing that it's the end of his life, flies up in the sky and turning into a star...



Which is the saddest scene in the whole series. Which is both a signification that nobody lives forver and that it's Tabaluga's time now to take his father's place and be the protector Tyrion once was.
Tabaluga and Happy wipe their tears, as Shouhu tells them where they can find their friend Digby. Tabaluga wants to save Shouhu from the monstrous snowman and leave Glass Town together, but Shouhu tenderly pushes Tabaluga's hand away, saying that his task here is not yet over. This is actually an ingenious analogy to the final goodbye from Shouhu to Tyrion:



No matter how much I watch this cartoon, it never ceases to amaze me with how clever it is.

So Tabaluga and Happy go to the hall of fame, a place where Arktos keeps all of his ice statues and find Digby there. I need to point out yet again how clever that scene is made, because of the music in it. As Tabaluga and Happy look for Digby, the soundtrack that plays during that scene very much sounds like ticking of a clock, signifying that the time is running out and they don't have much of it. I very much recommend everyone to watch that scene again in the best earphones you have.

So the two save the mole and rush towards the exit, but as we saw before James and Arktos know about Tabaluga's diversion and want to stop the dragon and his friends from leaving, but as it turns out his army is blocked by a giant umbrella in one of corridors. Not the best scene to be honest, which I think could have been done differently.

Tabaluga, Happy, Digby and a few other animals they manage to rescue leave Glass Town on the boats, and are met by the Green Land army, who take them back home eventually.


I need to point out yet again how amazing this episode is. The story, the script, the soundtrack - almost everything was close to perfection in this, especially scenes with Shouhu, Tabaluga and Tyrion. Susan and Geoff Beak show potential as geniunly talented writers(hence one of reasons why seasons 2 and 3 were so bad, they weren't' writing any of the episodes there), and they only keep proving that in the future episodes.
Verdict - one of the absolute best episodes in the series, which shows the colossal epic potential this cartoon has and doesn't let us down even much later.

**for any previous comments towards this thread, please check >this link< **

Ok, let me just start off by apologizing for lack of reviews for such a long time. I don’t know why it takes me so much time to write them, it just does. But here I am returning to the mini-reviews for the episodes, yay
This episode is one of my favorites, and for me it was always a necessity to re-watch it at least once a year or so, and later you’ll find out why. This will be my most well-analyzed review of all, hence of one reasons why it took me so much time to actually get to writing it, because oooh yeah, the episode is complex enough to devote a lot of analysis to it.
So, the episode starts with Tabaluga and Happy sitting together on the dragon mountain, talking and eating apples, Happy realizes that she misses Ice world and it’s ice cream. So Tabaluga pretends to go after it, only to reveal that he was only joking



But suddenly, another Arkos’es weapon flies over them and hit the nearest volcano.






They check the volcano and Tabaluga makes an assumption that everyone will gather at the tree of Life, which is true



This particular moment always inspired me. We see Tabaluga slowly becoming the hero-dragon his father was, even though he’s still quite young, we see this confidence motivated by his responsibilities to protect Green Land.



We move to Glass Town, where we see Arktos testing his new weapon.



Here I need to point out the amazing artwork of Shouhu’s face


It really captures what’s on the old owl’s mind – true concern for something Tabaluga may not be able to beat at the same time despise for what Arktos is doing. Just goes to show how incredible this series is in every single aspect.


As usual, Vulture comes and speaks about the ultimatum




Seemingly giving Tabaluga an impossible choice – give himself up to Arktos so he wouldn’t use this weapon(of course everyone knows the snowman won’t keep his word and use it anyway) or wait until Arktos actually uses this weapon on Green Land and freezes it forever, because this special kind of snow does not melt in normal temperature.
So, Tabaluga, naturally wants and advice of someone who is much older and wiser than him, who would know how to deal with this type of situation. He also mentions how his fire is just too weak for melting all that ice. Green Land would be doomed long before he’d all of that ice. But of course, as a good mentor, she says she can’t give him a direct advice, but instead offer a way which would allow him to find the solution himself.



And finally, we are at the most intelligent part of this series – Chess. And oh boy, does that make it different from seasons 2 and 3 where chess theme is absent pretty much completely.
In a few hours Tabaluga and his friends gather on Nessaya’s island and, using our secondary characters as chess pieces, The dragon and the wise old turtle play a game of chess together



Of course, as it’s his first game, Tabaluga is having difficulties at making logical decisions, so Happy, as his queen in the game steps up to make a choice for him here, showing him the right way. That you can’t always play safe, sometimes you have to take risks, in hope that your opponent wouldn’t risk to do the same thing which would eventually lead to his failure.


The scene with Happy “no she won’t” both moves the plot forward and serves as a character driven scene, because this is exactly what Happy we know would do. This episode just shows again and again the superior writing this show has.



Let’s talk a little about Tabaluga’s imagination here. In it, he imagines what would the situation turn out to be if he was an adult dragon like his father



In his imagination, he, as a powerful fire breathing dragon melts all of the ice that Arktos brought upon Green Land, eliminating all that ice and driving the Ice world attack back, forcing Arktos and his forces to retreat. But as an outcome, lots of Green Land is damaged. The damage isn’t much smaller than the one caused by the one in episode 3 where lots of Green Land was destroyed by fire. And so he comes to realization that using force against Arktos could destroy Green Land, therefore, it’s not an option. It’s interesting to note something here. The music, the overall tone of this scene are pretty desperate, despite the end result being the victory over Arktos. This another recurring theme in the series – that using intelligence is usually far preferable than to use brute force, which in this case is – his fire. He can use it of course, but in ways that don’t harm anyone.
When Tabaluga’s friends leave and he is left with Nessaya alone he comes to an obvious conclusion of this lesson – he needs to think several moves ahead in order to beat Arktos in a complicated situation like this. Because realistically, there aren’t many options here which would not lead to any causalities. As he says himself, he needs to consider all his alternatives very carefully.


It’s pretty obvious though that the game of chess is ongoing scene throughout this season. Because both Tabaluga and Arktos are good strategists, and it often comes to a game of wits, of who is capable of thinking more moves ahead and analyze the situation better – wins. The game of chess is a great analogy of the season overall, with each episode just being one part of the large chess session, with secondary characters as this game’s pieces. Only unlike Arktos, Tabaluga would never sacrifice other character’s lives as his pawns; he cares about everyone, every life. The chess theme is also greatly reflected in “The tree of Life” episode I reviewed above, where Arktos sees Tabaluga as the king on the chessboard. This is a very intelligent part of the series which I absolutely love. It gives the series charm, certain aesthetics and style that no other show has. No wonder it was forgotten in later seasons as those were made for little kids only with zero depth to the story. Either way, let’s come back to the episode itself and Tabaluga.

So he comes to say a good bye to his friends, seemingly being ready to give himself up to Arktos, and calls Happy to say a good bye to her personally. A dramatic and beautiful scene as they are walking away.



So, Tabaluga gives himself up and already chained when he approaches Arktos.



They have a little talk where Tabaluga, probably strategically makes Arktos angry so he couldn’t think straight, while Shouhu doesn’t understand why would Tabaluga just give up instead of just stand and fight like any dragon would do.




When I watched this episode the first years, I thought about this scene a lot. It was a really nice touch of Shouhu wondering why Tabaluga gave himself up. Because – if Arktos didn’t know about Tabaluga’s and Happy’s last conversation, then so didn’t he. Just shows once again how masterful the writing of this episode is, pretty much everything is thought through. This is what’s called proper work on the script. You need to know every detail of the situation, as if it’s REALLY happening.


In the night, Happy reveales herself to be hidden in Tabaluga’s pouch, and steals the key from Arktos. Her overconfidence is criticized by Shouhu, but Tabaluga explains that this is just her own way of coping with her fears.



So later she and Tabaluga reveal their plan – to sabotage the ice bombs from the inside – the only easy and quiet way they can possibly be destroyed. So later, they sneak past Arktos’ guard and destroy the bombs: Happy makes holes in them and Tabaluga melts the inside, later covering the holes with snow.


But before that scene we hear this:



What the heck is right with this episode? It has every detail thought through so well it’s unbelievable. They even got right the thing that Happy is an iceworlder and it wouldn’t be a problem for her specifically to bite so much cold ice! I’m surprised because I noticed this for the first time ever when re-watching this episode. Mind. Blown. Because you see, when you watch your favorite old shows again and again you usually notice how flawed they are, that you used to idealize them in the past and they aren’t actually as good as you remember. Well with the first season of Tabaluga, it’s exactly the opposite. Every time I watch an episode of it I notice amazing things I didn’t notice before, whether it’s just soundtrack or a plot detail that fits the overall story perfectly, like in this particular case. Anyway, back to the episode.
Speaking of music though, I really love how dark and atmospheric is the scene where during Tabaluga’s and Happy’s sabotage operation we see Glass Town, the really dark music is playing. Very few cartoons ever did that



And of course, Shouhu tells Tabaluga about an excellent idea, given the dragon's strategic abilities



In the morning, when Arktos is ready for his triumph, he attracts Tabaluga’s attention to the bombs launch as they watch the results through Shouhu’s crystal ball. To surprise of all but 3 in that room, the bombs shower Green Land with water upon exploding instead of spreading snow like Arktos expected



This scene is absolutely amazing: not only it shows off a complete victory over Arktos’es plan, the music track that plays during it (although a short one) is one of the best I’ve ever heard in my life, and that says I lot because I have listened thousands of movie\video game soundtracks throughout my life. This is the top level music and it’s a huge shame the official soundtrack was never released, well, maybe one day. To me, this soundtrack perfectly describes the situation: the evil forces are defeated, but not entirely. While it’s absolutely magnificent as it’s every single note hits the right spot. I would call it “a small victory”. As the enemy is not entirely defeated, but the main characters prevailed to fight another day.
And so, as James brings the celebratory frosty-frost to Arktos, Tabaluga and Happy take it from him, as Happy really missed ice creams as she said early in this episode. James says that Tabaluga is completely trapped, frgetting that it’s the fire breathing dragon in an ice castle he’s talking about

And of course Tabaluga and Happy escape and fly back to Green land. In there, Happy mentions how much she likes the ice cream, while Tabaluga answers that he still prefers Green Land apples. A small bit for sure, but yet another example of good writing in the episode.







You see, in order for characters to be 3-dimentional, you need to let your viewers know what they like and dislike, otherwise they, naturally have no depth of character and therefore become flat and uninteresting. This is one of many things that made seasons 2 and 3 so bad, this is also one of many reasons why The Last Airbender movie failed so much, which is explained in Nostalgia critic’s review to it. A good writer knows his or her characters well enough to craft a good, believable story, which this episode exactly is.



Overall – one of the best episodes of the show. It’s extremely intelligent, it’s deep, it’s thought-provoking, it has the heart and emotions, it has character development, it explores the chess theme and explains why it’s present in the whole season. Simply put, it has… everything. Everything a good story needs to have and its incredible on every level. Despite the small budget the show managed to achieve THIS level with a single 20-minute episode of a kids TV show. ALL the elements in this episode work together as a flawless, perfectly crafted mechanism, which is why it’s so close to perfection. Brilliant.  If very animated show like this followed this formula… let’s just say it would be an amazing world to live in.