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American Dragon: Jake Long

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American Dragon: Jake Long
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Created byJeff Goode
StarringDante Basco
Keone Young
John DiMaggio
Amy Bruckner
Miss Kittie
Charlie Finn
Country of originUSA
No. of episodes21
Production
Running time30min
Original release
NetworkDisney Channel
ReleaseJanuary 21 2005 –
present
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American Dragon: Jake Long is an animated television series on Disney Channel.

Premise

Jake Long is an ordinary thirteen-year-old Chinese-American boy living in New York City… except for the fact that he can transform into a mystical dragon. A descendant of a long line of dragons, it is his duty to protect the community of magical creatures secretly living among the masses in New York. He lives with his parents and his 7-year-old sister (Haley). His grandfather and sister are also dragons; the dragon powers skipped his mother's (Lauren Tom) generation, and his father (Jeff Bennett) is unaware of his family being dragons. Throughout the series, Jake is taught how to use his innate magical powers by his grandfather and a 600-year-old dog (Fu Dog). Jake needs these powers to protect the other magical creatures of the city from the villainous Huntsclan led by the Huntsman. His best friends are Trixie and Spud, with whom he skateboards, and he is in love with Rose, another schoolmate, also known as Thorn the Huntsgirl. The stories are driven by Jake's searching for balance between his life as a schoolboy and his secret life as a powerful magical guardian.

The name Long is a pun on the Chinese word for dragon.

Series Update

Disney has commissioned a second season of the American Dragon. Read more here.[1]

Production

American Dragon: Jake Long was created by Jeff Goode, who also created the hit MTV series Undressed. Walt Disney Television Animation ordered an initial 24 30-minute episodes for the first season, of which 22 have been made. It was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on The Disney Channel on January 4, 2005 and in the United States on The Disney Channel on January 21, 2005. It has also been broadcast on The Family Channel in some places.

The theme song is performed by the band Mavin, previously known as 'Badge'.

It has been announced that Steve Loter, former director of Disney Channel's Kim Possible, will be joining the show for its second season as director and executive producer (alongside the current executive producers, Matt Negrete and Eddie Guzelian). Loter will be bringing several other members of the Kim Possible team with him to the show.

Major characters

  • Jake Long (Dante Basco): The hero of the show, Jake is a cool, laid back skateboarder. He had a crush on Rose, until he found out she was actually the Huntsgirl. A running gag involves the mention of his embarrassing secrets (like sleeping with a nightlight, a repeat of Ron's issues Kim Possible) to emblemish his reputation.
  • Lao Shi (Keone Young): Jake's grandpa is a Chinese dragon. He runs a tech shop, and his only friend is Fu Dog. His attempts at training Jake sometimes do more damage (to Jake's brain) than help. His name is a reference to the Chinese word for "teacher." In his youth, before his first encounter with the Dark Dragon, Jake's grandpa was known as Lucky Lao Shi.
  • Fu Dog (John DiMaggio): Fu is a 600-year-old talking dog and Lao's only companion. All throughout his lifetime he and a hairless talking cat have fought over Fu's family amulet (causing famous disasters along the way). He is more "hip" than Lao.
  • Haley Long (Amy Bruckner): Jake's intelligent (if not annoying) little sister, who takes pride in her ability to expose all of Jake's secrets and highlight her own.
  • Trixie Carson (Miss Kittie): Jake's best friend and just as cool as he is. A hardcore fashionista
  • Spud (Charlie Finn): Jake's other best friend is extremely loyal and somewhat slow. However, he comes up with intelligent things to say at random times. He also has the entire works of Shakespeare committed to memory.
  • Professor Hans Rotwood (Paul Rugg): Jake's schoolteacher's obsessive interest in magical creatures, and his quest to find the dragon that is Jake, echoes the behavior of Mr. Crocker, the teacher in the series The Fairly OddParents. Professor Rotwood styles himself as an expert on mythical creatures, but his knowledge is superficial and his expertise a fraud, unlike Crocker, who seems to know everything about his obsession, fairies.
  • Rose (Mae Whitman): Rose, Jake's former crush, is also Thorn the Huntsgirl, the Huntsman's niece and a member of the Huntsclan. There is a red birthmark on her arm resembling a Chinese dragon.
  • The Huntsman or Huntsmaster (as referred to by Thorn) (Jeff Bennett): The leader of the Huntsclan; thieves that hunt and steal magical creatures for profit. They are highly trained and use sophisticated weapons. Huntsclan members have a specific birthmark that resemble a dragon. His true name and face were never shown. The Huntsman is #4 of the 13 threats to the magic community.

Dragon Powers

By shouting 'Dragon up!' Jake is endowed with the appearance and powers of a youthful dragon; he can naturally fly and gains immense strength; he is granted the ability to breathe, or more rudely, flatulate fire, ranging from missiles to rapid fire elements; the American Dragon's sensory powers, which include super hearing and infrared vision, give him an edge on his opponents; and finally, he is a superb master of martial arts, but he seldom uses weapons. It's not known whether he is invulnerable or not.

Note: All dragons gain similar powers. However, some of them are born with the other elements such as light, ice, and energy. So far, the Dark Dragon, Jake's current nemesis, displays a force of darkness and generates shadow minions. Another point to note is that the dragon's only weaknesses are magic and sphinx hair.

Magical Creatures and Characters

  • Dragons: protectors of magical creatures, although not necessarily entirely good. Most of their powers are in selected humans like Jake.
    • Dark Dragon (Clancy Brown): Jake's arch-enemy and the #1 threat to the magical community out of other 13 threats, the strongest of the many opponents of the protective dragons including Jake's grandpa. His goal is to assemble an army of evil magical creatures to destroy the humans and take over the Earth. His 'human form' (if there is) is yet to be shown.
    • The Dragon Council: The Dragon Council are a group of elder and well-trained dragons that monitor all activity involving dragons around the world. They live on the Isle of Draco. One of the members was Councillor Chang (Lauren Tom) who secretly worked for Dark Dragon, before being sent to jail.
  • Elves
  • Fairies
  • Gargoyles: One lives atop the Empire State Building.
  • Genies
  • Giants: Giants & Giantesses are portrayed as peaceful folk in this series.
  • Goblins: As always, goblins are portrayed as crafty creatures. A mob boss named Herbert even controls some 'black market' operations in New York's magical underworld. Goblins have a keen sense of smell.
  • Gremlins: Curious little imps who take apart electronic devices and machines to learn how they work. They are known to drift to sleep when listening to soothing island music.
  • Harpies
  • Humans: Yes, believe it or not. Humans are capable of great things. Aside from Jake and the other half-dragons, there are other people with 'special' talents:
    • Eli E. Pandarus (Jonathan Freeman): Pandarus is a rich and famous hotel owner, who in reality is a dark wizard who uses his magic to control Wall Street.
    • Oracles are humans (though not limited to) with the ability to see the future. Sara & Kara (Tara Strong) are twin Oracles descended from those of Delphi . Sara is always chippier, yet she always sees bad things happen. Kara is always sarcastic and pessimistic, but she does see good things.
    • Dr. Diente (John C. McGinley): Diente is the tooth fairy's assistant. He betrayed her and wanted to get his hands on Haley's tooth to unleash an unspeakable evil! This character is currently deceased after the battle with Jake (you can tell after Jake electrocuted him by hitting him with a TV screen and you notice Diente's glasses lying on the ground).
  • Jack Frost
  • The Jersey Devil: One lives in the forests near a Sprite village.
  • Mermaids: Some Mermaids live in the Hudson River.
  • Nixes: Nixies a serpentine creatures whose true forms are exposed when the full moon is high above the sky. They are known to steal souls for nourishment.
  • Ogres: Creatures related to giants and trolls.
  • Miscellaneous Quadrupeds
  • Santa Claus
  • Tooth Minions: creatures composed of teeth who follow the bidding of the wielder of the tooth fairy's wand.
  • Trolls: One lives under the Triborough Troll Bridge. Troll fur turns into monstrous hairballs when exposed to sunlight and/or fire.
  • Yeti: One lives in the mountains near a ski lodge.

Places

  • Canal Street Electronics The electronics store that Granpda owns and trains Jake in.
  • Central Park Where Jake has most of his battles.
  • Draco Island The island where the Dragon Summit was held and where the Dragon council resides.
  • Magus Bizarre The Magus Bizarre is a magical market where magical creatures and beings could shop and socialize.
  • Millard Fillmore Middle School The school that Jake, Trixie and Spud attend.

Episodes Aired on Television

Next Episode

Keeping Shop Dec 15

Controversy

  • Many see similarities between this show and Danny Phantom. Both are teens who have supernatural powers, embarrassing parents, nosy sisters, two best friends (boy and girl), a crush on a girl outside of their nationality, an unlikable teacher, a quarterback bully, and an arch-enemy who has the same powers they do. They also have battle cries ("Goin' Ghost" and "Dragon Up"). A few also found similarities between this show and The Life and Times of Juniper Lee.
  • Many audiences had mixed opinions about Jake's personality: a Asian-american who 'excessively' speaks in street slang. Most liked it or gave no care whatsover, others despised it for being 'too irritating'. There is no doubt that Jake's personality is a homage to the second and third-generation immigrants who willingly embraced American culture (and adapted to its varying accents). This may also explain why Jake transforms into a western-style dragon instead of an eastern-style Lung like Lao Shi.

References

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