The video accompanying this project (turn the english subtitles ON ^^)
If, like me, you grew up watching the animated series of the 2000s, those broadcast on Disney Channel should be among your favorites. There was a bit of everything : spin-offs for the films of this experimental period of the studios, "Kim Possible" for the adventurers among us, "Buzz Lightyear of Star Command" for space-opera fans and urban fantasy fans were entitled to "American Dragon: Jake Long" !
In my new pitch, the world would be mostly like how it is in the original series. Except that not all dragons have the charge of a specific territory. This is the role of the Dragon Protectors, trained and formed to defend magical beings and humans from each other. And if a Potential is particularly worthy, then the Great Council of Dragons designates them as some place's Protector and entrusts them to a familiar spirit, in charge of assisting them in their task. Under the tutelage of his maternal grandfather, Jake Long learns to control his dragon powers in New-York City so that he can become its Protector in the future. And as in the original series, it will be a semi-follow up story in which Jake will become aware of the responsibilities of a Dragon Protector, learn more about the magical world and face the setbacks of the transition to adulthood.
Name : Jake Long
Age : 13
Occupations : middle-schooler, dragon in training
Territory : New-York City
Power/Abilities : acrobatics, skateboarding, dancing, transformation, ochre-colored flames, sharp senses, improvisation, flying, fighting
Likes : skating, rap, hanging out with his pals, winning, his family, magical beings
Hates : studying, losing, bullies/show-offs, his loved ones being hurt, the Huntsclan, the Dark Dragon
To read how I would rewrite him, just check the pitch ^^
Name : Luong Lao Shi
Age : 60s
Occupations : electronics store owner, ex-Dragon Protector
Territory : Hong Kong (formerly)
Power/Abilities : transformation, white flames, sharp senses, flying, fighting, magical knowledge, tinkering
Likes : his family, magical beings, reading, disco
Hates : his loved ones being hurt, the Huntsclan, the Dark Dragon, insolence, scammers, bad drivers
Name : Fu Dog
Age : 600 (approx.)
Occupations : ex-familiar, pet/therapy dog
Dragon charge : Luong Lao Shi
Power/Abilities : speech, bipedal walk, magical knowledge, alchemy, bargaining, spying
Likes : his family, magical beings, betting, winning his bets, romance, enjoying life
Hates : his loved ones being hurt, the Huntsclan, the Dark Dragon, losing his bets, having debts, getting scammed, talking about the past
In my new pitch, Lao Shi is the former Protector Dragon of Hong Kong and Fu Dog was his familiar spirit. Except that after being seriously injured in his duel against the Dark Dragon, Lao Shi had to stop everything and Fu Dog was deprived of most of his powers for not having properly protected Lao Shi. Years later, as Jake shows that he inherited the dragon powers from their family, Lao Shi decides to train him to become the New York Protector Dragon and be ready should the Dark Dragon ever return. But is he really doing it to protect Jake, or is he doing it for revenge... ?
Name : Trixie "Trix" Carter
Age : 13
Occupations : middle-schooler, DJ in training
Territory : New-York City
Power/Abilities : acrobatics, skateboarding, dancing, music mixing, improvisation, marketing
Likes : her family, skating, being DJ, rap, hanging out with her pals
Hates : her loved ones being hurt, biology, bullies/show-offs, stereotypes
Name : Arthur "Spud" Spudinski
Age : 13
Occupations : middl-schooler, busboy
Territory : New-York City
Power/Abilities : acrobatics, skateboarding, dancing, computer science, research, improvisation
Likes : his family, skating, eating, rap, hanging out with his pals
Hates : his loved ones being hurt, proving his intelligence, bullies/show-offs
In my new pitch, Trixie would be the band’s main music fan and would be the amateur DJ at the school parties; so I gave her a headset. For Spud I want to take the "lazy and weird but brilliant" approach. Namely that he pretends to be an average student -AVERAGE, not stupid- to camouflage his intellect known only to Jake and Tracy. That doesn’t stop him from playing with the school machines to have fun anonymously. The both of them will be Jake’s best friends since elementary school and then his partners once informed of his magical identity. Moreover, they will guarantee a certain simplicity/normality in the regime sometimes too strict to which Lao Shi submits him.
Name : Rose
Age : 14
Occupations : middle-schooler, Huntsmaster's ward and apprentice
Territory : New-York City
Power/Abilities : acrobatics, combat, improvisation, weapons handling, dancing, acting
Likes : reading, acting, variety music, being with friends
Hates : magical beings, dragons, suck-ups, broccoli
In my new pitch, I would like to focus a little more on her heel-face turn. Rose grew up in hatred and disgust of magical beings, who were always designated as natural errors by the Huntsclan. Especially Dragons who, with their power of transformation, are insults to Humanity -from the Hunters' point of view, I mean. She's therefore convinced to act in the interest of mankin by helping these genocidal poachers. And when she learns that the boy for whom she developed a little crush is actually one of those monsters she was taught to kill on sight, you can imagine that her vision of life and the rest collapses in a huge crash. Will Rose accept to change her vision of things, or will she sink into the darkness she's always known ?
