For those who don't know Dragon Tales, it was an educational cartoon aired on PBS from 1999 to 2005 that focuses on two kids, Max and Emmy, who move into a new house only to find a magical dragon scale in a toy chest. After saying a rhyme engraved in the box ("I wish I wish with all my heart to fly with dragons in a land apart"), they are whisked away to a magical world called Dragon Land, which is inhabited by friendly dragons, gnomes, and other magical creatures. They quickly befriend four dragons: the biggest (and least brave) of the group, Ord, who is a big eater and loves food, but is very scared of the dark, the most shy, kind and smartest of the group, the blonde dragon Cassie, and the conjoined twins Zak and Wheezie, who have a similar dynamic to Dr Nigel Channing and Figment. Zak likes things boring, mundane and calm, whereas Wheezie is full of imagination and is loud and cheerful, which leads to arguments between the two. They go to school and are taught by Quetzal, a wise old dragon from Mexico (Emmy and Max are also Mexican).
The series usually taught kids social and emotional values. The kids would go on adventures with their dragon friends, often getting into silly or turbulent situations; these stories were fun and entertaining with a beautiful artstyle and relatable likeable characters.
Now, ever since I first started watching Dragon Tales, the show always gave me Figment views. The artstyle, dreamy world the characters explored, and the colors of the show always reminded me of Figment's own friendly and dreamy atmosphere.
Ironically enough, just a month after Dragon Tales premiered, the terrible Journey Into YOUR Imagination opened it's doors, which got rid of Dreamfinder entirely and reduced Figment to a couple of brief cameos; in 1999, Dragon Tales had all of the imagination, and the Imagination ride had lost all of it. While Figment did eventually return in 2002, many felt the imagination was still lacking. Meanwhile, Dragon Tales had tons of imagination and excitement. It was massively popular in the 2000s, it's popularity peaked during the period in the months right after 9/11 to about 2004; by this point Dragon Tales had become the most popular PBS show in the ratings and the show reached 11 million viewers every week.
Meanwhile Figment was sitting in kind of a lackluster state; he was still around but not nearly as popular as he was from the mid-80s to the mid-90s. The new ride didn't have the same magic for most people as the original and Dreamfinder was still absent.
Interestingly enough, in August 2010 Kodak ended their sponsorship of the pavilion. And coincidentally, that same month, Dragon Tales would stop airing entirely on PBS and fade into irrelevance (production of Dragon Tales stopped in 2005, but it was still popular in the late 2000s).
However, Figment did seem to have a resurgence in the 2010s. His ride wasn't popular by any means, but more fondness for Figment appeared; he even got a comic series with Dreamfinder appearing in the mid 2010s. Meanwhile Dragon Tales has been irrelevant since it left PBS (although it had a brief resurgence in 2018 when TheOdds1Out covered it in his "Growing Up Without Cable" video). There's been the occasional rumor that a reboot will be made, but nothing has ever happened.
Wheezie in particular is a lot like Figment, except Wheezie is a girl and is conjoined to Zak. To me Dragon Tales is the closest thing to a Journey Into Imagination cartoon; there were a few shorts with Figment in the 80s but not an actual cartoon. Only thing Dragon Tales doesn't really have is a Dreamfinder-sequel character (Captain Scallywag, a minor side character comes closest).
The series usually taught kids social and emotional values. The kids would go on adventures with their dragon friends, often getting into silly or turbulent situations; these stories were fun and entertaining with a beautiful artstyle and relatable likeable characters.
Now, ever since I first started watching Dragon Tales, the show always gave me Figment views. The artstyle, dreamy world the characters explored, and the colors of the show always reminded me of Figment's own friendly and dreamy atmosphere.
Ironically enough, just a month after Dragon Tales premiered, the terrible Journey Into YOUR Imagination opened it's doors, which got rid of Dreamfinder entirely and reduced Figment to a couple of brief cameos; in 1999, Dragon Tales had all of the imagination, and the Imagination ride had lost all of it. While Figment did eventually return in 2002, many felt the imagination was still lacking. Meanwhile, Dragon Tales had tons of imagination and excitement. It was massively popular in the 2000s, it's popularity peaked during the period in the months right after 9/11 to about 2004; by this point Dragon Tales had become the most popular PBS show in the ratings and the show reached 11 million viewers every week.
Meanwhile Figment was sitting in kind of a lackluster state; he was still around but not nearly as popular as he was from the mid-80s to the mid-90s. The new ride didn't have the same magic for most people as the original and Dreamfinder was still absent.
Interestingly enough, in August 2010 Kodak ended their sponsorship of the pavilion. And coincidentally, that same month, Dragon Tales would stop airing entirely on PBS and fade into irrelevance (production of Dragon Tales stopped in 2005, but it was still popular in the late 2000s).
However, Figment did seem to have a resurgence in the 2010s. His ride wasn't popular by any means, but more fondness for Figment appeared; he even got a comic series with Dreamfinder appearing in the mid 2010s. Meanwhile Dragon Tales has been irrelevant since it left PBS (although it had a brief resurgence in 2018 when TheOdds1Out covered it in his "Growing Up Without Cable" video). There's been the occasional rumor that a reboot will be made, but nothing has ever happened.
Wheezie in particular is a lot like Figment, except Wheezie is a girl and is conjoined to Zak. To me Dragon Tales is the closest thing to a Journey Into Imagination cartoon; there were a few shorts with Figment in the 80s but not an actual cartoon. Only thing Dragon Tales doesn't really have is a Dreamfinder-sequel character (Captain Scallywag, a minor side character comes closest).