Jake Long: American Dragon – Forgotten Childhood
Hello again, nostalgia addicts! This week on Forgotten Childhood, we’re taking a look at once of the many cartoons from the after school Disney Channel vault, Jake Long: American Dragon. Back in the day when shows like Jackie Chan Adventures and the original Avatar were popular, Disney was seemingly looking for a way to incorporate more eastern culture into their repertoire. One of their best attempts came in the shape of Jake Long, a show about magical creatures living underground in New York City, protected by the American Dragon from all who wish to harm them. The one problem with this idea being that the American Dragon is a teenager seemingly hitting dragon puberty, so mishaps occur every week. Jake has to learn from his grandfather about being a great, powerful and responsible dragon in order to protect the entire magical population of New York from harm.
When I was a kid I quite enjoyed this show, it wasn’t my favourite but it had a nice vibe, good humor, the classic attempt by studio executives to try and make a show ‘hip’ by adding hip hop to it and of course, dragons. Every show gets better when you add dragons, just look at Game Of Thrones! Jake Long may have been aimed at a male audience given the male POV and Kung Fu fighting aspects, but it had a lot of appeal to a young geek girl such as myself who was obsessed with all things magical. It created a world that may have been a bit removed from classic mythology, but it was unique and managed to do a lot with what was an overused format (magical world hiding in plain sight? Nope, definitely never seen that done before!) The one thing I disliked about this show as a kid, and this is how you know the execs were trying too hard, was the ‘hip’ lingo they tried to slip into every episode. If an 11 year old thinks you’re trying to hard to use words like “fresh” and “mac daddy”, maybe it’s time you toned it down, Disney!
Now, you may have noticed if you read any of my other Forgotten Childhood’s but I seemed to have a good ear for voice actors as a kid. Maybe I was just destined for the convention scene but when I was watching Jake Long I instantly recognised Prince Zuko from Avatar, also known as Dante Basco. However, there is one voice actor that has been popping up on my nostalgia trips lately that I apparently completely spaced on. Jake’s grandfather has a dog named Foo. The character is mostly used as a comic relief, popping up to make some jokes at Jake’s expense or get himself into trouble occassionally. However, I’m surprised that in all the time I was watching this show I never noticed John DiMaggio voiced him. I mean, really! I spent most of my childhood with Futurama, you’d think I’d have noticed one of their most iconic voices in other shows and games, but I guess the divide between Disney Channel being marked as a ‘Kids’ channel and Futurama being on Sky One was enough of a difference in my mind that I never thought they could mix. Oh how naive I was!
So, as an adult will I be reliving my childhood days and going on a binge of silly dragon shows? Probably not. As fun as it was watching Jake Long again and seeing all the wacky antics the American Dragon got into week after week, I’d like to think my tastes have matured. That and I have like 2 whole seasons of Game of Thrones to catch up on! Though seriously, if anyone wants to make a cross over where Jake meets Daenaerys, send it my way, cos that’d be hilarious!
