oh my god!!! QUBO KIDS ITS OUR TIME!!!! we love public access tv in this house. no one ever knows this show and when I show them the animation style they're always terrified.
I do remember this show but like very vaguely 😭 like it just feels like a fever dream memory like it didn't actually happen and I feel bad bc I'm pretty sure I watched it a lot
There is a kingdom tho, we see the market in one of the episodes where Gunther's dad is his lil sh1t per usual and manipulates his son for his own monetary gain even risking Gunther's honor (as if he ever gives two sh1ts about his son)
man if an enemy nation invaded their land then that kingdom is toast, with the only line of defense being an old knight, an buffoon, two children, and an idiotic king, the only trump card they would have is dragon, but even then I would imagine Dragon getting overwhelmed with superior weapons.
I actually like how the show looks, like its weird, quircky, off-putting and definitely a product of its time, but it's charming and nostalgic and I genuinely like it.
For the time, it was pretty good! The faces adequately convey emotions, the movement cycles don't look too ragdoll-esque, it was pretty good for the time frame.
I fully blame this series for my lifelong hyper fixation on any dragon adjacent media and content. It's seared into my brain and I will randomly remember its existence every few months despite the fact I can't remember a single actual thing that happened in it.
Before even watching the video just the thumbnail alone made my brain go “hey now hey now now jane and the dragon are best friends now” as a horrifically ugly animated child with a dora the explorer haircut is seared into my memory once again
"Dragon's Sweet. He let me save the young prince, then the king made me a knight apprentice. (Hey now, hey now now) With Dragon's help I'll be a knight someday." 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Sorry I just had to pick up where you left off. I love this show and the theme song.
I think the animation was so cursed because it’s a really uncanny looking blend of cartoon and “realistic” and they used MOCAP. I still love it to pieces though 😂
I never thought of the animation as THAT bad, but I get what you mean. You know what they say, though. A good story can save a bad animation but a good animation can't save a bad story!
This show has a SURPRISING Amount of Lore The Showrunners were Really banking on this being a bigger franchise Given how the Shows Old website gave a ton of Info on the characters. For example, Jester and Gunther both have feelings for Jane, but Jane is only aware of Jester's crush and only sees him as a brother she doesn't want to tell him this as she knows it'll break his heart as for Gunther his refusals to swallow his pride is the main reason WHY he doesn't confess to Jane.
i dont know why people do that, they put all the lore where no one goes yet almost barely any in the show then act surprised when the show fails, cause this show was waaaay back when it was mostly adults on the internet, kids werent going "oh oh i wanna know more, maybe i should google it"
@gothic_ace2037 I did some research on this show back in 2010 and I remember reading on the old website they wanted this show to air on CN but they turned it down hence why they slapped it on Qubo
@gothic_ace2037 That's because They Planned for more Seasons where this Info would be revealed for example Gunther's Mother died due to a Unknown Illness that caused his Father to Snap.
@gothic_ace2037 way back in 2005? I mean, you're right, most people online were adults but channels geared towards kids had big websites with games and stuff, and they advertised them on the channels. It's not like the internet was some sort of mystical fantasy land at that point.
Jane and the dragon? JANE AND THE DRAGON?!?!! I HAVEN'T HEARD THAT SINCE... EVER??? Edit: I strangely agree with your reboot idea, that sounds... Kinda sick?
While I love the idea of a reboot of this masterpiece, now a days, reboots usually tend to suck and just loses that charm the original has. (Not counting DuckTales, they did fine)
I was like, "Oh, so that's the show I barely remember." It had faded to the point of barely knowing something vaguely relating to "a show with a girl and a dragon" once existed. And yet, I recognize almost every one of the faces in this video. Amazing.
Honestly, the animation style is surprisingly high quality for a kid's show that isn't all that well known. Maybe I'm just used to seeing too many cursed low-budget movies or comparing it to the Barbie movies I loved as a kid, but honestly, it's _not_ that bad! The hair physics look fantastic, everyone's fully rendered, the fabric moves naturally and nothing about the set designs feel super lifeless or last-minute. You can clearly tell that the people who made this show cared about it. Love to see it!
the actual "YO?" i let out when i saw this video in my recommend. this show was one of a few that i barely see talked about to the point that i thought it was a sick-from-school-and-stuck-on-the-couch hallucination. the theme song is still in my head and i'm pretty sure this plus watching lotr are what made me ask my mom to take me to a ren faire as a kid
Oh yeah, totally remember this one. And yes, that violin piece has been living rent free in my head for years. It's funny you picked up on the whole "kingdom being nearly empty" thing too bc as a kid, while i think i knew it had to do with budget constraints, i always liked to imagine it was the result of a recent plague 💀
Oh, a plague makes so much sense! And yeah, someone else in the comments said that it was confirmed on a website that most of the people were let go because of the king’s poor financial situation.
Thank God I didn't make the show up in my head at 2 am as a kid. Every time I tried bringing it up no one remembered or knew what I was talking about.😅. I even ended up forgetting it eventually.
don't even doubt that I can sing the entire theme song verbatim, unprompted, at a moment's notice i didn't even like the show, but that song was a banger
It's wild how familiar every character looks, I haven't watched this show in 10 years but it feels like they've been the default character models in my dreams or something
I agree I remember watching this when I was a kid at my grandparents house and my grandma would watch it with me and she really loved the artstyle as well!
qubo being talked about in 2024?? thank you for bringing back fond memories!! jane and the dragon was my favorite cartoon as a kid and i always looked forwards to a second season. that was before learning, qubo just aired canceled shows. i'd do anything for a revival.
I really liked the series, the art style reminded me of Shrek. I hope we get to see a revival and see Jane progress to an adult with traditional 2d/3d animation such as Puss in Boots 2 instead of motion capture.
I've only seen one episode of this show, and knowing it was one of the last episodes explains a lot. It was the "Sir Theodore being revealed to be from a lineage of dragon slayers." In retrospect it explains why that episode felt so serious.
I think I’m the biggest Jane and the dragon fan ever. This video was made for ME and ME ALONE! When I was a kid I had a dvd of the first 5 episodes of Jane and the dragon I rewatched them so many times to the point that I could recite them word for word as I watched them. I never knew more episodes existed. We had dish growing up and they would give you one free network that you didn’t have for a month every month and ONE month they gave us the Jane and the dragon channel. I was amazed i couldn’t believe that there were more episodes I vividly remember watching the episode with that boar and just being blown away but that free month ended and I never got to finish the series until I was in college and I found them all on RU-vid it was genuinely the best feeling in the world being able to watch every episode after all those years. I genuinely love Jane and the dragon so much it’s so underrated and everyone i talk to about it says that they hated it growing up or that it was scary they just don’t get it like I do.
When a 20-year old low-budget children’s cartoon has the same level and style of backgrounds as Disney’s 100-year anniversary legacy film…nice job, Disney. Next, maybe you’ll figure out how to design characters as beautifully as Angela Anaconda. The fact that this show went so much harder back in the day with what little resources they had than Disney does now with their major films is BAFFLING to me…
There's no contrast and I hate it. Also something very wrong goes on with the shoulders of a lot of the characters. Also the way their arms hang limply by their side half the time with the dead hands.
I'm already doing a lot of animated projects, but now I wanna do some Jane and the Dragon even though my specialty is 2D animation. I remember this back when I was a kid, and honestly I would KILL to see a reboot of this! Going for a style that's similar to Nimona but also pushing the storybook look would be quite perfect, and your story pitch does leave for some creative wiggle room.
Qubo was such a part of my childhood, I watched it most days before I went off to early kindergarten. Loved Jane and the dragon and the intro song is such a banger for no reason
I remember this as a kid and I'm a vfx artist now for a 2005/6 production that level of fidelity with the hair and cloth sims is insane for childrens show, let alone being done with mocap. My brain is lokey exploding, who the fuck invested that much time and money into something that is now mostly forgotten. applause to the artists back then, you could see the passion project that it was.
Oh yeah, for the time that was incredible, but looking back the faces can be a bit uncanny and the textures aren’t quite what we’re used to today. I should have mentioned the hair specifically because it was phenomenally done.
Literally as soon as a saw the thumbnail I instantly got flashes of this nostalgic cgi nightmare fuel to the tune of “hey now hey now now” this is a great vid thank you for the blast to the past
The biggest con of the merchant is bankrupting the kingdom through salt sales despite the fact the kingdom IS BY THE SEA. Lots of lore that wasn't touched on in the show. Martin Baynton decided to start a young adult novelization set like 4 ish years in the future called "Dragonblade" which fans have been keeping up with. It's available to read online. Ngl, as a fan, it's definitely unpolished in places and I think for some of us that remember these characters in a vacuum, some of the character plots feel jarring. Am still willing to give it a shot once it's been edited a bit more, but there's official content now if anyone wants to visit it.
yep I remember this show and anyone else ever just watch Brave and think hey Merida sort of reminds me of Jane? Also just now thought of this, but if anyone ever wondered what a child beteen Hicup and Merida would look like well here she is. Because she's got the determined spirit, the frizzy hair and she has a dragon Companion as well as a rune sword! Technicaly she's more like the mother of those two if you ask me and Merida and Hicup would be more like her children since I'm sure we looked at those movies and our inner child tugged at it in some way, feeling some secret nostalgia. Which is easy when you consider how fairy tales tend to enfluence new stories.
Y'all since we're on the subject of semi-obscure cartoons from the 2000s: does anybody else remember Dragon Hunters? The french cartoon with the ✨immaculate✨ visual style starring a big guy, a small guy and a Stitch lookalike that go dragon hunting among floating islands? That also used a song from The Cure as the opening? I'm from Italy and they used to air it as part of the same children's program that had Jane and the Dragon in it, and it's been living in my head rent free since then
I actually started writing a Dragon Hunters video a while back but lost interest due to the burnout of my Steven Universe video. I watched the 3D-CG movie as a kid, but only recently saw the show. I might just revisit that topic…
The lack of extra character models I think definitely reflects the budget of the show! But you are right, because of the lack of npcs it definitely feels very isolated and backrooms-y
I loved this show honestly most things on qubo were iconic. I'm just sad that it only got one season because they would talk about Merlin and I felt like they were going to really expand the lore
aw hell yeah, i still get the theme song for this show stuck in my head from time to time. unfortunately, i don't remember much of the show past that, but hopefully this can jog my memory some
No way for me! A lady stuck in waiting, I'd rather battle fire-breathing dragons I knew I could prove that a girl could be a knight but my friends all laughed at me.
My favorite episode is when the dragon is playing with one of her weapons and when she warns him to be careful of it he casually remarks that only a certain kind of weapon can even hurt dragons, and then recoils in surprise when it pricks him. It's like that exact moment he realized that his entire friendship was predicated on the fact that she was literally going to kill him and failed.
WOW, I never thought I'd hear about Qubo shows again; it's been so long I'd totally forgotten that channel. The moment I saw this in my recommendations, it's like a cane pulled up from behind and yanked me back to the early 2000s, sitting at the kitchen table while my parents flipped to the kids channels. This was one of those shows where my eyes lit up with joy whenever it came on. Yes, the CGI is _very_ of its time, but the style had charm. Thank you, sir, you've brought fond memories back from the depths of my childhood.
Yoooo, I was just rediscovering Anne of Green Gables when this popped up! I always thought the deeper lore was interesting, and it would be so nice if it was explored more in this hypothetical reboot we’re envisioning here. I didn’t realize how much I missed this series!
As a small child growing up around this show and watching it semi-regularly, this is a welcome video! I completely forgot this show existed. My parents would occasionally joke that I needed a dragon sidekick or something because I had red hair like Jane.
How the fuck did RU-vid know I watched Jane and the Dragon as a kid?! Also your voice really works for these essay/review style videos. I'd say keep at it!
Back when i was a kid, i saw the opening credits to this show at my grandma's, and then had to leave. I never saw or heard anything similar to it again. For 15 years i thought i just dreamt that little red head singing with her pet dragon up. When httyd and brave came out, i was certain those two movies were for sure where i had gotten that imagery from (even though i had only seen the posters of the movies and not the actual movies) but now i know i did not dream it and that it was its own thing. Thank you validating my sanity. For context, i did not grow up with cable, or internet, so the only things i could watch was what was on vhs, or dvd. So the only time i saw anything "broadcasted" was at grandma's and we rarely went there, so my parents wouldn't let us watch tv there bc they wanted to make sure we spent time with grandma
I think I saw this like once, either on PBS or Discovery Kid's (it was the episode where the prince got bitten by a pig or something). I knew the show existed, but it felt like some lost media/childhood memory thing who's existence I questioned.
As a Qubo kid, YES! The show was not my favorite thing from Qubo, but still a great show. (I mostly liked the talking animal ones like Marvin the Tap-Dancing Horse and Scaredy Squirrel because they were more cartoony and silly). Compared to what was on Nickelodeon and Cartoon network, I think Jane and the Dragon was a great show for kids because it wasn't filled with awkward innuendos and they didn't shove politics down your throats. If you do more videos on Qubo shows, please do research on Qubo throughout the yearts. I'm 21, and I watched Qubo literally from the beginning to the end! Like, it ended in 2021and I was still watching kids shows at 18 years old! In fact, I still watch a lot of those shows now!
I thought about this so much when I saw this show as a kid. I theorized that it was a whole Fallout type situation where the whole kingdom was killed by the plague except the isolated population of the castle. I need a reboot because I need answers about why this very minimal monarchy society exists!
@@brodriguez11000 Most of the show is animated in the third person, not the first person. Most media have unnamed characters or extras in the background to fill space and mimic reality, unless there is an explanation of why there aren't many people around. It is likely budgetary reasons that they didn't have unnamed background characters throughout most of the show. But, that isn't a very satisfying reason so it's fun to imagine alternative reasons that would be relevant to the world.
I loved this show as a kid. The theme song STILL spontaneously gets stuck in my head. Your vision for a reboot? Yeah I'd watch that. I might even help crowdfund it if that was an option, and I am vehemently opposed to crowdfunding (I always get screwed when I do it).
If I were in the industry, I’d love to pitch it around, but I don’t think that’ll happen anytime soon. Still, it would be neat if this video helped push the creator to consider it at all.
wow. i watched this as a kid. Now as an adult and 3d artist i can actually appreciate the work that went into making this show. for 2005 and a kids show budget the models are SO detailed, the characters are so expressive and rigged for mocap. the biggest thing holding it back is the lighting engine. i bet with better lighting and shadows the show wouldnt look bad at all. i can't believe they spent the time to do cloth physics and hair physics for something like this. i wouldn't be surprised if this show was one of my influences for pursuing 3d art. if anything deserves a sequel, its this show. but i doubt any modern studio would give it the budget, passion or time it deserves
I so remember this show on qubo on Saturday TV. I'm totally on a nostalgic trip after watching this video. I just hate that we never get answers about the Dragon sword Jane has or if Dragon was the last Dragon in the world. I remember 2 episodes that focused on both topics, but never fully went into depth with either topic. The thing about no other people in the kingdom other than the characters we know of, I do remember an episode where the King was educating Prince Cuthbert and people were leaving the throne room, and in the episode where the kingdom held a royal ball, you can hear people laughing at Jester's new jokes.
I absolutely love this show and wish it had continued, I so wanted to find out what all those dragon runes were about and if Dragon really is the last of his kind lol. I would totally watch a reboot of it!
11:41 By the time a Middle Ages kid reached their teens, they were considered eligible for marriage - so I’m not surprised that they have so much responsibility in the castle. The main unrealistic thing is them doing their jobs alone, as a medieval kitchen would have MULTIPLE cooks & kitchen staff (though still have a head cook who would definitely be older than Pepper) & Rake would have other gardeners helping him. Given the life expectancy of those in the Middle Ages, these kids would’ve started apprenticeships into these jobs as young as 10-12 years old. But I’m guessing they wanted to save on animating extras.
My sister used to watch this when she was little and I would sometimes watch it with her. Thank you for making a video on this show and triggering some good memories lol
Absolutely adored this as a child, remembered it existed like 6 months ago. Still have the theme song memorized. Obsessed with how janky it is, and this video is the call of the universe telling me to rewatch the whole thing. I am so glad I am not the only one who remembers this hidden gem Edit: I adore your ideas for the reboot. It builds on the original show so well.
I forgot this show existed but INSTANTLY recognized that dragon.. I never watched that much of it, I think I was too old by the time it came under my radar and I found it more grating than funny. But I'm really surprised with the bold choice in texturing they made. The enviorments look great, although could be a lot better with better shading. Motion capturing doesn't bother me, but then I also grew up with barbie movies, so I'm probably used to how it looks lol
I was literally just thinking about this show the other day. I basically lived off of Qubo back in the day. The two episodes of this that I remember the best are the one where Jane loses her memory and forgets about Dragon or that she wanted to be a knight, and the other was there was some kind of grass that was causing Dragon to sneeze.
HOLY. SHIT. This brought back so many memories of seeing this after sleepless nights as a kid with insomnia living in Canada. It aired early in the morning on YTV, god this takes me back. A memory I didn’t even know I had
I've watched LITERALLY every episode, I loved the character dynamic sm. If they did a reboot, it'd be fun to use Spain as a setting and introduce some characters from there into the main cast.
I would love for the show to have actual historically accurate clothing, cause they are gorgeous. Especially knight armor and garments. Plus would be nice to see Jane slowly developing some muscle on her body to show that training is paying off, >3> and perhaps her having her hair braided frequently cause some knights often did that to fit into their helmets or would have it cut short otherwise.
Dude. Holy shit. I cannot believe this right now. I used to watch this as a child, to the point where I would sing the theme song everywhere I went. Eventually I moved and couldn't watch it anymore. It was always stuck in my brain and I never forgot the theme song, but I just could not remember where it was from for the life of me. Anyways, I get this video in my recommended and a wave of memories started gushing out. I seriously cannot thank you enough, it might seem a little dramatic but I have so many wonderful memories associated with this show so it holds a very special place in my heart.
...I didn't realize just how much inspiration I took from this show when I wrote my 2nd draft of connected short stories. I Loved Jane and the Dragon, would try my best to catch it whenever I knew it was on. Glad to know I wasn't the only one to love it, I think about it and it's what ifs more than the average bear me thinks. Qubo is a God Damn Goldmine I never had much gripe with the visual of the show, watching this video I just noticed the backgrounds a little before it was brought up. I liked the goofy movement of all the spindly limbs when I was little and I was always drawn to watching the characters hair. The strands are So wispy and just, not *swish* but (think of the letters smaller) swish, swishes around everyone's faces. Idk, it's probably the nostalgia talking, but I could watch this janky cgi for days. Loved the video! More people should know more qubo shows, they were all some people had growing up. Between that and pbs, I felt like I was eating like kings with their range of shows🧡🧡🧡🧡
I vaguely remember watching this show as a kid. The fact that the RU-vid algorithm randomly recommended me this video when I have quite literally never searched this show online before is kinda scary. Probably just a coincidence but still, its wild that I just so happened to randomly come across a video talking about a cartoon I watched 10+ years ago as a kid and haven't thought about in years.
Favorite show from my childhood. Growing up with just free TV channels. PBS kids and Qubo, this was awesome. Favorite Dragon line "What's brown and sticky?.... A Stick!" 🤣
Great commentary and show description! I would love an improved reboot of the show! Tbh, the main episode from the original series that I remember is the one where Jane eats these poisonous berries that make her forget that she and dragon are friends. Definitely miss the original show and am glad I finally found a video where someone acknowledged it. Fun topic!
