Blazing Dragons

An Animated Show that was the brainchild of Monty Python's Terry Jones, it originated in Britain in the mid to late 90's. Blazing Dragons centers around the Dragon kingdom of Camelhot, ruled by King Allfire, Queen Griddle and Princess Flame. Allfire also leads the Knights of the Square Table, Sir Blaze, Sir Galahot, Sir Loungelot, Sir Hotbreath and Sir Burnevere. While King Allfire is a good (if foolish) king, the knights, especially Loungelot, are varying degrees of lazy, greedy and incompetent. Loungelot's Squire Flicker is a genius inventor, and is far more virtuous than the knights he idolizes. No one besides Princess Flame - including Flicker himself - seems to notice this however.

The knights (more often than not with the help of Flicker) battle their mortal enemy, the human Count Geoffry and Evil Knights 1, 2 and 3. Count Geoffry rules the impoverished neighboring kingdom of humans from Castle Threadbare, and with his witch Merle and spy "Evil Spy", is constantly scheming to take over Camelhot and oust Allfire from power.

Did we mention it had a Licensed Game? It was released for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn and featured entirely different character designs, although Terry Jones himself provided some voice work for it.

Tropes used in Blazing Dragons include:

• Abnormal Ammo: Geoffry uses peasants for catapult ammo, among many other things.
• Action Girl: Don't count Princess Flame out of anything, as she isn't afraid to even face down a group of knights who seek her hand.
• And Then What?: When they spend an entire episode finding the Holy Quail, then don't know what to do with it when they find it. They eat it.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall:

Loungelot: "Have you seen the Wandering Minstrel?"
Flicker: "No. I thought he was just a side character meant to be a bridge between scenes?"

• • From the same episode as the above: "Try wearing a dress for an entire episode."
• Camp Gay/Ambiguously Gay: Sir Blaze.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: There's five knights in Season 1: Loungelot, Blaze, Burnevere, Galahot and Hotbreath. Galahot and Hotbreath vanish in Season 2 with no further mention.
  • Which kind of makes sense, since they're one-joke dragons. In Galahot's case, that one joke happens during the opening theme.
• Demoted to Extra: Princess Flame in the later episodes of Season 2.
• Disney Villain Death: POSSIBLY Count Geoffrey, in the second last episode when Sir Loungelot knocks him out the highest tower of Camelhot. Highly debatable, of course, as he has survived quite a bit of punishment throughout the series, but he exits the series with this fall all the same.
• Everything's Better with Princesses: Princess Flame.
• False Reassurance: Geoffry assures Princess Flame he doesn't make a habit of fighting unarmed women. It just so happens Flame is holding her father's sword: "En Garde!"
• Gadgeteer Genius: Flicker.
• Getting Crap Past the Radar: What would you expect from a cartoon created by a Monty Python veteran?
  • They got away with S.O.B (Son Of a Briton).
• Gory Discretion Shot: Count Geoffrey, disguised as King Allfire, is water skiing and crashes into the drawbridge. For most of the crash, a CENSORED bar blocks most of him from view, including the impact, which seems to depict blood flying in all directions (the one time we see blood in the show).
• Incredibly Lame Pun: Often.
• Insistent Terminology: "Dread Count Geoffrey de bouillon, Oppressor Par Excellence of the Poor and Weak."

Flicker: (finds nail clipper) So that explains it! I didn't lose the sword Flame, Count Geoffrey stole it.
Flame: How do you know that nail clippers is his?
Flicker: It has D.C.G.O.P.E.P.W. monogrammed on it.
Flame: Dread Count Geoffrey Oppressor Par excellence of the Poor and Weak!... Can we be certain it's him?
Flicker: We'll have to chance it.

• Meaningful Name: Most of the cast.
• Nice to the Waiter: Loungelot treats Flicker pretty badly.
  • On the other hand, this is reasonably consistent with how he treats everyone else, when he's not being a Professional Butt-Kisser, so using Flicker as a litmus test isn't all that revelatory.
• Noodle Incident: Geoffry's threat to his Evil Knights to make them suffer the same fate as "Evil Knight #4".
• Off-Model: Princess Flame is a frequent victim of this. In two episodes, while disguised in some set of armor, her tail is missing. Which wouldn't be a big deal if it was all time time during armor scenes, but her tail is visible (even the tell-tale sign to Count Geoffrey) for a moment on the first instance before it disappears for the remainder of the scene. Also, her right wing is missing during a scene where she and Flicker are talking to Sir Loungelot in the dungeon.
• Only Sane Man: Flicker is usually the one who figures out the solutions to problems, as the other Dragons have too much in the way of ego and not enough in the way of common sense.
  • And when that fails (usually due to Flicker trying too hard to follow the code), Princess Flame must act the voice of reason.
• Perspective Flip: Heroic dragons acting like Arthurian knights, while the knights are evil antagonists.
• Punny Name: A lot of the names in the series are dragon-themed takes on names from Arthurian legend (King Allfire, Camelhot, Sir Burnevere). Loungealot isn't dragon-themed, but still counts.
• Put on a Bus: The Wandering Minstrel closed and opened episodes in the first season with his songs. In the second season, he vanished, but turned up in a single episode, now called "The Unemployed Wandering Minstrel", and made reference to Camelhot firing him from his job.
• Remembered I Could Fly: While sneaking out of her tower bedroom, the rope Princess Flame has made by tying her bed sheets together unravels, and she abruptly falls out of frame. The camera then pans down to her flapping her wings, hovering in place and smirking "Oh, dash it, I forgot I could fly."
• Save the Villain: Flicker, who is bound to be Count Geoffrey's servant when Geoffrey accidentally saved his life, saves him from being burned by his pancake machine, which makes them even.
• Shout-Out: Sir Burnevere the Overly-Educated is a Shout-Out to Jones' character in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Sir Bedivere the Wise.
• Subverted Rhyme Every Occasion: In the theme tune. Immediately followed by: "That doesn't rhyme/That's OK/We're gonna sing it anyway!"
• To Be a Master: Flicker's ambition to become a knight.
• Villainous Rescue: Accidentally done by Count Geoffrey to Flicker. This sets up the episode plot in which Flicker is indebted to become Geoffrey's servant until Flicker saves Geoffrey and makes them even.

Tropes used in the game:

• Abnormal Ammo: A cat wearing a crash helmet serves this purpose.
• Ambiguously Jewish So Jewish It Hurts: The guardian of the Cave of Dilemma.
• Buffy-Speak: Spoofed:

Flicker: "Do you have one of those, you know..?"
Information Lady: "Oh, you mean one of those... thingamabobs?"
Flicker: "Exactly. But without the doo-hickey on the end."
Information Lady: "Either you need a new drawstring for your crossbow, or I should slap your face! Either way, I can't help you."

• Cassandra Truth: Nobody ever believes Flicker when he says that the Black Dragon is a machine.
• Chekhov's Gun: Flicker's clicker.
• Eat Dirt Cheap: Dragons eat gemstones.
• Evil Chancellor: He's in league with Sir George to get King Allfire off the throne.
• Fire-Breathing Diner: Flicker needs to eat a special type of coal in order to breathe fire.
• Fractured Fairy Tale: Given a dedicated location with the Home for the Grimly Insane, where Flicker meets Rapunzel, the Pied Piper and a man tranformed from a frog.
• Fusion Dance: By accident. Mervin uses King Allfire's scepter to attempt a harmful spell on Sir George, but only succeeds in merging him with the Black Dragon.
• Getting Crap Past the Radar: So very much. Notable mentions include the Salty Dick crackers and the mention that Queen Griddle ran off with Sir Loinfire.
• Hates the Job, Loves the Limelight: Trivet.
• Hypno Fool: Trivet demonstrates hypnosis on Flicker, making him think he's Princess Flame briefly. Flicker later reflects the hypnotism back on Trivet, and the effect lasts for much longer.
• Kissing Under the Influence: Trivet-as-Flame begs Sir Loungealot for "some action", which he happily obliges... causing his hypnosis to wear off.

Trivet: "Lounge-butt?! I didn't know you cared."
Loungealot: "AAAUUUUGGGGGGH!"

• Paper-Thin Disguise: Flicker disguised as Sir George.
• Robe and Wizard Hat: Mervin.
• Rule of Three: Flicker takes out the Black Dragon three times. Four if you count when it's merged with Sir George.
• Schmuck Bait: The weird Stonehenge-looking device Sir George's men are building in a field; they even frequently consult Flicker's height for measurements. Naturally, all of King Allfire's knights get caught in it.
• What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: Several times. The juice bar run by a very enthusiastic human, the Test of Hand/Eye Coordination that has the player look into Flicker's eyes and clear them of nerve-induced tears as he has to pick which hat a healthy rabbit is under, the Test of Unspeakable Terror Something a Wee Bit Scary where Flicker washes his dirty laundry, and the tournament for Flame's hand in marriage consists of a log rolling event followed by thumb wrestling.