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Drago and Friends, sometimes referred to as Dragon Pals or Drago, is an American animated television series created by Butch Hartman about the adventures of Dan Kuso and his friends, who they granted Bakugans named Drago, Pink Panther, Alebrije, Stripes, Hawkodile and Hydra. The series started out as cartoon segments that ran from September 4, 1998 to March 23, 2001. It was produced by Frederator Studios, Teletoon and Billionfold Inc. for the cable network GoAnimate Network. The television series is distributed by CBS Kids. In 2009, Time magazine named the series one of the greatest television shows of all time. The sister shows to Drago and Friends are The Fairly Oddparents, Danny Phantom, T.U.F.F. Puppy and Bunsen Is a Beast.

Plot

Dan is an average ten year old boy whose life is miserable. Runo, Marucho, Julie, Shun and Alice as Dan's friends that their lives are wasted. Bullied by Sperg and hated by the insane Mr. Robbie Rotten at school, neglected by their parents and left in the care of the torturous Mandy at home, they falls back on their bakugans, Drago, Pink Panther, Alebrije, Stripes, Hawkodile and Hydra, to grant them their wishes.

Their wishes often backfire on them, as either the wishes are disastrous, or they make for them a new enemy. It is up to Dan, Runo, Marucho, Julie, Shun Alice and their bakugans to attempt reversing the effects of said wishes as they come against many hurdles, most prominently either the exact wording of the wish, or Da Rules which covers bakugan's behavior and their bakukids's wishes.

Live action adaptions

Main article: A Drago Movie: Grow Up, Dan Kuso!

Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.

In 2011, to celebrate the tenth year anniversary of the Drago and Friends! as a GoAnimate series, a live action television movie was broadcasted on GoAnimate. Thirteen years into the future, Dan Kuso is now a 23-year old adult who still lives in the same house, sleeps in the same bed, has never had a girlfriend, and still attends Robbie Rotten's fifth grade class. Dan, Runo, Marcuho, Julie, Shun and Alice's arrested development stems from their desire to keep their beloved bakugans, Drago, Pink Panther, Alebrjie, Stripes, Hawkodile, Hydra, and his daughter Kiki, since Da Rules dictate they will lose them as soon as he starts to act like an adult. All of Dan's friends have grown up and moved onto better things now. Thelma, a nerdy girl that always loved Dan, has returned home a smart and beautiful woman, and Dan starts to fall in love with her, but a grown up relationship with her would mean the end of his adventures with their bakugans. Dan and his friends must make a choice between growing up and falling in love with the woman of his dreams, or keep acting like a child and stay with the best friends he has ever had. Meanwhile, an oil tycoon named Hugh J. Magnate discovers the existence of bakugans and seeks to gain their power for his own greedy purposes.

Tom Holland plays Dan Kuso, Selena Gomez plays Runo, Ross Marron plays Marucho, Faune Chambers plays Julie, Nathan Keyes plays Shun Kazami, Alicia Kitt plays Alice and Sam Puckett plays Thelma. In a short sequence where Drago, Pink Panther, Alebrije, Stripes, Hawkodile and Hydra temporarily became human, they were played by Jason Deline, Matt Frewer, Paul Tei, Ron Pardo, Roger Smith and Scott Laww, respectively. Drago, Pink Panther, Alebrije, Stripes, Hawkodile, Hydra and Kiki otherwise appeared in CGI form for the rest of the movie and were voiced by their original voice actors. David Lewis, Devon Weigel, Mark Gibbon, Daran Norris and Teryl Rothery completed the cast.

Spoilers end here.

Main cast

Main article: List of Drago and Friends Characters

Bryn McAuley as Dan Kuso
Jason Deline as Drago
Alyson Court as Miyoko Kuso
Britt McKillip as Runo Misaki
Matt Frewer as The Pink Panther
Deann Degruijter as Saki Misaki
Kwesi Boakye as Marucho Marukura
Paul Tei as Alebrije
Julie Lemieux as Shouko Marukura
Lauren Tom as Julie Makimoto
Ron Pardo as Stripes, Saki Misaki, Kyosuke Marukura, Michael Gehabich and Shinjiro Kuso
Kate Griffin as Daisy Makimoto
Sam Vincent as Shun Kazami
Roger Smith as Hawkodile
Caroly Larson as Shiori Kazami
Claire Corlette as Alice Gehabich
Scott Law as Hydra
Ellen Kennedy as Kiki
Jennifer Hale as Mandy
Stefán Karl Stefánsson as Robbie Rotten
Sarah Silverman as Penelope Marquez

Guest Stars

Throughout the course of the show, many famous actors have guest starred on Drago & Friends. Some of the most notable are recurring characters Troy Baker (Captain Ocelot), Jeff Bennett (Man Arctica), Adam West (Mermaid Man), Anairis Quinones (Majestia), and Jim Ward (Captain Qwark). Some other famous stars were Ben Diskin (Jakelsym the Dingo), Alec Baldwin (older Dan), Ben Stein (the Lizards), Gilbert Gottfried (Dr. Bender and Wendell), and Tom Arnold (Santa).

Though not featured as guests on the show, references have been made to other public figures, including Bill Gates (shown as a child with Drago, Pink Panther, Alebrije, Stripes, Hawkodile and Hydra as bakugans in the episode "Father Time"), Kate Kuso (also one of their Bakukids), Britney Spears (parodied as "Britney Britney"), Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone (parodied as "Arnold Schwarzengerman and Sylvester Calzone), and George W. Bush (a U.S. president was depicted in the episode "That old Black Magic", and he bore resemblance to then-president Bush).

Production history

Early origins (1998-2001)

Producer Butch Hartman originally created Drago and Friends as a seven-minute short film entitled Bakugan Pals, one of 39 short cartoons in the first season of Fred Seibert's Cartoon Cartoons. Butch Hartman made nine more short films for the show in the second and third seasons as well. GoAnimate agreed to a six episode order (consisting of two 11-minute stories) of "Drago and Friends, which began airing on March 30, 2001, in the half hour after Sitting Ducks. On April 11, 2006, GoAnimate Network UK aired nine Cartoon Cartoons shorts in three episodes. These stories include "Where's the Wand?", in which Harley uses The Pink Panther's wand, and "Too Many Dan's", in which Dan makes copies of himself. Each episode lasts for about 7 minutes. Unlike the half-hour series, the animation in the shorts is not as smooth, and the designs are notably different (including Dan's parents Mr. and Mrs. Kuso, who are only seen from the neck down in the pilot episodes). Other notable differences include voices like Dan Kuso, who was voiced by another actress (Mary Kay Bergman), instead of Bryn McAuley

Early popularity (2001-2004)

Drago and Friends was immediately popular around its first year, greatly increasing its lead-in rating from Chuck's Misadventures in Animalville. In fact, no matter what time slot GoAnimate Network placed the show in, GoAnimate's ratings soared. The series attracted a wider than anticipated audience, appealing to all ages, a feat only matched by Mercy's Meeting. Other than Mercy, it was later GoAnimate's highest rated show. Early 2002 and 2003 was the first peak of popularity for Drago and Friends Ratings sky-rocketed, and it briefly passed Mercy's Meeting. The show saw its quick rise to the top in Australia and United States in summer of 2002 and 2003 when the show's first TV special, Abra-Catastrophe!, was aired. The film was a success and many products were merchandised.

After Abra-Catastrophe!, creator Butch Hartman created a new project for GoAnimate Network called Andrew Orozco. A second Drago and Friends TV special was made, titled Channel Chasers. Since then, there have been other specials, like The Secret Origin of Robbie Rotten, Green Eagle, School's Out: The Musical, Bakugan Idol, the "Darren-Drago" crossovers, Bakugan Baby, Powerology, Anti-Kiki, and most importantly A Drago Movie: Grow Up, Dan Kuso!

End and resumption of production (2005-2007)

Nickelodeon ceased the production of the show late in 2005, with The Jerkinators (The Darren Drago Power Hour 3) as the actual season finale of the sixth season, though in the U.S the episode "Dan the Barbarian!/No Substitute for Rotten!" was shown after The Jerkinators as the 5th season finale. Butch Hartman made the official announcement on his forum on January 24, 2006. However, Butch announced on February 2, 2007 on his forum that GoAnimate has granted Drago and Friends twenty more episode slots and that the show had resumed production. Drago and Hydra also appeared in Bakugan: Battle Brawlers.

A theatrical movie was planned for release by Warner Bros. Pictures and GoAnimate Studios, but was eventually dropped due to a regime change by Columbia Pictures, though the script was written. Hartman stated on his website that he would like to release the movie to DVD one day, but did not have any definitive plans to do so. Drago and Friends have appeared in a $50 Best Western travel card over the 2006 summer period and again over the 2007 summer period.

Revival (2008-2011)

After a one year hiatus, GoAnimate Network announced on TV that they would begin the broadcast of a television movie called Bakugan Baby as the beginning of at least 20 episodes of Season 6, and to carry the show to at least the year 2010. A huge hit, Bakugan Baby aired on February 18, 2008, becoming the top entertainment program across broadcast and basic cable TV for the year among kids. Also, four new episodes aired each day at 5:00 p.m. EST beginning on Monday, March 10 after a rerun of the Bakugan Baby special, and ending on Thursday (3–13) of that week. It was reported that 8.81 million people watched this movie when it originally aired. Another new episode week aired from May 12–16, 2008. Bakulympics aired on August 1, 2008, as part of the lead-up to the 2008 Olympics, which began on August 8, 2008. Another premiere week aired through August 11–15, 2008. Four new episodes of Drago and Friends aired during Super Stuffed Toon GoAnimate Weekend.

The next three Drago and Friends movies, Powerology, aired in three one-hour installments during the first weekend of May 2009. This is the first Drago and Friends movie to be nearly three hours long (or, excluding commercials, 144 minutes) and to be presented in HD and widescreen, and they are the last episodes of the season.

Another Drago and Friends special was released on GoAnimate entitled Anti-Kiki. This was the tenth Drago and Friends special and it followed a week of brand new Drago and Friends episodes airing from July 6 to July 9, 2009. The special followed all of the new episodes aired in succession and was only episode length itself. It premiered on July 10, 2009 at 7:00 pm est. And on August 10–14 there was a premiere of brand new episodes of Drago and Friends at 6:00 P.M. est. On September 28, 2009 @ 4/3c, GoAnimate started airing 5 new 15-minute Drago and Friends episodes. On October 16, 2009 two new episodes aired. Then later on February 6, 2010, two new episodes aired as part of Secret Crush Weekend. On April 5–9, 2010 five brand new episodes were aired as part of "Spring it On". More episodes were aired in late September. In 2011 the series makes it's tenth year anniversary, and, as a celebration, the live action movie was released in July 2011.

After the airing of "A Drago Movie: Grow Up, Dan Kuso!" in July, more episodes aired between seasons 7 and 8, throughout the month of July and August 2011. It was also announced that new specials would air in the Fall of 2011, starting with the double length episode titled "Revenge of the L.O.S.E.R.S.", airing in October, and later followed by the recent 1 hour length movie called "Dan's Secret Wish!", that aired in November, during the week of Thanksgiving (the movie aired on different days of November throughout other countries). The third announced title, "Meet the Bakugans", aired in December, and showed Dan and Friends' Bakugans being seen by Dan's parents and their friends. The featured headgag was Dudley Puppy, the main character of "T.U.F.F. Puppy".

The only season 7 episode that was unaired in the US, "Farm Pit", was first aired on August 5, 2012, completing season 7 and 8's run.

Live Action Movie Sequels and Final Seasons (2012-2017)

On March 14, 2012 the series was renewed for a ninth season, with new episodes that were scheduled to air in 2012, and a sequel to the 2011 live-action TV movie, "A Drago Movie: Grow Up, Drago!", called "Drago's Christmas Caper", was also confirmed. The sequel premiered on November 29, 2012.

Season 9 started on March 23, 2013 with a special titled "Bakugan Pet", introducing Flarey, Dan Kuso's bakugan-dog and second addition to the show's main cast - after Poof in 2008. However, Flarey would only last one season due to poor reception internally and externally, and did not return in the following season.

On August 2014, a third live-action movie premiered, it was called "Drago's Summer Vacation". Season 9 ended it's run on March 2015. On August 18 of the same year, Season 10 was announced, with the addition of one more new main character, a human girl called Penelope Marquez. The tenth season started in January 2016, and consists on 20 half-hours.

On March 30, 2016, the show completed 15 years on air. Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon started an online celebration event using the hashtag "#dragotoon15", that consisted on Hartman revealing fun facts about the show in his social media accounts, during the weeks preceding the anniversary, celebration posts by GoAnimate's and GoAnimate Animation Studios' social media profiles, and special screenings, events and decoration in NAS. The celebration culminated in a 9 minute retrospective/documentary video posted by GoAnimate on Facebook and YouTube, about the 15 years of the show.

In 2017, for the first time on it's run, episodes from the show began premiering on GoAnimate XD - instead of the main network, GoAnimate - on January 18, 2017, with the premiere of "Certifiable Super Sitter". Season 10 completed airing on July 26, 2017, with the airing of The Kale Patch Caper. On February 8, 2018, Butch announced that he had parted ways with Nickelodeon after 21 years and also confirmed 3 days later that DaF had officially been cancelled.

Episodes

Main article: List of Drago and Friends Episodes

Season	Episodes	First airdate	Last airdate
Season 0	10	September 4, 1998	March 23, 2001
Season 1	15	March 30, 2001	December 12, 2001
Season 2	16	March 1, 2002	January 20, 2003
Season 3	24	November 8, 2002	November 30, 2003
Season 4	20	November 7, 2003	June 10, 2005
Season 5	32	July 2, 2004	November 25, 2006
Season 6	26	February 18, 2008	August 12, 2009
Season 7	20	July 6, 2009	August 5, 2012
Season 8	10	February 12, 2011	December 29, 2011
Season 9	40	March 23, 2013	March 28, 2015
Season 10	25	January 15, 2016	July 26, 2017
Season 11	15	August 6, 2017	January 12, 2018

Drago and Friends TV movies

Abra-Catastrophe! (three parts, 2003)
Channel Chasers (three parts, 2004)
School's Out! The Musical (two parts, 2005)
Bakugan Idol (two parts, 2006)
Bakugan Baby (two parts, 2008)
Wishology! (three double-length parts, 2009)
Dan's Secret Wish! (two parts, 2011)

Drago and Friends live-action movies

A Drago Movie: Grow Up, Dan Kuso! (live-action, 2011)
Drago's Christmas Caper (live-action, 2012)
Drago's Summer Summer Vacation (live-action, 2014)

Jimmy Timmy Power Hour trilogy

The Darren Dan Power Hour (2004)
The Darren Dan Power Hour 2: When Nerds Collide (2006)
The Darren Dan Power Hour 3: The Jerkinators (2006)

Captain Qwark

There were six shorts featuring the Captain Qwark, Dan's favorite action hero that were made for GoAnimate's website. They are now available exclusively on the Superhero Spectacle DVD release, although they occasionally air on GoAnimate Network.

Lucky 7 marathon

On July 7, 2007, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, GoAnimate showed viewers' favorite Drago and Friends episodes, voted for on TurboWrapper. That was the third time GoAnimate allowed viewers to vote for their favorite episodes; the first occasion was Mercy's Meeting's Best Day Ever event and the other time was Darren and Daniel's "Genius, Sheenius or Imbetweenius" event. However, unlike the previous two, no new episode was aired. Instead, 77 secrets were revealed. The 77th secret stated that a new characteris joining the Drago and Friends cast and gave hints such as showing Alebrije in a diaper, 'pooing' himself and then people going "Aww". This indicated that Drago and Hydra were going to have a baby. That is one of the only Drago and Friends marathons. Later in December 2007, Nick showed a commercial telling of things that were going to happen in 2008. This commercial had a short preview, of Bakugan Baby which included Dragolina in a hospital gown holding a baby, aired February 18, 2008.

DVD and VHS

Main article: List of Drago and Friends DVD and VHS

Due to the show's mass popularity, several video releases have been marketed. More information can be found by clicking here

DVD boxsets can be found for the first 8 seasons, but the final 2 seasons can only be purchased digitally (via iTunes, Amazon Video, Google Play, etc.).

Trivia

The Drago and Friends is seen in 113 countries and territories in 27 languages around the world.
In Latin America, Greece and Brazil, the first episode to be broadcasted by GoAnimate was "Mooooving Day". All previous episodes, except for the "Darren Drago Power Hour" trilogy, were broadcasted by CBS Kids and "Jetix", a network owned by Disney (formerly owned by Fox Broadcasting Company and was under the name of "Fox Kids"), that later in 2009 became Disney XD. Until today, in these territories, Disney owns all episodes from "The Big Problem!" to "Green Eagle," and are still broadcasted by Disney Channel and Disney XD.
- In Japan, the show airs on Disney Channel, as GoAnimate Network became defunct in Japan in 2010 (although Animax has a segment called "GoAnimate Time" that airs old GoAnimate Network shows).
Recurring voice guest-stars include Jim Ward (The Tonight Show with Jay Leno) as Captain Qwark, Troy Baker (Batman) as Captain Ocelot and Ben Diskin (Saturday Night Live, Kindergarden Cop) as Jakelsym the Dingo. Other celebrity guest voice stars have included Alec Baldwin, Frankie Muniz, Ben Stein, Gilbert Gottfried, Dana Carvey, Brendan Fraser, Tom Arnold, Jackie Mason, Julie Chen, Scott Hamilton, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley.
To date, GoAnimate has ordered 152 Drago and Friends episodes, which include 12 TV specials and nine TV movies, two of them being in live-action.
In Japan, the show is called Go! Bakugan Parents (Go!フェアリーペアレンツ).
In Season 9, the opening was redone to feature Kiki.
The credits sequence has changed several times throughout the show. The first was in Bakugan Baby, where the Billion Fold Inc, logo was added to the sequence, the Nelvana logo was removed and the GoAnimate logo was changed from the old splatter logo (1999-2007) to the new 2008 logo (the orange lightbulb logo). Also, a part of the theme song was cut off during the showing of the Frederator Studios, Teletoon and Billion Fold Inc. logo. The second time was in 2010, where the 2008 GoAnimate Network logo is changed to the 2010 logo, where a remixed version of the company jingle is heard while the new letters of the logo appear, one by one, from left to right. This time, all the ending of the theme song is cut off when the three logos are shown. The third was in Bakugan Pet, where new wallpapers from the cartoon were added to the credits sequence. The old ones are (in order):

Max saying something to Dan while raising his shoulders.
Drago, Pink Panther, Alebrije, Stripes, Hawkodile and Hydra with Dan and his Friends jumping out of a wind-up toy box and scaring Harley.
Harley rubbing her hand against Dan's head like older brothers do with younger brothers.
A Dan standing on one leg (left side) and a jumping Runo (right side).
Mandy and Dan staring into each other with anger.
Drago, Pink Panther, Alebrije, Stripes, Hawkodile and Hydra laughing at something that is offscreen.
A crying Marucho with his hands on his knees (on the left), a Dan with a evil smile pointing his finger to something that is offscreen (center above) and a Runo doing a "I told you!" face with his hands behind his back.
Dan standing and smiling to the viewer.
Alebrije with tiny hearts around him, saying something to Pink Panther, who is cold-shouldering him, but still looking at him, with a romantic face and tiny hearts around her too.
Mr. Kuso and Mrs. Kuso running together.
A thinking Pink Panther taking her finger to her mouth (left) and a happy Pink Panther raising up her wand (right).
Alebrije with a fishing rod catching a tiny Marucho and Pink Panther with a fishing net.
Drago, Pink Panther, Alebrije, Stripes, Hawkodile, Hydra, Dan, Runo, Marucho, Julie, Shun and Alice looking at the viewer (resembling the old poster for Cartoon Cartoons).
Alebrije looking at the viewer while raising his wand.
Mr. Kuso dancing with Mrs. Kuso.
An angry Pink Panther dragging out an annoyed/bored Alebrije by the tail.

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