Race to the Edge review


Overall Race to the Edge was surprisingly enjoyable but the continuity issues can’t be excused this time around.

If you are going to place RTTE between the first two movies, it should at least respect the established canon material. It should not stomp all over it.

There have always been continuity errors within the TV show but fans let them slide since the future was uncertain. Dean Deblois was still in the process of writing the second movie. The TV-show writers had very little to go on. The continuity problems were unavoidable.

That is not the case here.

Race to the Edge is supposed to bridge the movies. It is suppose to explain how things came to be as seen in the second movie. Fill in the gaps. While RTTE is highly entertaining and enjoyable to watch, it has already failed to live up to its purpose.

Hiccup and Astrid are confirmed as longtime boyfriend and girlfriend of 5 years in HTTYD 2. And it shows. The butterflies are long gone but there is deeper love and understanding between them. It’s all glaringly obvious to the viewer. RTTE is supposed to take place 1 year before HTTYD 2. In RTTE Hiccup and Astrid hardly even share a simple friendship let alone something special and profound.

It is incredibly hard to believe that in such a short amount of time, Hiccup and Astrid go from friends who hardly ever interact in RTTE to the best friends who love each other in HTTYD 2. (Looking away from the fact that the relationship in HTTYD 2 was supposed to have had 5 years of build up.)

Is my assessment premature? Maybe.

We have only seen ¼ of RTTE but in that ¼ we have learned more about a supporting non-movie character than characters who are incredibly important to us. We have gotten more development in 2 episodes between Hiccup and said character than between him and the girl he is supposed to wed by the time of HTTYD 2.

So all in all:

Is RTTE worth watching? Yes. It's really good if you look away from all the continuity issues and the less than ideal treatment of certain characters.

Should RTTE count as a bridge between HTTYD 1 & HTTYD 2? No.

Is it okay to introduce new characters and give them background? Yes.

Is it okay to let the new characters take over the plot and force the actual main characters into the background? No.

Should our expectations for Hiccup and Astrid’s relationship be affected by the first 13 episodes? Yes. The next 13 episodes are supposed to build upon these first episodes.

Is it still possible to fix the Hiccstrid relationship? Yes. Hiccup has braids in his hair. If they grasp onto that detail instead of ignoring it like they have done so far they could fix everything.

Is it likely that they are going to fix Hiccstrid’s relationship? Probably not.

On another note, the characterization of Stoick was… questionable at times. Stoick being explosive toward Fishlegs’ over an axe felt out of character. He may a big and strong-headed Viking but the way he continuously kept losing his cool was very uncomfortable to watch.






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At this point I've given up on the tv series for any sort of Hiccup/Astrid moments. I chalk it up as part of the continuity issues and frankly I'm just glad that RttE's 13 episodes were overall much better (IMO) than the first two seasons.

The relationship in the movies makes sense, and just going by those it logically seems to follow that Hiccup and Astrid's relationship developed and grew from the beginning of the first movie through the five years separating it and the second film. But there's almost no sign of that at all in the series. I mean, Ruffnut has shown just as much interest in Hiccup as Astrid has in RttE. That's not a very strong basis for what we saw from Astrid and Hiccup in the movies, and it just doesn't mesh at all with how we saw them interacting even in the first movie.

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At this point I've given up on the tv series for any sort of Hiccup/Astrid moments. I chalk it up as part of the continuity issues and frankly I'm just glad that RttE's 13 episodes were overall much better (IMO) than the first two seasons.

The relationship in the movies makes sense, and just going by those it logically seems to follow that Hiccup and Astrid's relationship developed and grew from the beginning of the first movie through the five years separating it and the second film. But there's almost no sign of that at all in the series. I mean, Ruffnut has shown just as much interest in Hiccup as Astrid has in RttE. That's not a very strong basis for what we saw from Astrid and Hiccup in the movies, and it just doesn't mesh at all with how we saw them interacting even in the first movie.


Agreed. It's not much of a basis at all..

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[Reposted to this forum]

I just stumbled onto this page since the coverage for HTTYD is basically dead since it moved to Netflix.

But I'll address your biggest concern since it appears to be singularly themed...

The TV show has always played down the romantic relationship between the characters. It obvious when you compare the shorts they periodically released during Holidays and other occasions. In the movies and shorts the characters flirt or have deeper relationships; in the TV show they don't. The thought is likely that kids would not appreciate an entire season of personal relationships detracting from the stars of the show... the dragons.

This series actually addresses this issue in a bridging revisionist sort of a way; think X-Men Days of Future Past.

- Spoilers below -

In the series Hiccup and Astrid are just friends. Although they've flirted on occasion they never made the jump to intimacy. What the show did well is they capitalized on the one character, Heather, that actually drove Astrid closest to affirming her relationship. When we first meet Heather she actually tried to become Astrid by taking over her life, relationship, dragon, and the like. Before Astrid and Heather became friends you could tell Heather made Astrid jealous over her close relationship with Hiccup. While the viewer might assume the source of the jealousy steams from their existing relationship; the lack of true affirmation leaves the window open for a more ambiguous interpretation. Instead of confirming a long term relationship the writers decided on a deep friendship and burgeoning romance. In RTTE Heather's roll comes full circle and she becomes the matchmaker finally connecting the two lovers.


The effort to bridge such continuity should be applauded. So few shows, animated or not, handle these issues in such tactful fashion. It is truly a learning moment for writers looking to patch up long term canon issues that would easily be written off as separate universes.

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Other thoughts...

The first season is only half a season. This is likely due to production schedules and Netflix desire to release in a binge watching fashion. The long and costly production cycle may leave the series abridged and aborted in a unsatisfactory manner. The last time Netflix picked up an existing mainstream animation, Star Wars Clone Wars, they only released a half season of question filled episodes. Thankfully Disney is rectifying this with Rebels by importing a few of the original characters.

My hope is Netflix or whomever grabs this property next to do it justice by either continuing to produce the series to fruition or conclusion.

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