The Wingfeather Saga - Season One
Released on Angel Studios on Dec 2, 2022
Runtime: Six 30 Minute Episodes
Not Rated
Based on the amazing, fantasy books by Andrew Peterson comes the beautifully animated series that takes us on a journey through the first Wingfeather Saga book: On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness. In it’s maiden first season voyage you’ll find intrigue, perilous adventure, and Christian allegory!
In the small town of Glipwood, in the magical and dangerous world of Aerwiar (pronounced like “‘ere we are” in a pirate accent) siblings Janner, Tink, and Leeli stumbleupon adventure, family secrets, and magic while trying to keep a low profile as to not draw attention of the Fangs of Dang (lizard like humanoids) that have overrun their town. The Fangs are on a mission from the evil and mysterious Gnag the Nameless to find the legendary jewels of Anniera. Like the book series, the television show is full of dangerous and funny animals, trolls, exotic and yummy cuisine, sea dragons, and heart. It’s been described as The Lord of the Rings meets The Princess Bride and I would say that is an accurate description. It’s a fantasy tale that has family and doing the right thing at it’s very center.
Themes:
Themes in the show include family, siblings, magic, studying, history, looking out for one another, secrets, single parents, grandfathers, festivals, good vs. evil, friendship, doing the right thing, fighting for those you love, mystery, trauma, forgetting, loss, hiding things from others, people being taken from their families, prison, adventure, war, battle, trauma, tree houses, toothy cows, henmeat, hogpig, and the Dragon Day Festival.
Language:
There isn’t any bad language, praise the Maker! The closest thing is that there is a place called Dang. The Fangs come from Dang.
Stuff to be aware of:
This is a fantasy show, but it is also designed for families. There is fighting and characters die and/or killed in battle, but there isn’t blood (outside of some stains on clothes) or graphic violence. Some of the creatures (like horned hounds and toothy cows) and the Fangs could be scary to young children. The Fangs turn to dust when they die. There is a character that has been through a lot of trauma and can’t always remember who he is, acts in silly ways sometimes, and gets words mixed up. I am very excited to see the characters pray and refer to the deity of their world as, “The Maker.”
Overall:
I remember the first time I watched Star Wars as a child. The excitement of being taken to a place that was completely foreign to what I knew was euphoric. The thrill of aliens, the magic of the force, learning that Vader was Luke’s father, the further twist of Leia being his sister. I didn’t just watch it, I experienced it. The world and story was real. I’ve not felt that way since, until I found this book series. As I read it the world was real. I could sense the fear of a toothy cow. I could smell the blueberry gooey balls. I could feel Podo’s agitation from his garden being invaded by thwaps. It was a wonderland for my imagination. Now, Andrew Peterson (the author) got a chance to bring his world alive visually through animation. When the six episodes were over my family and I wanted more. Andrew and his team do a majestic job bringing the world of Aerwiar to life and the voice actors (some are children and one is the famous voice of Ariel from the Little Mermaid) do a smashing job breathing life into their characters. Obviously, taking a novel and reworking it to fit into six thirty minute episodes is hard work. What do you leave out? What has to be told and seen? How do you equally develop all the main characters and leave room to grow? Andrew and his team do a great job of telling the overall story from the first book while also giving those that read the book some new story beats. The overall story is the same but there are a few new twists that take the characters on a journey from point a to point b. Some characters get more time than they do in the book and some characters are introduced earlier than in the book series, but it all makes sense within the episodic format and in helping the story get to where it needs to go. As with any book, you will get more from it then the movie/show, but I think the story tellers here do a great job staying true to the book while also giving us readers a few surprises.
I enjoyed it and I can’t wait for season two!
If you are interested in reading the books check them out at my Amazon affiliate link: