Why did the Dragon Tales episode "Goodbye Little Caterpoozle" differ from other kiddie show episodes about the death of a pet?

[salemfan]

The Dragon Tales episode "Goodbye Little Caterpoozle" differed from older kiddie show episodes about the death of a pet in that the story goes that Cassie's Caterpoozle (which is supposed to be a caterpillar) had gone into the pupa stage and Cassie incorrectly thinks the caterpoozle is dead. Even Quetzal, who knows about everything in Dragon Land (and apparently knew what happens to caterpoozles) fostered Cassie's fallacy and there is a surprise ending that the caterpoozle was actually in the pupa stage, and Quetzal brings everybody to see the pet become active again as a butterfairy (which is supposed to be a butterfly). However, older kiddie shows for the same age as Dragon Tales also did an episode about the death of an animal:
The Big Comfy Couch-Full of Life
The Puzzle Place-The Ballad of Davy Cricket
These episodes differ from the aforementioned Dragon Tales episode in that in those episodes, UNLIKE in the above Dragon Tales episode, the animal really is dead. Even a kiddie show for the same age as Dragon Tales that didn't come out until after Dragon Tales "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood" did an episode on the death of a pet in which the pet really is dead. Why did Dragon Tales make their episode about the death of a pet different from others by giving the episode a surprise ending that the pet is not really dead? In fact, I question if the episode is really the best by the standards for an episode of a kiddie show on the death of a pet because of the aforementioned surprise ending.

 

[Muppets02]

The Dragon Tales episode "Goodbye Little Caterpoozle" differed from older kiddie show episodes about the death of a pet in that the story goes that Cassie's Caterpoozle (which is supposed to be a caterpillar) had gone into the pupa stage and Cassie incorrectly thinks the caterpoozle is dead. Even Quetzal, who knows about everything in Dragon Land (and apparently knew what happens to caterpoozles) fostered Cassie's fallacy and there is a surprise ending that the caterpoozle was actually in the pupa stage, and Quetzal brings everybody to see the pet become active again as a butterfairy (which is supposed to be a butterfly). However, older kiddie shows for the same age as Dragon Tales also did an episode about the death of an animal:
The Big Comfy Couch-Full of Life
The Puzzle Place-The Ballad of Davy Cricket
These episodes differ from the aforementioned Dragon Tales episode in that in those episodes, UNLIKE in the above Dragon Tales episode, the animal really is dead. Even a kiddie show for the same age as Dragon Tales that didn't come out until after Dragon Tales "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood" did an episode on the death of a pet in which the pet really is dead. Why did Dragon Tales make their episode about the death of a pet different from others by giving the episode a surprise ending that the pet is not really dead? In fact, I question if the episode is really the best by the standards for an episode of a kiddie show on the death of a pet because of the aforementioned surprise ending.

As someone who used to watch Dragon Tales many years ago, I think that you are looking too deeply into what that episode was trying to do. The people working on this show probably felt that this approach was best for what they were going for in this episode. I would advise you not to overthink these details, as that simply was what ended up happening.

 

[salemfan]

As someone who used to watch Dragon Tales many years ago, I think that you are looking too deeply into what that episode was trying to do. The people working on this show probably felt that this approach was best for what they were going for this episode. I would advise you not to overthink these details, as that simply what ended up happening.

What was the episode really trying to do?

 

[Muppets02]

I think that the episode "Goodbye Little Caterpoozle" of Dragon Tales was trying to show lessons related to the compassion and care shown from the characters, changes in life, and being careful not to jump to conclusions. I honestly do not know what else to say about this episode beyond that.

 

[salemfan]

I know that they did not have Quetzal efficiently explain what happened. They could have and should have had Quetzal say "Unlike other living creatures, caterpoozles eventually reach a point where they go inactive for a while, and when you see them active again, they are butterfairies." I know what Quetzal did say about what happened, yes living things do change as they get older, but humans like Max don't go into a stage of inactivity after being a boy before being seen active again as a man. So why didn't they have Quetzal efficiently explain what happened?

 

[salemfan]

The people working on this show probably felt that this approach was best for what they were going for this episode.

You mean the people who worked on that show thought it was better to give the episode a surprise ending that the pet is not dead after all than to be like other kiddie shows in which the animal really is dead?

 

[LittleJerry92]

If I’m being honest I……… really am starting to think you’re a real life version of this guy from a lot of the stuff you’ve posted here.

 

[salemfan]

If I’m being honest I……… really am starting to think you’re a real life version of this guy from a lot of the stuff you’ve posted here.

LittleJerry92, what makes you think that?

 

[salemfan]

You are missing the point and lessons from Dragon Tales.

You mean the episode "Goodbye Little Caterpoozle" wasn't meant to be about the death of a pet?