Family Home Entertainment VHS cover
"Jewel Quest, Part I" is the first episode of Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders. It features the song "There's a Bit of Magic in Everything" and directly continues in next episode, "Jewel Quest, Part II", together forming the show's pilot episode, the events of which set up the titular Jewel Quest and are also retold in a book. Their international titles include Catalan "La recerca de la joia", French "À la recherche des joyaux", German "Die Jagd nach Merlins Schlüssel" ("The Hunt for Merlin's Key)", Polish "Wyprawa po klejnoty", Portuguese "A demanda das jóias", Russian "Дикий камень" ("The Wild Stone"), Serbo-Croat "U potrazi za draguljima" ("Looking for Jewels"), and Spanish "Las joyas de la corona" ("The Crown Jewels").
The time has come for the young Princess Gwenevere has come to enter the revered Circle of Friendship ceremony and bond with her magical animal so she can join and lead the newest generation of Jewel Riders. But the peace in Avalon is disturbed when the evil Lady Kale finds the powerful Dark Stone and attacks Merlin to steal the Crown Jewels...
Synopsis
German VHS release cover art
Featured elements
- Regular characters: Princess Gwenevere, Tamara, Fallon, Lady Kale, Merlin, Sunstar, Archie, Rufus and Twig, Queen Anya, King Jared, Drake, Grimm, Moondance, Cleo, Spike, Sugar, Wintermane, Goliath
- Guest characters: Hawk, father unicorn, teen unicorns
- Locations: The Great Forests, Crystal Palace, Friendship Ring, Merlin's cottage, Wild Magic
- Items and concepts: Enchanted Jewels, Circle of Friendship, Crown Jewels, Crystal Carriage, Jewel Box, Merlin's key, royal family, Travel Trees
Plot summary
Somewhere within the Great Forests, the evil Lady Kale discovers a Wild Magic portal containing a mysterious magic jewel. She claims and tunes it to herself, bonding with her two dweasels Rufus and Twig that detected it. Now equipped with the immense power of her newly-dubbed Dark Stone, Kale is finally ready to take over Avalon by force. She forces open a Travel Trees portal and gets into the Wild Magic, where she receives her own Jewel Armor.
At the Friendship Ring, the great wizard Merlin is preparing Princess Gwenevere for her upcoming Circle of Friendship ceremony tomorrow. He explains that in order to wield the Sun Stone and become a Jewel Rider, Gwenevere must bond with a magical animal. Fallon and Tamara already have their Enchanted Jewels and animal special friends. The lesson is interrupted by his hawk animal servant, who tells Merlin that trouble is brewing in the forests. The girls return to the Crystal Palace, where they meet with the boys of the Pack.
Meanwhile, a uniquely winged unicorn named Sunstar tries to play ball with some other unicorns. She gets teased for having wings and yet not being able to fly. Her father comes to Sunstar and tries to reassure her.
Elsewhere, Merlin arrives to save a doe trapped in a wild magic bubble, but this turns out to be just a bait and he gets trapped in a magic bubble by Kale's mighty Dark Stone. The evil princess then confronts him and demands that he gives up key to the Jewel Box, which contains the Crown Jewels of Avalon, so she can achieve her dream and forever rule all of Avalon. Merlin pretends to give up to her threats, but summons the hawk from earlier that steals the key away at the last moment. Furious, Kale blasts the defiant wizard into the dangerous Wild Magic for him to perish there, and gets in the air via Grimm's Dragon Wagon to go after the hawk.
At the Crystal Palace, Gwenevere, the other Jewel Riders, and Drake of the Pack are summoned by King Jared and Queen Anya to the throne room and learn about a mysterious threat to the kingdom. The girls decide to check out Merlin's house and find it totally ransacked. They find Merlin's talking owl Archie, who tells them that someone stole the Jewel Box, and so the girls ride off with him in the Crystal Carriage (along with Fallon on Moondance) to find it.
Kale and her dragon Grimm are in the skies, pursuing the hawk. After a long aerial hunt, Grimm's fire breath nearly fries the hawk, who crash-lands in a forest. Sunstar, who just happened to be walking nearby, is tasked with taking the key to the Crystal Palace. She does not run very far, however, and soon Kale chases her down and traps her in a net.
After a ride through the Wild Magic via the Travel Trees, the girls find Kale with Sunstar. The witch tries to take the key from Sunstar's unicorn but it burns her hand. This enrages her and she begins cruelly torment the unicorn using her magic. Without waiting for the Pack to arrive, Gwen rushes to rescue, and Fallon brings down Kale's Dragon Wagon before they can fly away with Sunstar. As Fallon takes on Kale in a magic duel to protect Gwen, Gwen manages to sneak the key from the imprisoned Sunstar but then is attacked by the dweasels. Tamara and Archie save her, and then Tamara runs to aid Fallon against Kale. But even their combined magic is too weak against the powerful Dark Stone. Just as Kale is about to prevail, Spike (one of Tamara's baby animals) bravely throws himself to shield Tamara and is blasted down.
In the chaos that ensues, Kale escapes into the Wild Magic with the stolen Jewel Box and the captive unicorn, but without the key, now in Gwen's hands.
Behind the scenes
Original script
- Main article: Jewel Quest script (Enchanted Quest)
In this draft, Princess Guinevere (Gwenevere), Melody (Tamara), Alexandra (Fallon), and Shawn (Drake) ride the Wild Magic with their friends Amber (Sunstar), Cleo, Samantha (Sugar), Rusty (Spike), Moonglow (Moondance), and Thunder (Thunderbolt). There is also a later completely cut character of Gwen's little sister Tara, while Kale's magic is green and not red.
Storyboard
"Jewel Quest" Story Reel - Princess Gwenevere (Starla) and the Jewel Riders - Animation Storyboard
Avalon: Web of Magic connections
- The story of the pilot episode(s) is basically Kara's arc from the first half of Avalon. Kara tries to do the right thing by releasing Avalon's magic in order to heal Aldenmor. She inadvertently scatters the Power Crystals, forcing the party to find them all before the villains do, and obtains her Unicorn Jewel.
- Lady Kale is the Dark Sorceress analogue. They both have sister issues and want to take over Avalon.
- Tamara and Fallon (the Emily and Adriane analogues) became Jewel Riders before the series started. In Avalon, Emily and Adriane find their jewels before Kara joins the party.
- Archie is basically Ozzie. They both have long Greek names that are conveniently shortened, and they have similar vocal tics.
- The Crystal Palace shows up in Avalon: The Warlock Diaries.
Media
See also
External links
