Dragons are my thing too, but yeah. Try tried a little too hard to be serious business and Slayers is so much better when it takes itself lightly. There's this big political overtone and all this dark back story that just kind of kills the Slayers mood. At that point the comedy seems to be out-of-place rather than integrated into the story-telling, and the new heroine and new bad guy definitely don't make up for it. :\