''The Flight of Dragons'' is a 1982 animated

fantasy film Fantasy films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered a form of speculative fiction alongside science fiction f ...

produced and directed by

Jules Bass Julius Bass (September 16, 1935 – October 25, 2022) was an American director, producer, lyricist, composer, and author. Until 1960, he worked at a New York advertising agency, and then co-founded the film production company Videocraft Interna ...

and

Arthur Rankin Jr. Arthur Gardner Rankin Jr. (July 19, 1924 – January 30, 2014) was an American director, producer and writer, who mostly worked in animation. Co-creator of Rankin/Bass Productions with his friend Jules Bass, he created stop-motion animation ...

loosely combining the speculative natural history book of the same name (1979) by Peter Dickinson with the novel '' The Dragon and the George'' (1976) by Gordon R. Dickson. It stars the voices of John Ritter, Victor Buono, James Gregory, James Earl Jones, and Harry Morgan. The film centers upon a quest undertaken to stop an evil wizard who plans to rule the world by dark magic. A major theme within the story is the question of whether science and

magic Magic or Magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces * Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic * Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...

can co-exist. This is told mostly through the experience of character Peter Dickinson, drawn from the 20th century into the magical realm. Released direct to video in United Kingdom on August 17, 1982, it was aired as an ABC "''Saturday Night Movie''" on August 2, 1986, and released by Warner Brothers as a made-to-order DVD in the US on 17 November 2009 as part of the " Warner Archive Collection". The opening song is sung by Don McLean.

Plot

In an age of medieval fantasy populated by fantastic creatures, the Green Wizard Carolinus, who presides over nature, notices that magic is fading from the world as humanity embraces logic and science instead. Summoning his three magical brothers, he proposes combining their powers to create a "last realm of magic" hidden from the rest of the world. The Blue Wizard Solarius, who commands the heavens and

seas This is a list of seas of the World Ocean, including marginal seas, areas of water, various gulfs, bights, bays, and straits. Terminology * Ocean – the four to seven largest named bodies of water in the World Ocean, all of which have "Ocean ...

, and the Golden Wizard Lo Tae Zhao, whose realm is light and air, agree to the proposal. However, the Red Wizard Ommadon, master of black magic and the forces of evil, resolves instead to infect mankind with fear and greed, causing humans to use their science to destroy themselves. Since the wizards are forbidden to fight among themselves, Carolinus proposes sending a group of heroes on a quest to steal Ommadon's crown, which is the source of his power. The party includes the knight Sir Orrin Neville-Smythe and Carolinus' young dragon companion Gorbash. Solarius gives them an enchanted shield which can deflect dark magic, and Lo Tae Zhao contributes a magic flute which lulls

dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

s to sleep. Requiring a leader, Carolinus consults the magical force of Antiquity, which directs him to look 1,000 years into the future to find a man of science descended from a legendary hero. In late 20th century Boston Carolinus locates Peter Dickinson, a former scientist turned board game designer who is obsessed with dragons. Carolinus brings Peter back through time and enlists him in the quest, and Peter becomes enamored of Carolinus' ward, Princess Melisande. Ommadon sends his dragon Bryagh to capture Peter, and an accident with one of Carolinus' spells while rescuing him causes Peter to merge with Gorbash, Peter's mind taking over the dragon's body. Knowing nothing about being a dragon, Peter is mentored by Carolinus' elder dragon companion, Smrgol. The dichotomy of magic and science is explored when Smrgol teaches Peter how dragons fly and breathe fire, abilities which Peter is able to explain with scientific principles. As the quest progresses, the heroes survive an attack by the monstrous Sand Murks and are joined by the talking wolf Aragh, the archer Danielle, and the elf Giles. As the party nears Ommadon's realm, Danielle and Sir Orrin are captured by an ogre. Peter is nearly killed attempting to rescue them but is saved by Smrgol, who defeats the ogre at the cost of his own life. In the Red Wizard's realm the party faces the Worm of Sligoff, which Peter destroys by igniting the

sulfuric acid Sulfuric acid (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid ( Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen and hydrogen, with the molecular formu ...

it excretes. Ommadon casts a spell to induce hopelessness in the group, which Peter repels using Solarius' shield. Ommadon next sends numerous dragons to kill the heroes, but Giles plays Lo Tae Zhao's enchanted flute, lulling them and Peter to sleep. Bryagh remains awake and kills Giles, Aragh, and Danielle. Sir Orrin slays Bryagh, but dies from his wounds. When Ommadon appears on the battlefield, Peter manages to separate himself from Gorbash by recalling the principle of

impenetrability In metaphysics, impenetrability is the name given to that quality of matter whereby two bodies cannot occupy the same space at the same time. The philosopher John Toland argued that impenetrability and extension (metaphysics), extension were suffici ...

. He is able to defeat Ommadon by countering the wizard's declarations of magic with explanations of science and logic, and denying the existence of magic. This destroys Ommadon, restores the other heroes to life, and allows the magical realm to take shape. Peter, having denied all magic, is separated forever from this realm, but not before awakening Melisande with a kiss and leaving her Ommadon's crown. Having fallen in love with Peter, Melisande begs Carolinus to allow her to join him. Back in 20th century Boston, Peter is selling the magic flute and shield to a

pawnbroker A pawnbroker is an individual or business (pawnshop or pawn shop) that offers secured loans to people, with items of personal property used as collateral. The items having been ''pawned'' to the broker are themselves called ''pledges'' or ...

when Melisande enters the shop carrying the crown, and the two embrace.

Voice cast

* Victor Buono as Aragh * James Gregory as Smrgol and Bryagh * James Earl Jones as Ommadon * Harry Morgan as Carolinus * John Ritter as Peter Dickinson * Larry Storch as the pawnbroker *

Don Messick Donald Earle Messick (September 7, 1926 – October 24, 1997) was an American voice actor. He was best known for his performances in Hanna-Barbera cartoons. His best-remembered vocal creations include Scooby-Doo, Bamm-Bamm Rubble and Hoppy in ...

as Lo Tae Zhao, Giles the Elf *

Bob McFadden Robert McFadden (January 19, 1923 – January 7, 2000) was an American singer, impressionist, and voice-over actor perhaps best known for his many contributions to animated cartoons. His most popular television cartoon characters included Mil ...

as Gorbash and Sir Orrin Neville-Smythe * Alexandra Stoddart as the Princess Melisande *

Nellie Bellflower Nellie Bellflower (born May 1, 1946) is an American actress, voice artist, and producer. Early life, family and education Bellflower was born in Phoenix, Arizona. Career Bellflower provided the voice of Princess Ariel in the Ruby-Spears anima ...

as Danielle * Paul Frees as Solarius the Blue Wizard, Antiquity (uncredited) Additional character voices were provided by Ed Peck and Jack Lester.

Crew

Reception

Filmsy.com said of the film, "Animated fantasy films geared for family viewing just aren’t made like this anymore... The voice acting in this movie is excellent, to say the least... Though the animation might seem a bit 'dated', it remains beautiful by 1982 standards". "The dialogue is surprisingly intelligent and may confuse some children but it is nice to see an animated film that will stimulate adult minds a little... The voice cast are all great and I can’t find a single fault with any of them", said blogcritic.org. The Unknown Movies said "There may not be a strong constant thread in ''The Flight of Dragons'', but all its moments of warmth, imagination, and interest combine to make magic." Colin Greenland reviewed ''The Flight of Dragons'' for '' Imagine'' magazine, and stated that "The Flight of Dragons is unsophisticated to say the least, but the Japanese animation includes some nice shimmering effects; and if, like Dickinson's, your best character is a dragon, then this is for you." Other reviews were less positive: "I'm sure fans of ''The Flight of Dragons'', sick of looking at crappy downloads or worn VHS copies, will be satisfied with what's here, but if you didn't grow up with this one, it's best left alone."

Distribution

Various VHS editions of the film have been released since its debut in 1982. There was also a

LaserDisc The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as DiscoVision, MCA DiscoVision (also known simply as "DiscoVision") in the United States in 1978. Its diam ...

release from which some VHS copies were produced. The LaserDisc release was made by

PolyGram Video PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be ...

in the United Kingdom, and there was also a

Betamax Betamax (also known as Beta, as in its logo) is a consumer-level analog recording and cassette format of magnetic tape for video, commonly known as a video cassette recorder. It was developed by Sony and was released in Japan on May 10, 1975, ...

release. In 1996, Warner Home Video released the film as part of the Warner Bros. Classic Tales VHS series, which is also available in Australia one year later. The Warner Archive Collection released the film on DVD on November 17, 2009. In December 2017, Warner Archive announced that they would be releasing the film on Blu-ray in 2018.

Soundtrack

The original score was composed by Maury Laws. The film's theme song, also entitled "The Flight of Dragons", was written and composed by

and Maury Laws, and performed by Don McLean. An official soundtrack was never released. However, Disney multi Emmy Award-winning film and television composer Carl Johnson did recreate several tracks from the animation for the live-action adaptation. Though the film was put on hiatus, 3 of the completed tracks were released online.

References

External links

*
The Wonderful World of Rankin-Bass

The Flight of Dragons Live Action Movie; 2014
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flight Of Dragons 1982 animated films 1982 films 1982 direct-to-video films 1980s American animated films 1980s fantasy adventure films Ogres in animated film American animated fantasy films American fantasy adventure films Animated films based on novels Animated films about dragons Films about wizards Films based on American novels Films based on fantasy novels Films based on multiple works Films directed by Jules Bass Films directed by Arthur Rankin Jr. Films directed by Katsuhisa Yamada Films scored by Maury Laws Japanese animated fantasy films Japanese fantasy adventure films Rankin/Bass Productions films American sword and sorcery films Topcraft Films with screenplays by Romeo Muller 1980s children's animated films 1980s English-language films