Professor Popinjay's Compendium of Perspicacity

A Non-Review by Professor Popinjay

(1982)

Based on two books, Flight of Dragons (1979) by Peter Dickinson, and The Dragon and the George (1976) by Gordon R. Dickson, this animated feature takes its narrative and characters from The Dragon and the George but the book from whence the film’s title is taken is more of a speculative fantasy biology textbook about how dragons might have functioned from a scientific physiological perspective.

I picked up a copy of The Dragon and the George for my lady. You see? Chivalry is not dead. We’ve not read it yet but it’s my understanding that the film is only loosely based on the events of the book.

The events of the film make for a charming enough story though and it DOES get into the physiology of dragons quite a bit; enough to be interesting anyway without being overwhelming. These details make the dragons very real in the world presented. It’s the perfect platform as this story is all about the realm of magic subsiding as men delve into the sciences of the natural world.

This distresses the wizard Carolinus, whose magic abilities are waning as the world changes. To prevent magic from going completely extinct, he proposes the idea of creating a last refuge of magic shielded by a barrier from the rest of the world. This appeals to two of his fellow wizards. A fourth wizard however, Ommadon, thinks the notion ridiculous.

Ommadon has a far different and more sinister plan to save the world of magic: by fostering man’s sciences and invention to the point of excess until it becomes the vice and undoing of the human race. Ommadon foresees that men will wipe themselves out with science. Then the realm of magic will not simply stagnate in a fetid retirement home but will flourish in the absence of foolish man!

Holy crap! This guy’s got our number but good!

As we currently sit on the brink of destruction at the hands of the nerds who invented AI, I can’t help but wonder if Ommadon was right. Oh well, them’s the breaks. I’ll be building my giant trebuchet regardless of what happens. Perhaps THAT will be MY undoing. C’est la vie.

Carolinus calls on a man of science from the future to aid his cause against Ommadon. Enter Peter, named for the actual author of Flight of Dragons and in fact the in-world author of said book. Peter (the character) actually finds a copy of Flight of Dragons, penned by him, in a magic bookshelf of unfinished books!

Through various unfortunate circumstances, Peter actually BECOMES a dragon and must learn how to function as a dragon. This lends to the character’s knowledge later afforded to his book, a book we can actually find in the ACTUAL real world on EBay for 18.99 plus 5.68 shipping and handling. How’s THAT for breaking the fourth wall? Incredible!

Quite the premise, I should say. And beautifully executed by actors such as Harry Morgan of Dragnet and M*A*S*H fame. It’s hard not to imagine Col. Potter while listening to Carolinus.

Peter is played by John Ritter, another very recognizable voice. I half expect Dragon versions of Chrissy and Janet to come running to him for wacky Three’s Company hijinks. That is NOT an innuendo.

Ommadon is voiced by James Earl Jones. Darth Vader really comes through. His performance alone makes this worth the watch in my opinion. Dude was killing it as villains around these times.

As interesting as the story is, it kind of peters out (no pun intended) toward the end with what culminates in kind of a cheesy climax.

All things around that cheesiness remains pretty cool though. I shan’t spoil it.

The movie as a whole remains ultimately very charming. I do recommend it. As a Rankin and Bass production Flight of Dragons smacks of The Hobbit (1977) animated feature and was outsourced to Topcraft from which many animators would break off to form the amazing Studio Ghibli.

Now I’m off to watch Ralph Bakshi’s “Wizards” (1977) the plot of which closely mirrors that of Flight of Dragons. Curious.

Box art!