{"id":31975,"date":"2016-04-13T06:30:43","date_gmt":"2016-04-12T18:30:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/?p=31975"},"modified":"2016-04-11T21:16:19","modified_gmt":"2016-04-11T09:16:19","slug":"big-worlds-on-small-screens-fantasy-films-from-the-eighties-that-werent-that-bad-rebecca-fisher-discusses-dragonslayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2016\/04\/13\/big-worlds-on-small-screens-fantasy-films-from-the-eighties-that-werent-that-bad-rebecca-fisher-discusses-dragonslayer\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Worlds On Small Screens & \u201cFantasy Films From the Eighties That Weren\u2019t That Bad\u201d\u2014Rebecca Fisher Discusses “Dragonslayer”"},"content":{"rendered":"

~ by Rebecca Fisher<\/em><\/p>\n

As it happens, Dragonslayer<\/strong> is the only movie that I hadn’t<\/em> seen prior to starting this column, basing my decision to include it entirely on positive hearsay. So \u2013 was I right to trust the opinions of others before watching the movie myself?<\/p>\n

\"Dragonslayer1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Kind of. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy Dragonslayer<\/strong>, it’s that a lot of the plot twists that would have undoubtedly been fresh and unexpected at the time of its release now feel like fairly well-trod material.<\/p>\n

The “grimdark” atmosphere (which involves everybody and everything being covered in mud) is a pretty popular aesthetic these days, and the hero’s preference for the tomboyish action girl over the pretty princess isn’t that surprising either.\u00a0 Perhaps it’s important to recall that these were surprising innovations back in 1981, especially for a Disney film, as are the (still impressive) effects that bring Vermithrax the dragon to life.<\/p>\n

Wisely keeping her out of sight for most of the film’s duration, letting the audience glimpse only a shadow here and a claw there, the creature instils the same sort of dread as the shark from Jaws<\/strong>, since often the unseen is more frightening than what’s right in front of you.<\/p>\n

\"Dragonslayer2\"<\/a>An unfortunate maiden is chosen to abate the dragon’s appetite<\/em><\/p>\n

This dragon has been preying on the kingdom of Urland for years, and the king has resorted to a terrible solution to defend his people. One young girl is chosen at random from a lottery and sacrificed to the dragon to sate its hunger \u2013 at least for a little while. Finding the cost of this arrangement too steep, a group of villagers seek out help from the sorcerer Ulrich (Ralph Richardson), but end up enlisting the services of his apprentice Galen (Peter MacNicol) instead.<\/p>\n

Given his career in more comedic roles, it’s a little odd to see Peter MacNicol in such serious surroundings, and even taking into account the fact this was one of his first roles, he still feels a little out of sync with the rest of the cast.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Valerian and Galen approach the dragon’s lair<\/em><\/p>\n

Dragonslayer<\/strong> is perhaps most interesting when it’s exploring the moral implications of the situation at its core. Nobody is fully good or evil, but rather acting out of self-preservation or a desire to prove oneself. The question arises as to whether or not any<\/em> course of action is the right one to take. Is it wrong of the king to sacrifice innocent girls for the sake of the greater good? Is Valerian right in saving herself from the lottery by disguising herself as a boy? Should Galen take on the dragon and risk enraging her to the point where she commits further destruction?<\/p>\n

All things considered, Dragonslayer<\/strong> is an odd duck of a film, with its sword-and-sorcery plot belying its dark tone. None of the characters are hugely memorable, and yet care is taken to ensure none of them adhere to the strict black and white character alignments of other fantasy films \u2013 there’s pathos to be found even in the dragon.<\/p>\n

\"Dragonslayer4\"<\/a>They don’t make them like this anymore!<\/em><\/p>\n

And as the title suggests, said dragon is definitely the highpoint of the movie \u2013 and I wasn’t at all surprised to learn that twenty-five percent of the budget was spent on bringing her to life!
\n.<\/span><\/p>\n

Next Time:<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

This movie is a sequel, but there’s a forty-five year gap between it and the original film’s release. Of course, many don’t consider it a direct sequel, as Disney’s Return to Oz<\/strong> is a very different creature from MGM’s colourful and light-hearted The Wizard of Oz<\/strong>. Much darker and scarier, this movie sees Dorothy return to Oz only to find it facing destruction at the hands of the Nome King and the terrible Princess Mombi.<\/em> <\/span>
\n.<\/span><\/p>\n

About The Reviewer:<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/a>Rebecca Fisher is a graduate of the University of Canterbury with a Masters degree in English Literature, mainly, she claims, because she was able to get away with writing her thesis on C.S. Lewis and Philip Pullman. She is a reviewer for FantasyLiterature.com<\/a>, a large website that specializes in fantasy and science-fiction novels, as well as posting reviews to Amazon.com<\/a> and her They\u2019re All Fictional<\/a> blog.<\/p>\n

To read Rebecca\u2019s detailed introduction of both herself and the series, as well as preceding reviews, click on:<\/p>\n

Big Worlds On Small Screens<\/a><\/h3>\n

Rebecca won the 2015 Sir Julius Vogel Award<\/a> for Best Fan Writer, for writing that included Big Worlds On Small Screens<\/em>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

~ by Rebecca Fisher As it happens, Dragonslayer is the only movie that I hadn’t seen prior to starting this column, basing my decision to include it entirely on positive hearsay. So \u2013 was I right to trust the opinions of others before watching the movie myself? Kind of. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-big-worlds-on-small-screens-with-rebecca-fisher"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31975"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31975\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31983,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31975\/revisions\/31983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}