Puff the Magic Dragon (animation)
First written in 1959 by filmmaker Leonard Lipton and set to music in 1963 by Peter, Paul, and Mary's Peter Yarrow, "Puff, the Magic Dragon" tells the story of a boy who outgrows his childhood fantasies. The song also inspired a series of animated TV specials that recast the eponymous dragon as a sort of fantastical child psychologist coming to the aid of some deeply troubled children.
The TV specials provide examples of:
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: A gigantic Pirate captain... before his Heel Face Turn.
- Batman Gambit: Puff is quite the Magnificent Bastard when he needs to be, apparently allowing himself to be trapped or lose his powers so his young wards will have to discover themselves.
- Down the Rabbit Hole: The movie version of Puff tends to take children to fantasy worlds where they have to confront metaphors for their own problems.
- Genre Savvy: The titular dragon.
- Also the squat, curly-haired doctor in the beginning of the first TV special. His other two colleagues who were with him are quite the opposite.
- Heel Face Turn: The giant pirate when he becomes a chef.
- Hey, It's That Voice!: Would you believe that Burgess Meredith, the actor who played The Penguin, voices Puff in the movie?
- Know-Nothing Know-It-All: The tall, red-headed doctor and the bald, bearded doctor... who suffer not only from Genre Blindness, but are both Nay Theists.