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[[File:TheFlightOfDragons.jpg|frame|"Ugh, department store seersucker, all charred with dragon exhaust."]] '''''The Flight of Dragons''''' is a [[Rankin/Bass Productions]] animated film, produced in [[The Eighties|1982]], but not aired until [[The Eighties|1986]]. It is loosely adapted from [[Gordon R. Dickson]]'s fantasy novel [[The Dragon Knight|''The Dragon and the George,'']]. However, it replaces the main character with [[Peter Dickinson]], the real life author who wrote ''The Flight of Dragons'', an art book that proposes scientific reasons for the [[Here There Were Dragons|prior existence of dragons]]. Got all that?
The film is a [[Heroic Fantasy]] in which a twentieth-century "man of science", [[Literary Agent Hypothesis|named Peter Dickinson]], [[Time Travel|travels back in time]] to defeat [[Big Bad|Ommadon]], an evil wizard who isn't happy that humans are [[Magic Versus Science|choosing science over magic]]. Due to an accident, Peter ends up [[Sharing a Body]] with a dragon and he thus has to learn about how [[Our Dragons Are Different]] in order to survive. In the end, it turns out that the [[Powers That Be]] selected Peter because they needed someone who ''wouldn't'' [[Clap Your Hands If You Believe]].
It's [[Better Than It Sounds
{{tropelist}}
* [[The Archer]]: Danielle.
* [[As You Know]]: When Peter first wakes up sharing Gorbash's body and Melisande calls him "brother," he gets embarrassed and reminds her that they kissed. The kiss did <s> not take place onscreen</s> take place, right before Bryagh knocked Melisande to the ground and grabbed Peter.
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* [[Cyclops]]: The giant [[Our Ogres Are Hungrier|ogre]] whose castle is the gate to Ommadon's kingdom.
* [[Daddy's Girl]]: Melisande, to Carolinus. It doesn't really become evident until she's in her weird coma, at which point he calls her "my darling, darling child" and weeps copiously. Possibly the most genuinely moving scene in the whole film.
* [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]: Peter's ''[[Title Drop|Flight of Dragons]]'' fantasy role-playing game reflects the [[
* [[Doing
* [[Doomy Dooms of Doom]]: Invoked by Ommadon, along with a [[Title Drop]], when [http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&hl=en-GB&v=rkeoqVP4N9g sending Bryagh forth] to battle the heroes.
* [[The Dragon]]: Bryagh, who is a literal dragon as well.
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** [[Ambiguously Brown|Is Solaris black? He could be Indian.]]
* [[Even the Subtitler Is Stumped]]: The closed captioning regularly confuses a dragon's ''hoard'' for a dragon's ''horn''.
* [[Everything's Better
* [[Evil Is Hammy]]: Ommadon.
* [[Evil Sorcerer]]: Ommadon.
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* [[Genius Ditz]]: ''Carolinus'', of all people.
** Justified, since magic is beginning to fade.
* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]: At Hell's Way Inn (itself a GCPTR incident), as the humans are about to turn in, Danielle mentions that they may not live to see another night. Cue her and Sir Orrin walking out [[Pre
* [[Hand Wave]]: Melisande's recovery from her strange pseudo-coma. Carolinus believes it to have been Ommadon's crown which revived her, having been brought to her by Peter after the battle, adding that her revival was foretold by prophecy. Not only was that prophecy ''never before mentioned'', but if he knew that was the case, why was he so upset when she first went into the coma?
** Practically ''everything'' about Melisande was handwaved. Who were her parents, who were murdered when she was a child? She's apparently a princess, so how did Carolinus end up as her guardian? Where exactly is the kingdom she's a princess ''of'', and who is running it? Why does she wear giant seashells on either side of her head?
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* [[Heroes Want Redheads]]: Both played straight and averted. There are two heroes, and one ends up with the redhead, and the other gets the blonde.
* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: {{spoiler|Smrgol.}}
* [[Hey, It's That Voice!]]: Fans of [[The Seventies|Seventies]] TV will not only recognize John Ritter (Peter) as Jack Tripper from ''[[Three's
* [[I Fell for Hours]]: "Actually, it's been more like ten centuries!"
* [[Improbable Hairstyle]]: Melisande's long blonde hair is beautiful...except for the part where it looks like she's wearing gigantic seashells on either side of her head.
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* [[Missing Mom]]/[[Disappeared Dad]]: Princess Melisande's parents were killed by "the night demons" when she was a small child, resulting in her being [[Happily Adopted]] by Carolinus. No explanation is ever offered for what became of the kingdom of which she is a princess.
* [[Mordor]]: Ommadon's kingdom.
* [[New Powers
* [[Not Quite Dead]]: Averted with Aragh. He DID die drowning, but was revived by Solarius, in exchange for killing the Sandmurk queen and joining the quest.
* [[The Obi-Wan]]: Smrgol, almost exactly.
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* [[Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping]]: Sir Orrin, who clearly has never been any closer to England than Liverpool -- [[Actor Allusion|East Liverpool, Ohio]], that is.
* [[Our Dragons Are Different]]: Dragon biology is discussed rather in depth, including their need to eat limestone to generate gas, which enables them to fly and breathe fire, as well as their use of soft metal for bedding, as it will not catch fire.
* [[Plot Tailored to
* [[Prophecies Are Always Right]]: Peter is identified as the [[Chosen One]] to Carolinus because he somehow knows what the four magic brothers, Melisande and Gorbash looked like and made them into pieces for his board game.
* [[Puff of Logic]]
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* [[Rule of Three]]: When Carolinus first decides to inspire the quest to bring about his idealized magic realm, Lo Tae Shao reminds him that there must be three warriors at the start of a quest, because "the laws so command it."
* [[Samus Is a Girl]]: Danielle the archer
* [[Science Destroys Magic]]: The central premise is a sort of [[Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors]] in which magical creatures can't exist in a world where science dominates, and civilizations based on science are destroyed by fear and superstition.
* [[Shaped Like Itself]]: Why do humans prefer logic over magic? In the words of Lo Tae Zhao "[because] Logic is so... ''logical."''
* [[Sharing a Body]]: Peter and Gorbash
* [[Shut UP, Hannibal]]: Peter's confrontation with Ommadon is basically one big series of these... Scientifically-themed, of course.
* [[Sleeping Beauty]]: Melisande, for about a third of the film.
* [[Small Annoying Creature]]: The Sandmurks, ratlike animals whose screechy noises will literally drive the listener mad.
* [[Sssssnaketalk]]: Smrgol
** Thankfully, it's pretty mild. Odds are you won't notice it for a while.
* [[Take Our Word for It]]: The Sandmurks' screeches are so horrible that they will drive any listener mad. The audience never has to hear it, though, as all ''we'' hear from the Sandmurks is silence.
* [[Taking You
* [[Talking in Your Sleep]]: Melisande, during her weird coma, tells Carolinus what's going on with the quest.
* [[Talking the Monster
* [[Time Travel]]: "Actually, it's been more like ten centuries!"
* [[Title Drop]]: Not counting the title of the book Peter wrote.
{{quote|
* [[Viewers Are Geniuses]]: If one listens closely, one can hear that the words of the song with which Sir Orrin is attempting to drown out the Sandmurks are those of "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJvF9xucG90 Sumer is icumen in]" -- the oldest secular song preserved in English. (Unfortunately, Sir Orrin does not seem to know the proper tune.)
** Well, he ''was'' being [[Mind Rape|Mind Raped]] at the time. Peter could barely string four words of "Oh, Susanna" together.
* [[Wife Husbandry]]: As mentioned, when Sir Orrin first met Melisande when she was five and he was a fully grown adult he decided he would marry her... he changed his mind pretty quickly when the (also fully grown adult) Danielle appeared.
* [[The World Is Just Awesome]]: Peter towards the Magic Realm throughout the film, and then subverted in the ending. By denying magic, he sacrifices his only chance to remain there.
* [[World
* [[Wrong Guy First|Wrong Girl First]]: Sir Orrin's love for Melisande and desire to marry her rather conveniently disappear once Danielle joins the party.
* [[The X of Y]]
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[[Category:Fantasy Animated Films]]
[[Category:Films of the 1980s]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Film]]
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