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From: leeper@mtgzz.UUCP (m.r.leeper)
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Re: Orphaned Response
Message-ID: <773@mtgzz.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 22-May-85 23:24:11 EDT
Article-I.D.: mtgzz.773
Posted: Wed May 22 23:24:11 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 24-May-85 02:15:26 EDT
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 >I also loved DRAGONSLAYER (although I could have done
 >without a few scenes, like the baby dragons munching on the
 >girl!).

That scene was not in the original script, I am told.  It had to be put
in.  Why?  People were coming away from the film with a tear in their
eyes and a lump in their throat saying "He killed the BABY dragons???"
Or at least they wanted to prevent that from happening.  If you have to
have your hero kill a baby something you pretty much have to establish
that it was the right thing to do.  I tend to be pretty ambivalent
about violence in film, so the scene did not bother me (in fact I was
delighted to see that they did not take the easy way out and save
everyone who is virtuous -- heros do become martyrs sometimes but
rarely in light fantasy films), but it seems to be one of the most
common complaints about the film.

 >
 >I thought the dragon must obviously have been done by two
 >different groups: one did the closeup shots (all the
 >Land_of_the_Giant-type dragon-on-a-crane effects that were
 >obviously huge props), and another, VERY talented group did
 >the breathtaking scenes of the dragon in flight.  The scene
 >of the battle between the dragon and the wizard are about
 >the best shots of a dragon I have ever seen.

All done by Industrial Light and Magic, I think but obviously one is
stop-motion and the other is full-sized mockups.  The same approaches
as in KING KONG ('33).

Yes, the Dragon is by far the best thing about the film.  She is
beautiful and is the only dragon I have ever seen on film that looks
like she could fly.  A marvelous creations.  Also she is the most
sympathetic character for me.  I love the scene where the visitors pull
out the dragon scale to impress the wizard and his response is "You
know, when a dragon gets this old it knows nothing but pain."
Vermithrax Pejoritive (sp?) just wanted to live out her days and raise
her babies, eating the occasional offering if it is there.  When her
babies are killed and she gives out that plaintive cry I really feel it
myself.  And she is the last of the dragons...

				Mark Leeper
				...ihnp4!mtgzz!leeper