The Flight of the Dragons



The Flight of Dragons is a 1982 animated film produced by Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin, Jr. and loosely combining the speculative natural history book of the same name by Peter Dickinson with the novel The Dragon and the George (1976) by Gordon R. Dickson.

Synopsis
The film first centres upon The 'Green Wizard' Carolinus discovering that magic is failing as humanity embraces science, and summons his magic brothers Lo Tae Zhao the Golden Wizard; Solarius the Blue Wizard; and Ommadon the Red Wizard, accompanied by their dragons Shen Tsu, Lunarian, and Bryagh, to whom he explains that the world's magic is dying and outlines a plan to save it by creating a 'Last Realm of Magic' wherein all magical beings can live, hidden from the rest of the world. Rather than join the others, Ommadon instead offers to take control of the world himself; whereupon the other wizards decide to seize and destroy Ommadon's crown, the source of his powers. Since the magic brothers cannot war on each other, they volunteer Carolinus's dragon Gorbash along with the knight Sir Orrin Neville-Smythe, to begin a quest to do so, with Solarius giving a magic shield to deflect dark magic and Lo Tae Zhao giving a magic flute that will lure dragons to sleep. Requiring a third protagonist, Carolinus summons Peter Dickinson, whom he finds in a pawnshop explaining a game he has created whose pieces resemble the wizards and Gorbash. Having arrived in the past, Peter becomes enamoured of Princess Milisande, Carolinus's adopted daughter.

Ommadon, learning the others' plan, sends his dragon Bryagh to capture Peter; whereupon Carolinus casts a spell to save him, which mistakenly combines Peter's mind with the body of Gorbash. Knowing nothing about being a dragon or about magic, Peter is mentored by an older dragon named Smrgol. During their journey they are joined by the wolf Aragh, a woodland elf Giles, and the archer 'Danielle of the Woodlands'. The dichotomy of magic and science appears when Smrgol teaches Peter how to be a dragon in magical terms, whilst Peter explains them with principles of science; and in later approaches of each character to similar subjects. In Carolinus's home Milisande falls into a trance and views the protagonists magically from afar. At an inn near Ommadon's realm, an Ogre captures Sir Orrin and Danielle. Smrgol teaches Peter how to defeat the Ogre, but ends up defeating the Orge himself after Peter is subdued. After killing the Ogre, Smrgol dies of his injuries, combined with old age. Upon entering the Red Wizard's realm, the heroes face off against a giant worm that execretes a deadly dissolving acid, the beast is defeated (thanks to Peter's scientific knowledge). Next the group is afflicted by an evil spell designed to induce hopelessness, which Peter also defeats using the magical shield. When Ommadon sends an army of dragons against the heroes, Giles plays a flute given to Carolinus by Lo Tae Zhao which puts them all to sleep, except Bryagh, who seems to kill Giles, Aragh, and Danielle but is slain by Sir Orrin, who also dies soonafter. When Ommadon appears on the battlefield, Peter separates himself from Gorbash to confront him, and it is Peter's explanations of science against Ommadon's declarations of magic that destroy the latter; whereupon the others are restored to life and the 'Last Realm of Magic' takes shape.

Peter returns to his own time, taking the flute and a shield given by Solarius, which he sells to the pawn shop owner. He is then joined by Milisande, who comes bearing Ommadon's Crown, and the two embrace.