Finally! Dragonslayer

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2003-07-30 01:16pm

I got an email notice today from Amazon that Dragonslayer is finally going to be released on DVD. It's supposed to be released October 21st, 2003. The discription doesn't provide much information about the release though. Hopefully it will be a good clean print.

I know this isn't the greatest movie but I think it's still the best one with a classic fantasy style dragon in it.

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2003-07-30 01:27pm

YES!! One of the great on-screen Dragons!

The CGI dragons in Reign of Fire own much to this "Go-Motion" puppet, and the dragons in Dungeons & Dragons can't even touch her! She was beautiful!

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2003-07-30 01:36pm

LadyTevar wrote:YES!! One of the great on-screen Dragons!

The CGI dragons in Reign of Fire own much to this "Go-Motion" puppet, and the dragons in Dungeons & Dragons can't even touch her! She was beautiful!

I know, it's about time.

I liked the dragons in Reign of Fire and you are definately right on them being heavilly influenced by Dragonslayer. They were made a little more serpentine and given a more "scientific" explaination for their fire but the general structure was heavilly appropriated from Vermithrax.

The appearance of Vermithrax from the lake of fire in Dragonslayer is one of my favorite introductions of a character.

I like final battle as well.

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2003-07-30 01:45pm

Tsyroc wrote:
LadyTevar wrote:YES!! One of the great on-screen Dragons!

The CGI dragons in Reign of Fire own much to this "Go-Motion" puppet, and the dragons in Dungeons & Dragons can't even touch her! She was beautiful!
I know, it's about time.

I liked the dragons in Reign of Fire and you are definately right on them being heavilly influenced by Dragonslayer. They were made a little more serpentine and given a more "scientific" explaination for their fire but the general structure was heavilly appropriated from Vermithrax.

The appearance of Vermithrax from the lake of fire in Dragonslayer is one of my favorite introductions of a character.

I like final battle as well.

Oh yes.. Rising up slowly from the lake of fire, eyes glaring... Loved it!
And the shot of Vermithrax flying *behind* the bank of clouds was (iirc) the first time any special effect creature had ever interacted with the backgrounds that way.

The baby dragons were kinda cute, in a fat little lizard way, too.

Companion Cube · Post by **Companion Cube** » 2003-07-30 02:15pm

Ah, Reign of Fire. Crap movie, great Dragons.

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2003-07-30 02:22pm

3rd Impact wrote:Ah, Reign of Fire. Crap movie, great Dragons.

Still, got to love the way they killed off Mathew McConehey's (sp?) character.

When he jumped off of that tower I thought, "oh no, they are not going to have him do the hero thing with his axe and win". They didn't.

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2003-07-30 02:28pm

LadyTevar wrote: Oh yes.. Rising up slowly from the lake of fire, eyes glaring... Loved it!
And the shot of Vermithrax flying *behind* the bank of clouds was (iirc) the first time any special effect creature had ever interacted with the backgrounds that way.

The baby dragons were kinda cute, in a fat little lizard way, too.

The only dragon parts that I was a little disappointed in where those that had the dragon and Galen fighting. Plus there were times where it appeared that the scale changed (Galen v the dragon compared to the dragon corpse at the end).

It was interesting that the early parts of the movie make it seem like you aren't going to get much of a look at the dragon (many movies like to hide the creature because they have to) but I thought this movie showed plenty and still left you wanting more. The early teases were just to build things up before Galen's "aw shit" moment at the Lake of Fire.

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2003-07-30 04:27pm

Tsyroc wrote:
3rd Impact wrote:Ah, Reign of Fire. Crap movie, great Dragons.
Still, got to love the way they killed off Mathew McConehey's (sp?) character.

When he jumped off of that tower I thought, "oh no, they are not going to have him do the hero thing with his axe and win". They didn't.

If you were in a THX theatre, the convoy scene where the Male was flying around was awesome! You could literally hear him flying around you, with a creepy whistle/rippling sound from the rents in his wings!
And then, when the Male swooped down and just *hovered* over the convoy, spewing fire all the way down!

Definate coolness..

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2003-07-30 04:29pm

Tsyroc wrote:
LadyTevar wrote: Oh yes.. Rising up slowly from the lake of fire, eyes glaring... Loved it!
And the shot of Vermithrax flying *behind* the bank of clouds was (iirc) the first time any special effect creature had ever interacted with the backgrounds that way.

The baby dragons were kinda cute, in a fat little lizard way, too.
The only dragon parts that I was a little disappointed in where those that had the dragon and Galen fighting. Plus there were times where it appeared that the scale changed (Galen v the dragon compared to the dragon corpse at the end).

It was interesting that the early parts of the movie make it seem like you aren't going to get much of a look at the dragon (many movies like to hide the creature because they have to) but I thought this movie showed plenty and still left you wanting more. The early teases were just to build things up before Galen's "aw shit" moment at the Lake of Fire.

Yes, they did seem to have some scale problems, although if you think about it, many more modern movies still have that problem too

(how big were the Reign Of Fire dragons?)

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2003-08-01 08:39am

LadyTevar wrote: Yes, they did seem to have some scale problems, although if you think about it, many more modern movies still have that problem too (how big were the Reign Of Fire dragons?)

There are definately more modern movies that have scale problems, some that I even notice

which generally means they are pretty obvious if I notice because I rarely do and I watch lots of "giant monster" style movies.

Some of the "scale" problems in Dragonslayer could have actually been a matter of perspective. Galen was probably further away from the corpse of Vermithrax at the end of the movie than I thought. Discount that one and the rest of the time things are pretty close to scale.

It's funny how the eye can fool you into thinking things look right or wrong. Like how Greek Doric columns are fatter in the middle because they look goofy to the human eye if they are made perfectly cylindrical their entire length.

Anyway, back to Dragonslayer. I don't expect a lot of extras with the movie although I'm hopeful. From what I've heard Peter MacNichol likes to pretend that movie doesn't exist for some personal reasons I've never heard explained (Maybe it's because the hero of the movie is "girlish" and the heroine is "massculine" ) so I don't expect him to provide a commentary.

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2003-08-01 02:03pm

Tsyroc wrote:
LadyTevar wrote: Yes, they did seem to have some scale problems, although if you think about it, many more modern movies still have that problem too (how big were the Reign Of Fire dragons?)
There are definately more modern movies that have scale problems, some that I even notice which generally means they are pretty obvious if I notice because I rarely do and I watch lots of "giant monster" style movies.

Some of the "scale" problems in Dragonslayer could have actually been a matter of perspective. Galen was probably further away from the corpse of Vermithrax at the end of the movie than I thought. Discount that one and the rest of the time things are pretty close to scale.

It's funny how the eye can fool you into thinking things look right or wrong. Like how Greek Doric columns are fatter in the middle because they look goofy to the human eye if they are made perfectly cylindrical their entire length.

Anyway, back to Dragonslayer. I don't expect a lot of extras with the movie although I'm hopeful. From what I've heard Peter MacNichol likes to pretend that movie doesn't exist for some personal reasons I've never heard explained (Maybe it's because the hero of the movie is "girlish" and the heroine is "massculine" ) so I don't expect him to provide a commentary.

As long as they show the ingenious (for the time) way they made the dragon move, so all these young'uns raised on CGI can see how it was done!

Frank Hipper · Post by **Frank Hipper** » 2003-08-01 11:54pm

Tsyroc wrote:From what I've heard Peter MacNichol likes to pretend that movie doesn't exist for some personal reasons I've never heard explained

Shrinkage in his nude underwater scene, perhaps?

I love this movie. I saw it when it came out, and the sfx blew me away, utterly and completetly. Then again, I was 14 or 15, but still, there had been absolutely NOTHING like it before.
IIRC, saw it as a double feature with TWOK.

Hey, my first post in Fantasy.....

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2003-08-02 12:35pm

Frank Hipper wrote: I love this movie. I saw it when it came out, and the sfx blew me away, utterly and completetly. Then again, I was 14 or 15, but still, there had been absolutely NOTHING like it before.
IIRC, saw it as a double feature with TWOK.

Hey, my first post in Fantasy.....

Congrats on the post and welcome to the Fantasy board.

Hey, that must have been a good double feature. That might also explain why I didn't see Dragonslayer in the theater. With TWOK out at nearly the same time I probably wasn't as aware of Dragonslayer as I would be in similar circumstances today.