Line #86 WesternAnimation/TheFlightOfDragons


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/flight_of_dragons_1982_poster_1.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:300:Ugh, department store seersucker, all charred with dragon exhaust.]]
3
4	''The Flight of Dragons'' is a Creator/RankinBassProductions and Creator/{{Topcraft}} animated film, produced in 1982, but not aired until 1986. It is loosely adapted from Creator/GordonRDickson's fantasy novel ''Literature/TheDragonAndTheGeorge''. However, it replaces the main character with Creator/PeterDickinson, the real-life author who wrote ''The Flight of Dragons'', an art book that proposes scientific reasons for the [[HereThereWereDragons prior existence of dragons]]. Got all that?
5
6	The film is a HeroicFantasy tale in which a twentieth-century "man of science", named Peter Dickinson, travels to the world of magic to defeat [[BigBad Ommadon]], an evil wizard who intends to take advantage of the fact that humans are [[MagicVersusScience choosing science over magic]] to seed evil throughout the world. Due to an accident, Peter ends up SharingABody with a dragon and he thus has to learn about how OurDragonsAreDifferent in order to survive. In the end, it turns out that the PowersThatBe selected Peter because they needed someone who ''wouldn't'' [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve clap his hands if he believed]].
7
8	The film features a remarkably effective voice cast: Creator/JohnRitter is highly sympathetic as Peter, Creator/HarryMorgan amusingly eccentric as Carolinus, Creator/VictorBuono (in his last role before his untimely death) convincingly growly as Aragh, James Gregory surprisingly lovable as the elderly dragon Smrgol (while also being chillingly menacing as the evil dragon Bryagh) -- and Creator/JamesEarlJones sonorous and magisterially evil as the Red Wizard Ommadon.
9	----
10	!!This film provides examples of:
11	* AdaptationalAlternateEnding: [[spoiler:Peter's literary counterpart, Jim Eckert, stays in medieval England with his wife Angie, leading to the rest of the ''Dragon Knight'' series. Peter, instead, returns home to the modern world, and Melisande leaves the Magic Realm to be with him.]]
12	* AdaptationalBadass: Possibly with Bryagh. Here he's [[spoiler: a HeroKiller taking down Giles, Danielle, Aragh and ending in a mutual kill with Sir Orrin]]. However his opponents ''are'' substantially weaker than his book opponents of Smrgol and Secoh, two dragons.
13	* AdaptationalNameChange: Sir Brian Neville-Smythe becomes Sir ''Orrin'' Neville-Smythe, probably to make him sound more fantastical. Oddly Orrin was the name of Geronde's father in the original story.
14	* AdaptationalNationality: The real Creator/PeterDickinson was British. The movie's Peter is American, like Jim Eckhart.
15	* AdaptationalPersonalityChange: Carolinus was much grumpier in the original book.
16	* AdaptationalVillainy: Bryagh is much nastier than his book counterpart.
17	* AdaptationalSpeciesChange: Sir Giles was a [[SelkiesAndWereseals selkie]] in the ''Dragon Knight'' series rather than an elf.
18	* AdaptationalWimp: Peter is much less capable in Dragon-form than Jim Eckert, who took on men-at-arms and managed to beat an Ogre single-handedly, as opposed to Peter's ineffectiveness.
19	* AdaptedOut: Angie, Secoh, Daffyd the Welshman, Lady Geronde Isabel de Chagny, Giles o' the Wold (his name remains but nothing of his character), Sir Hugh de Bois, and the Dark Powers.
20	* {{Animesque}}: One of the Rankin/Bass films animated by {{Creator/Topcraft}}, like ''WesternAnimation/TheLastUnicorn''.
21	%%* ArchEnemy: Sir Orrin and Bryagh.
22	* ArtifactOfDoom: The Red Crown of Ommadon, source of that wizard's dark power.
23	* ArtificialLimbs: The Ogre of Gormley Keep has a pegleg.
24	* ArtisticLicenseChemistry: The dragons swallow limestone, which reacts with their stomach acid to produce hydrogen for flight and breathing fire. Limestone (calcium carbonate) releases carbon dioxide, not hydrogen, when it reacts with acid.
25	* BadassBoast: Ommadon has an epic one.
26	--> '''Ommadon:''' I am the ''world'', and the world... is Ommadon."
27	* BadassBookworm: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uw9bny88OuY Peter]], who uses scientific facts to unravel Ommadon's magic. His big heroic moment is invoking every discipline of mathematics and science in a PreMortemOneLiner. Never has academia been so awesome.
28	* BadassCreed: Sir Orrin's LastStand against Bryagh.
29	--> '''Sir Orrin''': Blade with whom I have lived, blade with whom I now die. Serve right and justice one last time! Seek one last heart of evil, still one last life of pain. [[TheLastDance Cut well old friend, and then... farewell!]]
30	* BigBad: [[SorcerousOverlord Ommadon the Red Wizard]] wants to destroy the Realm of Science and turn the Realm of Magic into a hell-hole.
31	* BoringButPractical: Carolinus suffers from some sort of chronic pain, and all the magical solutions he's tried so far failed to make it better. Peter guesses he must have stomach ulcers, and tells him to drink some milk. It works.
32	* {{Bowdlerize}}: Most television broadcasts omit the scene of Peter/Gorbash and Smrgol getting drunk in the inn's basement.
33	* BringIt: Peter successfully lures out the ogre with "Hey you! Come on out and fight!"
34	* BrownNote: The Sandmirks cricket-like sound may not be as maddening as it's portrayed as InUniverse, but it ''is'' very painful to hear. Even worse if there's a lot of them nearby.
35	* CardCarryingVillain: Ommadon is officially the wizard of evil and destruction, yet he is invited to the brothers' councils the same as the rest. In one scene he even gleefuly boasts that he's gathered "the sum total of the world's evil" into himself.
36	* CessationOfExistence: [[spoiler: What Ommadon idiotically [[NiceJobFixingItVillain accomplishes in the ending]]. He ''refuses'' to relinquish the world to mankind and yield to science and logic. He finds out the hard way, all his curses, hexes and evil is ''nothing'' compared to the might of science harnessed for the good of all mankind.]]
37	* ChekhovsGun: The Shield of Saturn and Flute of the Muses, given to the heroes at the beginning, each come in handy exactly once to overcome an obstacle.
38	* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: Inverted; Peter Dickinson defeats Ommadon by denying the existence of magic. Science, on the other hand...
39	* ColorCodedWizardry: The four brothers each have an assigned color and element. Carolinus -- green and earth; Lo Tae Shao -- yellow and air; Solarius -- blue and water; Ommadon -- red and fire.
40	* CompositeCharacter:
41	** Peter takes Jim Eckert's role in the story but is [[AuthorAvatar based on author Peter Dickinson.]]
42	** Sir Orrin takes on Daffyd's romantic interest in Danielle
43	** The Ogre of Gormley Keep combines his book counterpart that Smrgol slew in the backstory with the unnamed ogre Jim fights at the Loathly Tower
44	* CoversAlwaysLie:
45	** The [[https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71pJD26jf2L._SL1000_.jpg 2000s home video cover]] makes the film look like a happy romping adventure, when it's actually a quite dark, violent and dramatic story. Carolinus's robes are also changed to purple to make him more visually distinct from Gorbash (who rather looks like Smrgol, but green, or is it just him?).
46	** The [[http://ring.cdandlp.com/musicolor/photo_grande/113856365.jpg UK cover]] is closer to the film's tone, though the art style is more realistic than the film, and Sir Orrin fights a green dragon in Ommadon's kingdom, which he never does in the film (or is Bryagh recolored in green somehow?).
47	* DaddysGirl: 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.
48	* DeathByDepower: The red wizard Ommadon is determined to use his terrible powers to keep humanity in the thrall of wizardry. However, he is confronted by TheChosenOne, who firmly believes in science. Every attempt by Ommadon to terrify and cow TheHero meets with debunking, until Ommadon expends himself entirely trying to sunder this ImplacableMan. There is nothing left of him except his red crown.
49	* DecapitatedArmy: The Sandmirks disperse and run off after [[StraightForTheCommander their queen gets killed by Aragh]].
50	* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: What Peter does to Ommadon (and would probably do to Cthulhu or any other EldritchAbomination for that matter). He denounces [[OneWingedAngel the wizard's true form]], for nothing so evil or hideous can ever possibly be real.
51	* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Peter's ''[[TitleDrop Flight of Dragons]]'' fantasy role-playing game reflects the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' boom of the early [[TheEighties '80s]].
52	* DoingInTheScientist: The motive behind Ommadon's actions is to deny science in favor of magic. The problem...
53	* DoingInTheWizard: Peter's specialty, and the whole reason he was chosen to lead the quest. He is ''completely successful'' as a result.
54	* DoomyDoomsOfDoom: Invoked by Ommadon, along with a TitleDrop, when [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&hl=en-GB&v=rkeoqVP4N9g sending Bryagh forth]] to battle the heroes.
55	* TheDragon: Ommadon's top goon is Bryagh, who is a literal dragon as well.
56	* DragonHoard: Dragons sleep on hoards because gold is soft and will not catch fire.
57	* DragonsUpTheYinYang: Lo Tae Shao is East Asian-looking, and so is his dragon, Shen Zu.
58	* DyingDeclarationOfLove: Sir Orrin does one to Danielle (who's already dead) after slaying Bryagh.
59	* DyingMomentOfAwesome: Sir Orrin dies by the fire of Bryagh but manages to kill him, after a BadassCreed.
60	* EatDirtCheap: As Smrgl shows Peter, dragons eat limestone and will swallow gemstones to help digest them, much like birds eat grit to grind their food. The limestone produces the gasses necessary for them to fly and breathe fire.
61	* EthnicMagician: The four brothers are oddly diverse. Carolinus is your typical white Merlin-type of wizard, Solarius is an AmbiguouslyBrown man whose garb suggests the Middle East, Lo Tae Shao is East Asian (and even has an East Asian dragon). Ommadon... well, he's sort of a chalky gray... and hobgoblin-ish.
62	* EvenTheSubtitlerIsStumped: The closed captioning regularly confuses a dragon's ''hoard'' for a dragon's ''horn''.
63	* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Or rather, evil cannot comprehend ''science wielded for good''. Ommadon gets his ass royally handed to him when he and Peter confront each other in the final showdown.
64	* EvilEggEater: Bryagh, in Sir Orrin's story of how he rescued an unhatched Gorbash from that horrible fate.
65	* EvilIsHammy: Ommadon growls and roars all of his dialogue.
66	* EvilLaugh: Both Ommadon and Bryagh revel in letting these out.
67	* EvilSorcerer: Ommadon, red-clad wizard and general malcontent who lords his magical power over others and vows to spread {{Greed}}, {{Polluted Wasteland}}s and [[UsefulNotes/NuclearWeapons weapons of mass destruction]] among humanity. He is officially the evil brother of the four.
68	* EvilSoundsDeep:
69	** Evil Sounds Like Creator/JamesEarlJones. [[Franchise/StarWars But we already knew that]].
70	** Bryagh's voice is quite deep too.
71	* {{Expy}}:
72	** Ommadon fills the same role as the Dark Powers do in ''The Dragon and the George'', even using the Loathly Tower as his base.
73	** Antiquity serves a similar role to the Auditing Department in the original story.
74	* ExtraEyes: The giant [[OurOgresAreHungrier Ogre]] of Gormley Keep, whose castle is the gate to Ommadon's kingdom, used to have three eyes (with one on his forehead) and lost one prior to the film.
75	* TheFairFolk: Giles is an elf, but you'd hardly know it from his appearance and abilities; Ommadon also tries to beckon various monstrous fantasy creatures at the climax. The usual small, pretty, beneficial fairy types are depicted early on, though.
76	* FamousAncestor: Peter is said by Antiquity to be the [[RuleOfSeven 777th]] descendant of Great Peter, who taught dragons to speak.
77	* FantasticNatureReserve: Carolinius' plan is to create an otherwise unreachable sanctuary, a place where all of the magic and magic creatures will go to in order to avoid destruction as man increasingly favors logic over magic.
78	* FantasticNuke: Ommadon explaining how his magic's influence on man naturally leads to the creation of the atomic bomb.
79	* ForcedSleep: The flute that Lo Tae Shao gives to the party has the power to put even the fiercest dragon to sleep, and near the end it's used to disable the entire flight of dragons that Ommadon sends against them. All except Bryagh, that is, and since it put Peter to sleep as well, he descends virtually unopposed.
80	* FriendToAllLivingThings: The innocent Princess Melisande summons the Silver Owls of the Full Moon purely by singing.
81	* GetAholdOfYourselfMan: Orrin smacks dragon!Peter on the head with the hilt of his sword to snap him out of the sandmirks' entrancing hold over his mind.
82	* AGodAmI: Ommadon has a fairly [[EvilIsHammy spectacular]] rant on this topic upon going OneWingedAngel. [[DefiedTrope Peter has none of it]], pointing out ''[[MagicVersusScience every claim Ommadon makes is logically impossible.]]'' For example, when Ommadon challenges Peter to ask him to "reach up and pull down the sun", Peter retorts that this cannot be done because the sun's light takes just over eight minutes to reach Earth. Therefore, if Ommadon tries to pull the sun down, he will be reaching towards the part of the sky it occupied eight minutes ago, not where it is now.
83	* HandWave:
84	** 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?
85	** Practically ''everything'' about Melisande was hand-waved. 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?
86	* HeroKiller: Bryagh kills almost the entire party. [[spoiler:Everyone gets better.]]
87	* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Smrgol dies after making the Ogre of Gormely Keep fall from his rampart, as the fight was too much strain for his old heart.]]
88	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Bryagh is impervious to metal weapons, but he perishes when Sir Orrin throws his now-flaming sword at him, thanks to his own fire.
89	* HonorBeforeReason: Sir Orrin is adamant about following the laws of chivalry, particularly during his first encounter with Bryagh where he notes it seemed a shame to die over an egg, but he'd already made the challenge.
90	* HowDoIShotWeb: With Peter inhabiting Gorbash's body, he has no idea how to use a dragon's skills, leading Smrgol to join the quest as a mentor. An afternoon is spent training him how to breathe fire and to fly.
91	-->'''Ommadon:''' [''over fits of mocking laughter''] A dragon... that doesn't know how to be... a dragon!
92	* HumansAreBastards: Invoked by Ommadon, who claims that with his "help", magic's death will be averted as his brand of BlackMagic will instead feed on humanity's darker impulses, driving them to ultimately destroy themselves with their own science and leaving the survivors rejecting it to instead cling to magic instead. He even says as much that "Fear rules Man!"
93	* IFellForHours: "Actually, it's been more like ten centuries!"
94	* ImmuneToFire:
95	** Dragons can breathe fire in each other's face without an issue.
96	** The Ogre of Gormley Keep gets a facefull of fire from Peter (in Gorbash's body) while the latter tries to free himself from the Ogre's KillerBearHug. Unfortunately for Peter, [[NoSell it does nothing to the Ogre]]. Smrgol had actually told Peter as they were heading to fight the Ogre that ogres couldn't be harmed by fire so he should have saved it for flying.
97	* ImprobableHairstyle: 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 (though if you remember what Ommadon's voice actor is [[Franchise/StarWars most famous for]], it becomes obvious where [[https://townsquare.media/site/442/files/2016/12/star-wars-leia.jpg her hairstyle]] [[Characters/StarWarsLeiaOrgana came from]]).
98	* {{Jerkass}}: A group of commoners who laughed at Carolinus' weakening magic.
99	* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler:Out of the major characters, Smrgol, Bryagh, and Ommadon end up biting the dust. Almost ''all'' the heroes taste death at one point or another, but [[DisneyDeath they're revived]] at the end of the movie.]]
100	* KillerBearHug: The attempt of Peter (in Gorbash's body) to attack the Ogre of Gormley Keep fails and he ends up squeezed in the ogre's arms. He's saved by Smrgol's intervention.
101	%%* KnightErrant: Sir Orrin Neville-Smythe.
102	* KnightInShiningArmor: Sir Orrin Neville-Smythe is an [[KnightErrant armor-plated wandering do-gooder]] with a strong moral code and a fine moustache.
103	* TheLastDance: Upon confronting Bryagh for the final time, Sir Orrin draws his sword and gives a {{badass creed}}:
104	-->''"Blade with whom I have lived, blade with whom I now die. Serve right and justice one last time! Seek one last heart of evil, still one last life of pain. Cut well old friend, and then... farewell!"''
105	* LatinIsMagic: When Carolinus is trying to save a plummeting Peter by boosting the speed of the dragon Gorbash, his Latin is rusty,and the desperation pushes him into a fragmented spell that finishes with a general-purpose "Kala!" The result is that Peter gets ''fused'' with Gorbash, becoming a huge dragon with the mind of the human Peter Dickinson.
106	* LeaveHimToMe: A heroic variant. When the group prepares to confront the dragons, Sir Orrin states: "Let me take Bryagh." Of course this is ignored when Bryagh actually arrives, but Sir Orrin was the only one who stood a chance anyway.
107	* LikeBrotherAndSister: An inter-species version. Melisande, at one point in the film, addresses Gorbash as "brother," presumably because (as Orrin's narration later indicates) they grew up together in the care of Carolinus.
108	* LivingGasbag: Dragons fly by digesting limestone to make hydrogen and thereby inflating themselves like blimps. The wings are simply to steer.
109	* LoopholeAbuse: Solarius holds dominion over the oceans and outer space, and since the quest is a land-based affair, he is unable to recruit any help for Peter under normal circumstances. Luckily for him, Aragh drowned underwater, allowing Solarius to restore him to life in exchange for joining the group.
110	* LoveAtFirstSight:
111	** Peter and Melisande, more or less; their first meeting is pretty fraught with chemistry, and they later share a little interlude the night before he leaves on the quest. This is apparently enough to [[spoiler:induce her to follow him into the real world at the end.]]
112	** On a more squicky level, Sir Orrin decided to marry Melisande on their first meeting...when she was five. Fortunately, this turned out to be more of a case of the knight deciding that he was supposed to marry the princess when she grew up, rather than one of genuine attraction, and he pretty much forgot the entire idea once he met Danielle.
113	* MadeOfShiny: The Silver Owls of the Full Moon; the silver acorn Antiquity gives Carolinus. Antiquity itself, arguably.
114	* MageTower: Each magician lives in one which reflects his elements and personality -- a weirdly coral-like tower that stretches from the crashing waves to high into the air for Solarius, the Blue Wizard of Sea and Space; a clifftop temple for Lo Tae Zhao, Golden Wizard of Light and Air; an ominous peak with [[CaveMouth a gaping-jawed skull-like top]] amidst volcanic wastelands for Ommadon, the Red Wizard of Fire and Darkness; and a humble but comfortable farm amidst lush grassy fields and forests for Carolinus, Green Wizard of Earth and Nature.
115	* TheMagicGoesAway: What with the advance of science and logic, the assorted fantasy flora and fauna must retreat to the "Last Realm of Magic."
116	* MagicMisfire: Carolinus has been doing this more and more often lately, and it's what causes Gorbash and Peter to merge.
117	* MagicVersusScience: The worlds of science and magic are separate dimensions struggling for dominance, although Carolinus admits that science will ultimately win in the end. Ommadon doesn't believe it one bit. PlayedWith, as while science and magic are separate, it's more about what one chooses to embrace and believe rather than one being superior to the other. It's just humanity is choosing science.
118	* TheMagocracy: Envisioned by the green wizard Carolinus, as he sees humanity moving away from magic and nature, and toward mechanics and physics. Carolinus proposes creating an enclave where wizards, magic and fantasy beings can exist, separate and undetectable by humans. The yellow and blue wizards concur, but red wizard Ommadon refuses to go along with this "fools' paradise," vowing to keep humanity under the thrall of magic, through fear and force.
119	* MeaningfulName: Sir Orrin explains to Peter that he named the baby dragon Gorbash after the circumstances of his hatching -- Orrin had fought with Ommadon's dragon, and it was gory, and he did get bashed up a bit.
120	* MergingMistake: When Peter is plummeting to his certain doom and Gorbash unable to descend fast enough to catch him, Carolinus tries to invoke a magic spell to speed up Gorbash, but being pressed for time, Carolinus can't assemble the Latin phraseology completely, and concludes with a general-purpose "Kala!" The result is Peter being merged with Gorbash.
121	* MonstrousCannibalism: Sir Orrin ran afoul of Bryagh when he caught him [[EatsBabies eating dragon eggs]].
122	* {{Mordor}}: Ommadon's kingdom ticks all the boxes.
123	* MundaneUtility: When being intrigued by how dragons fly and breathe fire and not having his curiosity satisfied with Smrgol's AWizardDidIt explanation, Peter (in Gorbash's body) burns a little tree and uses the charred trunk as a makeshift pencil to make a drawing to try to scientifically explain the phenomenon.
124	* MutualKill:
125	** Smrgol manages to make the Ogre of Gormley Keep fall to his death, but at the cost of fatally exhausting himself.
126	** Sir Orrin dies from Bryagh's fire, but not before killing the dragon with his sword (now {{flaming\|Sword}} thanks to Bryagh's fire).
127	* NaiveNewcomer: Peter, in Gorbash's body, must learn how to live as a dragon and fight as a dragon.
128	* NecessarilyEvil:
129	** This is Ommadon's role in the wizardly brothers; without his evil to oppose and define itself against, the good of his brothers would be a weak, impotent thing.
130	** Ommadon's entire plan; rather than meekly hide or let mankind destroy the world of magic with science, his plan is to instead attack science and destroy it first.
131	* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: When Ommadon causes Carolinus to lose the ability to track the quest through magical means, the image of his brother Lo Tae Shao appears and reminds him that Melisande has the previously unmentioned ability to do the exact same thing by entering a trance. It's basically an excuse for Melisande to have something to do and prevent Carolinus from talking to himself when providing exposition.
132	* NotQuiteDead: Averted with Aragh. He DID die drowning, but was revived by Solarius, in exchange for killing the Sandmurk queen and joining the quest.
133	* NoSell:
134	** Peter charging the Ogre of Gormley Keep and using his fire breath. None of these work, and it's up to the old Smrgol to defeat the ogre the only way that works: making him fall from his ramparts.
135	** Later, Peter to Ommadon, laughing off his, to him, ridiculous claims, while rattling off the ''surprisingly accurate'' scientific reasoning over '''''why''''' his claims don't work, followed by destroying him with the very science he hoped to usurp the power of.
136	* ObiWanMoment: An obvious consequence of the above.
137	* ObviouslyEvil: Ommadon. While the other three wizards are sagely older men (of [[EthnicMagician various racial backgrounds]]), Ommadon is a gaunt, hunched, goblin-like creature with yellow eyes, tusks, and even a horn on his nose, to say nothing of his billowing red robes.
138	* OhCrap: The look on Carolinus' face when he realizes that [[spoiler:not ALL of the dragons were put to sleep. Ommaddon's dragon Bryagh is still active]].
139	* OneWingedAngel: Ommadon takes a deep hit of evil magic for the final confrontation and swells up into a hulking monstrosity with multiple dragon heads sprouting from his back and shoulders. It ain't pretty.
140	* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Sir Orrin, who clearly has never been any closer to England than Liverpool -- [[ActorAllusion East Liverpool, Ohio]], that is.
141	* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Dragon biology is discussed rather in-depth, including their need to eat limestone to generate hydrogen 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. This is most of what is taken from the film's namesake, ''The Flight of Dragons'' by Peter Dickinson. In it, the author hypothesizes that dragons evolved from dinosaurs, survived extinction by pure luck, and evolved to fly and breathe fire using the aforementioned gas.
142	* OurDwarvesAreDifferent: The dwarf species of the film's universe looks straight out of ''Literature/SnowWhite'' (they mine diamonds), if only for their size (which seems a quarter or third of the usual size of fantasy dwarves, very small compared to a dragon's head but not quite into {{Lilliputians}} territory).
143	* OurElvesAreDifferent: Giles' species of Elves is clearly not your typical Tolkien-ish beautiful human-like being with pointy ears. Instead, they look quite close to {{Hobbits}}.
144	* OurGhostsAreDifferent: [[spoiler:What Peter sadly ends up becoming to the world/realm of magic. To utterly destroy [[BigBad Ommadon]], he must forsake and deny all magic. Yet somehow, he is able to interact with them, to Carolinus' amazement. Indicating part of Peter, even though he favors reality and logic, [[BittersweetEnding will always love and cherish his memories of magic and of dragons]].]]
145	* ParentalAbandonment: Princess Melisande's parents were killed by "the night demons" when she was a small child, resulting in her being HappilyAdopted by Carolinus. No explanation is ever offered for what became of the kingdom of which she is a princess.
146	* PinnedToTheWall: Danielle's EstablishingCharacterMoment against Giles's elves.
147	* PlotTailoredToTheParty: Each member of the group overcomes exactly one obstacle (not counting Danielle rescuing the party from Giles's elves).
148	* PreClimaxClimax: At Hell's Way Inn, 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 hand-in-hand, and it's never shown whether they were taken from different rooms of the Inn.
149	* PreMortemOneLiner: Spoken by Peter in a final attack to a desperate Ommadon, who'd suffered massive wounds from Peter's using scientific facts to [[YourHeadASplode to destroy the dragon heads]] Ommadon was using.
150	--> '''Peter''': "Come algebra, anatomy, astronomy, biology, chemistry, geology, geometry, mathematics, meteorology, mineralology, oceanography, paleontology, physics, psychology, sociology, trigonometry, and zoology!"
151	** Particularly badass when you consider he recited all these ''in alphabetical order''.
152	* PropheciesAreAlwaysRight: Peter is identified as the ChosenOne 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.
153	* PuffOfLogic: [[spoiler:Ommadon's death, shrinking and puffing away when confronted by Peter's logic that scientifically he cannot exist.]]
154	* RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: The dominant colors on Bryagh are red and black, and he's the single more evil dragon there is.
155	* RedHerring: As they are setting up camp for the night, the heroes are being spied upon by a huge, glowing-eyed wolf...[[spoiler: Turns out the wolf is actually an old friend of Gorbash and Orrin, and he came to save them from the Sandmurks' maddening song.]]
156	* IRejectYourReality: Technically an [[InvertedTrope inversion]]: I Reject Your ''Un''reality. Once Peter starts applying his modern knowledge to magic, it stops working.
157	** Once Peter realises that it's impossible for any two things to occupy the same space, he unmerges from Gorbash.
158	** When Ommadon tries to move the sun, he fails because as Peter tells him, he's reaching for where the sun '''''had''''' been instead of where it ''is''.
159	** [[spoiler:He erases the red wizard by proving to him that something as horrible as him cannot possibly exist.]]
160	* RidiculouslySmallWings: Anyone watching the movie would realize the wings of the dragons, even detailed, are nowhere near big enough to allow them to fly, especially with the sort of lazy soaring they do. While never actually pointed out in the story, it is revealed that the wings aren't actually used for lift but for steering like a rudder. Dragons have less soaring and more controlled floating like a blimp.
161	* RuleOfThree: 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."
162	* SamusIsAGirl: Danielle the archer reveals herself to be female by [[CompressedHair talking off her cap and revealing her long mane of red hair]].
163	* ScienceDestroysMagic: The central premise is a sort of ElementalRockPaperScissors in which magical creatures can't exist in a world where science dominates, and civilizations based on science are destroyed by fear and superstition. At the end, Ommadon encounters a ''literal'' example.
164	* ShapedLikeItself: Why do humans prefer logic over magic? In the words of Lo Tae Zhao "[because] Logic is so... ''logical."''
165	* SharingABody: Peter is merged into Gorbash's body. Peter's body disappears and Gorbash's personality is left dormant.
166	* ShutUpHannibal: Peter's confrontation with Ommadon is basically one big series of these... Scientifically-themed, of course.
167	* TheSociopath: Both Ommadon and Bryagh. The former is a wicked and power hungry sorcerer who plans to destroy humanity by turning men against each other and condemning the ones who refuses to listen to him to a FateWorseThanDeath and it's shown he's also willing to kill his own brothers should they interfere. The latter is a vicious and psychopathic dragon who simply kills for the joy of it and apparently he's loyal to his master just because he allows him to do it anytime he feels like.
168	* SssssnakeTalk: Smrgol. Thankfully, it's pretty mild. Odds are you won't notice it for a while.
169	* StraightForTheCommander: Aragh rushes straight to the queen of the Sandmurks to kill her, which disorganizes them and prompts them to retreat.
170	* TakeOurWordForIt: The Sandmurks' screeches are so horrible that they will drive any listener mad. The audience only hears a mild chittering sound.
171	* TakingYouWithMe: Sir Orrin resolves to kill Bryagh even at the cost of his own life.
172	* TalkingInYourSleep: Melisande, during her weird coma, tells Carolinus what's going on with the quest.
173	* TalkingTheMonsterToDeath: Peter defeats the villain by reciting formulae and listing scientific disciplines.
174	* ThirdEye: The Ogre of Gormley Keep has three eyes -- the third is on his forehead. Though he only has two working, the right one has been blinded.
175	* ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks: After Bryagh sets Orrin on fire, Sir Orrin throws his sword through the flames, skewering Bryagh and setting him on fire.
176	* TimeTravel: Carolinus travels forward to recruit Peter, bringing him into the past. [[spoiler:Melisande travels forward to join him in the ending.]]
177	* TitleDrop: Not counting the title of the book Peter wrote.
178	-->'''Ommadon:''' Yes, Bryagh, it's your turn now! You and your legions, attack, demolish, devour, burn, grind them to dust! Go forth and death be thy destination! Doom! Doom! A Flight of Dragons! I COMMAND IT... ''A FLIGHT OF DRAGONS!!''
179	* TokenEvilTeammate: Ommadon at the beginning, the only EvilSorcerer among the four wizards. The need for his presence is lampshaded and discussed by Carolinus ("As evil is a part of all things, evil is a part of our world of magic" and "the irony of all existence is that good would be totally impotent without the contrast of evil"). While he held the position for apparently centuries, early in the movie he goes renegade and becomes the BigBad.
180	* TwentyFourHourArmor: Yes and no. Sir Orrin is shown wearing his armor to bed when their camp is attacked by the sandmurks, but not when the ogre smashes through the wall of his room at the inn. Justified in the difference between being camped outside and exposed, versus being inside an inn, and thus much more safe (predicting something like the ogre would show up is asking a little much of him).
181	* ViewersAreGeniuses: If one listens closely, one can hear that the words of the song with which Sir Orrin is attempting to drown out the Sandmirks are those of "''Sumer is icumen in''" -- the oldest secular song preserved in English, though Sir Orrin does not sing it to the proper tune.
182	* VillainHasAPoint: It's never acknowledged, because Ommadon's actions would cause a lot of suffering, but it's not like he's entirely wrong in being angry that science ''started'' the destruction of the magical world, or in wishing to actively fight against the end of his entire world, people, and way of life.
183	* VillainousVow: The Red Wizard Ommadon comes to the Temple of Eternity to meet with three other wizards to decide their course now that mankind is developing science to meet his needs. While the other wizards agree that an enclave realm of magic be created, Ommadon refuses to retreat to this "fools' paradise" and swears upon his red crown that he'll keep mankind fearful and trembling of his magical powers. Part of this effort includes MindControl of heretofore docile dragons, converting them into Ommadon's EliteMooks.
184	* WhereTheMagicWent: The green wizard Carolinus observes that mankind is developing mechanics, physics, and other sciences while moving away from magic and mysticism. He calls for a council of wizards, where he proposes creating an enclave on Earth where magic and mystical beings can live undetected by humans. Three of the four wizards concur, but the red wizard Ommadon nixes the idea as a "fool's paradise". It's not until Ommadon is defeated that this invisible enclave is created, where unicorns, fairies, and wizards can exist unbothered by humans and their science.
185	* WifeHusbandry: 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.
186	* TheWorldIsJustAwesome: Peter towards the Magic Realm throughout the film. [[spoiler:Ultimately subverted when, by denying magic, he sacrifices his only chance to remain there.]]
187	* WorldHealingWave: After defeating Ommadon.
188	* WouldHurtAChild: Sir Orrin's first encounter with Bryagh was when he found him ''[[ImAHumanitarian eating]]'' an entire nest of ready-to-hatch dragon eggs. After he drove Bryagh off, the last surviving egg hatched - into Gorbash.
189	* WrongGuyFirst: Gender-inverted. Sir Orrin's love for Melisande and desire to marry her rather conveniently disappear once Danielle joins the party.
190	* TheXOfY: "The Flight of Dragons"
191	* YankTheDogsChain: Perhaps inadvertently done by Sir Orrin towards the Hell's Way Innkeeper. When the Innkeeper laments that the party's draconic allies are basically devouring his larder in the basement, an inebriated [[KnightInShiningArmor Sir Orrin]] reminds the man that "dragons have gold, you know." The relieved Innkeeper asks if they have it with them, only to be told that he will be paid eventually and lamenting that his father told him never to extend credit to a dragon. Becomes harsher in hindsight when the Ogre of Gormley Keep destroys the inn to kidnap the party, "paying" the Innkeeper for offering the heroes hospitality by killing him.
192	* YouCantGoHomeAgain: [[spoiler: Melisande gives up life in the Magic Realm to live in modern times with Peter.]]
193	* YouKilledMyFather: Melisande accuses Carolinus of killing her parents during a moment of madness induced by the Sandmurks.
194	* YouRebelScum: Both this and YourLittleDismissiveDiminutive from Bryagh's mouth.
195	-->'''"Puny scum of Carolinus!"'''

Context WesternAnimation / TheFlightOfDragons