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->''North or south, east or west, the quest to save the life of Pelamar goes far. Look bravely [[TitleDrop through the dragon's eye]] and fly!''
-->Derek Griffiths singing the show's theme song.

'''''Through the Dragon's Eye''''' is a 1989 Series/LookAndRead EdutainmentShow released by Creator/TheBBC. The most famous and popular show released from the educational programme, ''Through the Dragon's Eye'' has been used as an educational programme for British kids in schools since its first airing over twenty years ago and has a strong following.

The show stars three kids Amanda, Jenny and Scott who paint a mural on their primary school wall featuring a dragon. After they paint in the eye, the dragon winks at them and suddenly springs to life, identifying himself as Gorwen and invites the kids into the fantasy world of Pelamar. He explains the world is dying due to the destruction of the MacGuffin called the Veetacore which becomes a DismantledMacGuffin. The kids, Gorwen and giant talking mouse Rodey meet the Veetacore's Keepers Boris, Doris and Morris, who can't read - in fact, all the creatures in Pelamar are [[LIsForDyslexia dyslexic and can't read]].

The kids offer to help translate the instruction manual on how to reconstruct the Veetacore, but learn three pieces are missing. Gorwen concludes the pieces somehow flew all the way into the unknown land of Widge and decides to go on TheQuest to find the pieces. Jenny remains with Doris and Morris to rebuild the Veetacore whilst Gorwen, Amanda, Scott, Boris and Rodey go to Widge to find the missing pieces, all the while be harassed by the fluffy Ewok-like critters called Widgets. Jenny's group also get in trouble when the show's BigBad and walking NightmareFuel Charn the Evil One arrives from exile to use the Veetacore for evil purposes.

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!!This series provides examples of:
* AllClothUnravels: Amanda exploits this. As she and keeper Boris wander around the giant sentient tree searching for the first Veeton, she unravels his sweater so they will be able to find their way back to the entrance more easily (in a {{Shout Out}} to Theseus and the Minotaur). In a later chapter, she unravels the rest of the sweater so they can [[spoiler: lower Rodey into a deep chasm to get the Veetarod back after it fell from Scott's pocket.]]
* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: The Keepers whose skin, hair and clothes are all the same colour.
** GreenMeansNatural: Morris, who has a number of pets, and tends to come up with solutions to problems that relate to the natural world (such as asking the Book Tree how to get inside).
** PurpleIsPowerful: Doris, the stern leader, whose pride tends to get in the way of her asking for help.
** VibrantOrange: Boris, the most upbeat of the Keepers, and an energetic athlete to boot.
* BagOfHolding: Boris's rucksack. He puts in enough food to last them several days in Widge, the Veetarod, an extra set of clothes, a bag of tennis shoes, a rope ladder... and still has enough room for Veetons and a few packages of books from the Book Tree.
* BatteringRam: Scott and Boris attempt to use the latter's bat to break down the Book Tree's door. Gorwen quickly puts a stop to this as it would result in Boris's bat being in splinters, trapping him in Widge as he cannot fly without it.
* BigEater: Frug. Unfortunately, he likes the taste of paper, which causes trouble for Jenny as he eats part of the book.
* BiggerOnTheInside: The Book Tree looks like an ordinary sized tree on the outside, but manages to house a maze, a library and even a large slide on the inside.
* BigNo: Morris, when [[spoiler: Charn melts Frug.]]
* BoringReturnJourney: [[spoiler: Once the last Veeton has been found and the Widgets have performed a [[HeelFaceTurn Heel Face Turn]],]] there's not really much standing in the party's way, so the journey back is glossed over with a catchy song and impressive visuals.
* ButtMonkey: Boris and Morris. The former ends up falling into a quagmire, having his best sweater unraveled and getting knocked out by a falling Veeton. The latter is frequently berated by Doris and cannot seem to keep a hold of Frug as he eats just about everything in the Veetacore House.
* CliffHanger: Every episode ends on one.
* CrazyPrepared: You can understand Boris packing a ton of food and some extra clothes for a journey that will take a number of days. But he also packed a ''rope ladder.'' [[spoiler: Pretty handy when you need to cross a deep chasm, and the rest of your party isn't athletic enough to jump the gap.]]
* DangerThinIce: Fortunately by the time he encounters it, Gorwen has enough literacy to read the warning sign and avoid the danger.
* DismantledMacGuffin: The serial revolves around the search for the missing pieces of the Veetacore.
* DrawingStraws: Jenny, Amanda and Scott do this to decide who stays behind at the Veetacore house.
* DumbJock: Boris loves playing cricket and tennis but isn't the sharpest tool in the box. [[spoiler: He gets better later on as he learns to read and is responsible for finding two out of the three missing Veetons.]]
* ExtremeOmnivore: Frug. He eats pages from the book and Boris's best tennis shoes. Doris even remarks he'll have eaten everything in the Veetacore House before he's spun his cocoon.
* FamilyThemeNaming:
** The Keepers, Boris, Doris and Morris.
** Morris's pets Frizz, Freddie and Frug.
* FriendToAllLivingThings: Morris, who has a number of pets in the Veetacore House. (Although even he becomes exasperated by Frug's tendency to eat everything.)
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Morris darts in front of Charn's lightning and gets turned into a puddle to give Gorwen enough time to shield himself from being turned into a puddle. Fortunately, Gorwen is able to restore him.]]
* ImMelting: Charn turns those who cross him into puddles.
* LIsForDyslexia: All the creatures in Pelamar are this.
* LovableCoward: Morris is the most timid of the Keepers, barely able to stand up to Doris and absolutely terrified when Charn shows up. However [[spoiler: when Gorwen is in danger, he sneaks out to warn him, resulting in the [[HeroicSacrifice Heroic Sacrifice]]above.]]
* {{Manchild}}: Boris, who seems to focus more on tennis and cricket than his job as a Keeper. Once he discovers the joy of reading, he grows up a little bit.
* MassOhCrap:
** Doris, Morris and Jenny when Charn shows up at the Veetacore House.
** When the search party learn Charn is back, Boris and Rodey panic, and Gorwen announces he must return to Pelemar at once.
* TheMillstone: Morris's caterpillar Frug eats pieces of the book the characters are using to repair the Veetacore. [[spoiler: He even eats the final page and the Veetacore can only be completed because he hatches from the cocoon with the words on his wings.]]
* NotSoAboveItAll: Gorwen is the most serious member of the search party, but even he participates in the snowball fight against the Widgets, and admits it was fun.
* ObviouslyEvil: Charn. He lampshades it.
-->'''Charn''': Do I really look that bad?
* ThePollyanna: Amanda, who is nearly always cheerful, even in hard situations. It helps that she's highly resourceful and a lateral thinker.
* PortalPicture: The mural through which the children enter Pelamar.
* ThePrankster: The Widgets, causing them to be a major hindrance in the quest for the missing Veetons. They hide the first Veeton, change road signs, throw snowballs and even [[spoiler: tear up the map.]]
* PublicSecretMessage: How Jenny manages to alert her friends to Charn's presence -- she knits it into a scarf and shows it to them. Since Charn can't read, he doesn't twig that the pattern in the scarf is actually words.
* TheQuest: It has all the plot stapled; The hero's quest, to recover the MacGuffin/collect the [[PlotCoupon Plot Coupons]], fight the BigBad, etc.
* QuicksandSucks: And sings a Qu-themed song about it, too.
* ShoutOut:
** Charn is the name of Jadis' homeland in ''Literature/TheMagiciansNephew''.
** The group encounter a tribe of [[Film/ReturnOfTheJedi small, mischievous teddy bear-like creatures]].
*** One of the widgets was played by Katie Purvis, who also played an Ewok in ''Return of the Jedi''.
* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: Boris is an outgoing and jovial LovableJock who enjoys playing tennis and cricket (Manly Man). Morris is a meek and timid FriendToAllLivingThings, who enjoys knitting and spending time with his pets (Sensitive Guy)
* SkeletonsInTheCoatCloset: Charn's costume is made up of bones, including a ribcage over his chest and the skull of a giant bird on his head. It's not entirely clear if this is also a costume in-universe or what his body actually looks like.
* SmarterThanYouLook: Boris and Morris are not the brightest bulbs in the box, but they have their smart moments.
** Boris is quick to realize something is wrong in the Veetacore House due to [[spoiler: Jenny's odd behavior, Doris's absence and the rather large number of puddles dotted about the place. This leads to Gorwen giving her a call to see if everything is alright, allowing Jenny to pass on her {{Public Secret Message}}.]]
** Morris's knowledge of butterflies and how symmetry works saves him, Jenny and Doris time in rebuilding the Veetacore, as he points out they can simply look back over Jenny's notes and repeat the process since it is the same on both sides. Similarly, his idea to talk to the Book Tree in Chapter 4 is what helps the search party get the door open.
* TheSmartGuy: Scott is this among the children, as he's implied to be an avid reader. He's the first to realize the Widgets can probably read when he spots the notice next to the quagmire.
* SnakeTalk: Charn does a lot of this.
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Amanda is the Tomboy because she wears a suit and tends to solve problems in a very practical and hands on manner (building a shelter when lost in the snow). Jenny is the Girly Girl as she wears a skirt and tends to use her art skills to deal with obstacles (drawing a design in her notebook for Morris to knit into a scarf so she can alert her friends to Charn's presence).
* TheTreesHaveFaces: The Book Tree, who helps the search party via a series of riddles and rouses all the trees to sing the characters home in the final chapter.
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: It's heavily implied that Scott is afraid of heights as he's visibly uncomfortable with the idea of flying and freaks out when [[spoiler: he has to cross a chasm using a rope ladder. It makes his actions at the end of Chapter 9 all the more heroic.]]
* WingShield: Gorwen uses his wings to protect himself from Charn's lightning bolts (though the costume isn't really flexible enough to pull this off convincingly).
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