''The Last Dragon'', known as ''Dragons: A Fantasy Made Real'' in the United States, and also known as ''Dragon's World'' in other countries, is a 2004

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

docufiction Docufiction (or docu-fiction) is the cinematographic combination of documentary film, documentary and fiction, this term often meaning narrative film. It is a film genre which attempts to capture reality such as it is (as direct cinema or ciné ...

made by Darlow Smithson Productions for Channel Four and broadcast on both Channel Four and

Animal Planet Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel focusing on the animal kingdom owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1 ...

. It posits a speculative evolution of

dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

s from the

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...

period up to the 15th century, and suppositions about what dragon life and behaviour might have been like if they had existed and evolved. It uses the premise that the ubiquity of dragons in world

mythology Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

suggests that dragons could have existed. They are depicted as a scientifically feasible species of

reptile Reptiles, as commonly defined, are a group of tetrapods with an ectothermic metabolism and Amniotic egg, amniotic development. Living traditional reptiles comprise four Order (biology), orders: Testudines, Crocodilia, Squamata, and Rhynchocepha ...

that could have evolved, somewhat similar to the depiction of dragons in the '' Dragonology'' series of books. The dragons featured in the show were designed by John Sibbick. The programme switches between two stories. The first uses CGI to show the dragons in their natural habitat throughout history. The second shows the story of a modern-day scientist at a museum, Dr. Jack Tanner, who believes in dragons. When the frozen remains of an unknown creature are discovered in the

Carpathian Mountains The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Ural Mountains, Urals at and the Scandinav ...

, Tanner and two colleagues from the museum undertake the task of examining the specimen to try to save his reputation. Once there, they discover that the creature is a dragon. Tanner and his colleagues set about working out how it lived and died.

Plot summary

The docufiction features two interwoven stories. Jack Tanner, an American

paleontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

working for the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history scientific collection, collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleo ...

in London, suggests the theory that a carbonised ''

Tyrannosaurus rex ''Tyrannosaurus'' () is a genus of large theropoda, theropod dinosaur. The type species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' ( meaning 'king' in Latin), often shortened to ''T. rex'' or colloquially t-rex, is one of the best represented theropods. It live ...

'' skeleton on display was killed by a prehistoric

, causing him to believe that the legends were more than myth. This ruins Tanner's reputation. As viewed in a flashback, Tanner's theory is proven true, as said ''Tyrannosaurus'' battles a female dragon in the

but is mortally wounded. The female, with two legs and two wings, dies from her wounds, forcing her son to survive on his own, escaping an aggressive male dragon by learning how to fly for the first time. This is aided by bacteria that can produce hydrogen, aiding

buoyancy Buoyancy (), or upthrust, is the force exerted by a fluid opposing the weight of a partially or fully immersed object (which may be also be a parcel of fluid). In a column of fluid, pressure increases with depth as a result of the weight of t ...

. A later vignette shows the dragon, now an adult, trying to mate, and successfully challenging a dominant male in a sky duel. The museum is contacted by Romanian authorities, who discovered the alleged corpse of a dragon in the

, along with many carbonised human bodies from the 15th century. Tanner and two colleagues are sent to examine the bodies, which have been moved to a warehouse. The scientists are baffled by the corpse, discovering that despite being , it was capable of both flight and breathing fire by storing bacteria and hydrogen inside its body, like the prehistoric dragon. The prehistoric dragon was a victim of the K-T Event, but he had a cousin, the marine dragon, which was protected by living in the ocean. It eventually evolved into other species, such as the Chinese forest dragon, able to glide with her smaller wings and capable of camouflaging herself in the dappled forest light. The forest dragon hunts the

wild boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a Suidae, suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The speci ...

and the South China tiger, but the arrival of humans in the forest challenges her survival. Another descendant is the mountain dragon, which has four legs and fully-functional wings, and inhabits the Carpathian and

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of world map, maps of Earth or of a continent or region of Earth. Advances in astronomy have also resulted in atlases of the celestial sphere or of other planets. Atlases have traditio ...

mountains. By analyzing the dead dragon's reproductive system, Tanner concludes the corpse is actually that of a baby, having been killed by the humans. The scientists travel back to the mountains to explore the caves where the corpses were found. A flashback shows that in 1475, a lone female dragon is living on the verge of extinction within the Carpathian Mountains, looking for a mate. A male arrives from the Atlas Mountains and they perform an airborne courtship ritual. They grasp each other's talons and free-fall from the sky at high speed. Just before touchdown they break free and fly off together, breathing fire and leaving scorch marks on rocks below. While scouring the cave system, Tanner discovers a preserved dragon egg. It is surmised that the male dragon guards the nest, made from a cluster of rocks and the eggs are kept warm for preservation. However, the male is negligent, letting one of the eggs die, and is chased away by the female. Some time later, the female dragon has had a lone daughter, hunting sheep from the local shepherds, leading to dragon slayers being hired to kill any dragons that get too close to the livestock. The lord and his squire attack, slaying the young female but are in turn killed by the mother. Tanner discovers more human corpses and then that of the mother dragon, twice the size of the baby. In a final flashback, a larger group of dragon slayers approach the cave, leading to the deaths of all involved. Tanner and his team take the dragons to the museum, reuniting mother and daughter. A year later, Tanner receives information of another discovery and sets off to investigate.

Reception

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact (newspaper), compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until ...

'' opined that ''The Last Dragons computer graphics made it "awesome", but ultimately the show gave the feeling of conveying the message "Do not believe this slice of old hokum" to the viewer. According to ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' "it's easy to forget that he filmisn't a serious documentary" after the fiction disclaimer at the beginning, judging the computer graphics to be well made, sometimes beautiful, but not impressive "to the point of wonder".

Awards and nominations

References

External links

*
Animal Planet's Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Last Dragon, The 2004 films 2004 television films Animal Planet original programming British docufiction films Channel 4 television films Films about dragons Speculative evolution Films about dinosaurs Films about tigers Films set in prehistory 2000s English-language films 2000s British films Films set in Europe Films set in Africa Films set in China

Plot summary

Reception

Awards and nominations

See also

References

External links