The Temeraire series is wonderful!
Set in the Napoleonic Wars, with dragons and riders fighting air battles!!
Fabulous reads in print or audio!
My theory on dragons is that they are very old instinctual memories of dinosaurs. As human we express that in our art, but if you look at other mammals, they will run from things that look or sound like a dinosaur.
As exhibit A I present: The average house cat when confronted by a vacuum cleaner. The sound they make and their longish shape is totally like a dinosaur and cats still fear them to this day.
Another dragon: http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail58.html
TROGDOR the BURNINATOR!!!
Hey guys, thanks for the shout out - next time you are in NYC the Sangria is on me!
Oh on the dragon thing, I love Dragonslayer, great movie and the depiction of the dragon there was to me the closest to what one would actually be, if they existed.
BTW, if you ever want, I’d be happy to give my thoughts on a cast when you do your next classic sci-fi arc - remember the fully restored Metropolis is out on DVD in November.
Have you read the latest one, “Tongues of Serpents”? Just finished it the other day.
loved the chronicles of prydain when I was a wee lass!
I also mentioned this on Audra’s blog post - but for me, Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern are my fundamental go-to dragons 
Thanks for the Intro to Dragons talk, Sean. That music was really odd, but I learned a lot.
As someone who is Chinese, I didn’t even think about the prominence of dragons in the culture until you mentioned it (and why is that in asian cultures dragons are generally good whereas in european culture, not so much?) In fact, Chinese people often refer to themselves as “long de chuan ren” which means descendents of dragons. Dragons indicate good fortune, good luck, power, basically a symbol for all things auspicious. The king’s throne is always referred to as the dragon’s seat, there are millions of dragon motif-ed objects in architecture, art, books, every day objects. Even the character for dragon is quite commonly used in people’s names, for e.g., Bruce Lee’s chinese name is “little dragon”.
I was thinking about that during the podcast. The only big difference between dinosaurs and dragons is that one is real (extinct) and the other is mythical (and maybe that fire breathing thing. :D). It’s strange that humans from all corners of the world all have the idea of a similar mythical creature.
(UNLESS…dragons are indeed dinosaurs, and dang, creationism was right, and that’s why humans remember the time when they frolicked on earth with cute dragon pets. That’s kind of spooky).
ETA: oh, and can anyone recommend dragon stories (books or movies) that have a female protagonist and deeper characterization for the dragon itself?
My first Dragon Book was Dennis McKiernan’s “Dragon Doom.” I was hooked after that.
Of course I had seen the Hobbit and Neverending Story when I was younger. But It wasn’t until I read that book that I was hooked on Dragons or Dragon stories.
~Shooter Out
Correct-a-mundo. Black Cauldron is third in the series and the source for the movie.
Great dragon talk Sean. I was always more of a sci-fi nerd than fantasy, but the primer was pretty cool.
Another ‘good dragon’ book to check out is ‘Dragon Rider’ by Cornelia Funke (who also wrote the fantastic Inkheart trilogy). The book is for a younger audience, around 9 or so, but it was pretty cool to see the dragon be one of the good guys.
And the supporting characters, including one bad-tempered brownie, are pretty cool too.
Definitely worth a look.
It is about time I rewatched, but their is just so much to watch at the moment: Burn Notice, Spooks, Sanctuary, etc. I distinctly remember them recruiting from the castle (and being one of the major points of contention with Christian Bale, but I missed the line about their plane having gone down.
The talk about Dragons got me thinking (always a good sign), but would the Stone Dragons from the Robin Hobb Realm of the Elderlings books be considered as dragons? The stone dragons were statues carved by skill-users (psychics/magicians) and imbued with their combined life force, and are normally carved in the style of a dragon. Classical dragons do turn up later in the series (first during the Live Ship Raiders series, but come to the fore in The Rain Wild Chronicles).
Hmmm, sound more like gargoyles to me but I’m not as familiar with the canon on that one.
Good point, Sean. I had not considered them as gargoyles. Although Fantasy is not my forte’, Robin Hobbs Realm of the Elderlings (Farseer Trilogy, Live Ships Traders, Tawny Man Trilogy, and Rain Wild Chronicles) are just awesome. They combine classic fantasy with political intrigue, and it works!
The Pern books are the obvious ones. Dragonflight is the first of those.
And then there’s these “Dragon Tales” …
If any of you, like me, were raising young kids in the 1999 to 2004 time frame, you’ve got this show and theme song burned into your head.
(Not as mind numbing as Barney, but close).
Although, to be honest, I do look back at the show know with affection.
Farseer? Is that the one with the dinosaurs that have personal space issues and their nose turns blue if they lie? I LOVE that series!!
“I cast a shadow in your presence.”
Now, don’t hate me, but I posted these 2 links in the “Podcast Arc Suggestions” section way at the bottom of the forum, but I think this is probably a better place for them.
First,
Here’s a new bit of heart wrenching dragon animation called Sintel, made by volunteers using opensource (free) 3d software called Blender 3D (www.blender.org)
You can read all about Sintel’s creation at sintel.org
Also,
Some stylized international dragon animation is in the works.
“Dragons And Princesses” is being made for TV and theatrical release (somewhere).
Go here to see an awesomely beautiful trailer: http://twitchfilm.net/news/2010/10/first-trailer-for-ocelots-dragons-and-princesses.php
And my confusion as to where best to post these brings me to my last point.
Since we already have a Harry Potter section, does anyone else think the forum should have an “Other Fantasy” section, just as it has an “Other Science Fiction” section? Just a thought.
Below are videos featuring my two current favorite dragons…