Dragons: The Fantasy Made Real

[Beor]

Did anyone watch the Animal Planet channel last night when they showed this show? It was awesome. I think it is on the web too, just go to animal planet website or something.

[Insidious Rex]

Yeah I caught some of that. What a novel approach (as if dragons had been real and had been killed off by medieval humans). Describing them through the lens of a nature documentary worked well. Its cool what you can do with CGI these days. The ending was sad though.

They also had one like this about large mammals that have gone extinct in the past 10,000 years or so. Short Faced Bear. Moa. Sabe Tooth Tiger etc and how they would have interacted with humans and how the humans killed them off.

[Falagar]

Missed it. You shouldn't happen to know whether they'll be showing it again anytime soon?

[Pytt]

I heard about it, and thought that would be cool to see, but I forgot which day.. I go check out the Animal Planet site and see if it's out.

Edit.
Heres what I found: http://animal.discovery.com/converge...ons/index.html
Hope they would send it again.

[jerseydevil]

I have it taped on DVD - after this DVD is filled - I can convert it to real player for a short time so people can watch it if you wish. It was very interesting. I was going to post about it being on. Let me know who would like to see it so I can get an idead. It's about 1 1/2 hours I guess (with the commercials removed)

I would have put this more into General messsages rather than on the entertainment forum by the way.

[jerseydevil]

Originally Posted by Insidious Rex

Yeah I caught some of that. What a novel approach (as if dragons had been real and had been killed off by medieval humans). Describing them through the lens of a nature documentary worked well. Its cool what you can do with CGI these days. The ending was sad though.

They also had one like this about large mammals that have gone extinct in the past 10,000 years or so. Short Faced Bear. Moa. Sabe Tooth Tiger etc and how they would have interacted with humans and how the humans killed them off.

The Discovery Channel I think had another one too - I can't remember which channel it was. Anyway - it was where they continued the evolutionary tree into the future and it was a prediction of what animals can become in the far distant future. It was very interesting.

[me9996]

Originally Posted by Insidious Rex

Yeah I caught some of that. What a novel approach (as if dragons had been real and had been killed off by medieval humans). Describing them through the lens of a nature documentary worked well. Its cool what you can do with CGI these days. The ending was sad though.

They also had one like this about large mammals that have gone extinct in the past 10,000 years or so. Short Faced Bear. Moa. Sabe Tooth Tiger etc and how they would have interacted with humans and how the humans killed them off.

Eh, heh heh, um they are as close as it think we'll get.

Knights thinking they were fighting dragons killed the last of the dinos...

[inked]

Pytt,

Thanks for the link. I enjoyed it immensely. I'll try to catch the repeat!
Like Tolkien, I desire dragons with a profound desire...just not in the local neighborhood!

[Nurvingiel]

Originally Posted by jerseydevil

I have it taped on DVD - after this DVD is filled - I can convert it to real player for a short time so people can watch it if you wish. It was very interesting. I was going to post about it being on. Let me know who would like to see it so I can get an idead. It's about 1 1/2 hours I guess (with the commercials removed)

I would have put this more into General messsages rather than on the entertainment forum by the way.

Would you do that?! That would be the best ever!

I also missed this, darn it. My boyfriend would love this show, I wonder if he saw it. Or is this a miniseries?


My next post is #6000!

[Beor]

Actually, JD, if I could get a copy as well, that'd be cool. Also, it was ENTERTAINING, thus, I put it in the ENTERTAINMENT forum Ah, yer right, shucks!

[Insidious Rex]

Originally Posted by me9996

Eh, heh heh, um they are as close as it think we'll get.

Knights thinking they were fighting dragons killed the last of the dinos...

Dinosaurs breathed fire?

[inked]

ONLY after Italian or Szechuan!

[Lady Ravyn]

i missed it hopefully it'll be on again soon
my brother was all excited about it and watched it, but he said it was awful. good thing i checked this thread out, otherwise i wouldn't have bothered trying to see it

[Nurvingiel]

Perhaps he objected to the show taking all the magic out of dragons. It does seem like the show does that. But I still think it looks cool.

And I'd really like to know what their non-magical explanation for breathing fire is.

[jerseydevil]

Well here is the long awaited show. I knew I would eventually get around to it. I wanted to see what others thought after they watched it. I have it both in cable version and 56k again - REAL PLAYER - don't ask for it in anything else.

Here is the link - Dragons: The Fantasy Made Real

Let me know what you think. I still think this should go into the general messages forum - the only way I knew this thread existed was because I was viewing who's online when I saw someone reading it.

[Insidious Rex]

Isnt that illegal? Not that I care. Dont get sued.

[jerseydevil]

Originally Posted by Insidious Rex

Isnt that illegal? Not that I care. Dont get sued.

Yeah - but I am just keeping it up for a short time and I'm not linking it to the outside world other than through here. Not everyone in the world can see it and with the damn dvd standards - not everyone can see things that have region 1 - although they do now make the universal dvd players, but they don't always work either.

So everyone be quiet and don't report me to Animal Planet.

Oh and as far as my justification goes - it's no different than having a group of friends over to watch it on DVD.

[Nurvingiel]

I agree with you JD, about having a group of friends over. This is not equal to stealing, and in fact, is perfectly legal in Canada.

Copying and sharing a file is not akin to stealing. But that's a rant for another day.

Thanks for lending me your DVD!

[Nurvingiel]

Okay I'm half done watching it, and it's pretty cool. But somehow the way they're presenting it annoys me. They've basically made up the behaviour and a lot of the biology and history and dragons, and that's cool. But they're presenting everything like they know young dragons stayed with their mothers for 6 years, and they know their lifespan and when they're reproductively mature.

But, I can ignore that... for the most part. Also, the flight bladder thing? It seems that a dragon, estimated to weigh 900kg with a 20 ft. wingspan, could fly because it had two lung-like organs filled with hydrogen (a by-product of intestinal bacteria)! Well that just sucks all the magic out of it - dragons can only fly because they're buoyed by their own farts.
They also conveniently do not mention how large these organs were, but if what they removed from the body was the whole thing, then I'd guess not large enough. (Given how large air ships are...)

The flight bladders are also how they breathed fire. The hydrogen from their flight-bladders is expelled over their molars which have powdered platinum on them. The platinum is the catalyst for a reaction making fire.
If the chemically inclined could confirm that this reaction would work (hydrogen and platinum at room temperature producing fire), then I only have to wonder... how much hydrogen would the blasts they were showing take?
Also, I couldn't help but think they were playing loose and fast with the theory of Evolution, but I couldn't specifically tell you how.

This is quite cool though, and interesting. I'd just wish they'd tone it down a bit with the whole "midieval crime scene" bit. There's no way they determined all these... um... facts, based on finding one perfectly preserved body.

EDIT:
I meant to ask... this wasn't broadcast on April 1st was it?

[jerseydevil]

Originally Posted by Nurvingiel

Okay I'm half done watching it, and it's pretty cool. But somehow the way they're presenting it annoys me. They've basically made up the behaviour and a lot of the biology and history and dragons, and that's cool. But they're presenting everything like they know young dragons stayed with their mothers for 6 years, and they know their lifespan and when they're reproductively mature.

But, I can ignore that... for the most part. Also, the flight bladder thing? It seems that a dragon, estimated to weigh 900kg with a 20 ft. wingspan, could fly because it had two lung-like organs filled with hydrogen (a by-product of intestinal bacteria)! Well that just sucks all the magic out of it - dragons can only fly because they're buoyed by their own farts.
They also conveniently do not mention how large these organs were, but if what they removed from the body was the whole thing, then I'd guess not large enough. (Given how large air ships are...)

The flight bladders are also how they breathed fire. The hydrogen from their flight-bladders is expelled over their molars which have powdered platinum on them. The platinum is the catalyst for a reaction making fire.
If the chemically inclined could confirm that this reaction would work (hydrogen and platinum at room temperature producing fire), then I only have to wonder... how much hydrogen would the blasts they were showing take?
Also, I couldn't help but think they were playing loose and fast with the theory of Evolution, but I couldn't specifically tell you how.

This is quite cool though, and interesting. I'd just wish they'd tone it down a bit with the whole "midieval crime scene" bit. There's no way they determined all these... um... facts, based on finding one perfectly preserved body.

basically most of the things are based on things we know of EXISTING animals. Such as when existing animals of similar size would become mature and so forth. Of course there is no way to know if dragons would be the same - but it is based on existing animals. Even the mating behaviors is based on eagles. So it's not that far out there.

Also - just as science can not rely on god to explain things - neither can it rely on magic. Therefore - in order to scientificlally explain how such large animals would be able to fly - they needed some scientifically valid way for them to fly. As for the platninum - it isn't just on their molars. In the story - they find evidence of platinum on their molars, but it seems like they actually swollow the platinum or something.

EDIT:
I meant to ask... this wasn't broadcast on April 1st was it?

No - it wasn't. It was always shown as a fake domentary in the previews anyway. So it was never meant to trick people into thinking they actually found a dragon. Someone may think that if they came in the middle - but in the beginning they do say that it's hypothetical. Also - in the last half hour they have the making of it. If it isn't clear where they came up with the ideas and things from seeing that - then there is no hope for them.