“Dragons: A Fantasy Made Real” A.K.A. “Dragon’s World: A Fantasy Made Real” A.K.A “The Last Dragon” is a speculative evolution documentary based on Dragons. How does the show hold up 20 years later? Let’s take a look!
Ancient Realms’ Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@AncientRealms1999
Ancient Realms’ Re-edit Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puyHRyUnpWo
Ancient Realms’ Art Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ancientrealms1999/
Music:
Roar of Dominion (Rain) – Fire Emblem: Three Houses – Takeru Kanazaki, Hiroki Morishita, Rei Kondoh
Dwelling of the Ancient Gods – Fire Emblem: Three Houses – Takeru Kanazaki, Hiroki Morishita, Rei Kondoh
A Funeral of Flowers – Fire Emblem: Three Houses – Takeru Kanazaki, Hiroki Morishita, Rei Kondoh
*If any artwork used in the video has not been properly credited, please let me know in the comments so I can correct it with a pinned comment!
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I remember first watching this when I was like 7 and I genuinely thought it was real lol. Even all these years later it still holds a special place in my heart
26:00 where did you learn about the original website? Can it be accessed in some way? Was it preserved?
I preferred the version I watched as a kid; it did have the clips of the scientists, but lacked the doctors narration and the sillier bits with him.
Why didn't they just make the wings large enough for them to fly in the first place
Also why couldn't that T-rex model have been made for Walking with Dinosaurs, it looks freakin' incredible!? It doesn't look shrink-wrapped, skin texture looks great, the wrists could face inwards and the WWD sound effects it had can stay being used.🦖🦖🦖🦖
I remember this. I was 11 when I first saw it and I literally thought it was real. This was back when animal planet just started putting stuff like this on thier channel. Me, a huge dragon fan, was ssssooooo happy to think dragons were real. I am 31 now and now I know this was something fun. Still like it.
This documentary turned my brain to Mushhushshu. 🧠☄️🐉
41:32 “The beast is… VANQUISHED!!!”
36:58 The eggs could have something similar to the Scaly Footed Gastropods. The Gastropods live near thermal vents and have several adaptations for living in higher temperature environments. One such adaptation is having a symbotic relationship with a species of bacteria (a similar parallel to the dragons with their microgut biom) that feeds on the chemicals produced by the vent. The byproducts produced by bacteria make nutrients for the Gastropod and iron sulfide. The iron sulfide is then distributed throughout the body of the animal, creating a hardened shell and scales on their foot made of iron.
Something similar could have happened with the dragons and their eggs. The mother eats a surpluse of minerals (they already do so to make fire) and passes the minerals and the bacteria to their offspring. This causes the shell to become fire resistant due to the metals, other than calcium, infused with the egg.
To be honest, there is a lot more that goes into it for the Gastropods to survive heat and there for a mythical being like a dragon. Especially how the Gastropods proteins do not denature at such high temps (Does that mean we cant cook this snail? Lol). However, it has to do with a lot of biochemistry, and my field biologist brain hurts trying to understand the specific details. I just like poking snakes and alligators with a stick.
The distinction between wyvern and dragon is not just limb count; wyverns are often depicted as more bird-like, spit venom instead of fire and are often the subject used on heraldry. The Ancient Dragon is indeed wyvern-like though considering it runs bipedally instead of using its wings as forelimbs on the ground like the dragons in Game of Thrones or Smaug.
the 'wyverns have two legs and are a specific type of creature within/apart from dragons' is itself a really modern, post-dnd thing. the whole classification thing is modern, and becomes way more of a mess when people try shoving entities from non-european cultures into these predominantly european draconic classification systems. no, the chinese lung/long (lung is cantonese, long is mandarin) is not a drake, that's a european thing. i'm tired of people disrespecting chinese dragons by reducing them to a peg in this eurocentric classification structure
I honestly love these thinking experiments, as long they don't go too far like Mermaids, it makes us appreciate many of nature's survival tactics and the possibilities of evolution.
Hello, HodgePodge. I’m one of those fantasy fans here to crucify you(I do not love your reviews). While wyverns have only four limbs compared to other European Dragons, with six as a common element, it isn’t always the deciding factor. British legends, the only place where wyverns are separated from other draconic beings, typically emphasise them as being smaller and lacking fire breath, being more associated with poison(not venom, since there are a few stories of their blood being deadly to humans, even when only touching skin, though that part seems to common to various other serpentine monsters). That is why prehistoric dragons can be considered true dragons(not like that matters considering how diverse medieval depictions are) instead of being merely winged vipers (where wyverns get their name)
I have a DVD of this documentary which lasted to this day. It is a nice mockumentary that fooled my kid mind at the time hahaha.
There is one thing that I hate hearing is that fact that people consider wyverns are 'not' dragons.
I am sick of people trying to separate wyverns, drakes, longs from traditional European dragons. Dragons are technically a category or a classification, like dinosaurs.
Wyverns are technically dragons from other regions, such as United States, United Kingdom, and Canada, just like how Longs (or ryujins) are in Japan, Korea, China. People want to separate them because of the DnD classification rules. Why do people really wanna separate them that badly?
The documentary that confused a lot of young boys
I loved this as a kid
Watched this as a kid
I'd say the whole dragon classification thing is fairly arbitrary.
Fun fact: the Model of Tyrannosaurus used in this is also used for one of the deceptions of T. Rex a dinosaur in Hollywood, a documentary cataloging Tyrannosaurus’s history in film in sort of a behind the music esque way.
This was my childhood
Those Pteranodon models are the same used for Dinotopia, by the way.
Hi HodgePodge!
Thank you for covering this special mockumentary too. I never had the chance to watch it on TV, and only recently I could find it in good definition (also thanks to your colleague). Dragons are captivating indeed, and the designs of the prehistoric and forest dragons in this series were particularly good in my eyes.
We all hope to get other news from you, soon! I wonder what would be an appropriate subject for your next video… Nigel Marven "Prehistoric Park" or "Microsafari"? I also recommend you (if possible) to retrieve the 1993 Italian documentary "Il Pianeta dei Dinosauri", set as a special miniseries on transmission "Superquark". It anticipated the release of JP and basically represent the "grandpa" of "Chased by Dinosaurs".
My best regards to You!
Am i the only One Who sees the Rex and the pteranodon as similar to the models of Dinotopia?
41:00 – 41:10 To give Tanner some credit, if YOU or anyone else found the giant wing/body of a Dragon, something we thought was only in myths and stories, how would you react?
This was one of my favorites growing up. Also, when you have a chance, go watch "The Future is Wild," and I can hear your opinion.
I'm so glad to see your channel tackling this series, Hodge. I can't wait till you get to Walking with Monsters (2005) this year. Perhaps Ancient Realms might cover Walking with Dinosaurs (1999).
0:52 It could be, but it could also be that was hired as a narrator quite frequently at this time. He narrated Monsters We Met (2004) at the same time, after all.
this review makes me glad I grew up with the "Fantasy made real-animal planet" version, tanners subplot is extremely undercut and he's just another scientist examining the corpse of the young dragon, there's a sense of professionalism amongst those scenes and were cut down, especially compared to the version you were talking about!
I think some points should be taken off this show by propagating the myth that all cultures had dragons. Also, the wings are too thin even with the gas bladders taken into account
Not exactly sure how to use accuracy on an animal that doesn’t exist
I remember a History channel documentary, back when they were still good, about dragons where one of the interviewees hypothesized that the reason why So many cultures, conceived dragons was because of an ancestral memory of our earliest predators. Snakes, big cats, and birds of prey All would have hunted the earliest human species, but as we evolved into modern humans and developed weapons and other means to defend ourselves, that instinctive fear remained. Only it combined the creatures which were now less of a threat into a single monster. Possessing the scales and length of a snake, the size and body of a big cat, and the flight of a bird.
Throw in some other fears like fire and boom. The dragon was born.
Will you also make a video about the mermaid documentary
i appreciated the sort of wacky live acted segments as it obvously shows it not to be real
but rather a hyper reality fiction. considering at the time this was shown on animal planet and other educational channels the confusion could have led to conspiracy.
mermaids the body found as well as other more terrible documentaries muddied the water and outright villified modern academia and promoted conspiracy