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The 1981 movie Dragonslayer had one of the best named dragons in the entire history of dragons: Vermithrax Pejorative. That one certainly didn’t come from combining your mother’s maiden name and the colour of your pants. Vermithrax had food intolerances — he couldn’t stomach anything that wasn’t a sacrificial virgin. These were provided courtesy of an immoral king, played by none other than General Palpatine, Ian McDiarmid. Vermithrax is basically Satan but in dragon form, full of wrath and hellfire.

The technology that built this immense beast was revolutionary at the time. First Vermithrax was drawn using a special animation technique called go motion. He was then constructed using a complex hydraulics system and stood at an impressive, 40 ft. tall. The animation and models earned the movie an Academy Award nomination. This was certainly one dragon that was never going to be tamed. Dragonslayer was a pretty violent movie for it’s PG rating, and definitely one to add to your 1980s watchlist. 

We can’t talk about the 1980s without raving about The Neverending Story. This classic movie features one of the rare good dragons - Falcor. Falcor is an incredibly rare luckdragon — his name is derived from the Japanese word Fuchur (福竜/福龍), meaning Good Luck Dragon. He is wise, caring, empathetic and supportive, acting as both a companion and mentor to Bastian, a boy on a very great mission. Falcor is very much like a Chinese dragon in shape and proportion, however he has softer pink fur that seems to float in the wind. First hundreds of illustrations were made to create the Falcor design. Then there were two models made for the movie — the frames were constructed from aircraft steel and then covered with 10,000 handmade scales. Another design triumph for the Jim Henson Creature Shop.  

The 1980s was a decade where filmmakers weren’t restricted by their imagination. If you wanted to create an immense and epic dragon, then all you had to do with get your pens out and design - no dragon eggs involved.