Sunday, January 29, 2006

Quest for Dragons


If you are as big a fan of PBS high culture television as I am, and if you live in the DC viewing area, you may enjoy the following (right after Bleak House, in fact):

Quest for Dragons

Sunday, January 29, 10:00pm
CHANNEL 26 (WETA)

Dragon lore throughout history and across cultural divides is explored through expert commentary, prehistoric art and computer imagery. Included: the link between dinosaur fossils and dragon legends.

CC, Stereo


Some of the "expert commentary" is given by me. In one scene I am even holding an authentic replica of a page from the Beowulf manuscript. Some of the other expert commentators include a frightening man with many dragon tattoos, and an anthropologist with a long pony tail.

The documentary is also in frequent repeats on the History Channel.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, an authentic replica! Can I buy one off the History Channel online store?

Jeffrey Cohen said...

I believe it was made on a color copier, so anyone can have an authentic replica for about fifteen cents. It did have a slightly singed smell, though, that reminded me in a sobering way of how the manuscript was once partially incinerated.

Actually the singed smell seemed to be from the lighting guy -- not sure what was going on with him.

Anyway, I should have warned readers that the documentay ("A dragon documentary? Now there's an oxymoron!" wrote CNN in a review of the show) has been decried by creationists, who see it as an attempt to deny the literal truth of the bible:

http://www.creationists.org/farkcom.html

I would remind everyone that evolution, like gravity and relativity, is just a theory, and this author makes no endorsement one way or another.

Glaukôpis said...

Wait, this isn't the same one they showed on PBS, is it? At least I think it was PBS. heh. I caught something on dragons on a non-cable channel somewhat recently.

So the Beowulf manuscript--would that be *the* manuscript that's half burnt, dry, and water-soaked, or the one that was copied from that?

I'd love to see your thoughts on Beowulf sometime, should you decide to post on it.

Jeffrey Cohen said...

Yes, the show was co-produced by WETA (local PBS station) and the History Channel. It was directed by Phil Frank, an independent documentary film maker.

As to Beowulf ... someday.