The Last Dragonslayer

Dragon and Dragonslayer

Sky's big Christmas special this year was an adaptation of Jasper fforde's The Last Dragonslayer. Jennifer Strange (relative newbie Ellise Chappell) is a foundling taken in by the Great Zambini to work at Kazam Magical Arts Management, an employment agency for sorcerers in a Britain which has reached the twenty-first century while retaining the presence of magic. The Kingdom of Hereford borders on the Dragonlands, a protected territory shrouded in mystical forcefields where the last dragon, Malcassian, lives in splendid isolation; until a surge in the failing power of magic is accompanied by a prophecy that Malcassian will die, at Sunday lunchtime, to the blade of a Dragonslayer. In seeking to protect the dragon, a fascination of her now-missing mentor, Jennifer learns that she is the Dragonslayer, the last such in a long line established by the greatest wizard in history, and that it might be her role to slay the dragon and thus bring about the end of all magic.

There is something oddly post-apocalyptic about The Last Dragonslayer's
Hereford.

In adapting the novel, much is changed, with the film's version of Hereford more retro-mediaeval than the book's, Kazam a much smaller concern with far less employee tension, and the plot both condensed and much more driven by active designs, both benevolent and malign. The satire of media and consumerism is still there, however, and the whole is carried by an excellent supporting cast and Chappell, who brings a superb depth of emotion to what could easily have been the rather bland role of a 'one sane girl' protagonist.

In visual terms the dragon, voiced by Richard E Grant, is superb, although one suspects that there was some skimping on the sets to afford the effects. King Snodd's palace looks like a small theatre set and much of Hereford looks like signs tacked on to an appropriately retro location. The quarkbeast - described in the book as a mix of roughly 10% labrador with equal parts velociraptor and kitchen blender - is here a dog that shapeshifts occasionally into a cloud of magic and teeth, but is utterly adorable.

Overall, the adaptation is loose, but the production highly watchable. Chappell is definitely a name to watch for, and it does make one wonder if the ill-advised step of trying to adapt the Thursday Next novels(1) may be on the cards again. I hope not, but would be well up for an adaptation of The Song of the Quarkbeast next year.

(1) There are serious problems with even reading the Next novels aloud, let alone trying to convey their world visually.