Dragon-Hunting Season
Production Notes
Interesting tip-bits of no Importance:
Scatter count:
Presto produces:
Portals missed:
New characters:
Named Walk-ons:
Star Wars references:
Scooby Doo references:
Groovy Objects:
Named Places:
Notes
On Creation.This is another one which was in my original set of notes; the concept changed slightly, but certain element survived all the way through – the reappearance of the baby Golden Dragon; the statue and appearance of Apsu; and the big argument between Hank and Eric at the start with the resolution at the end.
In fact, Hank and Eric’s fight was written long before I actually got there in the Seal-verse; I think it was as I was writing the end of OH that I noted it down, virtually unchanged to the final edit.
On Eric and Hank.There were certain Eric-Hank Issues that were still unsettled since HMK Why did I let the two of them stew for so long (especially as I didn’t like the whole “sequel” thing)?
The short answer is I had too! After completing HMK, I had to do WR next, as they couldn’t STILL be searching for Krin. And if I did that, it meant that the fallout from HMK had to wait. I was sick of Eric constantly getting centre stage, even when he’s not the central character in the story (I think everyone else was too!). Besides, it needed a change of pace. By giving the tension time to brew, augmented by the erratic way Eric was acting, it helped generate story in WR too.
So the plan was to have everyone waiting for the inevitable argument between the two of them.
The real question is whether Hank would have really let his relationship with Eric deteriorate so far. It is always fun to compare those two, and I just can’t help it - Hank: heroic, mature, sensible, and just super! Eric: annoying, selfish, and struggles to do the right thing.
In many ways, I think Hank finds Eric difficult to understand precisely because he is so “perfect” himself. There’s never the question of doing the right thing to Hank; he does it because it’s there, regardless of personal cost. And everyone is expected to come up to his standards.
Eric is completely the opposite; he struggles with the responsibility of being a hero, and can’t ever compete with their “leader”. More than that, he knows he is second best, and probably deeply admires Hank as much as Presto does (though he’d never admit it). And he has made some very serious errors of judgement in the past (I’m thinking Box of Balefire here).
On Golden Dragons and Other Dragons.The return of a Golden Dragon was fun; one of the things I disliked about the series (and 80s cartoons in general) was the complete lack of continuity (not that I wanted huge story arcs, either!) – people and things were never, ever, ever mentioned again! Instances of this cropped up again an again in D&D, so I decided that at least some of the guest stars/monsters from before should appear. The Golden Dragon was just too good an opportunity to miss.
And (in the cartoon at least) Golden Dragons don’t have wings. But no one has pulled me up on that, which is fortunate since a fairly large section of the plot hangs on that darn thing
actually flying.
The Steel Dragon that's mentioned is Shiran from The Temple Of Love. and he shows up again in Serendipity as well.
Apsu is the Sumerian counterpart to Tiamat, and her first consort, but he wasn't envisaged as a three headed dragon.
I am not well versed in D&D game-lore, or I probably wouldn’t have
made him up, as there is already a King of the Good Dragons. His
image is on the floor of the cave that the Troglodytes were in as well.
As Random Scribbles pointed out, the statue hanging in mid-air is
indeed an idea from Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
On Elves And Druids.On A Kiss.Hank And Sheila’s kiss is the culmination of a long build up. Hank declared undying love for her at the end of OH... that was ages ago... and I hadn’t meant to have a H/S moment in this one, it just happened, especially since Hank was being very withdrawn. But finally, they have both acknowledged their feelings for each other.
On Quotes.“How could love cause this much trouble” is from a poster Rummi made for the fic "Temple of Love" (see ToL
Production Notes).
“Aesthetics” – is indeed from H2G2.