HotD Best Scene Borrowed Heavily From DreamWorks Animated Movie
Those who watched House of the Dragon mostly did so for political intrigue and family drama on the background of quasi-medieval fantasy with dragons. But certainly quite a few people among of the audience also yearned to see dragons at war again, and proper dragon battles as well. And Season 1's finale delivered.
In Episode 10, Westeros teeters on the brink of civil war, as the two parties, representing the two branches of the Targaryen dynasty, crown their own monarchs: the Greens, led by Otto Hightower and Dowager Queen Alicent put a crown on Alicent's son Aegon II at King's Landing, while the Blacks, the supporters of Princess Rhaenyra, daughter of late King Viserys II from his first wife, crown her Queen of Westeros at Dragonstone.
While there are still peace talks going on, both sides send ravens and dragonriders in every direction, trying to muster support from various lords.
Rhaenyra's son Lucerys Velaryon flies to Storm's End, home of Lord Borros Baratheon, on his small dragon Arrax, but the mission goes very wrong from the moment when Lucerys sees the enormous neck of Vhagar, the biggest and mightiest dragon in the world, rising over the outer wall of the castle.
The messenger from the Greens got there first, and he is no other than Alicent's son Aemond, and not only he brought Lord Borros a better offer, he did not forgot his personal enmity against Lucerys. Aemond is still reluctant to go as far as outright killing, but dearly wishes to repay the younger prince (and his nephew) for the loss of his left eye.
A dragon chase through the storm ensues, ending badly for Lucerys, as both sides lose control of their dragons, and enraged Vhagar tears much smaller Arrax and his rider into bloody shreds.
And Greg Yaitanes, who directed the scene of the ill-fated chase, made it as impressive as possible, using his long professional experience, and a number of inspirations, including the original Jurassic Park. His biggest source of inspiration, however, might be surprising.
"In preparation, I watched the first How to Train Your Dragon because [Oscar-winning cinematographer] Roger Deakins was the visual consultant on that. So that, cinematically, was going to be really appealing," Yaitanes says (via EW). However, he adds that he ended up making a few edits to his dragon sequence after re-watching the movie and finding some similarities. "How to Train Your Dragon definitely covered a lot of action sequences that you didn't want to be in comparison to."
So, even family-friendly CG-movies can end up as inspiration for brutally violent and decidedly family-unfriendly shows.