Sci Friday: THE LAST UNICORN

~post by Marie

Once upon a time, there was a little girl who read lots of books.  Many of the books she read were about wonderful far-off lands, with mystical creatures like dragons and fairies and griffins.  In one of these books, she learned about a fascinating, beautiful creature, and quickly became enraptured.  This creature was more majestic, magical, and amazing than all the others.  This creature was a unicorn.

That little girl was me.

I still read lots of books about all those fantastical things, and in particular about unicorns when I can get my hands on them.  Somehow, though, one of the quintessential unicorns of my childhood slipped through my book-grubbing fingers and I didn’t encounter her in literary form until I was much older.  I’m speaking, of course, of The Last Unicorn, which I knew and loved first in its form as an animated movie that I watched countless times as a unicorn-obsessed child.
In my memory, the movie was one of my favorites.  I picked out that VHS so many times at the movie rental store, and drew hundreds of pictures of unicorns based on the one in the movie.  Of course, I always gave her a more beautiful tail, because I was unimpressed with the pseudo-lion tail the character developers gave this animated version.  I thought this movie was just incredible.  It could do no wrong.  Everything about it was phenomenal and perfect.

Then, I found a DVD of The Last Unicorn in the $5 bin at Target one day in college, and excitedly brought it home to re-experience this magical movie that had such an impact on me as a kid.  I have to say I was a little disappointed.  The lion-tailed unicorn slipped a bit (majestically, of course) from her shining pedestal in my mind as I watched the film for the first time in almost 20 years.  It’s hard to say exactly what was different about it this time around.  It has the makings of a good movie, with some talented voices like Mia Farrow as the unicorn, Jeff Bridges, Christopher Lee, Angela Landsbury, and a musical score performed by America.  Perhaps I’m just spoiled now by the leaps and bounds animation has made, as the film came out originally in 1982, and was the first animation effort from creator Michael Chase Walker.  I was also struck by how dark the film is, and also kind of creepy, which is something my six year old self didn’t catch on to all that much.  All that being said, it is still charming in many ways, and about unicorns, so I will always have a place in my heart for the film.

If you haven’t ever experienced The Last Unicorn, here’s a quick shake down:  A unicorn living in a forest overhears that she is the last unicorn in the world.  She discovers that the miserly King Haggard has been rounding up all the unicorns with the help of his demonic Red Bull, and sets off to release them again into the world.  As she leaves her forest territory, she comes into contact with a hack magician called Schmendrick, and a woman named Molly Grue.  As they near King Haggard’s castle, the Red Bull comes down and attacks the trio.  In order to save the Last Unicorn, Shmendrick turns her into a human, and the Red Bull leaves them be.  They journey to King Haggard’s castle with the human/unicorn, giving her the name of Lady Amalthea.  They stay in the castle for a spell trying to learn the whereabouts of the missing unicorns, while Shmendirck tries to figure out how to turn her back into a unicorn.  Eventually they uncover the secret of where the unicorns are being held, and whether or not she becomes a unicorn again, or manages to free the other unicorns from the guard of the Red Bull is a secret I will leave for you to uncover when you watch the movie.  Or read the original book!

I encountered the book one day while shelving and hadn’t known until that moment that the movie was first and foremost a book!  Of course I bought it right away and got straight to reading.  Written by Peter S. Beagle over the course of several years in the mid ’60s, and then published in 1968, The Last Unicorn the book is almost exactly like the movie.  This is in part due to the fact that Beagle wrote the screenplay for it, so he was able to stay true to the original story.  However, I enjoyed the book much better than my adult viewing of the film.  Beagle is a talented writer.  His ability to craft a world, and the richness of his descriptions, make this book an enjoyable read, and I felt much more emotion for these characters in the book, all of whom come across a little flat in the film.

The book is a pretty quick read, and great for perusing on the sloping banks of Barton Creek during the summer.  Just don’t let anyone give you any flack about enjoying this great, well-written story out in public.  Lots of people like unicorns, and lots of people love The Last Unicorn.

_____________________________

Sci Friday is a weekly post focusing on all things Sci Fi. Booksellers Tommy and Marie are you intrepid leaders on this journey through awesome new books; the best and worst of what’s come before; Sci Fi film adaptations and more. Check back next Friday for more!