Film
958: How To Train Your Dragon
Trivia: David Tennant, who narrated the 'How To Train Your...'
Audio Books, also narrates some features on the film's website and voices a
cameo role, though his character is not identified within the film.
When
Hiccup reads the Dragon Manual, the writings in it are actually in plain
English cryptographed into runes. With a small effort, you can read what Hiccup
is saying, e.g. "Speed Unknown".
The
appearance and personality of Toothless was inspired by cats, dogs, and horses.
The face also bears some resemblance to the giant salamander, largest amphibian
in the world.
In the
book of 'How to Train Your Dragon', Hiccup doesn't have a love interest.
Furthermore, Toothless the dragon in the book is about the size of the Terrible
Terror breed, and he is also green and red, not black. Toothless also got his
name because when Hiccup first found him he had no teeth. He grew one tooth, only
to lose it shortly later. The producers decided, with the approval of author Cressida Cowell, that it would be more cinematic to make
Toothless large enough to be ridden as a flying mount. As such, Toothless was
completely redesigned as a rare Night Fury, a highly intelligent breed of
dragon evolved for speed and stealth. His personal name in the film derives
from Hiccup's observation about how his teeth are normally retracted into his
jaws so they don't interfere with his fire breathing, which is typically
projected as an explosive pulse.
The
sounds of Toothless (the Night Fury) are a combination of various sounds,
including the voice of Supervising Sound Designer Randy Thom, elephant seals, elephants, horses, tigers, and
even domestic cats. The elephant seal sounds used were recordings of elephant
seal pups at The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, CA, a marine mammal
hospital that rescues, rehabilitates and releases sick and injured seals, sea
lions, whales, and dolphins.
The
sounds the Terrible Terrors make, including growling, are actually based upon a
purebred Chihuahua named Paco from Cottage Grove, Oregon. Nia Hansen, a sound designer at Skywalker Sound, contacted
his owners after seeing a video of Paco on YouTube, and Paco was paid $100 for
his voice work.
The
hammer used by Stoick bears a strong resemblance to the Marvel comics version
of the hammer Mjolnir wielded by Marvel's Thor. The traditional mythological
hammer of Thor looks much different.
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