‘The Last Episode’ plays with the ending of Dragon’s Cave – 10/11/2025 – Illustrated

Of the television series that did not come to an end, “Dragon’s Cave” is perhaps one of the most famous. Released in 1983, the animation follows a group of friends who are transported to a fantasy land and experience adventures under the care of the Master of Magicians, a wizard who possesses ancient knowledge.

The attraction lasted three seasons and its conclusion was never shown. Among the theories that are still spreading through the networks today, the Brazilian “The Last Episode” appears. The film from the production company Filmes de Plástico becomes the final chapter in the strategy of Erik, a 13-year-old boy who seeks to win over the girl of his dreams.

The year is 1991 and the plan comes into action in the Jardim Laguna neighborhood. It’s where the young man, played by Matheus Sampaio, gets into trouble with his best friends, Cassinho, played by Daniel Victor, and Cristiano, played by Tatiana Costa, and falls in love with the newcomer Sheila. He discovers that the girl loves the drawing and says she has one of the very rare copies of the ending. It’s up to the three of them to use their creativity and film their version.

“I see in Eric this strength of fabulation. This is how he sees the world and talks to people. There is still a desire to dominate things and establish his ideas about everything. I feel that I was the same as a child and perhaps preserve that to this day. But I spread my dreamy side among all the characters. Only then would I be able to portray a time”, says the director, Maurílio Martins. With archives from his childhood and filmed where he grew up, he says the project is “semi-biographical”.

With an old recorder in hand, inherited by the protagonist, the trio brings together wooden boards, cardboard figures and the outskirts of Minas Gerais to create situations for the disciples of the Master of Magicians. But the hypothetical trajectory of the animation matters less than that of the flesh-and-blood children.

Whether due to the religious mother who does not understand her son Cassinho, or due to the lack of a maternal figure, who lives in the United States, in Christiano’s life, the youth portrayed faces noise. The most imposing of the crossings, as Martins describes them, is the early death of Erik’s father. In addition to fleeting memories, the boy clings to videos left behind.

“My father died in 2003. I was the last one to talk to him. We talked about scripts, about creating narratives. Even when it’s not on purpose, my projects end up being demarcated by this absence. I always had a lot of difficulty talking about it”, says Martins, almost in tears.

“But I realized that I was dealing with the situation better. I feel that cinema is a way of healing my pain. My father and mother appear on the scene, in photos. It was the first time that I honored his memory and included one of his photographs.”

Football matches, birthdays and school events take up images from the filmmaker’s life. The effect is the contrast between the sharpness of the fictional scenes and the grainy texture of the past. The construction of the work was also marked by opposition. Made during the pandemic, the set brought together the typical warmth of Filmes de Plástico and the precautions imposed by social isolation. At a time of weakening cultural policies, the film was born four years later.

Another sensitive topic in the production comes from Thiago Macêdo Correia, producer with whom Martins shares the script. From homework to recording “Caverna do Dragão”, the trio also takes care of school presentations. A music aficionado, Cassinho sets out to write original lyrics. It’s a way to vent your stifled identity.

A gay man, Macêdo Correia writes the song and is one of the four partners of the Contagem production company. Created by him, Maurílio, André Novais Oliveira and Gabriel Martins, the independent production company celebrated a decade and a half in 2024. It was the same year in which the group launched its own distribution company, Malute, and inaugurated a new phase by releasing the award-winning romantic comedy “O Dia que Te Saiba”, by Novais Oliveira.

Although “The Last Episode” delves into another genre never before explored by the filmmakers, Macêdo Correia explains that the trajectory is natural. It is not part of an attempt to reinvent the quartet, whose credentials, especially their first shorts, are studied by budding directors.

“Above all, we belong to the public. Our happiness in making films comes from the fact that we can produce what we would like to see. Given what has been done in Brazil, it seems legitimate to us to talk about what interests us. Our projects are always motivated by what comes from within, never by an agenda or by the desire to simply supply something we haven’t done yet”, says the producer.

He says that “Marte Um”, released in 2022, helped Filmes de Plástico to reach an audience beyond the usual one by coincidence. Directed by Gabriel —who participates in “The Last Episode” as the boys’ teacher—, the film follows the daily life of a family in the interior of Minas Gerais. A dedicated student, Deivinho, the youngest, dreams of visiting outer space. Your imagination is as fertile as Erik’s.

“‘The Last Episode’ opened my mind. I realized that being in a film is more than playing your professional role, but experiencing the stories and emotions that cinema deserves”, says actor Matheus Sampaio, who filmed the project at the age of 13. Today, at 17, he is preparing to start film school. Who knows, maybe one day he will make his own ending for the Master of Magicians and his disciples.