Ominous music fades in as a fairy tale forest appears on screen with text that reads: “Imagine a class”.
The Brandeis campus fades onto the screen. A red dragon is heard roaring in the background as he flies across the campus.
A turbulent sea with a rocky coast fades into the background. The onscreen text reads: “Where you read Ursula Le Guin’s “Earthsea” novels” while epic music continues.
The red dragon appears again, but this time on the cover of the Ursula K. Le Guin novel, “Earth Sea”.
A Brandeis student reads on campus before the video transports the viewer to Middle Earth. The onscreen text reads: “And watch a "Lord of the Rings" movie.”
The One Ring forged by the Dark Lord Sauron (from the ‘Lord of the Rings’) appears on screen followed by Gollum in his cave dwelling and whispers, "my precious".
Text on screen reads: “And create your own role-playing game.”
Two students work on a computer together followed by a scene from the animated video game "Marcus Greyblade" in which we see a female archer running through a medieval courtyard.
The professor, John Plotz, speaks off camera. His picture and title: “ John Plotz, Professor of Humanities” appear on screen over a series of book covers, text snippets and images from titles that students read in class come in and out of the screen – “Beowulf,” “The Tales of Narnia,” “Harry Potter,” “Gilgamesh,” “The Metamorphosis,” and “Gulliver’s Travels.”
John Plotz: “I want my students to take the energy and passion they have for fantasy and world-building and see how taking a scholarly approach can make you appreciate and love fantasy and world-building even more.”
The screen reads: “It’s not a fantasy class.” A brief shot of the “Zelda” character shoots an arrow into a flash of white light. “It’s a class about fantasy.”
The fantasy fairy woods reappear from the beginning followed by the Brandeis logo as the screen fades to white and the epic music comes to an end.