Animation

Arthurian characters and themes appear not only in live-action films but also in animated films and television shows. The best known and most popular of these is Walt Disney’s The Sword in the Stone (1963), an animated feature in which the wizard Merlin teaches the young Wart (Arthur) valuable lessons about the power of kindness and bravery that will later make him a great king. Other animated films retell versions of Connecticut Yankee, the Mabinogion, or popular novels (as in the case of the animated musical fantasy The Quest for Camelot [1995], based on a work by Vera Chapman).

An interesting original Arthurian adventure was King Arthur and the Knights of Justice (1992-1994), an animated TV series in which Arthur and his knights are imprisoned by the evil Morgana. To counter her magic, Merlin casts a spell to bring the “New York Knights,” a football team led by captain Arthur King, to retrieve the Twelve Keys of Truth that will free the real King.

Numerous other familiar characters have appeared in Arthurian animation, including Mr. Magoo, Prince Valiant, and Bugs Bunny, who, in Bugs Bunny in King Arthur’s Court (1979), encounters Merlin of Monroe, Sir Loin of Pork (Porky Pig), and the “wabbit-hating” Sir Elmer of Fudde—and ultimately becomes “King Arth-Hare” of Camelot.

Photos of drawings of characters (Modred, Lynette, and Morganna) from Hugh Harmon’s King Arthur’s Knights, which was never produced. Michael Salda, in Arthurian Animation, calls Harmon’s planned film “the best Arthurian cartoon never made.”