Excalibur is not a thing, something you can hold in your hand.
Excalibur is the good in you.
The power to do good, to stand up for what's right, to slay dragons, to capture bank robbers.
You always carry Excalibur in your heart.


Robert Tinnell, Kids of the Round Table (1995)

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Sword in the Stone 50th Anniversary Edition

Disney is re-releasing The Sword in the Stone to home video in early August. The film will be offered in Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Edition and DVD/Digital Edition combo packs. There has been little advance information on the extras, but advance reviews on CriterionForum.org (at http://www.criterionforum.org/DVD-review/the-sword-in-the-stone-dual-format-edition/disney/1202) and Movieman's Guide to the Movies (at http://moviemansguide.com/main/2013/07/review-swordinthestone-bd/) reveals a special treat for fans of the film. Apparently, Disney has put together the original concept art for the film to provide an alternate first meeting for Merlin and Wart and more action for Madame Mim (the film's Morgan le Fay analogue). Further details to be posted as/if they become available.


Friday, July 26, 2013

Updates on Salda's Arthurian Animation

Michael Salda's Arthurian Animation: A Study of Cartoon Camelots on Film and Television is now available from McFarland and coming soon from Amazon.com and other distributors.

The contents have been uploaded to McFarland's page for the book and follow below. Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk currently offer previews of the contents, full preface, full introduction, and part of chapter one from the Kindle edition of the book (which is available to access today from both Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk), and BarnesandNoble.com offers a preview to owners of its Nook readers (though I was unable to access this). This is definitely a must-get; click the preceding links for purchasing/previewing.


Table of Contents

Preface 1

Introduction 3

1. The Iris Opens: "Bosko’s Knight-Mare" 7

2. The Best Arthurian Cartoon Never Made: Hugh Harman’s King Arthur’s Knights 16

3. "To Ye Jousting Tournament": Arthur’s Postwar Rise 36

4. "What’s Up, Duke?" Variety in the 1950s and Early 1960s 43

5. The Sword in the Stone, a "Full-length Flop," and Arthurianimation’s Decline 59

6. The Profane and the Sacred: What Hath Monty Python Wrought? 77

7. Many Returns of the King: The 1980s 85

8. Arthur, Arthur, Everywhere: Short Animation of 1990s 100

9. Four Roads to Camelot: The Feature Film Bumper Crop of 1997-98 131

10. Where Lies Arthur? Arthurianimation Since 2000 151

Coda 175

Chapter Notes 177

Works Cited 189

Index 197