New and Recent from Arthuriana

From recent issues of Arthuriana:

Aronstein, Susan and Taran Drummond. Review of The Green Knight, by David Lowery. Arthuriana, vol. 31 no. 3, 2021, p. 90-92. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/art.2021.0030.

Francis, Christina. "Babylon 5, An Arthurian World in Space." Arthuriana, vol. 31 no. 3, 2021, p. 3-20. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/art.2021.0023.

Hughes, Shaun F.D. "Some Thoughts on The Northman (2022)." Arthuriana, vol. 32 no. 2, 2022, p. 89-101. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/art.2022.0014.

Yri, Kirsten. Review of From Camelot to Spamalot, Musical Retellings of Arthurian Legend on Stage and Screen, by Megan Woller. Arthuriana, vol. 32 no. 2, 2022, p. 117-119. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/art.2022.0023.

Croft on Orphan Black!

Janet Brennan Croft has an intriguing new essay out in the recent issues of Mythlore. It can be ordered direct at http://www.mythsoc.org/mythlore/mythlore-134.htm.


Here is the citation:

Croft, Janet Brennan. “ ‘Auntie, What Ails Thee?’: The Parzival Question in Orphan Black.” Mythlore, vol. 37, no. 3, Spring/Summer 2019, pp. 117-39.

Out Now: A Green and Pagan Land

New from McFarland:

A Green and Pagan Land: Myth, Magic and Landscape in British Film and Television
https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/a-green-and-pagan-land/
David Huckvale

$39.95
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 227
Bibliographic Info: 33 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2018
pISBN: 978-1-4766-7050-8
eISBN: 978-1-4766-2993-3
Imprint: McFarland

British literature often refers to pagan and classical themes through richly detailed landscapes that suggest more than a mere backdrop of physical features. The myth-inspired writings of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Algernon Blackwood, Aleister Crowley, Lord Dunsany and even Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows informed later British films and television dramas such as The Owl Service (1969-70), Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971), The Wicker Man (1973), Excalibur (1981) and Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975). The author analyzes the evocative language and esthetics of landscapes in literature, film, television and music, and how “psycho-geography” is used to explore the influence of the past on the present.


About the Author(s)

David Huckvale has worked as a researcher, writer and presenter for BBC Radio and as a lecturer for various universities in England. He lives in rural Bedfordshire.

The Boy Merlin

I've been tracking down series and films that depict the origins of Merlin as research for my Kalamazoo paper next month. One work I had heard about but never tracked down is the British series The Boy Merlin (launched on the series Shadows in 1978 and then airing for six more episodes as a separate series in 1980). The story is very much inspired by Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae and alludes to Merlin as a "fatherless" boy but never (at least not on the episodes online) reveals the truth or falsehood of the incubus story.

The series anticipates a lot of the ideas found in Shine Entertainment's more recent series (2008-2012) with Merlin training as a mage and working to prepare for Arthur and himself to discover their destinies. It is also very similar to Mary Stewart's novel The Crystal Cave published in 1970 (and adapted to film in 1991), but embraces the magical elements of the character rather than rationalizing them.

The pilot from Shadows and three of the six episodes from the series are available on YouTube (see below).

A trailer for the Region-2 DVD set is also online and includes footage from yet another episode. 

MAPACA Roundtable Update

I am pleased to announce the panelists for our roundtable on recent Arthuriana on screen. Registration information for the conference can be found at https://mapaca.net/conference. Hope to see you there.

New Visits to Camelot: Reflecting on the Contemporary Matter of Britain on Screen (Roundtable)

Session sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture for the Medieval & Renaissance Area of the Mid-Atlantic Popular/American Culture Association

Organizer/Presider: Michael A. Torregrossa (Independent Scholar)

Guy Ritchie and Michael Bay (Oh My): The Challenges of Contemporary Visions of Camelot on Screen

Michael A. Torregrossa (Independent Scholar) 

Michael A. Torregrossa is a medievalist whose research interests include adaptation, Arthuriana, comics and comic art, medievalism, monsters, and wizards. His founder of both The Alliance for the Promotion of Research on the Matter of Britain and The Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture and serves as Fantastic Area Chair for the Northeast Popular Culture/American Culture Association.

Othering Pagan Archetypes: Reimaginings of Merlin and Morgan le Fay

Rachael Warmington (Indiana University of Pennsylvania)

Rachael Warmington is a doctoral candidate at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She earned her B.A. in English from Montclair State University, M.A. in English from Seton Hall University, and her MFA at City College of New York, City University of New York. Rachael is also the editor-in-chief of the open source academic journal, Wachung Review. She is currently focusing on the ways in which early regional and generational variations of Arthurian legend influence contemporary literary, film and television adaptations and appropriations of Arthurian works.

Round Table Revival: The Order: 1886

Carl Sell (Indiana University of Pennsylvania)

Carl Sell is PhD student at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He is interested in all things medieval and Early Modern, and his studies focus on the Arthurian Legend and modern adaptations of the legend as well as adaptations of Robin Hood.

 

MAPACA Session 2017 CFP

Call for Papers
New Visits to Camelot: Reflecting on the Contemporary Matter of Britain on Screen (Roundtable)
Proposals no later than 29 June 2017

Session sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture
For inclusion under the  Medieval & Renaissance Area at the 28th Annual Conference of the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 8-11 November 2017

Following the success of previous sessions at past meetings of the Popular Culture Association, past and present International Congresses on Medieval Studies, and last year’s meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association, the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture seeks proposals for a sponsored roundtable session on the topic of New Visits to Camelot: Reflecting on the Contemporary Matter of Britain on Screen for inclusion under the Medieval & Renaissance Area at the 28th Annual Conference of the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association to be held at the Pennsylvania Sonesta Philadelphia Downtown in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from 8-11 November 2017.

SESSION DESCRIPTION
Arthurian enthusiasts are great catalogers of the tradition, and scholars of the legend on screen have been especially devoted to their task, as attested by the filmographic work of Kevin J. Harty, Bert Olton, Michael N. Salda, and Michael A. Torregrossa and the wider-ranging catalogs by the bibliographing teams of Ann F. Howey and Stephen R. Reimer and of Daniel P. Nastali and Philip C. Boardman. However, the energies of these individuals remains largely limited to the last century, and, in the past seventeen years, the Matter of Britain has grown enormously on screen. The corpus has nearly doubled as the mediums of film, television, electronic games, and the Internet have presented fresh adventures of the familiar cast of characters from Camelot as well as granted Arthurian-themed escapades to new figures. Despite their popularity, this new Matter of Britain on Screen remains underexplored. Consequently, the purpose of this session is to investigate these recent representations of the legend and address their attempts at navigating what Norris J. Lacy has termed “the tyranny of tradition,” that “particular kind of filmic ‘anxiety of influence,’ whereby filmmakers must deal with two opposing impulses: on the one hand, the natural desire to innovate; on the other, the need to tell a story that corresponds at least in major respects to the audience’s understanding of orthodox Arthurian fact” (76). Succeed or fail in their efforts, these new Arthurian texts remain important artifacts in assessing the continued vitality of the millennium-and-half-old myth of Arthur and his world.
An ever-expanding list of potential works can be found at our website: https://MatterofBritainonScreen.blogspot.com/.

Please send abstracts of approximately 300 words, any audio-visual requests, and a brief biography narrative related to your scholarly career to the organizer, Michael A. Torregrossa, at MedievalStudiesonScreen@gmail.com, using “New Visits to Camelot” as your subject line.

All presenters must be or become members of Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association in order to participate. Upon acceptance of proposals, presenters must register with MAPACA and submit their information into their online system no later than 30 June 2017. Complete details will follow from the organizer.

Synopsis for "Camelot/3000"

The Futon Critic website has posted the following plot synopsis for this week's upcoming episode of Legends of Tomorrow:

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21

DC'S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW

"Camelot/3000" - (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET) (TV-14, LV) (HDTV)

ALL FOR ONE - The Legends continue their quest to hunt down the Spear of Destiny before the pieces fall into the hands of the Legion of Doom. The Legends discover that pieces of the Spear are each being guarded in different time periods by members of the JSA. Their first stop is the future where they find Dr. Mid-Nite (guest star Kwesi Ameyaw) which eventually leads them to the past and King Arthur's Camelot, where Stargirl (guest star Sarah Grey) is protecting her piece of the Spear. In order to protect the Spear shard from the now-evil Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill), the Legends must join forces with the Knights of the Round Table. Caity Lotz, Franz Drameh, Victor Garber, Brandon Routh, Dominic Purcell, Nick Zano and Maisie Richardson-Sellers also star. Antonio Negret directed the episode written by Anderson MacKenzie (#212). Original airdate 2/21/2017.

Camelot/3000 Trailer

CW released a trailer last week for the upcoming Legends of Tomorrow episode "Camelot/3000". The episode airs next Tuesday, 2/21.


The ComicBookMovie.com website offers set of stills from the episode and plot details at https://www.comicbookmovie.com/tv/dc/legends_of_tomorrow/the-legends-join-the-round-table-in-stills-from-legends-a148810.

Legends of Tomorrow Update

It was announced late last year that an upcoming episode of the CW series Legends of Tomorrow would be titled "Camelot/3000." Immediate speculation online (see for example https://www.bleedingcool.com/2016/12/01/legends-tomorrow-bringing-camelot-3000/)  suggested a connection to the comic book series Camelot 3000 (details on the series at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camelot_3000), but series co-creator/executive producer Marc Guggenheim has finally pronounced on the episode's content in a recent interview for IGN (http://www.ign.com/articles/2017/01/31/legends-of-tomorrow-captain-cold-is-still-joining-the-legion-of-doom), where he explains:

Yeah, that's a great episode. Actually Phil [Klemmer] and I were just on the editing room for that yesterday. I think the show does a great job with the production value and creating different time periods and Camelot sets a new bar. I will say, just managing expectations, we are not doing our adaptation of Camelot 3000 by Mike W. Barr. That slash in the title, Camelot/3000 is very much there for a reason. I'll just say it takes place in two time periods - the year 3000, and it takes place in Camelot. I was like, if we have an episode where we happen to be in Camelot and we happen to be in the year 3000 and we don't call it some variation of Camelot 3000, we're doing something wrong. That's sort of all I'll say.

Further details to follow as they become available. The episode is set to air on 21 February 2017.

Brennan on BBC's Merlin

From the latest number of Arthuriana:

Brennan, Joseph. “ ‘You Could Shame the Great Arthur Himself’: A Queer Reading of Lancelot from BBC’s Merlin with Respect to the Character in Malory, White, and Bradley.” Arthuriana 25.2 (Summer 2015): 20-43.

Accessible at Project MUSE at http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/arthuriana/v025/25.2.brennan.html.

TV Scholarship in Arthuriana

The latest number of Arthuriana is devoted to recent Arthurian-themed television. Contents are available (to subscribers only) at the journal's website (http://arthuriana.org/access/25-1Contents.html) and on Project MUSE (http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/arthuriana/toc/art.25.1.html).

Details as follows:

King Arthur in the Twenty-First Century: Kaamelot, BBC’s Merlin, and Starz’s Camelot
Tara Foster & Jon Sherman 3

Kaamelot’s Global Fifth Century
Tara Foster 5

Kaamelot’s Paradox: Lancelot between Subjugation and Individuation
Cédric Briand 22

From ‘Unthinking Stereotype’ to Fearless Antagonist: The Evolution of Morgan le Fay on Television
Cindy Mediavilla 44

Casting, Plotting, and Enchanting: Arthurian Women in Starz’s Camelot and the BBC’s Merlin
Jennifer C. Edwards 57
 
Source, Authority, and Audience in the BBC’s Merlin
Jon Sherman 82
 
Pendragons at the Chopping Block: Elements of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in the BBC’s Merlin
Erin Chandler 101

Multiculturalism, Diversity, and Religious Tolerance in Modern Britain and the BBC’s Merlin
David C. Tollerton 113

Camelot on the Small Screen (2014 CFP)

Another belated CFP:

Call for Submissions: Camelot on the Small Screen (Edited Collection)
Publication Date: 2014-02-28 (Archive)
Date Submitted: 2014-01-21
Announcement ID: 210619

Call for Submissions: Camelot on the Small Screen (Edited Collection)

In the past five years, there have been three television series based on the Arthurian legends: the French Kaamelott, the BBC’s Merlin, and Starz’s Camelot. Previous decades have seen dozens of series, miniseries, made-for-television movies, and animated incarnations of the legends, from The Adventures of Sir Lancelot in the 1950s to Australia’s Arthur! and the Square Knights of the Round Table or the 2001 miniseries The Mists of Avalon. The proliferation of these productions testifies to the enduring power of the myth and its continued relevance to modern audiences. Until now, most Arthurian scholarship has focused on the medieval literary corpus, modern literary adaptations, and cinematic treatments of the tales, and relatively little attention has been paid to television portrayals of Arthur and his court. We therefore plan to propose an edited collection that addresses this imbalance. Essays might analyze contemporary issues and themes (gender, marginalization, or religious intolerance, for example), compare TV series to literary texts, focus on a particular character within a single series or across several series, etc. We are particularly interested in essays that examine the following programs: --The Adventures of Sir Lancelot (British series from the 1950s) --The Legend of Prince Valiant (American animated series from the 1990s) --Arthur of the Britons/ Arthur, the Young Warlord (British series from the 1970s) --Mr. Merlin (American series from the 1980s) --Merlin of the Crystal Cave (British miniseries from the 1990s) --adaptations of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (many have been made over the years) --Japanese anime (King Arthur, King Arthur: Prince on a White Horse, Tears for Tiara, etc.) --The Mists of Avalon (American miniseries from 2001) --Merlin (American miniseries starring Sam Neill) --The Legend of King Arthur (British series from the 1970s) --Guinevere (American made-for-television movie from the 1990s) --King Arthur and the Knights of Justice (American animated series from the 1990s) --Sir Gadabout: The Worst Knight in the Land (British series from 2002) --extended Arthurian subplots in otherwise non-Arthurian programs The preceding list is not exhaustive, and we would be interested in essays that cover any number of Arthurian shows; however, we are not seeking essays on the three most recent series (the French Kaamelott, the BBC’s Merlin, and Starz’s Camelot).

Articles should be 7,000-8,000 words in length including references. Please send abstracts of approximately 500 words and a short biography to Drs. Tara Foster (tafoster@nmu.edu) and Jon Sherman (jsherman@nmu.edu) at Northern Michigan University; any queries can also be sent by e-mail.

The deadline for abstract submission is February 28, 2014. We will respond to submissions by mid-March, and first drafts should be submitted by the end of August 2014.

Tara Foster
Modern Languages and Literatures
Northern Michigan University
906-227-1814
Email: tafoster@nmu.edu

TF1's Merlin Mini-Series

The French television network TF1 aired a two-part miniseries called Merlin in 2012 . There is sparse information online about the series (see the sidebar under 2010-2019 productions), but the film, a comedic retelling of the Arthurian legend, offers yet another Merlin-centered version of the story.

Part one opens with a very Gandalf-looking Merlin (played by Gérard Jugnot) at the court of Uther Pendragon, where he helped raise and educate the young Arthur and (sometimes) Guenièvre. Ten years later, a less hirsute Merlin retires to Brocéliande after Arthur has grown up and begins to live with Viviane and her son Lancelot. However, Merlin is called back when Camelot is threatened by Arthur's cousin, Morgane, (herself a powerful magic-wielder, trained by her aged aunt) and her ally the barbarian king Vortigern (!) on the eve (?) of Arthur and Guenièvre's wedding. (Morgane had, apparently, expected to marry Arthur and become queen.) Merlin, Viviane, and Lancelot spend some time at court here, and (I think) the two mages are instrumental in stopping Morgane and Vortigern at this time. However, the villains return in part two, and Merlin is ill-prepared because the title of part one, "L'Enchanteur Désenchanté," refers to the fact that Merlin loses his powers as the years pass and he falls in love with Viviane and becomes a surrogate parent for Lancelot.

Taking place seven years later, part two, "Le Secret de Brocéliande," centers on Merlin's struggles to regain his magic in order to save the realm and restore Guenièvre to flesh after she has been turned, by the returned Morgane, into stone. This section also focuses on a quest for the Grail undertaken by Merlin and a teenaged Lancelot--the prophesied Grail-winner--to save Viviane, who is held by Morgane.

There are lots of images and some plot summary at the series official site (http://www.tf1.fr/merlin/) but no video. The following trailer comes from YouTube:

Kaamelott Bibliography Take 1

I'm starting a project on recent Arthurian TV and thought I'd share some of the material I have discovered so far. Here is my initial bibliography of studies devoted to the French series Kaamelott:

Bashi, Ahmed S. “The King at Kaamelott.” MA thesis. Eastern Michigan U, 2010. Digital Commons @ EMU. Web. 30 September 2013. <http://commons.emich.edu/theses/297/>.

Brossard, Sébastien. “Kaamelott: Humour, Parodie et Réflexion sur l’Échec.” MA thesis. Université of Franche-Comté, 2011. Astier & Co. Web. 30 September 2013. <http://astierandco.fr/blog/public/documents/Sebastien_Brossard_Memoire_M1_Kaamelott.pdf>.

- - -. “Kaamelott: Humour Télévisuel et Série Intertextuelle.” MA thesis. Université of Franche-Comté, 2012.

Florentin, Valérie. “Les Anachronismes Comme Procédé d’Humour Verbal: Une Étude de la Série Télévisée Française Kaamelott.” Canadian Association for Translation Studies Young Researchers Archive. Web. 30 September 2013. <http://www.act-cats.ca/Young_Researchers_archive/Florentin_Anachronismes.pdf>. 

- - -. “L’Humour Verbal et sa Traduction: Une Étude de la Série Télévisée Française Kaamelott.” MA thesis. Université Laval, 2010. Collection des Thèses et Mémoires Électroniques de l’Université Laval. Web. 30 September 2013. <http://theses.ulaval.ca/archimede/meta/27310>.

Perret, Faustine. “La Rception du Moyen Âge au Travers de la Série Télévisée Kaamelott: Analyse de la Série.” MA thesis. Université of Franche-Comté, 2011.

Shoaf, Judith P. “Kaamelott: A Semi-Heroic Epic.” The Heroic Age: A Journal of Early Medieval Northwestern Europe 13 (August 2010). Web. 30 September 2013. <http://www.heroicage.org/issues/13/forumc.php>. (An especially good overview.)

Merlin and the Dragons News

I've been learning how to edit entries on Wikipedia today and did some work expanding the listing for the animated film Merlin and the Dragons to make it less of a stub and add in some additional resources. You can view the updated entry at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merlin_and_the_Dragons and see my changes in the "View hstory" tab. The film is still available on DVD from select distributors, including Amazon.com, and on YouTube. If you can, get the DVD, it includes a making-of feature.

Here are the clips from YouTube, posted by Tanabe18:

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

Salda's Arthurian Animation Coming Soon

The latest from McFarland. This is definitely a must get.

Arthurian Animation: A Study of Cartoon Camelots on Film and Television
Michael N. Salda

Print  ISBN: 978-0-7864-7468-4
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-4766-0614-9
ca. 35 photos, notes, bibliography, index
softcover (7 x 10) 2013
Price: $45.00
Not Yet Published, Available Fall/Winter 2013

About the Book

This is an exploration of the potent blend of Arthurian legend, cartoon animation, and cultural and artistic trends from 1933 to the present day. In more than 170 theatrical and televised short cartoons, televised series and specials, and feature-length films from The Sword in the Stone to Shrek the Third--all covered in this book--animators have repeatedly brought the Round Table to life on screens large and small. Although these productions differ greatly in tone and intent--spanning spectra from comic to sober, fantastic to realistic, and entertaining to edifying--they share in the proof of Camelot’s continuing relevance in the modern world.

About the Author

Michael N. Salda is an associate professor of Medieval Literature in the Department of English at the University of Southern Mississippi. He lives in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

Lancelot on Once Upon a Time

A much belated post:

The recent episode "Lady of the Lake" (14 October 2012) of the ABC fantasy-drama series Once Upon a Time featured an extended appearance by Sir Lancelot, played by African American actor Sinqua Walls. Walls offers details about his role in an interview for TV Fanatic at http://www.tvfanatic.com/2012/09/sinqua-walls-speaks-on-sir-lancelot-dangerous-addition-to-once-u/ and the Once Upon a Time Wiki includes some details about the character at http://onceuponatime.wikia.com/wiki/Sir_Lancelot.

The following trailer appears from the televisionpromos channel on YouTube:

Intel Round Table Ultrabook Ad

The Matter of Britain goes commercial again for Intel's new line of Ultrabook computers:

Valdés Miyares on the Grail

New overview of the representations of the Grail on film and television. Looks like essential reading on the subject.

Valdés Miyares, J. Rubén. “The Cinematic Sign of the Grail.” Corporate Medievalism. Ed. Karl Fugelso. Studies in Medievalism 21. Cambridge, Eng.: D. S. Brewer-Boydell & Brewer, 2012. 145-59.