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Bugs Bunny in King Arthur's Court

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Bugs Bunny in King Arthur's Court
Also known asA Connecticut Rabbit in King Arthur's Court
Written byChuck Jones
Mark Twain
Directed byChuck Jones
Voices ofMel Blanc
Theme music composerDean Elliott
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
ProducerChuck Jones
EditorSam Horta
Running time25 minutes
Production companies
Original release
NetworkCBS
ReleaseFebruary 23, 1978 (1978-02-23)

Bugs Bunny in King Arthur's Court (originally aired on TV as A Connecticut Rabbit in King Arthur's Court) is a 1978 animated television special directed by Chuck Jones. The special is based on Mark Twain' novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, and features the Looney Tunes characters Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam.[1][2] It marks the first use of Sam in a Jones-directed short or special, before From Hare to Eternity 19 years later in 1997.[3]

A Connecticut Rabbit in King Arthur's Court originally aired on CBS on February 23, 1978, before being rebroadcast as Bugs Bunny in King Arthur's Court on November 22, 1978.[4]

Plot

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Bugs Bunny is trying to reach a peanut festival in Georgia, but thanks to faulty directions from Ray Bradbury, he takes a wrong turn at Albuquerque and time-travels to Camelot in the year 526. He mistakes Camelot for Pittsburgh at first, but meets a fire-breathing dragon. After hiding in his hole to avoid the beast, Bugs mentions having previously time-traveled to 25th-century Mars thanks to Bradbury. Just then, his carrot is speared by Sir Elmer of Fudde (Elmer Fudd), a brave knight. Elmer tells him that he has been hunting for a dragon, and mistakes him for a transformed dragon. He captures Bugs, informs him that he is in Camelot after the latter sings "Barbara Allen", and takes him to the castle of King Arthur. There Bugs is presented to the disinterested Arthur, King of England, Et Cetera (Daffy Duck), and bloodthirsty court magician Merlin of Monroe, Baron of Yosemite (Yosemite Sam). Bugs is sentenced to be burned at the stake. He uses a solar eclipse to fool the locals into thinking that he can affect the sun's movements. In spite of Merlin wanting him to be roasted and much to Elmer's chagrin, he is released, and Arthur grants him custody of an actual fire-breathing dragon.

Two years later in 528, Bugs takes Sir Loin of Pork/Porkè of Pigge, the Varlet (Porky Pig), on a tour in his Acme Armour Factory, showing him inventions to reform medieval society, such as horsepower, dragon power, steam power, electric power, and armour created for endangered species. However, Elmer stabs Bugs' dragon with his lance, making him run away, yelping in pain. Bugs confronts Elmer, who still thinks that the latter is a dragon transformed into a rabbit. He takes off his glove and smacks Bugs in the face, before challenging him to a duel, to which Bugs then punches Elmer's face with a boxing glove. During the duel, Bugs uses his extremely long lance to pole vault over Elmer, douses him and Merlin (who has allied with the knight) in the moat, steals his armour using a magnet, and sends Elmer's arrow and a catapulted rock back at them using a U-shaped pipe and spring, respectively, much to King Arthur's amusement. Merlin skids out of the tent to light a cannon, but Bugs tells him that he can't use a cannon because gunpowder has not been invented yet. Merlin takes a look inside and is blasted. Bugs then finds what he thinks is a "neat carrot slicer" in a stone, unaware that Elmer and Merlin are pushing a wooden ax-wielding vehicle toward him. He innocently pulls the "carrot slicer" out of the stone, which is revealed to be the sword Excalibur when a disembodied voice (God) proclaims him as the new king. Porkè, Elmer and Merlin pledge their allegiance to him, and Daffy abdicates and relinquishes the crown to Bugs, the new ruler in "King Arth-Hare's Court".

Voice cast

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Production

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The special was directed, written and produced by Chuck Jones in 1977.[6][7][8] Animators and artists included Warner Bros./Jones animators Ken Champin, Phil Monroe, Manuel Perez, Virgil Ross, Lloyd Vaughan, Irv Wyner, Phil Monroe, Don Foster, Marlene Robinson May, Joe Roman, Ben Washam and Jean Washam; and Mitch Rochon, Woody Yocum, Joe Roman and ink and paint artist Celine Miles. The production assistants were Susan Charron, Linda Jones Clough, Mary Roscoe, Marian Dern and Marjorie Roach. Voices were provided by Mel Blanc. The soundtrack was composed by Dean Elliott and Louise Di Tullio.[2][4] The special was edited by Sam Horta.

Reception

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Steve Schneider called the special "one of the more highly regarded Looney Tunes specials".[9] According to Jerry Beck, "It's cartoon comedy in Camelot when Bugs Bunny and the Looney Tunes gang retell the classic Mark Twain story A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. The Brooklyn-born bunny burrows back in time to find the famous Round Table made up of some familiar friends and foes: Daffy Duck as King Arthur, mean-tempered Sam as the scheming Merlin of Monroe, the Baron of Yosemite, Porky Pig as Sir Loin of Pork and, of course, the wabbit-hating Sir Elmer of Fudde. Ye laughs come fast and furiously when our carrot-chomping hero duels a fire-breathing dragon, jousts an armor-plated Elmer and douses the hot-headed Sam. Then Bugs beats them all to the punchline when he pulls the sword from the stone and opens an Acme Armor Factory! Academy Award-winning animator/director Chuck Jones, one of the key "collaborators" with the rascally rabbit over the past 50 years, here produces a legendary lineup of lunacy, making Bugs Bunny in King Arthur's Court one of the funniest "knights" in history."[10][11] Kevin McCorry and Jon Cooke referred to the special as "Chuck Jones' newly animated and rather bland return to the days of knights and round tables, a premise far more entertainingly lampooned in Jones' Knight-Mare Hare and Friz Freleng's Knights Must Fall and Knighty Knight Bugs".[3] Michael Sporn called the special "a not-so-good television film", with Ray Kosarin adding, "It is really sad (and maybe one of those elephant-in-the-living-room truths) how shoddily, in his television work, Chuck Jones handled the same Warner Brothers characters that he had directed so brilliantly at Warner. Whether it is having to write the films without Michael Maltese, or working with younger animators who, without the chops and familiar working relationship of Ken Harris or Ben Washam, were stuck mimicking his later, and weaker, drawings, these shows simply did not have the same grip on what made his Warner Bros. shorts so funny and good. The characters mug the camera with the same befuddled expressions that made sense (and were hilarious) in cartoons he made 25 years earlier, but it is as if Jones, like his many imitators, had slipped into aping his own work, without quite knowing any more what made it so good."[7]

Michael N. Salda reviewed the special in his book Arthurian Animation: A Study of Cartoon Camelots on Film and Television, stating, "A Connecticut Rabbit in King Arthur's Court is an all-star special, casting familiar Warner Bros. properties in prominent Arthurian roles: Daffy Duck as a disinterested, world-weary 'Arthur, King of England, Et Cetera' (from his nameplate); Yosemite Sam as the king's bloodthirsty magician, Merlin of Monroe, Baron of Yosemite; Sir Elmer of Fudde as the splenetic knight who captures the Yankee; Porkè of Pigge as the helpful varlet; and Bugges Bunnye of Carrot Patchville, U. S. A., once again playing the Yankee as he had in Freleng's 1947 Knights Must Fall and Jones's own 1955 Knight-mare Hare. Jones follows Twain's basic plot with departures suggested by many feature films and network television productions: capture of the Yankee; conflict with a troublesome knight and Merlin; the newcomer gaining the king's favor by 'ending' the eclipse; the Yankee's factory-building and his inventions to reform medieval society; battle and defeat of Merlin and his allies; and end of story through some means other than the violent, sad one that Twain had described. Jones packs time-honored Arthurian references into his bright and cheerful cartoon. There is a Round Table at this Camelot. There are pavilions flying the pennons of Lancelot and Galahad. The Merlin of Monroe mailbox and his tower resurface unaltered from Knight-mare Hare. Jones introduces a charmed sword at the end to complete the story, as Bugs innocently pulls a 'neat carrot slicer' from a stone. A disembodied, stately voice proclaims Bugs the 'rightful king'. Daffy quickly abdicates and relinquishes the crown to Bugs, the new ruler in 'King Arth-Hare's Court' (nameplate). 'The pun is mightier,' Bugs quips, 'than the sword.' With Daffy unseated, Bugs ruling the realm, and all Camelot's subjects pledging their allegiance to the new king, Jones slyly rebukes Filmation for its dreadful Daffy Duck and Porky Pig Meet the Groovie Goolies. Jones's long history with the Warner Bros. menagerie had taught him what fans also knew: only Bugs could ever be king. 'It is sort of ridiculous for King Arthur to be a duck,' Daffy concedes as A Connecticut Rabbit in King Arthur's Court comes to a close. After the relatively dry spell of the 1960s and early 1970s, creative Arthurianimation was on the rise again."[6]

Availability

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Bugs Bunny in King Arthur's Court was released on VHS as part of the Warner Bros. Cartoon Cavalcade series in 1988 and 1997,[10][11][12] and was later released on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 6 DVD in 2008, along with Daffy Duck's Easter Eggcitement.[13]

Other media

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A merchandise shop themed to the special and named Bugs Bunny in King Arthur's Court Toy Store (also known as Bugs Bunny Toys and Bugs Bunny Toys and Gift Store) opened with Warner Bros. Movie World in 1991.[14] The shop's theming was designed by Sanderson Group.[15][16] It closed in 2007 to make room for the Looney Tunes Carousel.[17] That same year, the video game Looney Tunes: Acme Arsenal was released. One of the levels, "Camelot O'Trouble", features King Arthur from the special as one of Daffy's ancestors.[18] Merlin would be added to Looney Tunes: World of Mayhem as "Merlin Sam".[19]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Woolery, George W. (1989). Animated TV Specials: The Complete Directory to the First Twenty-Five Years, 1962-1987. Scarecrow Press. pp. 94–95. ISBN 0-8108-2198-2. Retrieved September 28, 2024.
  2. ^ a b Beck, Jerry; Friedwald, Will (1989). Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies: A Complete Illustrated Guide to the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Henry Holt and Co. p. 369. ISBN 0-8050-0894-2.
  3. ^ a b "THE LOONEY TUNES TELEVISION SPECIALS". Archived from the original on 9 May 2008. Retrieved September 28, 2024.
  4. ^ a b Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. p. 245. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  5. ^ "Bugs Bunny in King Arthur's Court (1978)". Behind the Voice Actors. Retrieved 2024-09-28.
  6. ^ a b Salda, Michael N. (2013). Arthurian Animation: A Study of Cartoon Camelots on Film and Television. McFarland & Co. pp. 78–79. ISBN 9780786474684. Retrieved 2024-09-28.
  7. ^ a b "Assorted Models". Michael Sporn Animation. Retrieved September 8, 2024.
  8. ^ "BUGS BUNNY IN KING ARTHUR'S COURT 1978 ORIG 5 CHARACTER CHUCK JONES SIGNED CEL". WorthPoint. Retrieved September 28, 2024.
  9. ^ Schneider, Steve (1988). That's All, Folks!: The Art of Warner Bros. Animation. Henry Holt and Co. pp. 136–137. ISBN 0-8050-0889-6.
  10. ^ a b "Bugs Bunny in King Arthur's Court (VHS, 1989)". eBay. Retrieved September 28, 2024.
  11. ^ a b "Bugs Bunny in King Arthur's Court (VHS, 1991) Warner Bros. Cartoon Cavalcade". eBay. Retrieved September 28, 2024.
  12. ^ "Looney Tunes DVD and Video Guide: VHS: TV Specials". The Internet Animation Database. Retrieved September 28, 2024.
  13. ^ Release and content information: Lambert, David (2008-08-31). "The Bugs Bunny/Looney Tunes Comedy Hour - Official, Complete Press Release for Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol.6". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on 2009-02-08. Retrieved 2009-02-05.
  14. ^ "Shopping". Warner Bros. Movie World. Village Roadshow Theme Parks. 20 August 2001. Archived from the original on 20 August 2001. Retrieved 28 September 2024.
  15. ^ "'WARNER BROS MOVIE WORLD' - The Movie World Project". Archived from the original on 21 August 2006. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
  16. ^ "Completed Projects". Sanderson Group. Archived from the original on 11 December 2005. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
  17. ^ "WB Kids (Warner Bros. Movie World)". Parkz. Retrieved 2012-09-09.
  18. ^ Butts, Steve (2007-07-13). "E3 2007: Looney Tunes: Acme Arsenal". IGN. Archived from the original on 2013-08-31. Retrieved 2014-05-19.
  19. ^ "Merlin Sam - Looney Tunes World of Mayhem". YouTube. August 9, 2022. Retrieved September 28, 2024.
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