Customer Reviews

Legend of Prince Valiant - The Complete 65 Episode Series

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I watched this as a child and never seen it in its entirety, so watching this now brought me back to my past to once again enjoy a wholesome, family values packed cartoon series that you or your family would sit down and watch.

It was amazing how quickly I received my copy. Not only that, for anyone who was dissapointed in how the previous dvds were stacked on top of another, this volume is packed the best way, with sleeves for each of the 5 double disks. So, anyone looking for this great classic to add to your collection and memories, this is the one for you. Definetelly worth the buy.

For the Prince Valiant enthusiast -- yes they exist -- here's a massive compilation on five two-sided discs assembled from the early 90's animated children's TV show.

The stories, with a strong moral center, are set in the world of King Arthur (who may have actually lived around the 5th century). The epic series is derived from historical legends and most certainly inspired by Hal Foster's 1937 comic strip. Comic artist Foster was known for his classic pen and ink line drawings that wonderfully evoked the Arthurian era. The strip's fans were equally mesmerized by Foster's skill as an artist as much as they were by the vivid and dramatic telling of the tales.

The animation here does not come close to Foster's amazingly rendered period detail of castles, clothes, landscape and weapons, but it does reflect the era in vivid colors and broad action. The voice work is surprisingly good. Robby Benson is fine as a young-sounding Valiant, but Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Samantha Eggar and Tim Curry are terrific in their roles -- and a welcome surprise.

Give this time, and one can easily become engrossed in the huge and interesting take on Valiant, Merlin, Arthur et al. Friends and foes may come and go, but Valiant lives on in the imagination -- maybe because after watching over 25 hours of this epic series, it's hard to get him out of your mind!

It's been a while now since I used to get up early on Saturday mornings in order to watch "The Legend of Prince Valiant," but revisiting the show on DVD has been immensely rewarding. Though it was first created and broadcast back in the 1990s, the storytelling and character development holds up remarkably well by today's standards, even if the animation is quite dated. Spanning sixty-five episodes in all, the show was based on Hal Foster's 1930s "Prince Valiant" comic strip, which in turn was inspired by Arthurian legend, all three of which are heavily centered on themes such as fighting the good fight, the establishment of reason, justice and order over ignorance and oppression, and the growth of a central protagonist from a boy to a man.

After the Kingdom of Thule is overthrown by invaders and the royal family sent into exile, Prince Valiant has a dream that leads him to seek out the Kingdom of Camelot, despite the misgivings of his father. Joined by a gentle huntsman called Arn and a feisty blacksmith's daughter called Rowanne, the trio make it their joint goal to find Camelot and become Knights of the Round Table.

Encompassing two seasons in all (with twenty six episodes in the first, and thirty nine in the second), each season follows two separate story-arcs; the first being Valiant's quest to become a knight and reconquer Thule for his father, and the second detailing Arn and Rowanne's journey to knighthood and the growing threat of the New Dawn, led by the treacherous knight Sir Mordred. These arcs are not separate however, as much of the pay-off in the second season is set up in the first, making this a surprisingly complex and detailed storyline. Many of the stand-alone episodes deal with issues such as child abuse, alcoholism, racism, sexism, and gun control (or in this case, crossbow control). Though most of the episodes can be relied upon to add something meaningful to character development or the overarching plot, these "very special episodes" can be rather tiresome in their heavy-handedness.

However, from the beginning "The Legend of Prince Valiant" wasn't strictly designed as a children's cartoon but as a family show, and as such, the writers were given a great deal of freedom to portray battles, injuries and death. Even today, it's nothing less than astonishing to see our heroes use deadly force when necessary, or for blood to appear whenever someone is shot by an arrow, or even the fleeting image of a dead child. There is no censor on using words like "death", "kill," or "murder," and there's also a definite sense of religion at work in this world: characters are depicted praying, swearing by God or offering a "God bless you." It brings a certain sense of maturity to the proceedings, and allows for genuine suspense when our protagonists are put in harm's way.

Fans of Arthurian legend may be a little disappointed at the lack of familiar figures from the original legends; the only ones that are incorporated at all are King Arthur, Queen Guinevere, Merlin, Mordred, Morgana, Sir Gawaine and (briefly) Sir Kay. Most of the cast are either derived from Hal Forster's comic (such as Valiant's love interest, Princess Aleta) or are the writers' own creations. However, there is a near-quintessential portrayal of Camelot at work: its lofty ideals of peace and justice are universally associated with King Arthur's reign, and many of the enemies that it faces are surprisingly applicable to today's social issues, concerning internal divisiveness, suspicion of foreigners, fear-mongering, even weapons of mass destruction in the use of gun-powder to destroy a chapel.

Another interesting aspect is the fact that magic and mysticism plays virtually no part in the show. The abilities of Merlin and Morgana are based in knowledge of poisons and science rather than any supernatural power, eliminating the use of magic as a solution to the problems that beset our protagonists. More often than not it is teamwork and intelligence that wins the day, not raw strength or paranormal abilities.

Finally, the voice talent on display is of the highest caliber. As well as Robby Benson, Noelle North and Michael Horton as the three leads, the show also boasts the likes of Tony Jay, Wil Wheaton, Fred Savage, Jeff Bennett, John Rhys-Davis, Paige O'Hara, David Warner, Brian Cummings, Ron Perlman, Roger Rees, Sean Astin, Patty Duke, and James Avery, as well as Tim Curry as Sir Gawain, Efrem Zimbalist as King Arthur and Alan Oppenheimer as Merlin.

All things considered, the release of "The Legend of Prince Valiant" on DVD is an excellent opportunity to either revisit the show or introduce it to a new audience. If you can get past the somewhat stilted animation, the storylines are compelling and the characters are both likeable and layered. Rowanne in particular is a favourite of mine. A very nineties girl in terms of her ambitions and attitude, she sets a clear goal for herself and strives for it, experiencing many set-backs along the way, but eventually coming out triumphant; a girl that has her fair share of romantic entanglements but who is never defined by them. Arthur, Guinevere and Merlin are also wonderful depictions of the legendary figures, all wise and reasonable authority figures, but each fallible in their own way.

This DVD arrived in perfect condition and on time. We would definitely buy from this vendor again. This is perfect for our collection.