'King Arthur and the Square Knights of the Round Table' was an above-average children's cartoon series. The animation was bouncy and colourful, and the dialogue was fairly funny. The theme song is cheerful and upbeat without being funny. Nothing great here, but certainly well above the usual Saturday-morning dross.
For some reason, IMDb's listing says that this series is based on 'novels' by Chrétien de Troyes. Up to a point, Lord Copper. Chrétien de Troyes was a mediaeval historian who wrote about the Arthurian legend. This series is very nominally based on King Arthur and the legend of Camelot, but its historical content is nil. In fact, we get all the usual misconceptions about Arthur: ie, his knights wore armour, rode horses, and so forth. The real Arthur, if he existed at all, dwelt in sixth-century Cornwall: hardly mediaeval, and no horses nor armour were on offer at the real Camelot.
But this cartoon series is meant to be funny, not a history lesson. It largely succeeds in its humour. The King Arthur depicted here is a jovial little runt, a good-natured version of the king in 'The Wizard of Id'. He frequently addresses his wife Guinevere as 'little queen', even though (as drawn here) she's nearly twice his height. Interestingly, Queen Guinevere in this children's cartoon series is drawn with cleavage ... an artistic device that would never have been accepted if this series had been produced in America!
The resident villains are the Black Knight and the seductive witch Morgan Le Fay, always plotting to take over Camelot. For some reason, the scripters of this series had a penchant for gags involving big brawny men in dainty female disguises. There are several episodes in which the Black Knight or some other macho villain ends up unconvincingly disguised as a damsel. The genuinely female characters in this series - both goodie and baddie - are drawn to look quite attractive without ever being sexualised like the characters in Japanese anime. The villains are very non-threatening; there's never any doubt that Camelot will safely remain in Arthur's capable hands. The violence is far less than usual; more cartoonish and less distressing than is typical for this sort of fare. The voice talent for this series, male and female, are above average yet not in any way distinctive.
'King Arthur and the Square Knights of the Round Table' is no milestone in comedy nor in animation, but it's much better (and funnier) than most other children's cartoons, and the sprightly animation is distinctive. And I can still hum that theme song after all these decades. I'll vote this series 7 out of 10.
