Rankin Bass' Robin Hood

Let’s finish the series with their last episode in series order with Robin Hood.

The Sheriff of Nottingham is haunting down the rebel Robin Hood. A poor lumberman named Jarvis Green gets arrested by the Sheriff for having the tree land on him and his army, and accused him for working for the rebel. His son, Willow Green (voice by Billie Mae Richard) and his dog, Cecil is finding Robin Hood to save his father.

Robin Hood reveals to Willow why he and his Merry Men are rebellions, because the kingdom is corrupt, as he only robs from the rich…

“And give it to the Criminally Insane! No, No, No. He robs from the rich and gives it to the poor.”

-Stimpy from Ren & Stimpy.

 Robin Hood surrenders himself to the sheriff to save Jarvis, but the Sheriff keeps Jarvis and Willow until Robin Hood died.

Will they escape from execution from the Sheriff of Nottingham?

Believe it or not, this was release around the same time as the Disney in the same month and year of November 1973. However, the Disney version was released first in November 8, while the Rankin Bass was released in November 23. So technically, some people had seen two different Robin Hood at the same time. The difference is the Disney version would have longer air time in theater than TV, unless it was rerun. This make some people question if this show is what caused the Movie to bomb or not. I doubt the Rankin Bass version is the cause of the Disney Movie to bomb, unless they count a week airing off of the box office.

There has been other version with Robin Hood in animation, though realizing they usually go for one of the chapters of the book. Looney Tunes uses about 3 of the angles of Robin Hood; Bugs Bunny deals with the Sheriff of Nottingham, Daffy as Robin Hood to prove Fryer Porky Tuck Pig and some squirrels that was inspired by a tiny book. Of course there’s the Ren & Stimpy version as Robin Hoek, Popeye, and UPA’s Fox and Crow have Fox as Robin Hood (the first fox Robin Hood before we got the Disney version?), though Fox isn’t a good archer, and he’s saved by his Merry Men, because he missed their tea, and I mean they’re “Merry”.

“Faygeles?”

  -Mel Brooks in Robin Hood: Men In Tights.

This is in the angle for Rankin Bass’ Robin Hood, it’s Robin Hood saving the poor from the Sheriff, and we focus on the son of the poor. It’s not a bad idea of an angle. It’s strange they never show the Prince, but if they included him, he’ll mostly be lazy. Robin Hood is interesting, and isn’t boring unlike Clark Kent’s Robin Hood daddies of Costner and Crowe.

“Because unlike all the other Robin Hoods, I speak with an English Accent.”

                   -Robin Hood, played by Cary Elwes in Robin Hood: Men In Tights

For the last episode of Festival of Family Classic, it’s a decent adaptation to end with. That’s pretty much to sum the entire series. It ranges from decent to dull. At their best is Jack O’ Lantern or Robinson Crusoe. At their worst are Sleeping Beauty, Swiss Family Robinson, Tom Sawyer, and Snow White. The series shows Rankin Bass has try the stories they’re interested with the limitation of what the animation can do in their own angle and what was allow on TV at the time. Though when adapting certain stories that has better versions, it’ll be difficult for a big shoe to fill. Having two parts to the story can help with something such as Around the World in 80 Days, but sometimes it doesn’t show much such as 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. What the series did follow was the stories identity, from the characters to the designs to the time and setting. It would have been too easy to give the characters the name while everyone is dressed the same in black tux to do their business in a dark room in modern day.

If you’re interested to see a storybook series with different stories, this is one of them to check out.

Thus this ends my review for The Festival of Family Classic for a while, until A Christmas Tree arrives as part of the Christmas review. Yankee Doodle & Song of Hiawatha yet had an English version to review. Stay tune for A Mouse of Mayflower, Hobbit, and most of the rest of the non-holiday special before I get to the Christmas Specials.