King Arthur and the Knights of Justice is an animated series produced by Golden Films, C&D (Créativité et Développement), and Bohbot Entertainment and created by Diane Eskenazi and Avi Arad, who also served as executive producers. The series aired from September 13, 1992, to December 12, 1993, with two seasons and twenty-six episodes. It aired as part of Bohbot's Amazin' Adventures programming block.

Plot

After King Arthur's sister, the evil sorceress Queen Morgana, traps him and the Knights of the Round Table in the Cave of Glass, the wizard Merlin is unable to free them himself. He searches the timeline for replacement Knights. In modern times, he finds Arthur King, the quarterback of the New York football team The Knights, and transports him and his teammates to Camelot after one of their football games. He appoints Arthur as their leader and his teammates as the new Knights of the Round Table and tasks them with freeing King Arthur and the Knights. To do so, they must find the Twelve Keys of Truth, one for each knight that only the knight can initially touch and one for King Arthur. Once all the keys are found, the knights will be free and the team can return home. In the meantime, they pledge "fairness to all, to protect the weak and vanquish the evil".

Characters

The Knights of the Round Table

Members of the football team The Knights, whom Merlin transports to Camelot to serve as replacements for King Arthur and the Knights until they can be freed. The Knights are armed with special armor and can summon their respective creatures when in battle armor. These animals, such as King Arthur's wyvern, are emblazoned on their shields.

Camelot characters

Villains

Episodes

Season 1 (1992)

Season 2 (1993)

Video game

A video game based on the series was produced by Enix for the Super NES platform in 1995. The game features a final confrontation between King Arthur and Morgana, in the form of a giant dragon, providing a finale to the series where the Knights football team were able to return to their own time.

Merchandise

Mattel released a handful of 51⁄2" action figures and vehicles/accessories based on the show. Marvel Comics released a three-part comic book miniseries written by Mike Lackey in 1993. A new comic book by Mad Cave Studios is to be published in April 2024.

Home releases

Maximum Entertainment released the complete series of King Arthur and the Knights of Justice on Region 2 DVD in the UK. In 2010, after several various partial VHS and DVD releases, Image Entertainment released the complete series as a boxed set in North America with all 26 episodes in a three-DVD set King Arthur and the Knights of Justice: The Complete Animated Series. For some time during late 2000s, the whole series has been made available for free watching through Internet streaming at the Lycos' SyncTV service and on Kidlet. Between 2012 and 2014, it has been also available for instant streaming on Netflix. In 2016, Golden Films released it via Amazon.com. As of 2019, the series is available from the subscription service Watch It Kid!. The series is also available on tubi.

Reception

The show has been ranked first on the lists of "The 10 Most Ridiculous Adaptations of Arthurian Legend" (2009) and the "8 Mostly Forgotten '90s Cartoons" (2011) by website Topless Robot, as well as "15 Most WTF Adaptations of King Arthur" by ScreenRant in 2017. Conversely, writer Mark McCray gave it a positive review "thanks to Chalopin's creative touches, which included a great premise, exceptional storytelling, and beautifully drawn animated characters."