Tales of the Vikings

Jeff Hill is incorrect on 1 point; Jerome Courtland did not star in Brave Eagle or Northwest Passage; those roles were played by Keith Larsen. Larsen also starred in the show The Aquanauts for 1 season, until he was replaced by Glenn Corbett and the show was retitled Malibu Run.

As for Tales of the Vikings, I remember loving it as a kid! I especially loved the opening shot of the viking blowing the giant horn, until I found out it was stock footage from the Kirk Douglas Movie.

I remember one episode where the brothers wind up in Toledo (Spain, not Ohio)and there was a long digression about Toledo steel and about making rapiers. Even as a kid, I remember thinking that the vikings didn't belong in a Spain that looked like it was waiting for Columbus to return.

JL

I remember this show so well. I had an intense interest in the Vikings before this show appeared and became my favorite. While the other 12-year-old girls were mooning over the tall dark and handsome type, I was daydreaming about Jerome Courtland as Leif Erickson. I never missed an episode, except for one horrible, horrible time when my father watched a special about I think the Civil War. I didn't see the movie The Vikings when it was in theaters, so I didn't know the show was inspired by that. However, I did see the movie years later on TV, and loved it. Now that we have all these old shows on DVD, I'll be sure to get the whole series if I can. I'm so glad I stumbled onto this site! Also - this isn't old TV, but I also enjoyed The 13th Warrior, which is loaded with Leif Erickson types and has the added attraction of a youngish Antonio Banderas.

I remember this series! I tried to look it up in "The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows" by Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh. It's not there!

Not only do I recall the theme music (based on a Wagner tune, I believe), but I even remember the plot of one episode. Our Viking heroes are visiting a medieval city and its citizens are rapidly succumbing to the plague, except in the Jewish quarter, which is somehow avoiding the disease. The townspeople are furious: the Jews must be in league with Satan. Upon investigating, our Viking friends discover that the Jews have a special potion which apparently cures them. The Vikings must convince the gentiles to take their medicine, which the Jews are more than willing to share. The miracle drug, it is revealed, is compounded from the green mold of stale bread and cheese. Of course, we in modern times know that the mold is called penicillium. Cool, huh?

We were just talking about the Tony Curtis and Kirk Douglas film, The Vikings, and that got me remembering the TV series.

I remember it was on Sunday nights here in St. Louis, and was sponsored by the local Laclede Gas company.

Let's see...

"From out of the North like an icy wind, came Odin's fair warriors free... With broadaxe and spear, they conquered...(something)

Don't remember much more!

I recall that Buddy Baer had a huge club carved into the shape of a woman which he called the "little maiden".

I'm wondering if this was only on kinescope, and no copies remain?

Inspired by the movie, "Tales of the Vikings" regularly used stock footage from "The Vikings" and starred Jerome Courtland (Brave Eagle, Andy Bernette, Major Rogers of Rogers Rangers on the show "Northwest Passage") as a quite civilized, charismatic, and sophisticated Viking adventurer. After we see the stock footage from "The Vikings" where Ragnar's ship hits a rock and sinks, Jerome Courtland as Lief would find himself shipwrecked and in a strange land. He'd have to prove himself by undergoing "Viking Tests" of sticking his hand in a fire, wrestling with the locals, and drinking a brew of grog, soil, and untold "spices." Of course, Jerome Courtland would always prevail. Inspired by such TV "Viking Tests", my adolescent brother and I invented and engaged in our own "Viking Tests" which were downright dangerous. In the interest of public safety, I will not give out the details here. Thirty years after the series had played on American television, I was taking a PhD course in Educational Research at the University of Hawaii and struck up a friendship with a fellow teacher/graduate student. When we were exchanging tales of the various places of the world in which we had lived, he mentioned spending some time in Norway, adding, "I won't tell you why I went there because you'd think it silly. Well, OK. It was because when I was a kid I was nuts about a TV show called 'Tales of the Vikings.' You probably never heard of it." Instead of saying, "I've heard of it", I sang him the theme song to "Tales of the Vikings."