Un cosmonaute chez le roi Arthur

Tom Trimble (Dennis Dugan) is an oddball scientist for NASA. Very clever but somewhat clumsy, he builds a robot named Hermes who looks just like him. Its NASA's wish to send Hermes on an experimental flight where, if all goes as planned, the rocket will travel faster than light and go back to the days of Camelot. However, as Tom is readying Hermes for the journey, the rocket blasts off and both of them go back in time. Once there, a pretty maid name Alisande takes Tom to see King Arthur while Hermes stays with the ship. Mordred (Jim Dale) takes an instant disliking to Tom but the young scientist captivates the King with tales of the history of the world, including his own time period. However, after a long listen, the King sends him to the dungeon anyway. It'll be up to Hermes to rescue Tom and change the King's view in their favor. In addition, can Alisande truly prefer Hermes to Tom himself? This funny take on Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is a pleasure to watch. Dugan is quite a charming and kooky performer and rest of the cast is great. Kids and families will love the re- created Camelot's scenery and costumes as well as the new gadgets Tom brings with him. No, its not the greatest thing since sliced bread but it is bound to bring smiles to young and old faces!

Based on the ratings and reviews, this movie seems to have a problem with expectation management. It's a Disney movie, but its production standards aren't as uniformly high as one might expect. Apparently they had to cut some corners. This film came out 2 years after Star Wars: Épisode IV - Un nouvel espoir (1977), but its special effects aren't far above Star Trek (1966) in quality. Also there is something odd about the plot that suggests late changes. (Someone just disappears, suggesting that he died, and is never mourned.)

Some reviewers complain about a lack of realism. I think they are really missing the point. This kind of movie doesn't have to be realistic. The original novel is basically an extended joke, and so is this film. What matters is whether it is a good joke and whether it follows the internal logic of fiction. On these accounts its actually a really good movie.

LONG DIGRESSION ON LANGUAGE

In his novel A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court, Mark Twain dates King Arthur (who likely wasn't a historical person) in the 6th century, and so does this film, which is very loosely based on the book. To get an idea of how long ago that was:

What we think of as England today wasn't a country yet but a region consisting of many small countries. The Romans had left in the early 5th century, and Anglo-Saxons from the North Sea coast of Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands were coming to England, bringing with them the Germanic dialects that would soon develop into Old English (also called Anglo-Saxon). But at the time of the film's setting we don't even call that language Old English yet because that name is preserved for the earliest form preserved in writing. It wasn't before the following century, the 7th century, that England became mostly Christian and the earliest preserved texts in Old English were written.

Here is what the Lord's Prayer looked like in 995, over 400 years AFTER the supposed time of King Arthur:

Fæder uure / þuu þee eart on heofonum / Sii þiin nama gehaalgod / Too becume þiin rice / Gewurþe þiin willa / On erðon swaa swaa on heofonum / ...

Mark Twain would have had a hard time writing in this language, and his readers wouldn't have understood him. Even Middle English was too antiquated for his purposes. Here is the same text in a Middle English version from 1389:

Oure fadir / That art in hevenes / Halwid be thi name / Thi kingdom come to / Be thi wille don / On erthe as in hevenes / ...

Much better, but still too antiquated. So Mark Twain used the English of Shakespeare and the original King James Bible: Early Modern English. And so do most film adaptations. Only, they almost invariably get the grammar wrong. Which is very jarring to speakers of other Germanic languages, who tend to have a better feel for Early Modern English grammar than most native English speakers. Anyway, here is a correct version from 1611 in Early Modern English, taken from the King James Bible:

Our father which art in heauen, / hallowed be thy name / Thy kingdome come. / Thy will be done, / in earth, as it is in heauen. / ...

I am glad that this film generally doesn't even try to use Early Modern English in the dialogs, leaving only a few instances of the usual wrong grammar and making the dialogs flow better.

END OF DIGRESSION.

Of course the time travel aspect (and in fact also the space travel aspect) isn't realistic either. And doesn't have to be. All that matters is that it follows its own internal logic. Which it does.

The film's plot makes good use of the idea of an astronaut arriving at King Arthur's court rather than a distant planet. Unfortunately it overdoes the special effects, which are not its strength, and doesn't make as much use of its excellent actors as it could have done. But overall it's great fun if you are prepared to be entertained.

Average.

I don't like or dislike 'Unidentified Flying Oddball'. It features a cool concept, but the film never really gets overly intriguing while the cast are rather plain and uninteresting.

Dennis Dugan never really works for me as Tom. I feel his character is way too content with what occurs, especially at the beginning - no surprise, no shock... nothing. That's odd to me, given what occurs. Jim Dale, who is excellent in 1978's 'Hot Lead and Cold Feet', is underwhelming. Kenneth More, meanwhile, is alright as King Arthur.

In a word, forgettable. Glad it only lasts 93 minutes.

This is one of those films that starts with a bad title and only gets worse.

If I recall, I saw this at my friend Kirk's tenth birthday party and it was the first time I used the word 'dreck' in a sentence.

'Unidentified Flying Oddball' has all the appearance of having been written and filmed over a long weekend. Edited in someone's basement one night over a keg of beer.

One thing sticks in my memory like an oak splinter: the way Spaceman Tom never called King Arthur 'your majesty' or 'sire,' but instead just plain ol' good ol' 'King.' As in 'hey, King, get yer hands offa my girl, see.' If you like that sort of talk, and your brain development arrested in grade three, then the team behind 'Unidentified Flying Oddball' wants you.

The science was excellent, however. I know now that if I ever need to defend myself from a deathly laser beam, I need only wear the shiniest armour I can find ('Say, King, gimme yer armor! Now don't get all persnickety on me, see? I'll give it back all nice and proper-like, and polished up with good ol' American spit shine').

Disney produced this matted ass-hair sandwich in the days before they became the media Godzilla they are now. Their stock was leaning into the toilet in those days and, hey, so will you after seeing this film.

Incoherent plot, humourless gags, crummy special effects, poor sets. It's not a good kid's film. Not a good film, even though based on a Mark Twain story. But I may change my tune. Perhaps someday I'll see this movie the way I presume it was meant to be seen. On crack.

Unlike my learned colleague, I apparently have room in my life for tres mal cinema...I loved this movie. Now, I am not going to tell you it's GOOD, by any means, but you have to give credit to the fine old British actors who salvaged what they could -- Jim Dale and several of the others did an amazing job with the awful script they were given. If you like "Plan 9 From Outer Space", "I Married a Space Alien", and the like, then this movie is right up there. Frankly, I think tres mal cinema nights demand this sort of thing. So, get a keg, grab your high school buddies, get out the D&D dice and enjoy -- and you can, like me, root for the bad guys cos it is sooooo bad!

It's a MOVIE, not fine Romanticist literature, after all!