Xcalibur

**Xcalibur** is a French Canadian CGI sword-and-sorcery children's television series that aired on YTV from 1 September 2001 to 1 April 2002.

It was shown on Channel 5's *Shake!* block as part of CGI Saturday.

## Premise

King Edwin, ruler of a medieval-like Kingdom is assassinated by his brother and regent, Bragan, who has made a truce with the evil warlock, Kwodahn. The murder is witnessed by Prince Erwann who carries out the dying King's final orders; to take Xcalibur and hide it in a safe place. After hiding the sword, Kwodahn curses Erwann, turning him to stone. Erwann's feisty teenage daughter, Princess Djana befriends Herik, a young apprentice of the exiled Shogis, a sect of sorcerers, who has been entrusted with the Book of Life, the collected knowledge of the Shogis. Together, they retrieve Xcalibur, however upon reaching the Royal Palace, they learn Bragan has taken control of the Kingdom as regent to Arthus, the 10-year-old sovereign, too young to rule himself, and confiscated Prince Erwann's lands as his own, falsely branding him as the assassin.

Unable to convince the lords or Arthus that Bragan is a traitor, Djana goes on the run with Herik, Tara - a member of the People of the Sea, often referred to as Barbarians - and Wip, a small dragon, and are branded outlaws by Bragan. Djana's resistance to Bragan's alliance with Kwodahn sparks a rebellion in the kingdom, assisted by the people of the villages of Mallory and Quinn, and (later), secretly assisted by Prince Duncan, one of the lords of the Kingdom.

## Characters

* **Princess Djana** — the fiery daughter of Prince Erwann, strongly opposed to Kwodahn and Prince Bragan. Her mother mysteriously disappeared, leaving Djana alone. She takes the sword Xcalibur to protect the innocent and to free her father from the curse it hinted at that Djana is bisexual for her feelings for Tara and Herik
* **Herik** — a young Shogi apprentice, rebellious by nature. During Bragan's attack on the Shogi Monastery, he is entrusted with the Book of Life by the Grand Magus. He befriends Djana and helps her to retrieve Xcalibur, going on the run with her.
* **Tara** — a young dark skin messenger sent by the People of the Sea. She is sent to negotiate with Prince Erwann, who was the go-between for negotiating a peace treaty between King Edwin and her people; peace in exchange for a place to settle in the kingdom. She arrives too late, and is declared an outlaw along with Djana and Herik where it implied in the episode The Toll Of The Past Djana and Tara have feelings for each other.
* **Wip** — a small flying dragon (with four legs) who was once the Totem of Sapphire.
* **Prince Bragan** — King Edwin's younger brother, who has him assassinated. He is in league with Kwodahn, and attempts to subvert his nephew Arthus to become king.
* **King Arthus** — the 10 year old sovereign, son of the late King Edwin. He is naive, easily led by his uncle, Bragan who believes his story that Erwann assassinated the King to steal Xcalibur.
* **Kwodahn** — the Devil, who lives in a flying castle. He carries out his plans for domination through Bragan and Walka, who have sold their souls to him.
* **Wolf** — the leader of the People of the Sea, raiders who attack the Kingdom for food and riches. King Edwin attempted to negotiate with them, offering them a land to settle in return for peace, however his assassination prevents this from happening. He eventually discovers that Herik is his son.
* **Walka** — one of the three Sylph sisters in Brocelianda, dressed in a green gown, the Sylph of the Appearances who leans towards serving Kwodahn, has become an evil sorceress. She is banished from the Sylphs by Fedora, who turns into a Medusa-like creature. As a Sylph, she possesses a jewel: Sylph Bracelet. She eventually redeems herself by freeing Queen Lorna, and defying Kwodahn. Her Totem is a Two-Headed Snake. She is the Aunt of Djana and godmother of Queen Lorna.
* **Fedora** — one of the three Sylph sisters in Brocelianda. Sylph of Time and Queen of the Sylphs, dressed in a blue gown. She possesses a jewel: Sylph Necklace, and a wand. Her Totem is a Unicorn. She is the Aunt of Djana.
* **Sapphire** — one of the three Sylph sisters in Brocelianda, dressed in a red gown, the Sylph of the Expressions and Djana's mother. She possesses a jewel: Sylph Ring. Her Totem is Wip. She is the mother of Djana and wife of Erwann.
* **Mussi** — governess to King Arthus. She is devoted to the care of Arthus.
* **Queen Lorna** — King Arthus' mother and rightful regent of the Kingdom. Bragan decided to get rid of Lorna first, and gave the task of assassinating her to her godmother; Walka. Unable to kill her goddaughter, she hid Lorna in Mussi's body. She is eventually released by Walka in a bout of redemption, and replaces Bragan as the regent.
* **Prince Erwann** — Princess Djana's father. He was Chief of King Edwin's Army and his close friend, who worked as a bridge between Edwin and Tara, representing the People of the Sea. It is implied he had a relationship of sorts with Tara. He is cursed by Kwodahn and turned to stone when he refuses to hand over Xcalibur to him.
* **King Edwin** — the late ruler of the Kingdom and Arthus' father. He is portrayed as a just and fair ruler, who wanted to make peace with the People of the Sea.
* **Zeky Zek** — Wolf's subordinate.
* **Zoldan** — a Shaman who accompanies the People of the Sea. He is often used as a pawn by Kwodahn for his plans.
* **Morgan** — an experienced Shogi who leads the exiled Shogis to a new life on the Shogi Island. He is a close friend of Herik.
* **The Shogi Master** — sometimes called the Grand Magus, a powerful sorcerer and leader of the Shogis.
* **Silkar** — a citizen of the village of Mallory, and one of Djana's allies. He eventually becomes a prominent figure in the rebellion against Bragan.
* **Arped** — a citizen of the hamlet of Quinn, and another prominent figure in the resistance against Bragan.
* **Will** — one of the leaders of the Wandering City, a city which floats above the sea, inhabited by pacifists.
* **Erin** — one of the inhabitants of Quinn. She is initially a spy for Bragan, passing on information about the rebellion's plans to attack Bragan's camp and kill him. However, she redeems herself and becomes a close friend of Djana.
* **Prince Duncan** — also known as the Green Prince. He becomes Djana's most powerful and trusted ally within the Council after she helps to save his lands from Kwodahn's magic. He is strongly opposed to Bragan's plans.
* **The Red Prince** — one of the lords of the Kingdom. He is Bragan's closest ally on the council.
* **The Yellow Prince** — another of the Kingdom's lords.

## Voices

* Joanna Ruiz Rodriguez as Princess Djana / King Arthus
* Ben Small as Herik
* Jules DeJongh as Tara
* Tom Clarke-Hill as Kwodahn / Wip
* Regine Candler as Walka / Mussi
* Tom Eastwood as Prince Bragan
* Andy Turvey as King Edwyn / Zoldan
* Eric Meyers as Wolf / Prince Erwann

## Opening and closing credits sequences

There are two versions of the opening credits sequence:

* The first version begins with a white background screen with a "cloudy sky" effect. As the clouds clear, the camera zooms across the water of the sea for 25 seconds revealing the deck of a ship with 3 masts and sails before transitioning to a shot of bats. The voiceover by Eric Meyers during the first half of the first version of the opening credits says "Shortly before his death, King Edwynn entrusts the magical Sword of Justice, Xcalibur, to Prince Erwann instructing him to hide it in a underground lake. The magical Sword of Justice, is also called Xcalibur."
* The second version for the remaining episodes that begins with the sword spins through the air on a dark screen. When it gets to a close-up shot of the sword tip surrounded with a glowing blue light, it cuts to the ancient manuscript with two pages and page turning while zooming out revealing the book is now closed and spinning backwards away from the camera to the right hand side and fading to the gray sky with 4 flags. A bird flies from the right to the left and the scene changes. A misty landscape with a castle as the bird flying past to the castle. It fades back to the book spinning on a dark screen with a smoke. We fades to the aerial view of inside the castle as the camera swoops down to a floor with archways with knights in armour walking around. It fades to another page of the book showing pages turning. It fades to a scene in a cave with three people as the camera pulls back and fades to the deck of a ship with 3 masts and sails before transitioning to a shot of bats.

All two versions have the deck of a ship with 3 masts and sails before transitioning to a shot of bats. The bats are disperse showing a knight on horse back with golden light as the camera's moving and fades to a nighttime scene with the knight moving around and throwing a helmet at the camera. It cuts to bats again with structure with bats swirling around as the camera pans down and flames from the bottom of the scene to the top as the camera spins around a cage structure with flames from the bottom to the top reveal a silhouette glowing outlined in blue glowing light in a misty dark background. A transparent image of the sword appears in the background becoming more opaque and spinning and a fire ball explodes from the bottom of the scene as the camera pans down and expands and disperses as the sword handle and fades to the Xcalibur sword dropping down into shot. The Xcalibur sword zooms out faster and a blue glow shines from the center and expands to full screen and the glow fades to the word "XCALIBUR" in the show's title logo zooms out from the close-up shot to the middle. The Xcalibur sword and the misty dark background disappears and fades to black as the word "XCALIBUR" remains bright. The opening credits sequence ends with the copyright info at the bottom of the screen as the word "XCALIBUR" stays bright.

The closing credits begins with a skull design in a circle zooms and pans out on a black background before fades to the pommel of the sword comes into focus as the credits starts scrolling up. The sword is blueish gray color and the camera pans out to showing more of the sword as the credits roll upwards. When the credits stops scrolling up to reveal the logos, the camera stops panning as the credits end. Also, the logos are superimposed in front of the sword.

## Episodes

The following is a full list of episodes of the French Canadian CGI sword-and-sorcery children's television series *Xcalibur* in the order they are presented on the Contender Entertainment Group UK VHS releases. Each volume contains 4 episodes. A total of 40 episodes over 10 volumes.

1. The Sword of Justice
2. The Barbarian
3. The Heart of the Beast
4. The Request of the Just
5. A Charming Prince
6. The Hexed Chessboard
7. The Destiny of the Shogis
8. The Wandering City
9. The Broken Sword
10. The Test of Blood
11. The Slumbering Palace
12. A Second Chance
13. The Lure
14. Nadja
15. I Have Faith in You
16. The 7th Crystal
17. The Forbidden Experience
18. The Toll of the Past
19. The Enchanted Forest
20. The Kiss
21. The Strange Sickness
22. The Dragon's Breath
23. The Promised Land
24. The Ice Fortress
25. The Secret of the Sylphs
26. The Return
27. Golden Eyes
28. The Night of the Two Moons
29. The Tournament
30. Presumed Guilty
31. The Invisible Monastery
32. The Initiation
33. Inheritance
34. The Ice Shogi
35. Vivid Memory
36. One Day
37. Love and Duty
38. In The King's Service
39. Quest For Justice
40. The Duel