The Legend of Prince Valiant (1991–1994): Season 1, Episode 1 - The Dream - full transcript
When his father's kingdom of Thule is conquered by Cynan, Prince Valiant dreams nightly of two men, Arthur and Merlin, discussing the just New Order to be established in a place called Camelot and calling him to be a knight there. He decides to journey out to find this realm to become a Knight of the Round Table and return to overthrow Cynan and reclaim his homeland.
Voiceover: Man's fate.
What a strange riddle, it is.
How few clues there are with
which to explain the random
ways which men seem to
begin and end.
To live and love.
To succeed and fail.
Each individual destiny,
invisibly interweaving with the
next fashioning
the beautiful and terrifying
tapestries of our lives
shaping our passions and
our destinies.
Extracting such strange and
unexpected prices
demanding that in order for one
man to flourish,
another must perish.
Father!
*horn sounding*
Secure the castle!
A siege is at hand!
*shouting*
*crying*
What news is there?
They're on the hill!
Almost upon us.
It's King Cynan, me Lord.
He's come to take the
castle!
To kill your father!
To kill us all!
Your highness,
They say Cynan brings with him
three men to our
every one.
Willem: Even so, Rolf,
the advantage is ours!
The man comes
without honor. But men we
have will fight with hearts
full of courage and truth.
Those Cynan
brings with him, come with their
souls stripped naked by greed.
Don't you dare,
you filthy vermin!
Mother!
Quickly,
go to the tower,
bolt the door!
Briana: But Valiant!
Valiant: Don't worry, mother.
Father will have this battle won
in no time.
How can he not?
With such an extraordinarily
talented son and heir fighting at his side.
You are extraordinary
but promise me also to be careful,
my beautiful and daring boy.
You and father taught me not
to be careful,
but to be bold. To fight for what is
right and true.
I am a prince,
and I must fight as one.
I have no choice, my dear mother,
but to return to
you either with my shield
or upon it.
How goes it, Rolf?
It goes well, my young prince.
What's needed now is for your
father to best Cynan himself.
with that, his men will flee
and our battle will be won.
Father, father!
No!
He is an innocent child.
Don't rest easy, Cynan.
This is not how it ends.
I swear it is not!
Rolf and the others need
help with the rigging.
We must set sail.
Why do you not stay and fight?
Most of my soldiers have fled
They thought Cynan blow
had brought me to my death.
I have only your mother and
a handful of men left, Valiant.
Would you have lead them to slaughter
in the name of manly pride?
I would have you make it right, father.
Somehow I would have you make
it right.
Father, mother,
come quickly.
We're approaching...
land.
Briana: So I see.
Valiant, what matter of place is this?
Just an ordinary sort of place.
Perhaps I was mistaken. It seems this
place, whatever it may be
is far from ordinary.
Father, look.
Enough!
I already stand with my back
to the sea.
I can be pushed no farther.
Other barbarians have preceded you,
have taken my kingdom and my castle.
Now you stand above me.
Waiting to take my life,
I did not surrender my home
and land without
a fight. I shall not surrender my
life without one.
My land, my coast.
You are the invaders.
An arrow should not be in this hand.
It should be through your hearts!
Then why not put one there
and be done with it?
When your father looked on me, he
looked on the face of death.
Yet he stood to fight
This, this is a mighty courage.
Evil would surely be visited on him
who stilled the heart of such a man.
I want no such curse on my head.
If not murder
then what is it you plan to do with us.
What is it like this island on which you
intend to make us live?
A place like any other.
Perhaps quicksand,
perhaps poisonous snakes,
maybe some wild things.
This is how he expects my family to eat?
Out of shells?
Filled with what?
Slugs? Bugs? Swill?
My father is a
king, he deserves to be
treated with dignity.
It is this or starvation.
Then I, for one, shall gladly starve.
We are royalty, Rolf.
We should not be fed as if we were pigs.
It's an ugly truth, but you
have to face it, boy.
Your home's no longer in a castle.
You dwell in a marsh.
Now make the best of it.
Why are you bidding me to suddenly
embrace the attitudes of a
peasant? You've always instructed me to
conduct myself as a prince.
True. When you were barely more than a
baby, your father entrusted you to my care.
To train you to sit a horse,
to swing a sword,
to someday, be a prince.
But I was born
such. I'm the son of a king.
There is far more to it than that, my lad.
Much is required of
a prince. He must
possess a spirit, not only braver and
stronger than that of other men,
but one far sweeter and
kinder too.
Is it not enough that your father
has lost his kingdom
and your mother her home?
Do they need now the burden of a petulant
son as well?
A boy so arrogant that he would
rather starve than
lower himself to eat from a turtle shell?
The test of a prince is
not the spirit he shows when all
goes right with his world,
but the spirit he shows
when all goes wrong.
Had you forgotten that?
It seems I had for a moment.
No, no, no!
Father!
Arthur: A new order.
The Round Table.
Might will no longer make right.
Merlin: What then, Arthur, what then
shall make right?
Truth and justice, Merlin.
No!
Protected by Excalibur and
the Knights of the Round Table.
They shall come to Camelot, Merlin.
Merlin: To Camelot?
And who will they be, Arthur,
these "Knights of the Round Table"?
Arthur: They must value above all else:
truth and honor.
They must have souls as pure as dawn
and hearts filled with courage.
Knight of the Round Table.
Champion of justice
and defender of truth.
I, King Arthur, called this.
And by the power of Excalibur,
I name it as your destiny.
To be a knight,
to uphold the code of honor and truth,
to make real my father's dream.
This, this is my destiny.
Rubbish!
Rubbish?
Am I then to assume that you
won't talk to my father for me?
This vision you say has been
coming to you every night
since we arrived. You believe
what it shows you?
With all my soul Camelot is real Rolf,
I know it is.
Well boy, if you've truly a destiny
to follow, then follow it.
You've no time to waste on idle chat.
But how do I explain such a thing to
my father? What is it I tell him?
The truth, boy.
Tell him the truth.
I have seen Camelot, and I
believe it to be my destiny. Father,
Your destiny!
To dedicate yourself to what?
To the phantoms of a boyish imagination?
Never! I will not allow it.
Willem, please, he's only asking you to—
What more must I give woman?
I have already lost home and kingdom.
And now you've asked me to happily lose
my child as well.
Our boy has long ago
ceased to be a child, my love.
I am a man now, father.
And with all my heart, I wish to
be as good and true a
man as you have always been.
Goodness, truth,
they have brought me to exile and ruin.
It doesn't have to always be so, father.
I want to go to Camelot, to King Arthur.
To ensure that some day,
justice will triumph over violence.
Will you not believe in my quest?
Will you not give me your blessing?
I cannot believe in folly
and I will not give my blessing to madness.
You are taking from me more
than you know, Valiant
You are taking my very heart.
Goodbye then, mother. Wish me luck?
Always.
Well, I guess I'm off.
Valiant, wait.
Rolf is going to pack you some provisions.
No need.
I'll soon be feasting at
King Arthur's table.
I shall have found Camelot by sundown
and if not then,
by tomorrow, for sure.
What a strange riddle, it is.
How few clues there are with
which to explain the random
ways which men seem to
begin and end.
To live and love.
To succeed and fail.
Each individual destiny,
invisibly interweaving with the
next fashioning
the beautiful and terrifying
tapestries of our lives
shaping our passions and
our destinies.
Extracting such strange and
unexpected prices
demanding that in order for one
man to flourish,
another must perish.
Father!
*horn sounding*
Secure the castle!
A siege is at hand!
*shouting*
*crying*
What news is there?
They're on the hill!
Almost upon us.
It's King Cynan, me Lord.
He's come to take the
castle!
To kill your father!
To kill us all!
Your highness,
They say Cynan brings with him
three men to our
every one.
Willem: Even so, Rolf,
the advantage is ours!
The man comes
without honor. But men we
have will fight with hearts
full of courage and truth.
Those Cynan
brings with him, come with their
souls stripped naked by greed.
Don't you dare,
you filthy vermin!
Mother!
Quickly,
go to the tower,
bolt the door!
Briana: But Valiant!
Valiant: Don't worry, mother.
Father will have this battle won
in no time.
How can he not?
With such an extraordinarily
talented son and heir fighting at his side.
You are extraordinary
but promise me also to be careful,
my beautiful and daring boy.
You and father taught me not
to be careful,
but to be bold. To fight for what is
right and true.
I am a prince,
and I must fight as one.
I have no choice, my dear mother,
but to return to
you either with my shield
or upon it.
How goes it, Rolf?
It goes well, my young prince.
What's needed now is for your
father to best Cynan himself.
with that, his men will flee
and our battle will be won.
Father, father!
No!
He is an innocent child.
Don't rest easy, Cynan.
This is not how it ends.
I swear it is not!
Rolf and the others need
help with the rigging.
We must set sail.
Why do you not stay and fight?
Most of my soldiers have fled
They thought Cynan blow
had brought me to my death.
I have only your mother and
a handful of men left, Valiant.
Would you have lead them to slaughter
in the name of manly pride?
I would have you make it right, father.
Somehow I would have you make
it right.
Father, mother,
come quickly.
We're approaching...
land.
Briana: So I see.
Valiant, what matter of place is this?
Just an ordinary sort of place.
Perhaps I was mistaken. It seems this
place, whatever it may be
is far from ordinary.
Father, look.
Enough!
I already stand with my back
to the sea.
I can be pushed no farther.
Other barbarians have preceded you,
have taken my kingdom and my castle.
Now you stand above me.
Waiting to take my life,
I did not surrender my home
and land without
a fight. I shall not surrender my
life without one.
My land, my coast.
You are the invaders.
An arrow should not be in this hand.
It should be through your hearts!
Then why not put one there
and be done with it?
When your father looked on me, he
looked on the face of death.
Yet he stood to fight
This, this is a mighty courage.
Evil would surely be visited on him
who stilled the heart of such a man.
I want no such curse on my head.
If not murder
then what is it you plan to do with us.
What is it like this island on which you
intend to make us live?
A place like any other.
Perhaps quicksand,
perhaps poisonous snakes,
maybe some wild things.
This is how he expects my family to eat?
Out of shells?
Filled with what?
Slugs? Bugs? Swill?
My father is a
king, he deserves to be
treated with dignity.
It is this or starvation.
Then I, for one, shall gladly starve.
We are royalty, Rolf.
We should not be fed as if we were pigs.
It's an ugly truth, but you
have to face it, boy.
Your home's no longer in a castle.
You dwell in a marsh.
Now make the best of it.
Why are you bidding me to suddenly
embrace the attitudes of a
peasant? You've always instructed me to
conduct myself as a prince.
True. When you were barely more than a
baby, your father entrusted you to my care.
To train you to sit a horse,
to swing a sword,
to someday, be a prince.
But I was born
such. I'm the son of a king.
There is far more to it than that, my lad.
Much is required of
a prince. He must
possess a spirit, not only braver and
stronger than that of other men,
but one far sweeter and
kinder too.
Is it not enough that your father
has lost his kingdom
and your mother her home?
Do they need now the burden of a petulant
son as well?
A boy so arrogant that he would
rather starve than
lower himself to eat from a turtle shell?
The test of a prince is
not the spirit he shows when all
goes right with his world,
but the spirit he shows
when all goes wrong.
Had you forgotten that?
It seems I had for a moment.
No, no, no!
Father!
Arthur: A new order.
The Round Table.
Might will no longer make right.
Merlin: What then, Arthur, what then
shall make right?
Truth and justice, Merlin.
No!
Protected by Excalibur and
the Knights of the Round Table.
They shall come to Camelot, Merlin.
Merlin: To Camelot?
And who will they be, Arthur,
these "Knights of the Round Table"?
Arthur: They must value above all else:
truth and honor.
They must have souls as pure as dawn
and hearts filled with courage.
Knight of the Round Table.
Champion of justice
and defender of truth.
I, King Arthur, called this.
And by the power of Excalibur,
I name it as your destiny.
To be a knight,
to uphold the code of honor and truth,
to make real my father's dream.
This, this is my destiny.
Rubbish!
Rubbish?
Am I then to assume that you
won't talk to my father for me?
This vision you say has been
coming to you every night
since we arrived. You believe
what it shows you?
With all my soul Camelot is real Rolf,
I know it is.
Well boy, if you've truly a destiny
to follow, then follow it.
You've no time to waste on idle chat.
But how do I explain such a thing to
my father? What is it I tell him?
The truth, boy.
Tell him the truth.
I have seen Camelot, and I
believe it to be my destiny. Father,
Your destiny!
To dedicate yourself to what?
To the phantoms of a boyish imagination?
Never! I will not allow it.
Willem, please, he's only asking you to—
What more must I give woman?
I have already lost home and kingdom.
And now you've asked me to happily lose
my child as well.
Our boy has long ago
ceased to be a child, my love.
I am a man now, father.
And with all my heart, I wish to
be as good and true a
man as you have always been.
Goodness, truth,
they have brought me to exile and ruin.
It doesn't have to always be so, father.
I want to go to Camelot, to King Arthur.
To ensure that some day,
justice will triumph over violence.
Will you not believe in my quest?
Will you not give me your blessing?
I cannot believe in folly
and I will not give my blessing to madness.
You are taking from me more
than you know, Valiant
You are taking my very heart.
Goodbye then, mother. Wish me luck?
Always.
Well, I guess I'm off.
Valiant, wait.
Rolf is going to pack you some provisions.
No need.
I'll soon be feasting at
King Arthur's table.
I shall have found Camelot by sundown
and if not then,
by tomorrow, for sure.