Let the games begin.note
Medieval Times (the brand, not the era) is a Dinner Theatre chain founded in 1983 in Kissimmee, Florida. It operates in "castle" locations in Florida, California, New Jersey, Illinois, Texas, South Carolina, Maryland, Georgia, and most recently Arizona. Outside of the United States, it has a Canada location in Toronto, Ontario. The owner of the franchise, Medieval Times Entertainment, is headquartered in Irving, Texas.
The franchise is well-known for its faux-jousting and fighting tournaments, falcon and horse shows, lights and music accompanying the performances, and more importantly the utensil-less medieval foods. A woman is selected from the audience to be crowned the "Queen of Love and Beauty" at the end of the show. An accompanying storyline is presented, changing every six years along with music, costume and often-times character roster.
- 2000: Following a battle that saw the king's brother being slain, the kingdom of Aragon is left championless. The king holds a competition between his six knights to declare a new champion of the Realm.
- 2006: The king sends his son Prince Tristan to the erratic Kingdom of León to deliver a treaty. While a tournament is prepared to celebrate, Tristan gets kidnapped during his journey.
- 2012 — North: During a tournament between the knights, a herald sent from the belligerent North Kingdom comes to present the king a peace exchange, however his intentions seem dubious.
- 2018 — Sovereign: The current show, and the first to feature a queen as the main protagonist, inheriting the crown from the her late father.
In 2013, it was announced that Medieval Times will be receiving a movie adaptation
, however no recent news on production has been heard of since.
Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament contains examples of:
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
- The Prince is the King's late brother in the 2000 show, but in the 2006 show he is his son.
- The Princess is made the King's daughter-in-law in the 2006 show, compare to previous eras where they were actually blood related. She is made back to his blood daughter in the 2012 show.
- Adapted Out:
- The last we heard of Lord Marshall and Cedric the Sorcerer was in the 2000 show. There is a new Lord Marshall and a non-sorcerous Cedric in the Sovereign show, however.
- The Prince role is absent from the picture 2012 show onwards.
- All Beer Is Ale: Played straight on the website, which states that ale was consumed across all classes. Averted in the restaurant itself, which serves pilsner (a light lager) as its house drink, and has seasonal beers on draft.
- All There in the Manual: There are brief descriptions hung in the halls of the castle giving some details on the Knights of the Realm.
- Ambiguously Absent Parent: Prior to Sovereign, the show had never cast a queen, implying Esperanza (2000)/Tristan (2006)/Catalina (2012)'s mother is dead. Averted in Sovereign itself, where Queen Maria Isabella specifically acknowledges "the passing of my father, the king" in an early line of dialogue.
- Ambition Is Evil: In Sovereign, the Lord Marshall tells the villain that, "your ambition is a madness that poisons even the noblest of men."
- Anachronism Stew:
- The setting is 11th century Spain, but the (fictional) Kingdom of Aragon takes inspiration from other areas. Such as the Kingdom of Valiente's symbol (and formerly the Kingdom of Santiago de Compastela's) being the French Fleur-de-lis in recent incarnations.
- The non-vegan meals include sweetcorn, tomato bisque, and potato, which weren't heard of in medieval cuisine since Europe had not interacted with the Americas yet. The tomato bisque itself is almost a literal anachronism stew.
- It gets weirder for the "anti-bullying" show: one tale involves cellphones and all the knights have social media. It's never explained how that's possible in medieval Spain.
- Animal Motifs: Some of the knights' heraldry.
- Brutish Bulls: The Yellow Knight's heraldic device is a bull, and his introductions by the Lord Marshall and the Lord Chancellor (in Sovereign, anyway) contain a lot of bull imagery.
- King of Beasts: The Red Knight has a lion on his shield, and his intros likewise emphasize the connection.
- The Marvelous Deer: The Green Knight, set up in Sovereign as a promising young upstart, has a stag on his shield.
- Noble Bird of Prey: The Red and Yellow Knight has an eagle on his shield, although it's not given as much emphasis in the dialogue. If he is the villain, it will be more of a Brutal Bird of Prey.
- Anti-Frustration Features: Despite its Stock Medieval Meal being a major part of the experience, the restaurant will still accommodate guests with dietary restrictions. They can also provide silverware on request, for those that really don't want to eat with their hands.
- Arranged Marriage: The King of the North attempts to force this onto Princess Catalina. Don Carlos denies it.
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: The villain of Sovereign is one of the knights (who, exactly, rotates every few months) with this unchivalrous, glory-hungry attitude.
- Awesome, but Impractical: This video shows the knights bringing their (fake) weapons to a bowling alley. A couple of them even try to use them to bowl.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing:
- Lord Marshall, the one standing next to Lord Chancellor, is revealed to be the traitor in the 2000 show.
- The one who kidnapped the prince in the 2006 show is none other than the Green Knight, who did it to stop the treaty from reaching his home.
- The Herald of the North initially presents himself as personable, even gifting the royal court a beautiful horse. But when the king denies to give his daughter's hand in marriage to his king, the herald shows his true colors.
- Bittersweet Ending: How the 2012 show ends. The Herald has been defeated and Catalina is safe, but because the tensions between Aragon and the North Kingdom have failed to remedy, the threat of war reaches its peak.
- Bound and Gagged: Prince Tristan's captor orders his lackeys to gag the tied-up captive. It's not seen in the show, so it happens offscreen.
- Butt-Monkey: A Valiente squire gets stabbed with a sword by the Red Knight for the giggles in the Galavant sing-a-long parody.
- Character Narrator: The Chancellor acts as the show's MC in most of the shows. In Sovereign, the Lord Marshall is the main MC, although the Chancellor (Cedric) takes on a few MC duties as well.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: The losing knights of the tournament leave after their battles. It's never fully explained what happened to them, but Lord Chancellor stated before the tournament that they go home with honor lost. Averted in Sovereign, which features one fight between the losers of the first two fights.
- Church Militant: The Black and White Knight has a cross on his shield and is referred to as a "warrior priest", although few further details are given on what, exactly, that means. He may be a Sinister Minister or Good Shepherd depending on the show, though.
- Color-Coded Characters: The knights' colors: Yellow, Blue, Black and White, Red and Yellow, Red, and Green. Each knight has a name and a region he represents, but is more commonly referred to by his color, since that's much easier for the audience to keep track of.
- Color Contrast: The knights' rivalry: Green versus Red, Yellow versus Blue.
- Composite Character: The 2018 show has a queen as the sole royalty, when it used to be a king and princess.
- Damsel in Distress: In the 2012 storyline, the Herald threatens to take Princess Catalina to marry his king. The champion knight duels with him to keep her away from his hands.
- Dark Is Not Evil: The intimidating executioner who appeared in some past shows is one of the most loyal subjects to the crown, and is in charge of executing the villain if it's decided that they will die.
- Depending on the Writer: More like depending on the location. Since the Royal Falconer and the Master of Horses are open to any gender, the casting and their names vary.
- Disneyfication: Since it's a family franchise, the shows leave out the poorly-aged and gruesome parts of the Middle Ages. However, there's still an executioner, as well as a good amount of Family-Unfriendly Violence. And no utensils.note
- Distressed Dude: The Prince gets ambushed and kidnapped in the 2006 show storyline.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Earlier versions of the show ventured into Low Fantasy Sword and Sorcery with a Court Mage amongst the cast. Since then, the sorcerer had been Adapted Out, and the show today lacks any fantastic elements outside of tone and the offhand mention of dragons being served as food.
- Excuse Plot: Whatever plot is there mainly serves to set up The Tourney between dueling knights.
- Evil Chancellor: Sovereign contains a downplayed example with Lord Cedric. He uses his influence over the queen to persuade her to overlook the unsporting behavior of his own house's knight, and it's implied he's trying to arrange a political marriage between her and that knight, all to boost the fortunes of his house. He even talks the queen into turning the tournament into Blood Sport as a way of eliminating the rival knights. However, once his champion goes rogue and starts insulting the queen, Cedric disavows him and remains loyal to the queen. This could be a case of Pragmatic Villainy, however, since insulting the queen to her face is, above all else, very dumb.
- Fleeting Demographic Rule: Inverted; the show undergoes a new iteration every six years, with the show remaining largely unchanged within those periods.
- Foil: The Knights of the West and East contrast with their rivals.
- The Yellow Knight is the captain of the knights, and the Blue Knight is the youngest of the six.
- The Black and White Knight is a pious warrior priest, and the Red and Yellow Knight is a fun and confident lancer.
- The Red Knight is a hot-blooded and fierce warrior, and the Green Knight is a mercenary only loyal to who pays him.
- Go-Karting with Bowser: Any time the knights appear together and aren't fighting.
- Graceful Loser: After the first fight in Sovereign, the winning knight takes a bow, and then invites the loser up to take a bow of his own. The two clasp arms to show there are no hard feelings. This provides contrast to a moment a few scenes later, when the villainous knight shows a much less sportsmanlike attitude.
- Greater-Scope Villain: The King of the North Kingdom is the one who sent the Herald to the Kingdom of Aragon in the 2012 show, and is the one who wants to make the princess his bride.
- Hidden Villain:
- The murderer of the king's brother in the 2000 show isn't known until the Lord Marshall reveals himself as the traitor.
- Who kidnapped the prince in the beginning of the 2006 show? The Green Knight of León.
- In 2018, the traitor can be any knight; who is the villain is rotated every few months.
- Hot-Blooded: The Red Knight. The Blue Knight as well.
- Invulnerable Horses: Enforced, not just for ethical reasons, but also because the horses are as important to the show as the human actors; they wouldn't be able to hold jousting matches without well-abled horses. Therefore, the horses are scripted to leave each match unscathed, even as the knights are clobbering one another on foot.
- Knighting: Strictly decorative in this case, but visitors can pay a fee to have someone(s) in their group be knighted (or deemed "Ladies of the Realm" for women).
- Large Ham: Almost every single spoken line is delivered in tastefully-cliché grandiose prose.
- Lighter and Softer: The "anti-bullying" show. Unlike the other shows it doesn't feature a final battle between the champion knight and the villain.
- No Fourth Wall: The audience itself is treated as a part of the setting, specifically royalty invited to the show by the King/Queen (hence the crown given to each guest).
- Noble Bird of Prey: The show contains a live display of falconry.
- No Name Given: Averted for the knights. They're given actual names that are seldom used except for when the Chancellor introduces them.
- Yellow: Don Eduardo del Rey
- Blue: Don Alberto del Mau
- Black and White: Don Iofre Santa Creu
- Red and Yellow: Lord del Font
- Red: Baron Ruiz de Roig/de Roche/Deroches
- Green: Don Temple
- Pimped-Out Dress: The lead heroine always wears one.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: The villain of Sovereign refers to the Queen as "an unwelcome intruder into the dominion of men" during his biggest wrestling-heel moment.
- Red Shirt: In some of the past shows, the two squires who accompany the victor knight in fighting against the main villain are the first to fall. Unlike the losing knights (see Chuck Cunningham Syndrome) we’re left to assume they’re slain. In the current Sovereign show, none of the squires are ever in any danger.
- The Smurfette Principle: The Princess is the only principal female character. The queen takes her place in the 2018 era.
- Spotlight-Stealing Squad:
- The Knights of the Realm are the most promoted characters, but the actual protagonist is the King/Queen.
- The Red Knight and the Red and Yellow Knight receive most of the attention in advertising, the latter even featured in the old logo. The Yellow Knight was the leader of the knights in older shows, although this element seems to have been phased out.
- A Very Special Episode: The show put on for schools incorporates anti-bullying lessons.
- Wham Line: In the 2006 show Princess Esperanza delivers this when Lord Marshall stabs the would-be champion knight.Esperanza: He is the traitor!
