History Fridge / RobinHood

!!The '73 Film
* During the lines "Reminiscin' this and that and havin' such a good time" in "Oo-De-Lally", Robin Hood and Little John are each urging the other to go first when crossing a river by log. The brilliance? In the original tale, the two meet when Little John prevents Robin Hood from using a log to cross the river; that's what they're remembering.
* Also in the 1973 film, Prince John decided to order the execution of Friar Tuck to lure Robin out, a suggestion even Sir Hiss was horrified by. However, there is historical context to this. John and Richard's father, King Henry II, had Thomas à Becket, then Archbishop of Canterbury, assassinated. Where do you think Prince John got the idea?

** Not to mention that in the legend Robin's birth name is Robert Fitzooth.
* "The Phony King of England" is as close as Disney could get to the real-life BawdySong "The ''Bastard'' King of England" in a family flick; which is similarly a disparaging song aimed at Prince John.

* A kid might not realize it at first, but the fact that Alan-a-Dale the Rooster is in jail too is a hilarious fourth wall breaking, the gag being that Prince John was so enraged with putting ''everybody'' in jail that for some reason he even managed to pull ''the narrator'' in there, even though he isn't part of the story. Seen in that light, the way we first hear his voice saying the beginning of his line, in a typical narrating, and seeing it being ended by a living character on-screen, is ''hilarious''.
** The gag is not helped, of course, by the fact that said Alan-a-Dale has already been physically seen earlier, and even warned us at one point that he would be narrating "what happened — or what's happening", which already implies that his relationship to the story is closer than that of a normal narrator.
* Almost all commoners in the film are domestic or wild animals native to Europe (apart from a few raccoons seen in the background, and a warthog at the archery competition), but Prince John's entourage consists almost entirely of African wildlife apart from the wolves. The brilliance here is that the rhinos, elephants, crocodiles and vultures can be mercenaries that John hired from abroad.
* The [[BerserkButton final straw]] that gets Tuck to attack the Sheriff is when the Sheriff takes money from the poor box. While this is understandable, Tuck also may have reacted as he did because the Sheriff is taking a long step over the bounds; Church taxes had been a hot topic political debate in Europe for centuries (unlike the US, the debate is mostly over and most western European churches pay tax), but at the time the movie was set, the Church was excempt from taxes. Like the execution of friar Tuck, this was blatantly illegal.

!!The '73 Film

* Robin is an outlaw because he shot a deer in the King's forest. In the 1973 film, animals are sapient people.

* Robin and Marian drive off in a carriage. Little John sits at the front with a whip. It is never shown what animals are pulling the carriage, but again, animals are sentient in this universe, and the heroes are making them perform manual labor and whipping them when they go too slow (though this becomes less disturbing if one considers draft horses as equivalent to pedicab drivers or rickshaw pullers or sedan chair bearers).

* [[spoiler: Maid Marian]]'s death in ''Series/RobinHood'' was already a punch in the guts, but the real kicker comes when you realize that she died in order to save the life of King Richard. The same King Richard who eventually gets back to England, only to bugger off to Normandy and get killed there, giving Prince John the opportunity to ascend the throne and become King. So [[spoiler: Marian]] died ''for absolutely nothing.''
** Similarly, every adaptation of the Robin Hood legend which casts Prince John as the ultimate villain because he's "not the true king" runs into the ForegoneConclusion that he's going to end up being the true king anyway.

* Robin and Marian drive off in a carriage. Little John sits at the front with a whip. It is never shown what animals are pulling the carriage, but again, animals are sentient in this universe, and the heroes are making them perform manual labor and whipping them when they go too slow.

* Almost all commoners in the film are domestic or wild animals native to Europe (apart from a few raccoons seen in the background), but Prince John's entourage consists almost entirely of African wildlife apart from the wolves. The brilliance here is that the rhinos, elephants, crocodiles and vultures can be mercenaries that John hired from abroad.

* Robin is an outlaw because he shot a deer in the King's forest. In the 1973 film, animals are sentient.

* During the lines "Reminiscin' this and that and havin' such a good time" in [[EarWorm "Oo-De-Lally"]], Robin Hood and Little John are each urging the other to go first when crossing a river by log. The brilliance? In the original tale, the two meet when Little John prevents Robin Hood from using a log to cross the river; that's what they're remembering.

* Almost all commoners in the film are domestic or wild animals native to Europe (apart from a few raccoons seen in the background), but Prince John's entourage consists almost entirely of African wildlife apart from the wolves. The brilliance here is that the rhinos, elephants, crocodiles and vultures can be mercenaries that John hired from abroad.

** From what's implied (can't remember if it was outright said), the reason for their hard economic situation is because King raised the taxes to such a high amount. Slightly lessened, as the farthing was probably worth more than a modern penny (a farthing did go pretty far in those days)

* In the 2010 movie, King John swears on his mother's life that he will sign the charter (Magna Carta). However, this oath loses a lot of its importance when you realize that King John DESPISES his mother and probably wouldn't hesitate to have her killed given the chance.
* From [[Disney/RobinHood the 1973 Disney film]], during the lines "Reminiscin' this and that and havin' such a good time" in [[EarWorm "Oo-De-Lally"]], Robin Hood and Little John are each urging the other to go first when crossing a river by log. The brilliance? In the original tale, the two meet when Little John prevents Robin Hood from using a log to cross the river; that's what they're remembering.

* Also in the Disney film, while Robin is daydreaming while cooking, Little John tries to get his attention by calling increasingly extended forms of his name: first Rob, then Robin, and then Robert, using the French pronunciation (sounds like Ro-bear). It's easy to assume that this is because Little John is a bear in the film and that Ro-bear is a nickname. When you think about it further, the French pronunciation because they live under and speak the language of the Plantagenet dynasty, who are French and the language spoken in England at the time would have been an iteration called Anglo-Norman French.

* Also in "The Phony King of England": ''all the world will sing of an English king a thousands years from now / and not because he passed some law''. King John's main (possibly only) achievement was to sign the Magna Charta.

* In the 1973 film, the Rabbit family scrimped and saved to give Skippy a birthday present of one farthing - the smallest denomination of currency at that point. That's like having to save up to give someone a penny nowadays. Now imagine the economic hardship that would create that kind of situation.

* At the end of the Disney film, Robin and Marian drive off in a carriage. Little John sits at the front with a whip. It is never shown what animals are pulling the carriage, but again, animals are sentient in this universe, and the heroes are making them perform manual labor and whipping them when they go too slow.

* Also in "The Phony King of England":
-->''all the world will sing of an English king a thousands years from now'' \\
''and not because he passed some law''
King John's main (possibly only) achievement was to sign the Magna Charta.

* In "The Phony King of England": 'all the world will sing of an English king a thousands years from now / and not because he passed some law'. King John signed the Magna Charta.

** Sir Hiss' horrified reaction is also historically accurate. At the time, the Church was a powerful political entity and a noble didn't have the right to judge a religious (for whom the canon law was applied). Of course, Hiss knows that. And he knows the dangers of upsetting the Pope.
* Also in the Disney film, while Robin is daydreaming while cooking, Little John tries to get his attention by calling increasingly extended forms of his name: first Rob, then Robin, and then Robert, using the French pronunciation (sounds like Ro-bear). It's easy to assume that this is because Little John is a bear in the film and that Ro-bear is a nickname. When you think about it further, the French pronunciation because they live under and speak the language of the Plantagenet dynasty, who are French!

** Similarly, every adaptation of the Robin Hood legend which casts Prince John as the ultimate villain because he's "not the true king" runs into the ForegoneConclusion that he's going to end up being the true king anyway.

* In the 2010 movie king John swears on his mother's life that he will sign the charter(Magna Carta). However this oath loses a lot of its importance when you realize that King John DESPISES his mother and probably wouldn' hesitate to have her killed given the chance.

* Also in the Disney film, while Robin is daydreaming while cooking, Little John tries to get his attention by calling increasingly extended forms of his name: first Rob, then Robin, and then Robert, using the French pronunciation (sounds like Ro-bear). Growing up, I always thought this was because Little John is a bear in the film and that Ro-bear was a nickname. Just recently, though, upon rewatching the film, it hit me: he uses the French pronunciation because they live under and speak the language of the Plantagenet dynasty, who are French!

* During the lines "Reminiscin' this and that and havin' such a good time" in [[EarWorm "Oo-De-Lally"]], Robin Hood and Little John are each urging the other to go first when crossing a river by log. The brilliance? In the original tale, the two meet when Little John prevents Robin Hood from using a log to cross the river; that's what they're remembering.

* In [[Disney/RobinHood the 1973 Disney cartoon]], the Rabbit family scrimped and saved to give Skippy a birthday present of one farthing - the smallest denomination of currency at that point. That's like having to save up to give someone a penny nowadays. Now imagine the economic hardship that would create that kind of situation.

* Maid Marian's death in ''Series/RobinHood'' was already a punch in the guts, but the real kicker comes when you realize that she died in order to save the life of King Richard. The same King Richard who eventually gets back to England, only to bugger off to Normandy and get killed there, giving Prince John the opportunity to ascend the throne and become King. So Marian died ''for absolutely nothing.''
** Similarly, every adaptation of the Robin Hood legend which casts Prince John as the ultimate villian because he's "not the true king" runs into the ForegoneConclusion that he's going to end up being the true king anyway.

[[AC:FridgeBrilliance]]
* A minor thing with the first series episode titles: episode 1's title is the question "Will You Tolerate This?" Episode 13's title then provides the answer to that question: "A Clue: No".