The Legend of William Tell
The Legend of William Tell is a 16-part television fantasy/drama series produced in 1998 by Cloud 9 Productions in New Zealand. The basic premise of the series — a crossbow-wielding rebel defies a corrupt governor — and the name of the title character were adopted from the traditional story, but the series was set in a fantasy world and featured supernatural themes. Described by executive producer Raymond Thompson as "Star Wars on the planet Earth", this is a fantasy saga of bravery, magic, myth and romance. William Tell is the youthful leader of a band of young, ‘brat pack' outlaws, forever hunted by the forces of darkness, led by Xax and Kreel, who have usurped power in their homeland. The series of self-contained stories follows Will's quest to restore young Princess Vara to her rightful place on the royal throne and defeat Xax and Kreel's forces — and by doing so, bring back peace and order to the Kingdom of Kale. There is action and adventure along the way, magic, creatures, mystery, intrigue — but also much human drama and interplay among Will's rebel band who must support each other in their quest. The group encounter a diverse range of people and situations on their journey — some help the resistance movement, others are cohorts of Xax and Kreel.
Cast: Kieren Hutchison, Beth Allen, Drew Neemia
AHDCC
Season 1
16 episodes
- 1. Shaytana's EyeWith Shaytana's Eye and the Xaxian Warriors, Kreel and Xax invade the Citadel, overthrow the kingdom and take Princess Vara prisoner. Now the only hope for the kingdom is the Crystal Arrow, Talisman of Kale: it's strength alone can defeat Shaytana's Eye. Kalem searches for a hero the true hero and finds William Tell, named after the ancient hero who was the original owner of the Crystal Arrow. Kalem tells him that he is to find the Crystal Arrow and to rescue the Princess Vara, the true ruler of Kale. He sets out on his quest with his loyal dog Alvar. On his way to the Citadel he is captured and thrown into the Mines. There Will meets and befriends Leon, the Heraclean, strong and wise; and Aruna, descended from a species of wildcat, beautiful, fierce and proud. Together they escape the Mines and infiltrate the Citadel. The Princess Vara is rescued, but against her own will, for she has been hypnotised by Kreel (who seeks to use her as a pawn), and she believes he and Xax will protect hACC1 h 0 minAug 30, 1998
- 2. The Fifth ColumnIn the new reign of terror Xaxian Warriors have been pillaging the countryside, dispersing and destroying any tribes or villages which remain loyal to the old order. One of the survivors is Drogo - a boy close to Vara's age, descended from the wolf tribe. Drogo encounters the band and leads them to another survivor, the lovely Cyrana, who also joins the group. Will's crossbow has been broken in a foolish attempt by Vara to escape; Cyrana suggests the master craftsman Mondar could fix it, and they set off to find him. But however they change their course, Xax remains hot on their trail, desperate to retrieve Princess Vara to act as her ""protector"". It becomes clear there must be a traitor in their group passing information somehow to the Warriors: but which of the newcomers is it? Mondar is being held prisoner by Kreel and Xax, who wish him to create a new superweapon from the Crystals. Xax also holds Mondar's only child as a hostage and whose life will be forfeit if he does not complyACC1 h 0 minSep 6, 1998
- 3. Escape Into FearThe Lords Xax and Kreel have put a price on the head of William Tell - and are distributing Wanted posters around all the villages. As two slaves, Freya and Pieter, are about to be set free by their master Hugo, a Xaxian Captain appears and harshly reminds them that according to a new statute, slaves are necessary to the economy and can no longer be freed. Pieter is to be sent to the mines; the beautiful Freya, coveted by Xax, is sent to the Citadel. Princess Vara escapes from William Tell during a battle with Xaxian Warriors and is befriended by Tyrean nymphs, who are secretly in the pay of Xax. Hugo asks Will for help to rescue his beloved – Freya. Will says they must first recover Vara. In the battle, two Xaxian Warriors are wounded - and in retribution, their Captain intends to execute twenty villagers, unless William Tell gives himself up. Will feels he has no choice. He is taken to the Citadel and imprisoned. Kreel and Xax cynically set up a mock ""trial"", to convict Will for theACC1 h 0 minSep 13, 1998
- 4. Darkness and LightA bold plan of William Tell's is to infiltrate the Citadel through his friend, the brilliant horseman Alexim - but this goes dangerously awry when Leon is caught talking to Alexim in the marketplace, and arrested. Rather than execute Leon immediately, as Xax would prefer, Kreel holds Leon prisoner - as bait, convinced that William will mount a rescue attempt. Will witnesses Leon's arrest and seizes a Xaxian Warrior's deathwand which he takes back to the Shelter with him. Will believes he can tune the deathwand to his thoughts, but in fact the reverse is true: the deathwands work by tuning the bearer into the Dark Crystal, and therefore making them vulnerable to Kreel's evil influence. Will has a plan of his own and lures Xax from the Citadel by proposing a duel with deathwands in the forest. With Xax out of the way and with the help of Alexim, Will instead slips into the Citadel to rescue Leon... But Kreel is expecting him, and the closer Will gets to Shaytana's Eye the more he is pullACC1 h 0 minSep 20, 1998
- 5. Hidden ValleyWill has become obsessed with bitter memories of his parents, dead at Xax's hands. Despite Kalem's warning that he must concentrate on his Quest, Will cannot leave aside fruitless thoughts of revenge. Kreel has a new plan for subjugating Kale. He is beginning to form a Youth Brigade - ""educating"" the children of the various regions and villages to form a spy network. One of these is Lucien, a boy of around Vara's age, whose home - the Hidden Valley - is known to Will of old. Will believes the Hidden Valley will prove a safe haven for his exhausted group - but its people are strangely altered. Leon discovers Kreel has contaminated the water supply with the powerful hypnotic substance lythmarg - the ""waking sleep"" - and in so doing has created a class of willing slaves. Leon can brew an antidote, but he feels that there is no time for this - amongst such zombies they are all in great danger, and should move on immediately. Will feels a loyalty to the villagers who treated him so kindly aACC1 h 0 minSep 27, 1998
- 6. The ChallengeLife-sized statues of Xax, Lord Protector, have been placed in every village and on every road, to which the Kaleans must pay homage, under pain of imprisonment. The statues are actually a form of surveillance: the eyes are crystals, relaying images from all over the countryside to Xax and Kreel. Two small children, Tilly and Flynn, are observed making fun of a statue and are dragged away to work in the Mines. The beautiful Lalia, who lost her fiancé Brodam to Xax and believes him dead, also refuses to worship the idol and is taken prisoner - but is rescued by Will, who is very soon in love with her. However, Xax, watching through the crystals, has also become enamoured of Lalia, and sets out himself in search of her. Will has discovered that the crystals used to transmit the images are from a particular, rare, highly flammable kind of quartz; they would need to be regularly replaced, so that if he could destroy the source - a single mine - the surveillance would cease. The jeweller FlACC1 h 0 minOct 4, 1998
- 7. The Spirit of KaleKalem, daring to the point of arrogance, transforms herself into a bird in order to spy on Kreel in his stronghold - but Shaytana's Eye senses her, and in the encounter she is badly wounded. She stumbles back to the heroes in a state of shock. In order to restore herself she must drink from the Crystal Stream, which contains her lifespirit. Kalem is far too weak to make the journey herself: Will and the wildcat Aruna must go in her stead, leaving Leon and Drogo to guard Vara and the ailing Kalem. Vara, still troubled by nightmares about the violent end of her parents and of her former life, has been touched by the psychic power of Kreel. He is sending her images of her old nurse Melba, which become so strong Vara is drawn back to the Citadel to find her. Drogo follows, powerless to stop the headstrong princess from putting herself and all the others in such peril ... Melba, who is secretly working for Kreel, agrees to come back with Vara and Drogo and join the rebels - but she carriesACC1 h 0 minOct 11, 1998
- 8. SwarmThe Princess Vara has fallen ill. The band is taken in by Harana, a healer and leader of a group that calls itself the Watchers... Tucked away in a bountiful valley that does not appear on any map, the Watchers exist in a pocket of peace and plenty that the battle-weary heroes find difficult to credit can still exist in Kale. Stranger still, Harana and her followers have never heard of Xax and Kreel ... To Xax's exasperation, Kreel is toying with abandoning force as a method to subjugate the peoples of Kale - it is far too inefficient. Harana is the unwitting testing-ground for his new experiment. All Watchers must undergo a rite of passage in the so-called Chamber of Good Thoughts - where they are brainwashed and tortured in the name of the Master, who is really Kreel in disguise. The victims are taught to send out psychic shockwaves whenever Xax and Kreel are criticised. Kreel's plan is to send Harana's converts out as Ambassadors of Good Will - subtly undermining any resistance to aACC1 h 0 minOct 18, 1998
- 9. The Sorcerer's ApprenticeA horrible threat hangs over the Kingdom: but for once it does not issue from Xax and Kreel. The evil sorcerer, the Magus Zadrim, has been working in concert with the scientist Voss to develop a horrifying new strain of a deadly virus known as the Yttrium Element. Voss has succeeded in rarefying the Element to the point where once added to water it multiplies its strength a hundredfold: any living thing coming into contact with the contaminated water will die horribly. Triumphant, Zadrim comes to Xax and Kreel and issues his ultimatum: either they will surrender half the kingdom to him, or they will find themselves ruling a land made up entirely of dead settlements ... At Kalem's counsel Will sends Aruna to the house of Athelstan, Voss' Master, to pose as his assistant. She rapidly discovers Voss' plan and she and the band pursue him toward Zadrim's Eyrie, where Voss is scheduled to sell the flask containing his deadly invention. But on the way Zadrim snatches the flask; and Will findsACC1 h 0 minOct 25, 1998
- 10. Master of DoubtXax has taken a convoy of Warriors out on a hunt - and has a fantastic piece of luck when Will and the band stumble right into his path. They are chased by the horsemen across an open plain, with nowhere to hide in sight. Capture seems inevitable, when out of the mists ahead of them their looms a dark and forbidding castle - which certainly wasn't there before ... With no time to think, the band rolls under the vast gate of the castle just as it clangs shut. Safe from Xax, our heroes discover a new dilemma now faces them. This is the Castle of Doubt, where every good thing has its evil counterpart, and nothing is what it seems. There are two exits to the Castle: one leads to safety - the other to destruction. The only inhabitants of the Castle seem to be the Master himself, a benign but infuriating old man who speaks in philosophical riddles, and his two servants, the identical twins Pinto and Tamlin. Tamlin can speak only truth; Pinto can speak only lies - but how is anyone ever to teACC1 h 0 minNov 1, 1998
- 11. The Lotus EatersIn this episode Will and the band discover that one must be careful what one wishes for, for the wish may be granted ... Fleeing from Xaxian Warriors, Will and the others stumble into the Sacred Valley - a place of startling natural beauty which seems to magically grant their every desire. An image of Kalem appears and tells them the Crystal Arrow has been found and the Quest completed: they are free to now pursue their own dreams. Leon finds his old Professor and embarks on the life of study and learning the troubles in Kale interrupted; Drogo finds his father, who he has long believed to have been murdered by the Warriors, and begins to be inducted into the ways of the wolf tribe; Aruna finds Ortlan, the Arborean she was once to marry; Vara awakes to find herself crowned Queen of a happy, united Kale; and Will, the reluctant hero, settles down contentedly to farming - all he has ever wanted - with the woman of his dreams at his side. But the Sacred Valley protects itself from intrudeACC1 h 0 minNov 8, 1998
- 12. The Tomb of the Unknown WarriorBy a remote and beautiful lake a young man, the Sark Darek, has made his camp in the centre of a mysterious, Stonehenge-like Ring of Stones. As he tends his fire a warrior from the rival mountain tribe of the Mendicans attacks him - but the Ring of Stones is a magical place, and we see that Kreel and Kalem are fighting psychically through the media of the two young men. A strange blue light fills the Ring; both Darek and the Mendican are suddenly overwhelmed, and shocked and frightened, the Mendican stumbles backward out of the Ring and over the edge of the cliff ... Meanwhile, Will and the band are on a diplomatic mission to Mendica. So far the Sarks and the Mendicans have been remote enough from the Citadel to escape the attentions of Xax and Kreel, but through the deathwands and the power of the Dark Crystal, the Xaxians are gradually taking over all Kale. Will is greatly concerned that the two tribes are too involved with fighting each other to understand or appreciate the threat tACC1 h 0 minNov 15, 1998
- 13. The LabyrinthIn an attempt to defeat Will and Kalem, Kreel has brought forth the most concentrated evil in the form of the Memlok - creature of the Dark. The shapechanging Memlok is sent out into the world in the guise of a pretty servant-girl, Arabella. Arabella is placed in the path of the rebels; they ""rescue"" her from Xaxian Warriors and take her back to the Shelter with them. But this time Kreel may have gone too far ... Leon comes to the home of his old friend and teacher, Chow Chu, who tells him in his studies he has found a reference to the Crystal Arrow itself. He believes it may be found at the centre of an ancient maze known as the Labyrinth. Could the Quest finally be coming to a conclusion? Will and Aruna set out to find the heart of the Labyrinth, leaving Leon on guard at the entrance - but they are quickly lost within the maze, for it is, of course, only another creation of Kreel's ... With the adults gone, Arabella manages to lure Vara back to the Citadel before revealing her true fACC1 h 0 minNov 22, 1998
- 14. DoppelgangerKreel has a plan of diabolical cleverness to finally defeat Will, and turn Kale against the rebel heroes. He has created a doppelganger - Will's mirror image - who is marauding the countryside with a band of Barbarians as henchmen, leaving a trail of murder and destruction in his wake, and all in the guise of William Tell. Kalem does not understand why the tribes have turned against them, but she senses a sinister disturbance in the Eye - and persuades Xax to let her into the Citadel, and close to Kreel, by disguising herself as the startlingly beautiful warrior Thalestris. Will and the band go to the village of Zama for refuge - but even these old friends, led by the traitor Priestess, turn against them and they must flee for their lives. Vara is abducted by a second Doppelganger, who she goes with willingly, believing him to be William. Will sends Aruna, Leon and Drogo after Vara while he pursues Doppelganger I and the Barbarians. He is led to a cavern deep in the mountain, where theACC1 h 0 minDec 6, 1998
- 15. CombatWilliam Tell is in despair - he believes Kalem is dead, and that without her the Quest is lost. Drogo arrives with news from the Citadel of Xax's impending Coronation. Xax has declared he will go on the Pilgrimage of Kings alone, as the Statutes require ... But when has Xax ever obeyed the Statutes? Will is convinced this must be a trap, and not a very subtle one at that. Aruna, however, has become impatient and angry with Will's passivity since Kalem's ""death"". Against orders, she goes after Xax - and is herself captured. Will joins a ragged band of prisoners and thus creeps into the Citadel to rescue her, but cannot escape from the giant Gar, who has been set the task of training the prisoners. They will perform as gladiators during the Coronation festivities: fighting to the death for the amusement of the crowd. Meanwhile, Xax has an extraordinary plan for Aruna - to make her his Warrior Queen. Confused and angry with Will, Aruna is vulnerable to Xax's manipulations of the truth. ToACC1 h 0 minDec 13, 1998
- 16. ResurrectionWith Kalem apparently destroyed, the band dissolved, and the leader of the rebels no one knows where, Kreel assures Xax that the battle to win the Kingdom is to all intents and purposes won. But superbeings cannot really ""die"" ... Will has been eking out a living which seems designed as self-punishment - on a pigfarm. Kalem appears to him here and tells him this is no way for a great leader to behave: the Quest for the Arrow is his destiny. Will is incredulous to find Kalem alive, but also angry. He holds her responsible for Aruna's death, and cannot forgive her for the order which prompted him to kill the woman he loved. Kalem tells him Aruna could still be saved ... and disappears. Will is led by a black cat - perhaps a symbol of Aruna herself - to Leon, Drogo and Vara, who have been working in disguise in a sordid eatinghouse. The band sets out, together once more, to find the last of their number. However, Bolino, the crafty owner of the eatinghouse, has figured out who they are, aACC1 h 0 minDec 20, 1998
The Legend of William Tell
★ 5.0/1019981 season16 episodesEnded
The Legend of William Tell is a 16-part television fantasy/drama series produced in 1998 by Cloud 9 Productions in New Zealand. The basic premise of the series — a crossbow-wielding rebel defies a corrupt governor — and the name of the title character were adopted from the traditional story, but the series was set in a fantasy world and featured supernatural themes. Described by executive producer Raymond Thompson as "Star Wars on the planet Earth", this is a fantasy saga of bravery, magic, myth and romance. William Tell is the youthful leader of a band of young, ‘brat pack' outlaws, forever hunted by the forces of darkness, led by Xax and Kreel, who have usurped power in their homeland. The series of self-contained stories follows Will's quest to restore young Princess Vara to her rightful place on the royal throne and defeat Xax and Kreel's forces — and by doing so, bring back peace and order to the Kingdom of Kale. There is action and adventure along the way, magic, creatures, mystery, intrigue — but also much human drama and interplay among Will's rebel band who must support each other in their quest. The group encounter a diverse range of people and situations on their journey — some help the resistance movement, others are cohorts of Xax and Kreel.
Creators and cast
- Created by
- Raymond Thompson
