Richard III story is retold in cartoon style
A CARTOON questioning the ‘battleyness’ of last Plantagenet King Richard III looks set to be the first in a series of monarch monitoring motion pictures.
The pilot for Rex Factor - The Animated Show fea- tures the controversial king who came to a sticky end at the Battle of Bosworth in August 1485.
He was chosen by Chelmsford-based Tinmouse Animation who have teamed up internationally successful history podcast Rex Factor to put life and laughter into a visual narrative of our regal history.
Over the past seven years the Rex Factor podcast has been rating all the Kings and Queens of England, top trumps style.
The podcast involves presenters Graham Duke and Ali Hood giving a brief run-down of each monarch’s life and then rating them on five factors - battleyness, scandal, subjectivity, longevity and dynasty - before deciding on whether they deserve the coveted Rex Factor crown.
And who better to pick for the pilot than King Richard III.
The partners launched a web-based funding campaign on Kickstarter to raise £15,000 to complete the 20 minute show after paying for the majority of pre-production work themselves.
Supporters from all over the UK and as far afield as Germany, Canada and Australia offered donations in return for rewards such as T-shirts, mugs, prints and even an inclusion as a character in the show.
By the campaign end the total had been reached and eclipsed.
Tom Saunders, founder of Tinmouse, said on why they chose Richard: “He’s a controversial king who’s never out of the public eye and one that will certainly generate plenty of debate. He’s the king that had it all - blood-curdling batt- leyness with Bosworth, scandal with the princes in the tower and reputation that has been fiercely debated by both contemporaries and later historians.
“Our pilot for Rex Factor - The Animated Show will only signal the start of what we’d like to achieve. We’d love to create more episodes and see King Richard III and Rex Factor - The Animated Show gracing TV screens, in museums, even schools up and down the country and across the globe. It’s time to make history fun again and make it accessible to learn and enjoy our past.”
Tinmouse aim to get the cartoon finished for April next year and if it is successful are looking to increase output with episodes on other monarchs through services such as Netflix or YouTube.