Galavant - Pilot

Written and produced by Dan Fogelman, Galavant's eight-episode run began last night with the show's "Pilot." A musical-comedy concerning the medieval adventures of the famous knight (Joshua Sasse) from who the show earns it's name the pilot begins in epic song telling the story of our hero racing to stop the evil King Richard (Timothy Omundson) from marrying Galavant's true love only to discover Madalena (Mallory Jansen) prefers her new wealthier suitor thus quickly undercutting the basic fairy tale themes with some dark humor informing the audience anything is possible in this semi-self-aware musical land.

After the introduction the "Pilot" moves into Princess Isabella Lucia Maria Elizabetta of Valencia (Karen David) attempting to draw the hero out of his depression and back into action to save her kingdom. Just as Isabella convinces Galavant to come to her aid and save her parents from King Richard's cruelty the show reveals to the audience, but not the hero, that the princess is working for the henpecked King Richard who has decided to lay a trap for the famous hero tired of hearing his wife sing her former lover's praises day and night.

In a half-hour the opening episode sells me on both the concept and the characters (although I would certainly wouldn't mind if Omundson's character was a bit less buffoonish). With songs by Alan Menken (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas) and Glenn Slater (The Little Mermaid, Tangled) the pilot episode moves at a brisk pace with some fun melodies to help move the plot along and set-up story points which will likely be addressed in upcoming episodes during the show's four-week mid-season run.