Unidentified Flying Oddball

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Unidentified Flying Oddball, also known as The Spaceman and King Arthur, (1979) is Walt Disney’s movie adaptation of Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Subsequently re-released in the United States under the titles The Spaceman and King Arthur and A Spaceman in King Arthur’s Court, and directed by Russ Mayberry, the film starred Dennis Dugan as astronaut Tom Trimble who unintentionally travels back in time with his look-alike android Hermes. Trimble’s NASA spacecraft travels faster than the speed of light, landing him and the android near King Arthur’s Camelot, where – with the aid of their 20th century technology – they must defeat a plot by the evil Sir Mordred and Merlin to oust King Arthur from the throne.

In a quite unusual fashion, Merlin is presented as an evil character, intent on dethroning Arthur.

Taglines:

(as Unidentified Flying Oddball) Chaos in the Cosmos!
(as The Spaceman and King Arthur) A Sixth Century Space Adventure

[edit] Cast

Dennis Dugan*...Tom Trimble/Hermes
Jim Dale...Sir Mordred
Ron Moody...Merlin
Kenneth More...King Arthur
John Le Mesurier...Sir Gawain
Rodney Bewes...Clarence
Sheila White...Alisande
Robert Beatty...Senator Milburn
Cyril Shaps...Dr. Zimmerman
Kevin Brennan...Winston
Ewen Solon...Watkins
Pat Roach...Oaf
Reg Lye...Prisoner

* Credited on-screen only as Tom Trimble.

[edit] Another Disney adaptation

Walt Disney’s A Kid in King Arthur’s Court (1995) has a similar premise: a person from the 20th century travels back in time to King Arthur’s Camelot and impresses the inhabitants with technology from the distant future.