Did the Trojan Rabbit have a name?

July 12, 2017 1:50 PM

Very very obscure Monty Python and the Holy Grail question: How was the Trojan Rabbit referred to on the set? Was it called "The Trojan Rabbit"? Something else?
posted by Tell Me No Lies to Media & Arts (6 answers total)

There is no name in the script. I suspect the only way you could answer this is to ask someone involved in the filming.
posted by blob at 6:22 PM on July 12, 2017

...and having said that, there is a wiki page for the Rabbit of Caerbannog . Note the cave was Caerbannog; the rabbit was never named in the movie as far as I can tell.
posted by blob at 6:25 PM on July 12, 2017

John Cleese is on tour and when I saw him on a previous tour a large portion of his audience time is Q&A of all varieties. Go ask him!* Or convince someone to ask.

*Audience questions are captured in advance and then moderated so no guarantees but the cleverer the question - the better the chances.
posted by countrymod at 7:49 PM on July 12, 2017

Response by poster: Sorry, to make this clearer I am referring to the Wooden Rabbit they build and deploy (forgetting to put people in) to try to enter the castle with the taunting Frenchmen at the beginning of the film.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 8:31 PM on July 12, 2017

This site claims to offer an "official unofficial script" based on the hand-annotated pre-production screenplay. Here's the relevant excerpt:

CUT TO WIDE SHOT of castle and woodland.  Squeaking getting louder.  Shot of
the FRENCH TAUNTER pointing.  WIDE SHOT again.  The squeaking gets louder
an enormous twenty-foot-high wooden rabbit is wheeled out of the
undergrowth into the open space in front of the castle.  The ENGLISH scuttle
back into the undergrowth.  The rabbit has a large red bow tied round it
and a rather crudely written label,  which reads "Pour votres amis
Francais". The CHIEF TAUNTER looks at it, narrowing his eyes.  Then he
turns and leaves battlements.

CUT TO ARTHUR and COMPANY watching from the bushes.  The main gate of the
castle opens a little and the CHIEF TAUNTER's head sticks out,  then another
Froggie head,  then another.  They mutter to each other in French,  look
rather pleased,  then rush out and start to pull the giant rabbit in.

posted by Rhaomi at 10:00 PM on July 12, 2017 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Update: There's a 2015 book on the film that's surprisingly exhaustive -- according to Google Books, it refers to the contraption as both "the Wooden Rabbit" and "the Trojan Rabbit," and there's correspondence from an extra in the appendix that also calls it "the Trojan rabbit."
posted by Rhaomi at 9:31 AM on July 13, 2017 [1 favorite]