Huckleberry Finn and His Friends

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Huckleberry Finn and His Friends
Huckleberry Finn and His Friends.jpg
German DVD cover; from left to right: Tom Sawyer (Sammy Snyders), Huck Finn (Ian Tracey)
Starring Ian Tracey
Sam Snyders
Blu Mankuma
Brigitte Horney
Country of origin British Columbia, Canada
No. of episodes26
Production
Running time25 minutes approx.
Production companiesMadison Pacific Film
Wagner-Hallig Film
Original release
Network CTV (Canada), BBC (UK), The Family Channel (US)
Release1979 (1979)

Huckleberry Finn and His Friends is a 1979 television series documenting the exploits of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, based on the novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) by American writer Mark Twain. The series contains 26 episodes and was a Canadian/West German international co-production.

Contents

Plot

No other adaptation has run to this episode length (roughly 13 episodes per book, representing over twelve hours in total) and consequently this series remains the most comprehensive of all the many filmed versions of both books.

Although each episode of the series credits different storywriters, the narratives are in fact directly adapted from Twain’s books. In some cases, the dialogue is identical (e.g. Tom answering “David and Goliath” when asked for names of the Apostles). The single largest difference is the repositioning of characters in the narrative to accommodate the storylines. For instance, in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Huck and Becky Thatcher do not appear until Chapter 6, but this adaptation introduces them earlier (Huck from the first episode, Becky in the second). The most heavily abbreviated section is the extended adventures of the Duke and Dauphin in the later chapters of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. These chapters are simply omitted from the television series.

Unsurprisingly, some original elements of Twain’s stories are removed (e.g. the racial slurs, Huck’s smoking, Pap’s drunkenness and violence) however just as surprising is what is retained: Jim makes an early appearance in the series, referring to Tom Sawyer as “Master Tom”, and the fact of his status as a slave and his monetary value are presented comparatively casually, as is Colonel Grangerford assigning Huck his own slave. Similarly, although Huck is not shown discovering the dead bodies of Buck Grangerford and his brother, several scenes in the same vein are included. The murder of the doctor in the graveyard, Injun Joe’s death in the sealed cave, and the discovery of the dead body in the floating remains of the house (ultimately revealed as Pap) all appear, rather unexpectedly in a children’s series.

Cast

Episodes

Episode TitleBookChapters
1. Welcome Neighbour The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Chapters 1 & 4
2. Love in BloomChapters 2-4
3. The EngagementChapters 6 & 7
4. Mystery at MidnightChapters 6, 9-11
5. The PiratesChapter 13
6. How Nice to Be MissedChapter 14
7. Such a Lovely FuneralChapters 15, 16 & 18
8. Muff Potter's TrialChapter 24
9. Buried TreasureChapters 26-29
10. Huck Is a HeroChapters 30-32
11. The MillionairesChapters 32-34
12. I Want to Be FreeChapters 34-36
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Chapters 1-2
13. Huck Becomes the VictimChapters 3-5
14. Huck Gets AwayChapters 7-8
15. Huck Finds JimChapters 8-9
16. The Rains ComeChapters 9-11
17. SmallpoxChapters 12-16
18. Meet the GrangerfordsChapters 17-18
19. The Thing About Feudin'Chapter 18
20. The End of the FeudChapters 18-19
21. Meet the Duke And DauphinChapters 19-20
22. Romeo, Where Art ThouChapters 20-23
23. Jim DisappearsChapters 31-32
24. Huck Sawyer - Tom FinnChapters 33-34
25. The RescueChapters 35-40
26. The Whole TruthChapters 41-43

Production

Filming

The series was directed by Jack B. Hively and Ken Jubenvill.

Huckleberry Finn and His Friends was filmed on location at the Burnaby Village Museum (then known as the Heritage Village) in Burnaby, British Columbia. [1] Episode 9 - Buried treasure - was filmed in part at the Alaksen National Wildlife Area. [1]

Sternwheelers

Various sternwheeler riverboats appear in the series. The Julia Belle Swain appears in the opening and closing credits, and are the only scenes that were shot on the Mississippi River.

The wooden steam-powered sternwheeler in episode 6 - How nice to be missed - and 7 - Such a lovely funeral - is the "Samson V". [2] The "Samson V" is now a museum but at the time (1979) was a working snagpuller on the Fraser River. The small sternwheeler in episode 10 - Huck is a hero - was one of an identical pair of boats built in 1964 that ferried tourists around Vancouver's harbour from the 1960s to the 1980s. [3] From the late 1980s until 1999, the "Scenic Bell" and the "Scenic Queen" ferried passengers to Newcastle Island Marine Provincial Park. [4]

Broadcast

The series was broadcast in the United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Australia, Canada, South Africa Israel, and various as Latin America countries.

In the United Kingdom, it was first screened on BBC1 in 1982 in the early evening children's television slot. It was repeated in 1984 in the same slot, and again the following year as part of early morning school holiday broadcasts.

Home media

In 2007, the complete series was released as a 4 DVD box set by Fabulous Films in the UK. It contains many extras including a 12-page colour booklet and a 30-minute 'making of' documentary featuring interviews with many stars of the series including Sammy Snyders, Ian Tracey, and Blu Mankuma.

References

  1. 1 2 End credits
  2. ↑ Samson V Maritime Museum website Archived 2011-06-04 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ↑ Vessel Registration. Transport Canada
  4. ↑ Valerie Wilson, "Nanaimo's last stern-wheeler bound for New York", Nanaimo Daily News, May 7, 1999, page A1
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