Hanna Barbera’s FORGOTTEN Masterpiece- The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn- May 2023 Review

 

When most people mention Hanna Barbera, they normally think of, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Scooby Doo Where Are You, and other timeless classics. But what if I told you there is a TV series in the vast library that the studio produced, that is completely forgotten and has not seen the light of day for many decades.

During the middle to late 1960’s Hanna Barbera was experimenting with the powers of the weekly Television series, and what new experimental things they can create. They were already very successful with the cel, hand drawn cartoons like, Yogi Bear, Wacky Racers, Dastardly and Muttley, and a bunch of other cartoons that were loved by millions. 

Following the success of TV sitcoms of the 1960’s like, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, and Get Smart, Hanna Barbera knew they had to step up their game and create something innovative that would be a quick phenomenon to their studio, because some of the cartoon concepts were maybe mildly successful but only a handful really made big money for the company.

The year is 1966, and a brand new TV series is released by NBC and Hanna Barbera as apart of their Banana Splits Adventure Hour line up called, The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Which follows the titular characters from Mark Twain’s beloved stories, Tom Sawyer, Becky Thatcher and Huck being chased by the notorious Injun Joe into a cave, where they are soon transported to a never ending time loop that sends them into various dimensions. Within these dimensions they are always confronted with a new obstacle to overcome in order to return to Hannibal Missouri, yet always coming in contact with their arch nemesis, who assumes a new incarnation in each dimension they enter.

The series was very popular among the child demographic and parents during its only one season run of 20 episodes. The series was unfortunately pulled because of how expensive each episode was to make, and the plans for a second season were soon destroyed all too soon. 

The episodes themselves were truly unique, as it combined a technique used in very few productions. The use of live action layered on top of traditional animated cels, was a groundbreaking technique that was previously used in Walt Disney’s 1964 film, Marry Poppins, and served as the inspiration for this series.

Each episode took over six months to make, and it soon became very costly for the studio to continue anymore, so NBC pulled the plug and the already drafted, and illustrated second season never saw the light of day.

-My Review and Discovery-

I remember watching this show very briefly on Boomerang in the mid 2000’s on reruns while I was just a little kid still. The only thing I recalled was the theme song, and the boat going across the water with the kids on the balcony. I did not remember any of the episodes or what the show was about, I just remember the theme song. Then I never saw it again, because it was taken off the air.

It did not occur to me until many years later that this show existed and I had no way of watching it. I have been studying Hanna Barbera cartoons since I was very little because I was always fascinated by the characters, the many shows that were popular, and the little known shows that might have ran for a good 10 episodes and was quickly cancelled.

It was not until an early this month, ( May 2023) that I found the long lost series uploaded on YouTube surprisingly. I decided that during the week of my college finals, I needed something to distract me from the pre exam stress so I decided to binge watch every single episode and finished it in the course of two weeks.This show got me hooked, and there wasn’t a time where I was not watching it and being fascinated by the stories and the characters.

Injun Joe character sheet for a scrapped episode by Alex Toth

When I began watching this show, at first I thought it was kind of hokey with it’s “green screen” overlay effects, so it was something I had to get used to, but after a while it became completely nonexistent to me and I was just paying attention to what was happening.

I did notice something pretty interesting though, as the episodes carried on, the animation got better, the layering got more cleaner, and the storylines got more intense.

The whole cast was brilliant but my favorite character was Huck, only because he was very resourceful when things got rough, he was the comedy relief at times, and he was a cute southern boy that followed his own path. I liked Tom and Becky too, all the kids were great, but Huck was my favorite out of the bunch.

Ted Cassidy as Injun Joe is indeed exceedingly scary. I’ll have to admit it, because he only shows up once which is in the prologue that’s shown at the beginning of every episode where he chases them into the cave. I did not know Lurch could be that frightening, nor did I care for the darn prologue to be shown in every episode.

My all time favorite Hanna Barbera series is 1964’s Jonny Quest. I am a huge diehard fan girl of that show, as it has not only influenced me with my work, but it is possibly one of the most riveting television shows I have ever watched. The gripping storylines, the intense action, the beautiful animation, the characters and the wonderful music by Hoyt Curtain are all national treasures of TV history.

While, Huck Finn may not be Quest, but the level of intensity in some of these storylines were absolutely shocking and intriguing.

One of the episodes called, Jungle Adventure, has the kids going through the deep dark jungles, and this tentacle plant with thorns on it grabs Tom and detrimentally poisons him. Huck and Becky have to leave him dying in the rainforest as they go search for an antidote. They stumble across this old rickety boat with this creepy old swami guy, that ultimately tricks them and traps them in a underground dungeon, and Injun Joe shows up as this swordsman gypsy guy who chains the kids up and says he’s going to sell them at the jungle slave auctions the next morning and if they escape, their tongues will be cut out from their throats.

I was pretty shocked by that to be honest. I did not expect something so intense for a children’s show to be in here. Especially during the 1960’s, because for whatever reason, another Hanna Barbera cartoon was so controversial that it was pulled off the air by complaining parents. Frankenstein Jr. and the Impossibles had mild cartoon violence in it, and I guess the parents thought it was too scary or intense for kids so they told NBC to pull it from the air.

This show went overboard with some of these “torture revenge tactics” for Injun Joe, but that’s what made it so riveting. I was nervous on what would happen to the kids!

There’s other crazy things like that too, like Tom almost gets thrown from a giant pillar while he’s on fire, Huck was frozen in a coffin of ice, the kids almost drowned in a huge sand pit, Becky was kidnapped multiple times and treated as a slave by Injun Joe, Huck is almost eaten alive by a giant monster, Huck and Tom are almost crushed by a giant stone statue, and the kids are sent to a firing squad. 

This is a show much like Quest where the bad guys actually died. They did not have moderate cartoon violence in some cases in order to show how cruel some of these characters were.

The show definitely pushed the envelope on how far you can go with storylines, and classic adventure elements. Much like my favorite comic series, The Adventures of Tintin, this show was not afraid to be daring and unique from most Saturday morning cartoons.

A Gold Key comic issue from 1967. Only one was produced.

-The Aftermath-

The series was showed in reruns during the early 1970’s and sometimes into the 1980’s. It was shown briefly in the mid 1990’s on some stations, and soon found its final resting place on Boomerang in the early to mid 2000’s, and then it disappeared forever.

As “hokey” as some people might call this show, the series was actually quite innovative and groundbreaking for its time. Pulling off these weekly episodes that were very expensive to make, was a huge gamble but it was worth it because the series turned out to be very successful in its original run.

After viewing the series, I started thinking to myself on why it is not remembered as fondly as most shows from the Hanna Barbera library or shows from the 1960’s decade?

I mentioned the show to a few people and they did not either recall watching it, or have ever heard of it. The mystery lies within the fact that, it is just severely forgotten and swept under the rug. The series was cancelled very prematurely, and it really shouldn’t have because I genuinely think that it could’ve improved as time went on if they continued it. 

The show should be given  another chance, and it should be viewed by film and animation students because its a historical lesson on the layering of 2D traditional animation and live action, many years before the hit movie, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and the Looney Tunes films of the 1990’s. Much like the Warner Bros short, You Ought to be in Pictures his was a pioneer of that medium,and should be preserved. Even if Hanna Barbera wants to forget that the series even existed, it still should be viewed for people who enjoy a good old fashioned adventure series, or people who want to see something innovative.