The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Did You Know?

• After its original run, the series aired in reruns as part of The Banana Splits and Friends Show syndication package.
• On June 28, 2016, Warner Archive released The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1 as a Manufacture-on-Demand release.

Production

In February 1967, Hanna-Barbera Productions announced it was developing six new animated television series, including The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The other series were Moby Dick and Mighty Mightor, Zartan (also known as The Herculoids), Shazzan, Samson & Goliath, and The Fantastic Four. Also nearing post-production was the hour-long special Jack and the Beanstalk, which aired on February 26, 1967, and featured Gene Kelly dancing with cartoon characters.

In a 2005 interview, LuAnn Haslam said that Jack and the Beanstalk served as a trial run for combining live-action with animation, and that its success convinced NBC to proceed with the series. At the time, The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was the first weekly television series to combine live-action performers and animation. William Hanna and Joseph Barbera stated the show was to be the most expensive half hour ever put on television. In a July 1967 interview, Hanna expressed hope that the live-action and animation blend would give the company special identification, while Barbera noted that the period clothing worn by Huck and Tom was then considered fashionable.

Premise

The pilot episode opens with a live-action prologue set in late afternoon in Hannibal, Missouri, where Aunt Polly and Mrs. Thatcher are distressed that the children are late. Huckleberry Finn, Becky Thatcher, and Tom Sawyer take a shortcut through the town's graveyard and encounter Injun Joe, who is furious at the boys for testifying about his murder of Doctor Robinson. He chases them into McDougal's Cave, vowing to find them no matter where they go.

The children become lost in the cave's labyrinthine passageways. This prologue, re-edited with a voice-over by Michael Shea as Huck summarizing the events, served as the opening sequence for each episode. Although the children never emerge from the cave on screen, each episode proper begins with them inhabiting an animated world. Throughout the series, they embark on a quest to return to their families in Hannibal, traveling to various exotic animated lands such as tropical islands, Egyptian deserts, and Aztec cities, and encountering fanciful animated characters like leprechauns, pirates, and sorcerers.

Every episode features an evil animated antagonist who bears an uncanny resemblance to Injun Joe, voiced by Ted Cassidy. The children are routinely startled by the similarity, but no explanation is offered for how Injun Joe remains one step ahead or assumes these guises. As the series lasted only one season, an episode explaining how the children return home, or whether it is all a dream, was never produced.

Reception

The series premiered in a 7:00 p.m. Sunday time slot (or 6:00 p.m. depending on time zone) on September 15, 1968, a departure from the networks' traditional cartoon time slots. Initial reaction was generally positive, with critics praising Hanna-Barbera's technique of combining live-action with animation and the performances of the three young leads. Milwaukee Journal critic Wade Mosby acknowledged the series bore little resemblance to the original Twain stories but felt it would be enjoyable for its target audience, describing the leads as engaging and noting lots of activity, thrills, and not too much violence.

The Newburgh Evening News expected the show to be popular with children, calling the combined techniques excellent and singling out LuAnn Haslam as a charming scene stealer. However, Telegram News Service critic Kathy Brooks expressed disappointment, writing that Hanna-Barbera had whitewashed the Twain characters into fine upstanding citizens with no deviltry, and that no parent should let their offspring think the TV version is the real Twain.