ALL SCI-FI

[Pow]

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TNAOHF was a Hanna~Barbera produced television series that ran in prime time on NBC from September 15, 1968 to February 23, 1969 for 20 episodes.

Huck (Michael Shea), Tom Sawyer ( Kevin Schultz) and Becky Thatcher (LuAnn Haslam) are cutting through the town graveyard and are late getting home.

Injun Joe (Ted Cassidy) is also in the graveyard and spots the trio who in turns sees Joe.

Joe seeks revenge for the boys testimony in court against him that helped convict him of a murder.

Joe chases the terrified kids into McDougal's Cave.

The kids exit the cave and find themselves encountering strange new lands and people — as Huck, Tom and Becky attempt to find their way back home.

This H~B TV show was one of their few, like "Jonny Quest," that was aired in the evenings.

It was an interesting show to view because it took live actors (Michael, LuAnn and Kevin) and each week had them perform against an animated background with animated characters.

Visually this was quite an impressive feat for 1968 and it was done on a weekly basis.

Walt Disney also had live actors interact with animated characters and animated backgrounds in their classic "Mary Poppins" and the underrated "Bed Knobs and Broomsticks."

However, both of those films had large budgets and months to complete these scenes unlike TNAOHF.

The live action scenes for the TV series took four hours to film. The animation required six months to complete.

Like "Jonny Quest" earlier, TNAOHF was deemed too expensive to continue and was cancelled after one season.

Hanna & Barbera created Virtual Sets for this show before VS was ever a term.

What they accomplished was awesome for its time.

The stories are aimed at young kids but are fun and entertaining for the older crowd.

[Bud Brewster]