A Brilliant Conflict

I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

What begins as a feel-good-human-interest story turns into a mystery, then a tragedy, and ultimately an outrage.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

I watched this on and off as a kid...I was too young to catch it in first run, but then it aired in reruns for a long time but trying to find it could be tricky as sometimes it was in a morning cartoon block, sometimes on Saturday mornings, and sometimes not at all. Later, as an adult, I told friends about this show and they didn't believe me...but now there's proof as it's on DVD!Tom, Huck, and Becky are chased by Injun Joe into a cave that suddenly turns into animated backgrounds. They flee Joe through the cave (I guess it's meant to be a sort of inter-dimensional portal...) and they end up wandering through different locations and time periods, always encountering adventures with villains who look and talk just like Injun Joe.The unique thing was that the three heroes were live-action actors against an animated background and interacting with animated characters. And for its time, it was very well-done. The animated portions were very much standard Hanna-Barbera of the late 60s.The stories ranged from the comical to the adventurous to the downright sinister. Settings ranged from ancient Greece to Spain (where they meet Don Quixote) to China to India to a Gothic swamp to a generic medieval Europe to a valley inhabited by cave men. (No explanation is given as to why they shift time periods and location so easily; as I kid I wanted to know!) Injun Joe always showed up, as a robber captain or a Nemoesque mad scientist or a wicked king or even an evil sorcerer. (He never recognized the kids, but he was always their enemy. Again, no explanation.) Sometimes they riffed on classic literature; plots are cribbed from Don Quixote, Moby Dick, Greek mythology, and others. One episode, "The Ancient Valley," is a clear, wry commentary on the arms race, and another, "The Conquistador's Curse," is a commentary on greed with Injun Joe barely appearing at all.In its time it was popular with kids and teens, and the young stars had their 15 minutes of fame, but actual ratings were so-so and a second season never produced. Watching it today, it's still fun, making me remember snowy Saturday mornings watching this and dreaming of the sort of flamboyant, pulpy adventure it depicted. To modern eyes, it's sometimes primitive but still impressive, and on occasion the depiction of minorities is less than enlightened by modern standards, but nearly every group is depicted as having its good and bad, so there's that much, at least.So, maybe not dazzling, but good if you're nostalgic like I am. I'm so happy it's now available on DVD!

Am I the only one who thought this series really stunk? Cheesy animation, silly plots, even as a 9-year-old, it gave me a queasy feeling. And I loved cartoons, science fiction and both "Tom Sawyer" and "Huckleberry Finn," all of which were elements of the series. But combining a conventional Twain character with far-fetched fantasy plots was a nauseous mix. I think this is a great example of Hanna-Barbera's cartoon heresies that drug animated films to their historical low point. The mixture of animated and live action is a very difficult concept to pull off. "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" is a good example of where it worked well. This is an example of where it failed miserably.

There are things that you look back at in your life and you get a warm, fuzzy feeling about. This show inspired the child that I was to go outside and play make-belief with the other children. My imagination ignited by the myriad of possibilities that could exist in this realm. You pick up a stick, and it's a sword. Pick up a garbage can lid and it's a shield. The animation mixed with live action...although probably pretty hokey by today's standards...was a treat in that it linked the limit of realism with the limitlessness of imagination. It's been...25 years since I last seen it...and of all the things in my life to feel warm and fuzzy about of which there are definitely a few...I count how I felt about watching this show to be among them. So, yeah, for nostalgic sake, I would make the decision to watch it in a heart beat if someone digs it up and puts it on the air again.

Cartoon Network apparently has this episode in its extensive Hanna-Barbera library. They just showed an episode of "The New Adventures Of Huck Finn" on their Saturday morning program "Boomerang". The episode was entitled "The Eye Of Doogerah".Unfortunately, the Boomerang program just shows random episodes of old Saturday morning cartoons, but at least this rather unique (if not odd) program has been preserved for now.