The Greatest Adventure: Stories from the Bible
- This article is about the animated film series. For the book series, see The Greatest Adventure: Stories from the Bible (Abingdon Press).
| The Greatest Adventure: Stories from the Bible | |
|---|---|
 On-screen title card. | |
| Created by | William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
| Production company | Hanna-Barbera |
| Original release | October 1985—1992 |
| Run time | 22 minutes |
| Executive producer(s) | William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
| Producer(s) | William Hanna Joseph Barbera Bob Hathcock Jeff Hall Alex Lovy Berny Wolf |
| Music composed by | Hoyt Curtin |
| Writer(s) | Arthur Alsberg Tony Benedict Don Nelson Art Scott |
| Director(s) | William Hanna Joseph Barbera Ray Patterson Art Davis Oscar Dufau Carl Urbano Rudy Zamora Alan Zaslove Charlie Downs Paul Sommer Gordon Hunt (voices) |
The Great Adventure: Stories from the Bible is an American animated video series produced by Hanna-Barbera (H-B) from 1986 to 1992. Thirteen were produced in total. In 2024, MeTV Toons premiered them on television.
Two young Caucasian archeologist and who for no apparent reason are joined their young Nomad friend discover a time portal which sends them to important events from the Bible.
Production
Development
Executive producer Joseph Barbera had attended Holy Innocence School in Brooklyn when he was eight years old, being fascinated by biblical events, spending more time drawing these than on his studies, which was noticed by his mother, who transferred him to public school.[1] Barbera saw great potential in animating biblical events, so after co-founding Hanna-Barbera, he spent seventeen years pitching the idea of a series of animated Bible stories to various television networks, who all turned him down, which Barbera felt was because it was too controversial to approve.[1] Barbera became something of a laughingstock, as he would always try and sell the idea at the end of selling another show.
When Taft Entertainment bought Hanna-Barbera, it eventually funded the project after the children's video market becoming a lucrative investment. Each story would have an underlying moral, but not to be preachy about it.[1] There would also be a certain amount of violence that Hanna-Barbera could not shy away from in reenacting critical scenes from the Bible.[1] They also used an independent panel of religious advisors to oversee authenticity.[2]
The series was officially announced on April 26, 1985, with six cassette videos, budgeted at $2 million, each one budgeted at $300,000. They would begin being released in October of that year, with Moses: Let My People Go, David and Goliath, Joshua and the Battle of Jericho, Noah and the Ark, Samson and Delilah, and Daniel and the Lion's Den.[3] which changed to April 1986.[2] Barbera continued to see great potential in the series and had hoped to do 20 more,[1] with six more already in pre-production for the first quarter of 1987, with titles including The Nativity, Easter, Moses and the Ten Commandments, The Creation, Joseph and the Coat of Many Colors, and The Prodigal Son.[2]
Music
The theme music was composed by Hoyt Curtin. There have been several composers including Curtin, Russell Fox, Gary William Friedman, Tom Worrall, Albert Lloyd Olson, Vaughn Johnson. For the first six films, the music was supervised by Paul DeKorte, then Joanne Miller took over as director of music supervision for the next three, and finally Bodie Chandler was the director of music for the final four.
Episodes
| Episode | Original air date |
|---|---|
| 1x01 | April 1986 |
| 1x02 | April 1986 |
| 1x03 | April 1986 |
| 1x04 | April 1986 |
| 1x05 | April 1986 |
| 1x06 | April 1986 |
| 1x07 | October 15, 1987 |
| 1x08 | July 15, 1988 |
| 1x09 | March 15, 1989 |
| 1x10 | November 8, 1990 |
| 1x11 | September 26, 1991 |
| 1x12 | February 27, 1992 |
| 1x13 | August 19, 1992 |
Release
Dates are in order of release:
- United States: October 1985
Cast
References
- ^ a b c d e Buck, Jerry (July 12, 1986). "Barbera producing animated Bible stories on videocassette", page 5. Rapid City Journal. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
- ^ a b c Robinson, Henry (April 18, 1986). "Animated Biblical Episodes Offered for Home-Video," page 46. The Asheville Times. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
- ^ Hunt, Dennis (April 26, 1985). "Biblical Kidvid," Los Angeles Times, page 95. Retrieved July 12, 2024.
