The Greatest Adventure: Stories from the Bible

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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
TGA title card.png
On-screen title card.
Created by Joseph Barbera
Production company Hanna-Barbera
Distributor Worldvision Home Video
Turner Home Entertainment
Original release October 1986August 1992
Run time 22 minutes
Starring Terry McGovern
Darleen Carr
Rob Paulsen
Michael Rye
Darryl Hickman
Executive producer(s) William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
Producer(s) William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
Music composed by Hoyt Curtin
Russell Fox
Gary William Friedman
Tom Worrall
Albert Lloyd Olson
Vaughn Johnson
Director(s) Don Lusk
Gordon Hunt (voices)

The Greatest 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. It aired in syndication in 1990, and recently brought back to TV by MeTV Toons in 2024.

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]

In October 1987, the seventh was released, entitled The Nativity, which was to be followed by The Creation, Joseph and his Brothers, The Easter Story, The Journeys of Paul, and Queen Esther, with plans for other stories to come, which Hanna-Barbera hoped to total at 24 or more.[4]

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 1987
1x08 September 1988
1x09 April 1990
1x10 Week of September 24, 1990
1x11 October 1991
1x12 April 1992
1x13 August 1992

Release

Dates are in order of release:

  • United States: April 1986

Cast

References

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ a b c Robinson, Henry (April 18, 1986). "Animated Biblical Episodes Offered for Home-Video," page 46. The Asheville Times. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  3. ^ Hunt, Dennis (April 26, 1985). "Biblical Kidvid," Los Angeles Times, page 95. Retrieved July 12, 2024.
  4. ^ Cornell, George W. (November 27, 1987). "Great videos ever combat Biblical illiteracy". Daily Times-Advocate. Retrieved August 8, 2024.