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 | Joseph Barbera |
| Production company | Hanna-Barbera |
| Distributor | Worldvision Home Video Turner Home Entertainment |
| Original release | October 1986—August 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
- Terry McGovern (1986-1988) and Darryl Hickman (1990-1992) as Derek
- Darleen Carr as Margo
- Rob Paulsen as Moki
- Michael Rye as main title narrator
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.
- ^ Cornell, George W. (November 27, 1987). "Great videos ever combat Biblical illiteracy". Daily Times-Advocate. Retrieved August 8, 2024.
