The Kingdom Chums: Little David's Adventure
The Kingdom Chums: Little David's Adventure | |
---|---|
Genre | Children's special Religious |
Written by | Original book: |
Budget | US$1.5 million[3] |
Original release | |
Network | ABC |
Release | November 28, 1986[4] |
Related | |
The Kingdom Chums: Original Top Ten (1990) |
The Kingdom Chums: Little David's Adventure (onscreen title: Kingdom Chums)
Little David's Adventure was created (and originally written) by
Plot
A boy named Peter, his sister Mary Ann, and his Jewish classmate Sauli are students of the All Nations School. One day at the school, bullies pick on Sauli and throw his
A strange, bright constellation suddenly appears in the sky outside their window. Peter consults his computer for the formation, but finds out it does not exist. After Mary Ann takes a look for herself, she uses a pen to reveal the word "LOVE" on the screen. Eventually, the lights swarm inside and bring her stuffed toys to life—Little David, the Raccoon of Courage; Christopher, the Lion of Love; and Magical Mose, the Tiger of Joy.[5] No sooner do the creatures appear inside the computer than the children are zapped into it.
Peter, Mary Ann and Sauli end up being animated characters, and the animals introduce themselves as the Kingdom Chums. Following a magical beam called the "Love Light", the children travel to ancient Israel with David, one of the Chums. The raccoon enacts his Biblical namesake, gets into battle with his fellow Israelites, and is granted a challenge from King Saul (who is portrayed as a lion) to fight against the giant warthog,[6] Goliath.
David prepares his slingshot with some stones, and faces the tall
The children realize that only one minute has passed in the real world since their adventure began. Thanks to her faith (and her toys), Mary Ann is delighted to see her bird alive. As Sauli heads to his apartment for dinner, he manages to face his bullies with his own faith and overcome them.
Cast
Name | Character | Source |
---|---|---|
Live action scenes | [2] | |
Jenna von Oÿ | Mary Ann | |
Christopher Fitzgerald | Peter | |
Andrew Cassese | Sauli | |
Animated scenes | ||
Scott Menville | Little David | |
Sandi Patti |
Little David (singing voice) | |
John Franklin | Magical Mose | |
Billy Bowles | Christopher / Cat Soldier | |
Jim Cummings | Goliath / Fox Soldier #3 | |
Townsend Coleman | Elias / Fox Soldier #2 | |
Paul Winchell | King Saul | |
Phil Proctor |
Rat Soldier / Frog Servant / Fox Soldier #1 |
Uncredited
- Joey Cramer - Osborne
Production
Kingdom Chums: Little David's Adventure was conceived by
During development, Rushnell was influenced by Disney animated films such as 1973's Robin Hood,[7] and modeled the All Nations School after New York City's United Nations International School.[5][7] He based two of the animal characters on Bible characters—Christopher after Jesus, and Magical Mose on Moses.[3] He also toned down the climax of the original David and Goliath story, in which David cuts the Goliath's head.[11] Along with bookending live-action segments,[1] the special also featured animation work from DIC Animation City.[2] The animation unit's director, Bernard Deyriès, was previously among the major crew of 1985's Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer.[12] The songs, composed by Sesame Street's Joe Raposo,[4] included "Greatest Stories of All", "Child of God" and "Your Love Makes Me Strong".[2][4]
Release and reception
The Kingdom Chums special premiered on ABC on November 28, 1986,
Reporting on the special in the
The inclusion of the religious elements notwithstanding, Little David's Adventure is an expurgated retelling of the story. Although it does show Goliath's fall, it's unclear whether he's dead or just knocked out. The general absence of violence is faithful neither to this particular story nor the times, yet this is an instance where showing violence would not be exploitative. How ironic that ABC would subject a Bible story to stricter standards than, say, its Saturday morning Ghostbusters cartoons. ... Many viewers who believe in God probably will not be thrilled to see the story of David and Goliath reduced to the insipid level of
The Care Bears, The Wuzzles or any of the dozen other animated series that specialize in mild homilies. Inasmuch as the Bible stories have enduring theological and literary significance, I'm not sure children are served by Rushnell's sincere but condescending approach.[7]
Alan Bunce of
Sequel
From the time of Kingdom Chums' initial broadcast, ABC planned several follow-up specials[5] along with a regular series.[19] One of the planned specials involved a bear named Princess Essie, in an adaptation of the story of Esther;[5] another was to be based on the New Testament.[16] By late 1987, the network looked into partnering with The Walt Disney Company on a series of hour-long episodes.[20] Instead, Little David's Adventure was followed by a 1990 video sequel, The Kingdom Chums: Original Top Ten. A new animation team, headed by Rick Reinert,[4] worked on the production; this time, there were no live-action segments.[4] One character, Osborne, replaces the previous protagonist Sauli here, and some character names were altered as well. It also aired in April 1992,[21] and again in April 1993,[4] as part of the ABC Weekend Specials anthology.
Cast
- Debby Boone as Essie
- Marilyn McCoo as Little Mama Miriam
- Tony Orlando as Christopher
- Billy Preston as Marvelous Mose
- Frankie Valli as Little David
- Mayim Bialik as Petey
- Scott Menville as Osborne
- Marne Patterson as Annie
See also
- Superbook, an early 1980s Christian anime series with a similar premise
Notes
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Deyriès, Bernard; Chilvers, Colin (directors) (November 28, 1986). "Kingdom Chums: Little David's Adventure". ABC.
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(help) - ^ ISBN 0-8108-2198-2.
- ^ a b Maynard, Steve (November 26, 1986). "Kingdom Chums take on TV battle". Houston Chronicle. p. 1.
- ^ ISBN 0-7864-0286-5.
- ^ Eugene Register-Guard TV Week. The Washington Post. p. 21. Retrieved October 7, 2010.
- ^ a b c Bianco, Robert (November 23, 1986). "'Kingdom Chums' is out to make a buck". The Pittsburgh Press. p. TV 2. Retrieved October 7, 2010.
- ^ Minneapolis Star-Tribune. p. 01C. Retrieved October 7, 2010.
- Journal Communications. p. 2 (Part 3). Retrieved October 7, 2010.
- ^ Lovece, Frank (November 22, 1986). "Rushnell makes Bible 'child-friendly'". TimesDaily. p. 21D. Retrieved October 7, 2010.
- ^ Herron, Clara (November 29, 1986). "Fundamentalist fun: Biblical toys could be the genesis of something big". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 15. Retrieved October 7, 2010.
- ^ Blake, Joseph P. (November 17, 1986). "Very animated Bible story". Philadelphia Daily News. p. 53 (FEATURES). Retrieved October 7, 2010.
- ISBN 1-55652-591-5.
- Central Time] for The Kingdom Chums: Little David's Adventure.
- ^ a b c Staff (December 2, 1986). "With AM—Nielsens". Associated Press (AP).
- ^ Baker, Kathryn (December 2, 1986). "NBC Stretches to 23-Year Record Streak". Associated Press (AP).
- ^ a b Bunce, Alan (November 28, 1986). "'Kingdom Chums': kid-vid religion on prime-time network TV". The Christian Science Monitor. p. 47. Retrieved October 11, 2010.
- ISBN 0-9620086-1-3. Retrieved October 7, 2010.
- ISBN 0-8054-6283-X.
- ^ Schwed, Mark (November 28, 1986). "Religion makes a comeback on TV". Deseret News. United Press International (UPI). p. 11C. Retrieved October 7, 2010.
- ^ Kubasik, Ben (October 6, 1987). "TV Spots". Newsday. p. 15 (PART 2). Retrieved October 7, 2010.
- ^ Lipton, Lauren (April 26, 1992). "PBS Prepares Youths Now for the Year 2035, When the Planet Will Need Help". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 7, 2010.
Bibliography
- Rushnell, Squire (1986). Hazen, Barbara Shook (ed.). The Kingdom Chums: Little David's Adventure. Word Inc. ISBN 0-8499-8228-6.