User Reviews

There are certain TV shows, particularly from the 70s and 80s, that when watched now, alternate in quality from being very cheesy to just being plain dull. The sad fact is the myriad of shows from our youth are best viewed while wearing rose-tinted specs because the truth of the matter is they were never quite as good as we remembered. Thankfully, Huckleberry Finn and his Friends does not fall into this category. Even after a single viewing, one plain fact comes sharply into focus: this show is indeed a rare beast: it is (Shock! Horror!) exactly as good as you remember it. For anyone over the age of 30 who was old enough to remember it on its first run, Huckleberry Finn and his Friends was required after-school TV viewing. For the approximately 6 months that it was shown, we all sat glued to our TVs on a weekly basis, religiously following the trials and tribulations of Huck and Tom as they got up to every manner of mischief. By the time it finished its run, it left a gaping hole in our schedules that took a long time to fill.

The series was clearly a labor of love for the German and Canadian TV companies involved. By amalgamating the stories of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn into one linear series, they gave us, arguably, the definitive version of the story. The casting was pitch perfect. In Sammy Snyders, we got the best possible incarnation of Tom Sawyer. Similarly, in the shape of Ian Tracey and Blu Mankuma respectively, we got the ultimate incarnations of Huck Finn and his escaped slave friend, Jim. Even the somewhat unorthodox decision of adding German actors to the largely Canadian cast gave it something like the surreal impression of reading a novel. The Canadian locations and sets were laudably authentic and assigned the series a unique visual look that versions of the story shot in North America simply didn't have.

And it was suitably scary. Who can forget a desperate and enraged Indian Joe leaping through the courtroom window after Huck and Tom name him as the murderer of the man found dead in the graveyard? Or the tar and feathering of the two con men Huck and Jim give refuge to on board their raft? Or even Huck's hate filled and clearly insane father who returns from obscurity to steal Huck's fortune? For anyone under 10 watching it at the time, these were unforgettable images which only served to whet the appetite. Then there was the memorable theme music: once it got stuck in your head you were guaranteed to be humming it during your homework for the remainder of the evening.

The series still remains riveting viewing – even if it does sag somewhat at the point that Huck and Jim get separated after the collision with a steamer destroys their raft. Huck becomes involved with a family called the 'Grangefords' who are involved in a violent feud with another family and things go downhill a bit. Even at this, though, the tone of the series remains dark, resulting in a bleak and downbeat denouement in which the entire family is wiped out in a violent gun battle while Huck can only look on and watch. But things pick up again once he and Jim are reunited on a newly reconstructed raft and set off down the Mississippi. It is here they pick up the aforementioned con men, two eccentric individuals who claim to be of royal blood and have Huck and Jim bowing to their every whim. From here onwards it's non-stop fun and adventure to the very end.

While there have been various versions of the stories since then, this series does the best job of adapting them into a cohesive and logical narrative. It should be required viewing in schools everywhere. However there are a small number of flaws in the actual presentation of the series. On many occasions we see paths made from the tracks of wheels that are clearly belonging to modern cars rather than those of the wagons of the era. Furthermore, the production's somewhat annoying choice to shoot all the night time scenes as 'day for night' and then darken them later in post-production through color timing, is somewhat ill-advised. At no point during these scenes does it ever look authentically like night. What is supposed to be moonlight is always very clearly the light of the sun. Even though this was financially motivated and may have made sense at the time, it does serve as a distraction.

The DVD box set is lovingly presented by Fabulous Films and has an air of nostalgia running throughout with nice menus befitting of such a series. Having said that, the actual picture quality of the DVD could have been better and is quite grainy. Surely, if they're going to go through so much time and effort with the presentation of the DVD, they could have given similar attention to the quality of the source print? Though admittedly this could probably be attributed to the inadequate storage of source materials by the Copyright holders. Still, even after all this, it is rather telling that the picture quality in no way hinders your enjoyment of the series. It still remains absorbing entertainment for anyone who watches it. How many series made during this or any era could boast that?

Clearly the production of Huckleberry Finn and his Friends was one of those 'lightning in a bottle' moments in which they got everything right, from the casting and the script to the locations. While these stories will no doubt be remade time and time again, future filmmakers returning to the well to mine Mark Twain's rich imagination might be best served to observe the template set here. It might eventually be equaled, of course, but it's unlikely it will ever be bettered.