''Huckleberry Finn and His Friends'' is a 1979 television series documenting the exploits of

Huckleberry Finn Huckleberry "Huck" Finn is a fictional character created by Mark Twain who first appeared in the book ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1876) and is the protagonist and narrator of its sequel, ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1884). He is 12 ...

and

Tom Sawyer Thomas Sawyer () is the titular character of the Mark Twain novel ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1876). He appears in three other novels by Twain: ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1884), ''Tom Sawyer Abroad'' (1894), and ''Tom Sawyer, Dete ...

, based on the novels ''

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' is an 1876 novel by Mark Twain about a boy growing up along the Mississippi River. It is set in the 1840s in the town of St. Petersburg, which is based on Hannibal, Missouri, where Twain lived as a boy. In the nov ...

'' (1876) and ''

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' or as it is known in more recent editions, ''The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'', is a novel by American author Mark Twain, which was first published in the United Kingdom in December 1884 and in the United St ...

'' (1884) by American writer

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...

. The series is made up of 26 episodes and was a Canadian/West German

international co-production A co-production is a joint venture between two or more different production companies for the purpose of film production, television production, video game development, and so on. In the case of an international co-production, production companies ...

Plot

Even though Mark Twain originally wrote the books ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' and ''The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' as separate units, this series conjures up both literary works as only one story. Therefore, it places greater importance on Huckleberry's character without putting aside Tom Sawyer's.

Cast

Ian Tracey Ian or Iain is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin, derived from the Hebrew given name (Yohanan, ') and corresponding to the English name John. The spelling Ian is an Anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic forename ''Iain''. It is a popular name in Sc ...

as Huckleberry Finn/Narrator *

Sam Snyders Sam Snyders (also known as "Sammy Snyders"), is a former television and film child actor from Canada. He is best known for his role as Tom Sawyer in the 1979 Canadian television series, ''Huckleberry Finn and His Friends'', alongside Ian Tracey w ...

as Tom Sawyer *

Brigitte Horney Brigitte Horney (, 29 March 1911 – 27 July 1988) was a German theatre and film actress. Best remembered was her role as Empress Katherine the Great in the 1943 version of the UFA film version of '' Baron Münchhausen'', directed by Josef von ...

as Aunt Polly * Holly Findlay as Becky Thatcher * Blu Mankuma as Jim

Episodes

# Welcome Neighbour # Love in Bloom # Engagement # Mystery at Midnight # The Pirates # How Nice to Be Missed # Such a Lovely Funeral # Muff Potter's Trial # Buried Treasure # Huck Is a Hero # Millionaires # I Want to Be Free # Huck Becomes the Victim # Huck Gets Away # Huck Finds Jim # The Rains Come # Smallpox # Meet the Grangerfords # The Thing About Feuding # The End of the Feud # Meet the Duke And Dauphin # Romeo Where Art Thou # Jim Disappears # Huck Sawyer - Tom Finn # The Rescue # The Whole Truth

Production

Filming

The series was directed by Jack B. Hively and Ken Jubenvill. ''Huckleberry Finn and His Friends'' was filmed on location at the

Burnaby Village Museum The Burnaby Village Museum, previously known as the Heritage Village, is an open-air museum in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, located at Deer Lake Park. It is open seasonally from May to September and opens for special events taking place Sept ...

(then known as the Heritage Village) in

Burnaby Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard I ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada.End credits Episode 9 - ''Buried treasure'' - was filmed in part at the Alaksen National Wildlife Area.

Sternwheelers

Various sternwheeler riverboats appear in the series. The Julia Belle Swain appears in the opening and closing credits, and are in fact the only scenes that were actually shot on the Mississippi River. The wooden steam-powered sternwheeler in episode 6 - ''How nice to be missed'' - and 7 - ''Such a lovely funeral'' - is the "Samson V". The "Samson V" is now a museum but at the time (1979) was a working snagpuller on the

Fraser River The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of Vancouver. The river's annual d ...

. The small sternwheeler in episode 10 - ''Huck is a hero'' - was one of an identical pair of boats built in 1964 that ferried tourists around Vancouver's harbour from the 1960s to the 1980s. From the late 1980s until 1999, the "Scenic Bell" and the "Scenic Queen" ferried passengers to

Newcastle Island Marine Provincial Park Saysutshun (Newcastle Island Marine) Provincial Park, formally known as ''Newcastle Island Marine Provincial Park'', is a provincial park located on a small island off the coast of Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada. History For thousands o ...

.Valerie Wilson, "Nanaimo's last stern-wheeler bound for New York", Nanaimo Daily News, May 7, 1999, page A1

Broadcast

The series was broadcast in many countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland, Belgium, The Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Venezuela and many other Latin American nations. In the United Kingdom, it was first screened on

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

in two halves in the Spring and Autumn seasons. It was repeated again during the summer of

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

. The series was re-shown many times during the 1980s to early 1990s and has grown somewhat of a cult following.

Home media

In 2007, the complete series was released as a 4 DVD box set by Fabulous Films in the UK. It contains many extras including a 12-page colour booklet and a 30-minute 'making of' documentary featuring interviews with many stars of the series including Sammy Snyders, Ian Tracey, and Blu Mankuma.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Huckleberry Finn And His Friends (1979 Tv Series) Works based on The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 1970s Canadian children's television series Television shows filmed in Burnaby Canadian television shows based on children's books 1979 Canadian television series debuts Television series set in the 19th century English-language television shows Works based on Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Television shows based on works by Mark Twain