''The Adventures of Mark Twain'' (released in the United Kingdom as ''Comet Quest'') is a 1985 American

stop motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...

claymation Clay animation or claymation, sometimes plasticine animation, is one of many forms of stop-motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually plasticine clay. Tra ...

fantasy film directed by

Will Vinton William Gale Vinton (November 17, 1947 – October 4, 2018) was an American animator and filmmaker. Vinton was best known for his Claymation work, alongside creating iconic characters such as The California Raisins. He won an Oscar for his wor ...

and starring

James Whitmore James Allen Whitmore Jr. (October 1, 1921 – February 6, 2009) was an American actor. He received numerous accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, a Grammy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Theatre World Award, and a Tony Award, plus two Ac ...

. It received a

limited theatrical release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

in May 1985. It was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

in January 2006, and again as a collector's edition in 2012 on DVD and Blu-ray. The film features a series of vignettes extracted from several of Mark Twain's works, built around a plot that features Twain's attempts to keep his "appointment" with

Halley's Comet Halley's Comet or Comet Halley, officially designated 1P/Halley, is a short-period comet visible from Earth every 75–79 years. Halley is the only known short-period comet that is regularly visible to the naked eye from Earth, and thus the on ...

. Twain and three children,

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, ...

, Huck Finn and

Becky Thatcher Mark Twain's series of books featuring the fictional characters Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn include: #'' The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1876) #''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1884) #''Tom Sawyer Abroad'' (1894) #'' Tom Sawyer, Detective ...

, travel on an

airship An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air. In early ...

between various adventures.

Plot

Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer sneak aboard an airship piloted by Mark Twain in an attempt to become famous aeronauts. After having a bout of one-upmanship, Becky Thatcher follows them to call their bluff. The balloon takes off and the stowaways are soon discovered but are surprised to learn Mark Twain already knows their names. Upon seeing the frog the boys had caught outside of town, Twain relates his first popular short story: ''

The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" is an 1865 short story by Mark Twain. It was his first great success as a writer and brought him national attention. The story has also been published as "Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog" (its orig ...

''. They find that he intends to pilot the airship to meet Halley's Comet, and are worried this goal will end in all their deaths. The boys stumble across the Index-o-Vator, a strange elevator that can take them to any part of the vessel, or into any of Twain’s writing, and meet up with Twain and Becky. She’s intrigued by a coin-operated automaton of Adam and Eve, and Twain takes the chance to begin their tale, based on ''

Eve's Diary "Eve's Diary" is a comic short story by Mark Twain. It was first published in the 1905 Christmas issue of the magazine ''Harper's Bazaar'', in book format as one contribution to a volume entitled "Their Husband's Wives" and then in June 1906 as ...

and

Extracts From Adam's Diary "Extracts from Adam's Diary: Translated from the Original Ms." is a comic short story by the American humorist and writer Mark Twain. It was first published as a book in 1904, by Harper & Bros. with numerous illustrations by Frederick Strothmann. ...

''. The story comes to a halt when just as storm clouds fill the Garden of Eden, a real storm surrounds the airship. Twain quickly coaches the kids on how to pilot to ship, but they fail to avoid smashing into a mountain and losing a chunk of the hull. Dejected, the trio head back to the Index-o-Vator, where the door opens to ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer''. Huck and Becky are excited at the opportunity to get home, but Tom only cares about avoiding Aunt Betty’s chores and changes the floor before the others can protest. Out of the open void emerges Mark Twain, now dressed in a black suit instead of his usual white one, who changes the floor and encourages the kids to go into a scene from '' The Chronicles of Young Satan''. Tom fills Huck and Becky in on his plan, and the three conspire to sabotage the suicidal voyage and take control of the ship. They lay low as Twain teaches them how to fly the vessel, and Tom senses an opportunity in the central power panel. They follow Twain into his office to tie him up when he falls asleep, but much to their surprise the writer greets them again on the deck. The kids ask if there’s another life waiting for them after they collide with the comet, and Twain relates the story of ''

Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven "Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven" is a short story written by American writer Mark Twain. It first appeared in print in ''Harper's Magazine'' in December 1907 and January 1908, and was published in book form with some revisions in 1909. Th ...

.'' With their plan in place, the kids wait anxiously as Twain continues the story of Adam and Eve, the designs of the old couple looking much like Mark Twain and his wife, Olivia, with Twain saying “wherever she was, there was Eden.” He laments on her death and wishes to see her again when he meets the comet. The children discover the truth behind Twain's journey: he believes he is destined to die with the return of the comet and this journey is his way of accepting his fate, leaving the kids behind unharmed. It’s too late however, and Tom’s contraption goes off, destroying the main power and trapping them below decks. Huck’s frog saves the day, leaping from the porthole to land on the back-up power button. The crew head off, the kids now piloting the ship expertly with Twain in command. They enter the comet, and finally come face to face with the strange figure who has been haunting the ship: Mark Twain’s double. Twain explains that the double is his darker side, who is as much an important part of him as the lighthearted humorist they're familiar with. The two give the kids several pieces of advice, all real Mark Twain quotes, and muse on whether or not there’s another life waiting for them. They merge and disappear into dust. Twain’s face appears in the comet’s clouds, and when asked where he's going answers "back to Eden". The airship is blown out of the comet by Twain, and the kids decide to write up their journey in a book called, ''"The Adventures of Mark Twain by Huck Finn"''.

Cast

as Mark Twain * Michele Mariana as

* Gary Krug as Huck Finn * Chris Ritchie as

* John Morrison as Adam * Carol Edelman as

Eve Eve (; ; ar, حَوَّاء, Ḥawwāʾ; el, Εὕα, Heúa; la, Eva, Heva; Syriac: romanized: ) is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the ...

* Dallas McKennon as Jim Smiley and Newspaper Boy * Herb Smith as The Stranger * Marley Stone as

Aunt Polly Mark Twain's series of books featuring the fictional characters Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn include: #''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1876) #''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1884) #''Tom Sawyer Abroad'' (1894) #'' Tom Sawyer, Detective'' ...

* Michele Mariana & Wilbur Vincent as

The Mysterious Stranger ''The Mysterious Stranger'' is a novel attempted by the American author Mark Twain. He worked on it intermittently from 1897 through 1908. Twain wrote multiple versions of the story; each involves a supernatural character called "Satan" or "No. ...

* Wally Newman as Captain Stormfield * Tim Conner as Three-Headed Alien * Todd Tolces as

Saint Peter ) (Simeon, Simon) , birth_date = , birth_place = Bethsaida, Gaulanitis, Syria, Roman Empire , death_date = Between AD 64–68 , death_place = probably Vatican Hill, Rome, Italia, Roman Empire , parents = John (or Jonah; Jona) , occupat ...

* Billy Scream as The Indexivator *

as Dan'l Webster * Billy Victor as

God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

* Compton Downs as

Injun Joe Mark Twain's series of books featuring the fictional characters Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn include: #''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1876) #''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1884) #''Tom Sawyer Abroad'' (1894) #'' Tom Sawyer, Detective'' ...

* Gary Thompson as Baby Cain

Production

The concept was inspired by a famous quote by the author: Twain died on April 21, 1910, one day after Halley's Comet reached

perihelion An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. For example, the apsides of the Earth are called the aphelion and perihelion. General description There are two apsides in any elli ...

in 1910. This animated film, which tested well with teens and college students before it was labeled with a G rating which hurt their box office chances, was shot in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

and when he was asked about the rumors of this film being made by a 17-person crew, Vinton stated:

Reception and legacy

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

it has a score of 80% based on reviews from five critics, with an average rating of 8/10. On

Common Sense Media Common Sense Media (CSM) is an organization that reviews and provides ratings for media and technology with the goal of providing information on their suitability for children.

it has 3/5 stars. Animation critic Charles Solomon listed it as one of the best animated films of the 1980s a year after the film's release. MOVIES OF THE '80s : ANIMATION : MICE DREAMS - Los Angeles Times
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References

External links