Journey to the Center of the Earth

The first ever animated series based on a Jules Verne novel,since this was a loose adaption of the 1865 book,but it was more in tune to the 1959 motion picture of the same title that starred Pat Boone and James Mason. This was the animated version of the novel that was produced by Lou Scheimer and Norman Prescott for Filmation Associates in association with Twentieth Century-Fox Television(which went heavily by the studio's version of the same title)that was part of ABC-TV's Saturday Morning schedule from September 9,1967 until August 30,1969. This series premiered on ABC's Saturday Morning schedule as did another successful animated hit "The Adventures of Spider-Man",which was a major hit for ABC,which was the first animated series produced for Saturday Mornings based on the Marvel Comics Character.

The series really concentrated on the characters of the Oscar-winning 1959 film instead of the 1865 book of the same title written by Jules Verne. But the two go hand in hand. The series focus on Professor Lindenbrook took his niece Cindy and her classmate Alec on an expedition through caverns with the group's brawny blonde guide Lars. Calmity struck when the evil Count Saccnuson,a descendant of the explorer who found that the route they were traveling led to the middle of the world,sealed off the entrance in an effort to prevent them from returning to the surface. The Count's manservant Tors helped in trying to stop Lindenbrook's group in all of the 17 episodes that were produced in which all of them lead to having cliffhanger endings. Adding a lighter touch to the menacing chases through the caves was Cindy's pet duck Gertrude. Though producers Norm Prescott and Lou Scheimer went by the studio's version of the same title,the series used writers from TV-shows like "Star Trek", "Daktari", "Lost In Space",and "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea",there was little in the scripting that made this cartoon better than others seen at the time,especially for 1967,when this came out against the superiority of the Saturday Morning superhero shows that exploded during the late 1960's. And speaking of the supporting stock-players,the great Ted Knight voiced the characters of Professor Lindenbrook/Count Saccnuson,while regular Filmation stockplayer Jane Webb did the voice of Cindy,and the great Pat Harrington,Jr.(who did the voice of the Inspector in the DFE-United Artists produced "The Inspector" animated theatrical shorts,and later on was Schneider on the Norman Lear-produced series "One Day At A Time" during the mid-1970's)did voicework for the characters of Alec McEwen/ the professor's assistant Lars,and also voice the evil hencemen Torg.

"Journey to the Center of the Earth",was the first TV cartoon series based on Jules Verne's classic novel. Other works from Jules Verne would arrived later including "Around the World in 80 Days"(the first-ever Saturday Morning cartoon produced in Austraila for American Television in 1972),and also "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea"(the animated version produced by Hanna-Barbera would arrived in 1973).

This animated series contains elements of both book and movie. The Lindenbrook expedition (Prof. Lindenbrook, his niece Cindy, his assistant Alec McEwan and their guide Lars (and his pet duck Gertrude)) race to the center of the earth to find a way back to the surface. They follow the trail of explorer Arne Sacnusson. They are opposed by Count Sacnusson (Arne's evil descendant) and his servant Torg, who are trying to beat them to the earth's core at all costs. On the way, both parties encounter lost civilizations and a host of monsters. Fun animated fantasy/adventure.

The only other person to comment on this series recalled seeing it as a child growing up in Boston. Growing up in southeastern New Hampshire, I'm sure we both watched it on channel 38 (then an independent UHF station). On weekend mornings, they ran syndicated cartoon shows like this, the Fantastic Voyage animated series and hosts of more traditional fair (e.g. Popeye, Warner Bros., etc.). It definitely made for an entertaining alternative to the programming available on mainstream television. Unlike the other reviewer, I can't recall any specific episodes, but I can tell you that I enjoyed this series. For anyone into the sci-fi/fantasy cartoon genre, check it out. You'll be pleasantly surprised.

This animated children's series was allegedly based on Jules Verne's novel, but seems to be based more directly on the 1959 film version. Gertrude the Duck, who wasn't in the novel but provided some comic relief in the movie, shows up here as one of the regular cast of characters. This series featured extremely low-budget animation, but had lots of action and some scripts that were hugely imaginative despite their basic implausibility: it seemed as if every week's episode featured yet another lost race of semi-humanoids living in the earth's core, to say nothing of prehistoric monsters.

I saw several episodes of this series at a screening in London in 1972, when someone from Filmation Associates tried to sell the UK syndication rights. Instead of an 'origin' episode to set up the characters, each episode began with a flashback sequence to explain the show's premise. Basically, Professor Lindenbrook wants to explore a subterranean tunnel discovered by the late Arne Saknussem. For some contrived reason, the latter's evil descendant Count Saknussem -- 'last descendant of the once-noble Saknussem family' -- abetted by 'his brute-like servant Torg', doesn't like this. (Torg looks like a troglodyte, and has a permanent grimace ... probably because his name is 'grot' spelt backward.) The count and Torg dynamite the tunnel, trapping themselves inside along with Lindenbrook and his companions.

Lindenbrook's companions are his attractive niece Cindy and handsome young Alec (no mushy stuff, though) as well as muscular Lars (who gets lots of 'by-yiminee' dialogue) and the aforementioned Gertrude the Duck. Since they can't get out the way they came in, they decide to travel DEEPER into the Earth, in hope of finding another way out. All they've got are titchy little knapsacks; nobody ever explains how these people survive with one set of clothing apiece, and no discernible provisions. (Maybe Gertrude keeps laying eggs.) And, unlike coal miners, they never seem to have any problems with the air, the temperature or the humidity.

So, every week they run afoul of underground pterodactyls, or whatever. The four goodie characters (plus the duck) are travelling separately from the two baddies, but somehow Count Saknussem and Torg keep showing up whenever it's convenient for the script. I'll give the writers some credit for just occasionally bringing a bit of genuine science into the scripts. I recall that, in one episode, Professor Lindenbrook deduced that they must be in a tunnel under the Middle East because it was full of petroleum deposits.

Long on action and science fiction, and short on plausibility, this series was mostly enjoyable. Every episode ended with the adventurers finding some clue that they were still on Arne Saknussem's original trail, and would get back to the surface eventually if they just kept on as they'd begun. Unfortunately, there was occasionally some rather stupid comic relief. One episode ended with the adventurers in a cavern, discovering a carved diagram showing Saknussem's route to the centre of the earth. This was Gertrude's cue to squat on the diagram, prompting Lars to note (in his El Brendel accent) that Gertrude was going to the centre of the Earth 'the easy way!'. Apparently this was meant to be funny, because the other characters laughed. I just wish that ONE episode had acknowledged that the characters had difficulty finding a reliable food source down there in the magma. To say nothing of hygiene problems...