Festival of Family Classics (1972– ) User Reviews (2)

Friday Airing, Which Meant No School The Next Day!

[richard.fuller1 · 8/10 · 16 April 2010]

How many programs do I have fond memories of simply because they aired Friday night or Friday evening and I enjoyed them because there wsa no school the next day? At The Earth's Core is a biggie, but I do remember this one as well, if I have the correct program.

Rankin-Bass animation, yes, and predictable for its time (best source is Frosty the Snowman). Regardless of the story (I remember Johnny Appleseed and Paul Bunyan, but I suppose there was also the stock set, Cinderella, Puss'n'Boots, etc.) they all had the same RB look.

I guess what made the show memorable, good or bad, was the opening credits with the jingly song and the various characters standing on an unrolling rainbow coming at the viewer.

Effective, but perhaps too unique? Definitely would have been better received in the Americana fifties era.

It didn't bother me because, as I said, it was Friday night, AC was running, a nice glass of coke in my hand.

"It's classic creation/In new animation/Today's presentation will be..."

[Victor Field · 17 July 2002]

Not to be confused with "Family Classics Theatre" (which featured adaptations by Hanna-Barbera Productions and Air Programs International - the closest Australian equivalent of H-B - and which British viewers may remember as "Animated Classics"), this was a good attempt in that field from Rankin/Bass - pause for '70s children to shudder at the memory of that creepy logo (which still has the power to chill even today, long after I got over my fear of the Air Programs one... or have I? But anyway...).

The 30-minute stories in this series ranged from versions of full-length books (like a two-part version of "Around the World in Eighty Days") via adaptations of fairy tales (such as a light-hearted take on "Cinderella") to stories about mythological characters ("Johnny Appleseed"). Lush animation was not the name of the game, and famous voices were also nowhere to be found (as opposed to Hanna-Barbera having Jose Ferrer play Cyrano again in their animated version), but that's never been a drawback to cartoons. If it was a choice between Rankin/Bass of the 1970s and Rankin/Bass of the 1980s ("SilverHawks"? Oh, please), I'll take the 1970s any day.

But that logo? What were they THINKING?!?