Huckleberry Finn and His Friends (1979 TV series)

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Huckleberry Finn and His Friends
German DVD cover; from left to right: Tom Sawyer (Sammy Snyders), Huck Finn (Ian Tracey)
Format	Children's television series
Starring	Ian Tracey Sam Snyders Brigitte Horney
Country of origin	British Columbia, Canada
No. of episodes	26
Production
Running time	25 minutes approx.
Broadcast
Original airing	1979
External links
IMDb profile

Huckleberry Finn and His Friends was a 1979 television series documenting the exploits of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, based on the novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by American writer Mark Twain. The series was made up of 26 episodes and was a Canadian/German coproduction.

Huckleberry Finn is played by Ian Tracey who is also the narrator. Tom Sawyer is played by Sammy Snyders.

Directed by Jack B. Hively and Ken Jubenvill, this mini-series was broadcast in many countries such as Germany, UK, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Venezuela and many other Latin American nations. The series was re-shown many times during the 1980's to early 1990's and has grown somewhat of a cult following.

It is regarded by many as a great mini-series with lots of adventure, fun, nature and excitement. It had a popular theme tune, authentic set pieces and was well acted and directed which created an atmosphere to reflect the period.

Even though Mark Twain originally wrote the books The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as separate units, this mini-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.

The complete series was recently (June 2007) released as a 4 DVD box set by Fabulous Films in the UK. It contains many extras including a 12 page color booklet and a 30 minute 'making of' documentary featuring recent interviews with many stars of the series including Sammy Snyders, Ian Tracey, Blu Mancuma, etc.