Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Literary Toons: Around the World in 80 Days (1972)

Australia's Air Programs International was entrusted with adapting Jules Verne's novel, Around the World in 80 Days, into an animated series. However, the final product, picked up by NBC in 1972 as part of their Terrific Ten lineup, was a far cry from the actual story. Here's the open:



In the book, Fix is actually a detective with Scotland Yard, not a villain, and the wager of 20,000 pounds was actually over a debate over the improvements in transcontinental travel at the time of the novel (set in 1872, published a year later), but the producers wanted an ongoing antagonist who'd dog Phineas Fogg at every step, taking their cues from Hanna-Barbera's modern-day reworking of the story as Around the World in 79 Days, a segment of Cattanooga Cats 3 years earlier. Unfortunately, such creative liberties, coupled with a poor time slot, doomed this version of Around the World, which was cancelled after 1 season.

Rating: D.

2 comments:

Pokey said...

Ah, I actually liked it. Mr.Fix had an obsession with self-communication and being a split personality [and if you've ever SEEN it, you'll see what I mean..Mr.Dix. I mean, Mr.Fix. No, Mr.Dix. Mr.Dix. You say, Mr.Fix, I say Mr.Dix, you say Fix, Dizx, let's call the whole thing off..] Some US Names appear as well, even if you watch the voice cast and see the writing credits, but still overall a API Prod.

hobbyfan said...

I do remember Fix's penchant for talking to himself. It was one of those distractions that killed the show, in my opinion.