Adventures from the Book of Virtues is an American animated children's television series based on the books The Book of Virtues: A Treasury of Great Moral Stories, and The Children's Book of Virtues, both by William Bennett, who served as Secretary of Education under President Ronald Reagan. The program focuses on two main human characters, Annie and Zach, who learn many life lessons from their friends Plato the bison, Aurora the red-tailed hawk, Aristotle the prairie dog, and Socrates the bobcat. These lessons are told in the form of animated segments based on stories from a variety of origins including Bible stories, fairy tales, fables, mythology, and folk stories from diverse cultures.
The first primetime animated series on PBS, Adventures from the Book of Virtues originally aired as part of the network's children's programming block from September 2, 1996 until the series finale on December 17, 2000; an epilogue to the series would be released on home video in June 2001. There was a two-year gap in between the second and third seasons; the series' production ended in June 2000. Reruns of the series were broadcast on PBS Kids until September 4, 2005, and on the now-defunct Qubo from November 3, 2008 until September 24, 2017.
Contents
Premise
The series centered on two best friends: 10-year-old Annie Redfeather, who is Native American, and 11-year-old Zach Nichols, who is white. In each episode of the series, one of them commits an act contrary to that day's chosen virtue (loyalty, compassion, courage, moderation, honesty, etc.) and suffers pain as a result (be it physical or moral). They seek counsel of one of Annie's animal friends. These animal friends are four anthropomorphic mountain-dwelling entities who between them possess immense knowledge of legends and literature as well as common sense and a lively sense of fun. They utilize classical works of famous authors, philosophers, poets, as well as fables and myths to communicate the truth of virtue to Zach and Annie. Plato, the oldest, is a scholarly bison; Aurora, the most gentle, is a red-tailed hawk; Socrates "Sock" is a rambunctious bobcat; and Aristotle "Ari" is a prairie dog who is seldom without his bag of books. These four, whose existence seems a secret from the majority of humans in the town of Spring Valley, advise Annie and Zach patiently and often. The children then proceed to live according to the virtue of the day, completing what they have begun.
Cast
Principal voice actors
Frank Welker also voices Aegeus, Minotaur, Dharma, Mongal Dog, The Man, Frog Father, Billy Chipmunk and The Dog. Jim Cummings also voices Pythias, Camel, Ox, Genghis Khan, Mordecai, King Alfred, Arnot, King Richard III, Sir Jacques, Arthur Keller, Gardener, Miser, The Emperor ("Humility"), Mamuken, Nathaniel, Tommy Chickadee, Rollonde and Cyclops. Kath Soucie also voices Aunt Polly, George Washington, Queen Vashti, Joshua, Lars, Emma, Tiberius, Caius, Helen Keller, Dick, and Snake-Child.
In 2006, the first two seasons were overdubbed in Singapore at Studio Bizarro, with voice direction by Brian Zimmerman, Joseph Murray and Chuck Powers with all of them acting in it as well, alongside Denise Tan, Chio-Su Ping, and Brad Boyer. According to Powers, PorchLight could not afford to pay residual royalties to the celebrity voice actors in the region. The dub is available on recent DVD releases and TV airings on Qubo and the former BYUtv.
Guest stars
Adventures from the Book of Virtues featured prominent voice actors and celebrities on the series' 39 episodes, including the following:
Production
In June 1994, television producer Bruce D. Johnson, then an executive vice-president at Hanna-Barbera, was browsing through a bookstore in Washington, D.C. when he stumbled upon Bennett's 1993 book of moral tales, The Book of Virtues. Compelled by the book's themes, Johnson called Bennett with the idea of an animated television program for children based upon the book. According to Johnson:
"...I placed a cold call to William Bennett. To my surprise, he takes the call; to my chagrin, he informs me that 19 other companies have already approached him, including Disney, and that he was 'down the road' on a probable deal at that moment. Nevertheless, I inform him of my experience producing anthologies and express an interest in producing his book wherever it ended up. We have a pleasant conversation, and he offhandedly asks me to fax my resume to him. I do."
Johnson and Bennett eventually met and bonded over their shared dedication to children's television and moral philosophy. From there, the two agreed to begin production on what would become Adventures.
That same year in the 1994 midterm elections, the Republican Party won control of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate, giving the Party control of Congress for the first time in four decades. In January 1995, Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich expressed publicly his desire to "zero out" federal funding for PBS, stating, "Why would you say to some poor worker out here with three kids, 'We're now going to take your money and tax you for a program that you may never watch?'" As the debate over federal funding for public broadcasting was being waged in Congress, Johnson shopped the developing project around to various networks, hoping to find one that would air Adventures in a prime time slot. The final taker was PBS, who at first aired the series in prime time during its debut in September 1996, then gave the series a regular weekend timeslot in February 1997. Many conservative figures approved of PBS's pickup of the series. When asked whether PBS was attempting to appease Congressional Republicans by accepting a series developed by a well-regarded Reagan cabinet appointee, PBS President Ervin S. Duggan denied, stating, "We are not buying Bill Bennett's opinions... The series is not political at all." Adventures from the Book of Virtues went on to become the first animated series to air on PBS in primetime.
Episodes
Broadcast and home media releases
The series was originally aired as part of PBS' children's programming block from September 2, 1996 until the series finale in December 2000; an epilogue to the series would be released on home video in June 2001. Reruns of the series were broadcast on most PBS stations (some airing the series as a weekday strip) until September 4, 2005, and on the now-defunct Qubo from November 3, 2008 until September 24, 2017.
Turner Home Entertainment under license to PBS Home Video, released several videotapes of the series during 1996–1997. They were later re-released through Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. During 2008 and 2010, PorchLight Entertainment released several DVDs of the series. The series became available for streaming with the launch of Yippee in December 2019.