This episode of Liberty's Kids attempts to tell the story of Nathan Hale's death in 20 minutes. Does it succeed? Well...almost.
Like every episode of the show, it will do a great job at entertaining the kids with its jokes and characters. Adults might find the cast interesting, and the animation is fine. The really big problem with this episode is how it contorts history to fit its characters in.
I know this isn't the only episode of Liberty's Kids to do this ("The Boston Tea Party," for example), but at least you could probably make good excuses for the other episodes. This one, however, completely makes up this story of how Nathan Hale was captured when he mistook some British sailors for Americans. This story is not only unsupported by any historical accounts, but it also unnecessarily makes Hale look dumber then he really was. Why do they make up this almost entirely ahistorical story? Oh, they do it for a perfectly good reason: so they can have a joke about the two fictional main characters pretending to be engaged. Seriously.
Maybe it's just me, but I don't think a joke, no matter how funny, is worth rewriting history in a show meant to teach kids about history. Children are too young to figure out when a show is making things up or not. Any kids watching this episode will likely spend at least several years of their lives thinking, "That's how Nathan Hale was captured." I understand that creative license is in about every work of historical fiction, but there is a limit, and I believe this episode crosses it.
My recommendation: if you are a parent or relative of a child watching this, research the real story of Nathan Hale and tell it to him/her. If they can handle this episode, I guarantee they can handle the real story.
Like every episode of the show, it will do a great job at entertaining the kids with its jokes and characters. Adults might find the cast interesting, and the animation is fine. The really big problem with this episode is how it contorts history to fit its characters in.
I know this isn't the only episode of Liberty's Kids to do this ("The Boston Tea Party," for example), but at least you could probably make good excuses for the other episodes. This one, however, completely makes up this story of how Nathan Hale was captured when he mistook some British sailors for Americans. This story is not only unsupported by any historical accounts, but it also unnecessarily makes Hale look dumber then he really was. Why do they make up this almost entirely ahistorical story? Oh, they do it for a perfectly good reason: so they can have a joke about the two fictional main characters pretending to be engaged. Seriously.
Maybe it's just me, but I don't think a joke, no matter how funny, is worth rewriting history in a show meant to teach kids about history. Children are too young to figure out when a show is making things up or not. Any kids watching this episode will likely spend at least several years of their lives thinking, "That's how Nathan Hale was captured." I understand that creative license is in about every work of historical fiction, but there is a limit, and I believe this episode crosses it.
My recommendation: if you are a parent or relative of a child watching this, research the real story of Nathan Hale and tell it to him/her. If they can handle this episode, I guarantee they can handle the real story.
