Okay, like the majority of other ABC Weekend Specials, this is among those that were before my time, so I missed out on watching it by the time I rarely got to check out any of the series. As usual, Youtube is one of my go-to-video-sites to catch up on whatever past things I missed viewing that intrigued me and I did just that yet again with this ABC Weekend Special less than a month ago. I've got to agree with the person who reviewed this before me. Not only is this one of the better cartoons of the '80s, but of all time, a true classic. As much detestation as the Hanna-Barbera company/studio had received by many for its stylized art and limited animation (among other reasons, though there had been much worse animation companies/studios from what I read about, e.g. Video Brinquedo), my point is it's hard to believe this televised cartoon adaptation of a book was made by that same company/studio. Granted, it's really Hanna-Barbera Australia, an international subsidiary or a spin-off branch of the original, American one, but still. Therefore, it's nice to see that the quality of its animation produced was stepped up eventually and there's proof that it was finally capable of making great animation, and not always inferior to certain other companies/studios, such as, say, Disney. Pre-dating Walt Disney Television Animation's Adventures of the Gummi Bears by a couple years, it's evident that higher quality animation made for t.v. is possible. Despite never having actually read the book to make comparisons and contrasts, I still commend the H-B studio for doing what I consider a job well-done on this adaptation, it has become another of my beloved favorites.
This story begins at the home of five siblings whose names all start with the letter p from oldest to youngest: Penny, Pamela, Peter, Patsy, and Pollywog. They own a dog named Yukie and a cat named Earless. What else all the kids have in common is spending free time reading comic books and playing pretend. Because their mother is very occupied with multitasking and her daughters and sons can be a handful at times, especially the youngest, she has them keep an eye on Pollywog and include him in their games, and while the older siblings are painting a playhouse. For some time, various items have gone missing from their home and it's later discovered that a green gremlin named OG and others were the ones who had been collecting them, and taking them back to their world. When Pollywog gets kidnapped, the other siblings have to go rescue him. After entering the underground passage, they later on learn that the gremlins have been taking things from the kids' home, because they use them for role-playing in their imaginations. They were also inspired to take up playing pretend from the comic books. This also became how the gremlins spent their time, as before they got into the imaginative spirit, they had nothing to do and things were so dull. But they have since relieved their boredom thanks to their inspiration for playtime.
There have been productions in which H-B had outdone itself and this one is no exception. I read on here that this ABC Weekend Special was released as an individual DVD. And after seeing it, I'd like to own a copy myself and I wish I could, but can't at the moment due to problems getting in the way of my plans. I read that another adaptation of the story was made into a t.v. series. I love the special so much I wish H-B's version had been expanded into a t.v. series and it should've been, so that there would've been more adventures. There may be imaginary things, but as the kids find out, the green gremlins aren't one of them. What the lesson of this story gets across, I think, is never underestimating the power of imagination, but don't overestimate it as well. Because reality can be a great thing too. To those who may be reading this and haven't seen it already yet, I say go for it. An example of high quality t.v. entertainment in every way and amongst the better things than the majority of what are airing today.
