A Canadian animated version, JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH, clearly reflected an enormous debt to the 1959 movie, while adding fresh permutations of its own. Directed by Laura Shepherd, it ran approximately 40 minutes and was produced by Phoenix Animation Studios for Blye Mijicovsky Productions, but had only very limited showings through Catalyst Distribution, Inc.
As written by Mark Shekter and Robert Sandler, with Shekter supplying original songs and lyrics, the story is set in London in 1897. Professor Otto Lidenbrock believes that a network of passageways exist beneath the surface, as proposed centuries ago by Arne Saknussemm. An Icelandic rock expelled from an Italian volcano reveals an engraved message from Saknussemm explaining the route. Lidenbrock refuses to allow his daughter Alexa (or her articulate and verbose pet mouse Hercules) to accompany him. When Alexa is nearly run over by Doctor Greed, who mocked her father's beliefs, she blurts out Lidenbrock's discovery. Greed decides to follow Lidenbrock, and ultimately destroy him to secure his own fortune and fame, and orders Gower, an orphan boy living in terror under Greed's supposed protection, to spy on Alexa. Instead, he joins her as a stowaway on the steamer carrying Lidenbrock to Iceland.
Each group in turn uses the arrows and initials of Arne Saknussemm to guide them on their path, until Greed changes them (like Saknussemm in the 1959 version) and Hercules brings Lidenbrock to save Alexa and Gower from quicksand. Arriving at the shore of the sea Lidenbrock names for himself, and an underground version of the aurora borealis emanates from the phosphorus in the rocks. Their raft is carried along by a giant turtle emerging on the surface. Seconds later, a Loch Ness monster-type sea creature is killed after a brief combat with a giant shark. A violent storm breaks out, sending Alexa overboard. Gower fearlessly dives in to save her, apparently losing his own life when he all are drawn into a giant whirlpool.
Lidenbrock and Alexa awake on a distant shore, but Hercules finds a key with Arne Saknussemm's initials on it. The key opens the door to a temple that contains a lodestone that Lidenbrock says is the true center of the Earth, along with a bounty of gems that dazzle Greed, who has appeared suddenly. When a volcanic eruption begins, Greed refuses to join Lidenbrock, Alexa, and Gower in an alter stone that safely conveys them up to the surface.
Logic is openly defied; Alexa and Gower forget to bring water when they begin their descent, and Gower brings the lodestone to the surface without any harm to the Earth's central balance. The other changes are largely innocuous; Lidenbrock becoming parent instead of uncle is negligible, and shifting Alex to Alexa brings in the necessary female participation without adding a fresh, unnecessary character. The finding of a true family, and love, for the orphan boy Gower is a typical plot device of children's stories. Interspersing the narrative at frequent intervals are effective fades from a scene to a similar picture on the page in a book, which then turns over to reveal a new picture, as narration helps to bridge one plot development to the next, and provide a momentary respite from the action. The songs actually do serve to advance the plot, and are presented with montages of imaginary scenes. Only in the fact that Hercules far more clearly resembles a chipmunk than a mouse is the animation at fault; the style is simple, but sufficient, in a lifelike vein.
As written by Mark Shekter and Robert Sandler, with Shekter supplying original songs and lyrics, the story is set in London in 1897. Professor Otto Lidenbrock believes that a network of passageways exist beneath the surface, as proposed centuries ago by Arne Saknussemm. An Icelandic rock expelled from an Italian volcano reveals an engraved message from Saknussemm explaining the route. Lidenbrock refuses to allow his daughter Alexa (or her articulate and verbose pet mouse Hercules) to accompany him. When Alexa is nearly run over by Doctor Greed, who mocked her father's beliefs, she blurts out Lidenbrock's discovery. Greed decides to follow Lidenbrock, and ultimately destroy him to secure his own fortune and fame, and orders Gower, an orphan boy living in terror under Greed's supposed protection, to spy on Alexa. Instead, he joins her as a stowaway on the steamer carrying Lidenbrock to Iceland.
Each group in turn uses the arrows and initials of Arne Saknussemm to guide them on their path, until Greed changes them (like Saknussemm in the 1959 version) and Hercules brings Lidenbrock to save Alexa and Gower from quicksand. Arriving at the shore of the sea Lidenbrock names for himself, and an underground version of the aurora borealis emanates from the phosphorus in the rocks. Their raft is carried along by a giant turtle emerging on the surface. Seconds later, a Loch Ness monster-type sea creature is killed after a brief combat with a giant shark. A violent storm breaks out, sending Alexa overboard. Gower fearlessly dives in to save her, apparently losing his own life when he all are drawn into a giant whirlpool.
Lidenbrock and Alexa awake on a distant shore, but Hercules finds a key with Arne Saknussemm's initials on it. The key opens the door to a temple that contains a lodestone that Lidenbrock says is the true center of the Earth, along with a bounty of gems that dazzle Greed, who has appeared suddenly. When a volcanic eruption begins, Greed refuses to join Lidenbrock, Alexa, and Gower in an alter stone that safely conveys them up to the surface.
Logic is openly defied; Alexa and Gower forget to bring water when they begin their descent, and Gower brings the lodestone to the surface without any harm to the Earth's central balance. The other changes are largely innocuous; Lidenbrock becoming parent instead of uncle is negligible, and shifting Alex to Alexa brings in the necessary female participation without adding a fresh, unnecessary character. The finding of a true family, and love, for the orphan boy Gower is a typical plot device of children's stories. Interspersing the narrative at frequent intervals are effective fades from a scene to a similar picture on the page in a book, which then turns over to reveal a new picture, as narration helps to bridge one plot development to the next, and provide a momentary respite from the action. The songs actually do serve to advance the plot, and are presented with montages of imaginary scenes. Only in the fact that Hercules far more clearly resembles a chipmunk than a mouse is the animation at fault; the style is simple, but sufficient, in a lifelike vein.
