The Kingdom Chums: Little Davids Adventure

Plot

A boy named Peter, his sister Mary Ann, and his Jewish classmate Sauli are students of the All Nations School. One day at the school, bullies pick on Sauli and throw his yarmulke away. While trying to get it, Sauli accidentally knocks over a box that Mary Ann is keeping her pet bird in. Thinking he has killed it, he feels worried when the children reach home.

A strange, bright constellation suddenly appears in the sky outside their window. Peter consults his computer for the formation, but finds out it does not exist. After Mary Ann takes a look for herself, she uses a pen to reveal the word "LOVE" on the screen. Eventually, the lights swarm inside and bring her stuffed toys to life—Little David, the Raccoon of Courage; Christopher, the Lion of Love; and Magical Mose, the Tiger of Joy. No sooner do the creatures appear inside the computer than the children are zapped into it.

Peter, Mary Ann and Sauli end up being animated characters, and the animals introduce themselves as the Kingdom Chums. Following a magical beam called the "Love Light", the children travel to ancient Israel with David, one of the Chums. The raccoon enacts his Biblical namesake, gets into battle with his fellow Israelites, and is granted a challenge from King Saul (who is portrayed as a lion) to fight against the giant warthog, Goliath.

David prepares his slingshot with some stones, and faces the tall Philistine foe. He throws one of the stones upon Goliath's forehead, and the giant crushes down to the ground. Peter, Sauli and Mary Ann are about to cheer for David's victory, but then his brothers suddenly chase after them. A rainbow carries the group back to Christopher and Mose, who return them back to where they started.

The children realize that only one minute has passed in the real world since their adventure began. Thanks to her faith (and her toys), Mary Ann is delighted to see her bird alive. As Sauli heads to his apartment for dinner, he manages to face his bullies with his own faith and overcome them.

Production

Kingdom Chums: Little David's Adventure was conceived by Squire Rushnell, who was the vice-president of the ABC network's children's programming department. In the early 1980s, Rushnell wrote a book version of the special, which took him at least six years to develop; he even took on the duty by himself after three writers failed to produce a satisfactory draft. Rushnell managed to devote a week of his time towards this task, while he and his wife were awaiting a son. While writing the book, he removed several religious allusions in case they could offend potential audiences; this led him to comment, "[ABC's] Standards and Practices people white-knuckle over this sort of thing. The first thing they say is, 'It's not dogmatic, is it?'" Despite having no literary ambitions, Rushnell reasoned, "My feeling on this property at the beginning was [that] we should legitimize it as a book before it became a television property." The publishing division of Word Inc., a Christian media firm then owned by ABC, released the book in June 1986. Another three titles, focusing on Esther, Miriam and the resurrection of Jesus, were in the works.

During development, Rushnell was influenced by Disney animated movies such as 1973's Robin Hood, and modeled the All Nations School after New York City's United Nations International School. He based two of the animal characters on Bible characters—Christopher after Jesus, and Magical Mose on Moses. He also toned down the climax of the original David and Goliath story, in which David decapitates his enemy. Along with bookending live-action segments, the special also featured animation work from DIC Entertainment. The animation unit's director, Bernard Deyriès, was previously among the major crew of 1985's Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer. The songs, composed by Sesame Street's Joe Raposo, included "Greatest Stories of All", "Child of God" and "Your Love Makes Me Strong".

Release and reception

The Kingdom Chums special premiered on ABC on November 28, 1986, at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time, pre-empting Webster and Mr. Belvedere. In the Nielsen ratings, it was among the lowest-ranked programs during the week of November 24–30 (out of 70 tracked), along with another family special, Disney's Fluppy Dogs. Little David's Adventure came in at 66th place with an 8.6 rating.

Reporting on the special in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Noel Holston gave a negative response:

The inclusion of the religious elements notwithstanding, Little David's Adventure is an expurgated retelling of the story. Although it does show Goliath's fall, it's unclear whether he's dead or just knocked out. The general absence of violence is faithful neither to this particular story nor the times, yet this is an instance where showing violence would not be exploitative. How ironic that ABC would subject a Bible story to stricter standards than, say, its Saturday morning Ghostbusters cartoons.

... Many viewers who believe in God probably will not be thrilled to see the story of David and Goliath reduced to the insipid level of The Care Bears, The Wuzzles or any of the dozen other animated series that specialize in mild homilies. Inasmuch as the Bible stories have enduring theological and literary significance, I'm not sure children are served by Rushnell's sincere but condescending approach.

Alan Bunce of The Christian Science Monitor gave a mixed review. "Creatively, the program easily qualifies as high-quality children's entertainment," he wrote. "But reaction to the message will also depend on a viewer's individual tolerance of the show's free-wheeling treatment of religious themes, and its use of fantasy, magic, and symbolism in delivering Judeo-Christian messages. These flow through the dialogue and the show's bouncy musical numbers." Robert Bianco of the Pittsburgh Press was concerned over the depiction of Bible characters as animals, and their merchandising potential thereof. On the character of David, he wrote, "... I suppose [he] has suffered greater indignities than being turned into a religious Care Bear." The Hollywood magazine Variety (in its December 10, 1986 issue) thought it was ill-suited as a network show for children, and remarked that the "Plodding story has too little action or humor or plot to keep many kids entertained". In 1989, Texe Marrs referred to Little David's Adventure as "sacilegious and New Age to the hilt." The special received a positive review from Dale and Karen Mason, the authors of 1996's How to Get the Best Out of TV Before It Gets the Best Out of You.

Sequel

From the time of Kingdom Chums' initial broadcast, ABC planned several follow-up specials along with a regular series. One of the planned specials involved a bear named Princess Essie, in an adaptation of the story of Esther; another was to be based on the New Testament. By late 1987, the network looked into partnering with The Walt Disney Company on a series of hour-long episodes. Instead, Little David's Adventure was followed by a 1990 video sequel, Original Top Ten. A new animation team, headed by Rick Reinert, worked on the production; this time, there were no live-action segments. It also aired in April 1992, and again in April 1993, as part of the ABC Weekend Specials anthology.