For me this is one of the most intriguing chapters in American Animation History.
In the early 80s Businessman Tom Carter founded an eponymous animation company. He hired a murder's row of experienced animation talent including Leo Sullivan, Floyd Norman, Scott Shaw! and many others. The goal was to produce Animated Films and shows that harkened back to the golden age of Disney, the studio itself being in a bit of a downswing. Some parallels can be drawn to what Don Bluth and Gary Goldman were doing at the time, the difference being that they were able to successfully produce films, but we're getting ahead of ourselves.
Their signature production was to be Huck's Landing, a world inspired by, but legally distinct from!, the writing of Mark Twain. It was to be introduced to the world in a theatrical film, but plans went far beyond that, including a comic strip, a Christmas special, and even a theme park, plans for the later being particularly advanced. Some merchandising for Huck's Landing has made it out there, whether it was sold to the public or not, such as a carrying bag.
The film was never made because...well you can read up on that yourself. To get the full story check out this Cartoon Research article. There is also a chapter on Tom Carter Productions in the book Cartoon Confidential by Jim Korkis and John Cawley
A YouTuber named M. Acrylic recently won a lot of VHS tapes and other material related to the production, and has uploaded some of the recorded material to their channel. This is a real range of material including Scratch Tapes and Home Videos of the studio; of most interest to me are the animatics, which is the closest we'll probably come to seeing any of the film.
For what it's worth Tom Carter has a new company called 34th Street Entertainment, with a site that claims Huck's Landing is still in production.
Another project Tom Carter Productions were working on were theatrical shorts based on the character of Kissyfur, a character animator Phil Mendez had created to entertain his youngest son. These never came to fruition, but they did eventually become a series of Prime Time specials and two seasons on Saturday Morning produced by DiC, so something came of it.
In the early 80s Businessman Tom Carter founded an eponymous animation company. He hired a murder's row of experienced animation talent including Leo Sullivan, Floyd Norman, Scott Shaw! and many others. The goal was to produce Animated Films and shows that harkened back to the golden age of Disney, the studio itself being in a bit of a downswing. Some parallels can be drawn to what Don Bluth and Gary Goldman were doing at the time, the difference being that they were able to successfully produce films, but we're getting ahead of ourselves.
Their signature production was to be Huck's Landing, a world inspired by, but legally distinct from!, the writing of Mark Twain. It was to be introduced to the world in a theatrical film, but plans went far beyond that, including a comic strip, a Christmas special, and even a theme park, plans for the later being particularly advanced. Some merchandising for Huck's Landing has made it out there, whether it was sold to the public or not, such as a carrying bag.
The film was never made because...well you can read up on that yourself. To get the full story check out this Cartoon Research article. There is also a chapter on Tom Carter Productions in the book Cartoon Confidential by Jim Korkis and John Cawley
A YouTuber named M. Acrylic recently won a lot of VHS tapes and other material related to the production, and has uploaded some of the recorded material to their channel. This is a real range of material including Scratch Tapes and Home Videos of the studio; of most interest to me are the animatics, which is the closest we'll probably come to seeing any of the film.
For what it's worth Tom Carter has a new company called 34th Street Entertainment, with a site that claims Huck's Landing is still in production.
Another project Tom Carter Productions were working on were theatrical shorts based on the character of Kissyfur, a character animator Phil Mendez had created to entertain his youngest son. These never came to fruition, but they did eventually become a series of Prime Time specials and two seasons on Saturday Morning produced by DiC, so something came of it.
