B.C.: The First Thanksgiving

• Directed by Abe Levitow
• November 19, 1973 (US)
• Based on the strip by John Hart
• NBC

Voice Cast

• B.C., Clumsy-Daws Butler
• Peter, Thor-Don Messick
• Wiley, Grog-Bob Holt
• Fat Broad, Cute Chick-Joanie Sommers

A turkey is needed to flavor a soup. I guess that is enough of a connection to make this a Thanksgiving special.

The internet never forgets. B.C.: The First Thanksgiving is a remembered-by-the-internet-but-forgotten-by-the-public animated Thanksgiving special. Perhaps it is because the newspaper is not the info source it once was. Perhaps the reason it’s forgotten is because it’s really hard to connect this special to Thanksgiving. I understand given the setting of the comic strip and all that it might be a little anachronistic but it’s a cartoon that doesn’t take itself seriously to begin with.

B.C., the main character of the strip, accidentally discovers fire and somehow that leads to trying to eat a turkey that spends a whole special evading capture. That’s the story. A rather thin connecting thread. This is more a series of gags linked by the vague turkey quest than it is a holiday special.

If anything, B.C.: The First Thanksgiving exists simply to introduce the B.C. characters to animation like some type of backdoor pilot. Most of this special when it comes to the characters is just sound effects with those we see onscreen often functioning wordlessly. It makes the special more accessible but also does very little to communicate the season which this is supposed to be involved with.

It doesn’t try for a halfhearted message either. That makes it a little disappointing for me. I like my holiday specials to be a little more holiday oriented. This could’ve taken place at any point during the year. Thanksgiving is not important to the plot. It’s entertaining but it’s just not very Thanksgiving centered. This could have happened on Arbor Day, October 21, or any random day.

The animation is fine for the era. It’s smooth, and it mimics the comic strip accurately. They didn’t dress things up too much. You are left with the feel of the strip if you are aware of it. But that just makes it feel like a pilot.

As far as I know B.C.: The First Thanksgiving is available only in varying forms on YouTube. For entertainment purposes it’s not bad but as a Thanksgiving special it leaves a lot to be desired.