Adventures of the Black Stallion

Infobox Television
show_name = Adventures of The Black Stallion


caption = Season 1 DVD cover
genre = Adventure/Family
audio_format =
runtime = 30 minutes
creator =
developer =
producer = Jonathan Hackett
executive_producer = Tom Parkinson
starring = Mickey Rooney, Richard Ian Cox
theme_music_composer = Terry Frewer
opentheme = We Know the Wind
endtheme = We Know the Wind (instrumental)
country = Canada / France / New Zealand
location = Canada / France / New Zealand
language = English
network = The Family Channel
first_aired = September 15, 1990
last_aired = May 16, 1993
num_seasons = 3
num_episodes = 78
list_episodes =
related = The Black Stallion
The Black Stallion Returns
imdb_id = 0098754
tv_com_id = 5000

"Adventures of The Black Stallion" is a television series that was loosely based on the movies "The Black Stallion" (1979) and "The Black Stallion Returns" (1983). The series originally ran on The Family Channel from 1990 to 1993 before cancellation. It has since been shown in re-runs throughout the world.

Most of the episodes are set around Canada. During the second and third season, the show moves away from the farm, and has many episodes set in New Zealand, Paris and the US. The Adventures of The Black Stallion was a Canada/France/New Zealand co-production and was filmed on location in British Columbia, Canada, as well as France and New Zealand.

ynopsis

The show follows the life of 15-year-old horse racer Alec Ramsay, his wild stallion The Black, and their trainer Henry Daily. In the series, Alec's father died before the series start, leaving Alec and his mother to run Hopeful Farm. The show focuses both on life at Hopeful Farm and on the racing circuit. During the first season, most of the races are unprofessional circuit races and match races because The Black's an unpapered horse, meaning there is no proof of his lineage. During the second season, The Black's history is uncovered and Alec is able to obtain his papers, allowing him to be raced on the professional circuits around the world.

The series maintained that Alec was the only one who can ride The Black, and that The Black almost never lost a race. He is known for having a violent temper with anyone besides Alec, though he does allow some people around the farm to hold his halter and lead him around, most notably Henry. He only seems to do grudgingly, however, and tends to be far less tolerant of others if Alec isn't around to keep him under control. To help keep the high-string horse calm at the track, the gelding Napoleon is frequently taken on the road with them.

Characters

*Mickey Rooney as Henry Dailey
*Richard Ian Cox as Alec Ramsay
*Marianne Filali as Nicole Berthier (Season 2-3)
*Michele Goodger as Belle Ramsey (Season 1)
*Virginie Demains as Catherine Varnier (Season 1)
*Jean-Paul Solal as Pierre Chastel (Season 1)
*David Taylor as Nathaniel 'Nate' MacKay (Season 3)
*Docs Keepin Time as The Black

Reception

In 1991, the series was nominated for a Young Artist Award in the "Best Off-Prime Time or Cable Family Series" category, and while it lost to "Harry and the Hendersons", Richard Ian Cox won the award for the "Best Young Actor Starring in an Off-Prime Time or Cable Family Series" category. [cite web |url=http://www.youngartistawards.org/pastnoms13.htm |title=13th Annual Awards |publisher=Young Artist Awards |accessdate=2008-02-22 ] Cox was nominated again in 1992 for the "Best Young Actor Starring in a Cable Series" category. [cite web |url=http://www.youngartistawards.org/pastnoms14.htm |title=14th Annual Awards |publisher=Young Artist Awards |accessdate=2008-02-22 ] In the same year, Mickey Rooney was nominated for a Gemini Award in the category of "Best Performance by an Actor in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role" for his portrayal of Henry Daily. [cite web |url=http://academy.ca/hist/history.cfm?categid=9503&shownum=6&winonly=0&awards=2&rtype=5&curstep=4 |title=Canadian Awards History Search: 6th Geminis - Best Performance by an Actor in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role |publisher=Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television |accessdate=2008-02-22 ]

Episode list

When the show was first aired, many of the episodes were shown out of production order, especially in during the first season.

eason 3: 1992-1993

DVD releases

The first DVD releases for "The Adventures of the Black Stallion" came from Sterling Entertainment. The first, titled "The Black Stallion" was released on December 3, 2002 and contained the first five episodes of the second season of the series. The second release, "Return of the Black Stallion" was released on February 1, 2005 and contained the next five episodes of the second season. Many people were bothered by these releases because their names mimic those of the original movies from 1979 and 1983, causing confusion as to what the DVDs contained. [cite web |url=http://tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=3047 |publisher=TVShowsOnDVD.com |title=The Black Stallion DVD news: February releases are from TV Series, not from films |date=2005-03-05 |accessdate=2008-02-22 |first=David |last=Lambert ]

On December 5, 2006 Echo Bridge Entertainment released the all twenty-six episodes of the first season to DVD in the form of a four-disc digipak season box set. The episodes are in their original production order, rather than by air date, and the set includes on extras with only limited chapter stops. The set also has issues with the subtitling, where they run over a minute ahead of the audio track on episode 123. A second season set was released on May 8, 2007, using a similar format to the first set with the embossed slip cover and digipak packaging. It contains all twenty-six episodes of the second season, again in production order and with no extras.

References

;General
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;Specific

External links

*imdb title|id=0098754|title=The Adventures of The Black Stallion
*tv.com show|id=5000|title=The Adventures of The Black Stallion