The Flying House

Infobox animanga/Header
name = The Flying House


caption =
ja_name = タイム教室トンデラハウスの大冒険
ja_name_trans = Time Kyoshitsu: Tondera House no Daiboken
genre = Historical, Science fictionInfobox animanga/Anime
title =
director = Masakazu Higuchi and Mineo Fuji
studio = Tatsunoko Productions
network = TV Tokyo
first = April 5, 1982
last = March 28, 1983
episodes = 52

"The Flying House", full title nihongo|"Time Classroom, Adventures of The Flying House"|タイム教室トンデラハウスの大冒険|Time Kyoshitsu: Tondera House no Daiboken, is an anime television series produced by Tatsunoko Productions in Japan in conjunction with the Christian Broadcasting Network in the United States.

It was the companion series to "Superbook", as it chronicles the events of the Bible's New Testament in 52 episodes in its first run from April 5, 1982 to March 28, 1983.

The series was broadcast on TV Tokyo, CBN Cable (now ABC Family), and in syndication. It was previously seen on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, but is currently off the schedule. It is currently shown on TBN's Smile of a Child network, it is also currently airing on the NRB Network (National Religious Broadcasters).

It is generally not as well-known as "Superbook", despite achieving high ratings in Japan, and is often mistakenly thought to be part of the "Superbook" series itself, when in fact the series had different lead characters although a similar premise (and almost the same voice cast, at least in the English version).

The Story

The series began in the middle of a game of hide and seek, as a young boy named Justin Casey (Gen) finishes counting and begins searching for his friends Angela (usually called "Angie") and Corkey Roberts (Kanna and Tsukubo Natsuyama). As he searched for the brother and sister in the wooded area, a storm occurred all of a sudden. Justin managed to sneak up on the two before the rain started pouring, forcing them to run for cover. They would eventually find a house in the wooded area, previously unseen according to Justin. At first glance it appeared nobody was home after entering the house, until they discovered a robot named Solar Ion Robot (Kadenchin), or the acronym SIR. They would soon meet the owner of the house, Professor Humphrey Bumble (Dr. Tokio Taimu), who introduced the children to his greatest creation, a time machine. Professor Bumble's attempt at recreating Benjamin Franklin's famous lightning experiment with the use of a kite flying outside the house to get the machine working only led up to SIR's temporary change in personality before sending the entire house on course for the past. The children never realized how long the journey back home would be due to Professor Bumble's misguidance and errors in time travel, but in the meantime they witnessed and participated (with little or no consequences) in numerous events in the Bible's New Testament, from John the Baptist's birth to the rise of the Apostle Paul.

Eventually, they make it home the exact same way they traveled into the past in the first place. SIR gets a knock in the head which, again, makes him go berserk and attack the time-machine. Ironicly, this attack fixes it in such a way that it finally sends the whole crew back to their own time period, and the show ends, (with SIR having reverted back to normal by the end of the trip).

English and Japanese Cast

English

*Billie Lou Watt
*Hal Studer
*Helena Van Cort
*Ray Owens
*Sonia Owens

Japanese

*Satomi Majima (Gen/Justin Casey)
*Sanae Takagi (Kanna Natsuyama/Angela Roberts)
*Runa Akiyama (Tsukubo Natsuyama/Corkey Roberts)
*Kyoko Tongu (Kandenchin/SIR)
*Yoshito Yasuhara (Dr. Tokio Taimu/Professor Humphrey Bumble)
*Jun Hazumi (Jesus Christ)

Episode List (English Titles)

1. Blast Off For the Past

2. Star-Spangled Night

3. Lost and Found in Time

4. Voice in the Wilderness

5. Speak of the Devil

6. All That Glitters

7. Military Secrets

8. The Prize That Was Won and Lost

9. Another Life

10. The Runaway

11. Neighbors

12. Poor Little Rich Men

13. The Greatest

14. Back From the Grave

15. Real Treasure

16. What If

17. The Lost Sheep

18. Sour Grapes

19. Dog Gone

20. Little Orpan Anna

21. A Word to the Wise

22. Judgement Day

23. Possessed

24. Over the Hill

25. True Friends

26. Devil's Gate

27. Well, Well, Well?

28. Left Holding the Bag

29. Who Among You?

30. Oil and Water

31. A Special Secret

32. Midnight Callers

33. What's it worth?

34. Fruitless

35. Fit For a King

36. The Secret Agent

37. The Preparation

38. Betrayed

39. Who's in Charge

40. The Crown of Thorns

41. Golgotha

42. The Empty Tomb

43. With You Always

44. The Prison Break

45. Good Riddance

46. The Blinding Light

47. Bound & Rebound

48. Tender Grapes

49. Shipwrecked

50. Snake Bite

51. Heartbreak

52. Homeward Bound

Other titles

*Danish: "Det flyvende hus"
*Spanish: "La Casa Voladora"
*Hebrew: "הבית המעופף"
*Polish: "Latający dom"

DVD/VHS Releases

The series has been partially released on video in the United States, but those videos are now out of print.

Spanish versions of The Flying House are still available at some Christian bookstores.

CBN Animation Studios has now re-released the English series on DVD on May 2006. "The Flying House Volume 1" includes the first four episodes of the show. ("Blast Off For The Past," "Star-Spangled Night," "Lost And Found In Time," and "Voice In The Wilderness").

The entire 52 episodes of The Flying House have been released on DVD in Japan by Word of Life Press Ministries, who sponsored the original Japanese broadcast of the show. [http://www.wlpm.or.jp/cgi-bin/d/e_video.cgi?keys28=34&keys23=Flying+House&keys25=&keys27=&IDn001=and&IDv001= Word of Life Press DVD List] has information on the releases.

Trivia

*The Flying House series as a whole is ranked #3 on [http://www.azplace.com/topchristiantoons.html The Top 8 Christian Cartoon Series List] .

* Fusako Fujimoto wrote the show's original theme song, "Tondera House no Daibouken" ("The Great Adventures of the Flying House"). Fujimoto had previously performed the ending theme to the first Superbook series, "Yukai na Nakamatachi" ("My Merry Friends").

See also

*Superbook

External links

* [http://www.smileofachildtv.org/watch/schedule_programs.php?p=11 Airtimes on Smile of a Child]
* [http://www.tbn.org/index.php/2/4/p/118.html Airtimes on TBN]
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083417/ The Flying House at the Internet Movie Database]
* [http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=3650 The Flying House at Anime News Network]
* [http://christiancartoons.blogspot.com/2008/01/flying-house-christian-anime-animation.html The Flying House] at [http://christiancartoons.blogspot.com/ Christian Cartoons Online]
* [http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=1111 Superbook at Anime News Network]
* [http://www.wlpm.or.jp/cgi-bin/d/e_video.cgi?keys8=New&keys28=34 Japanese Releases of Superbook on DVD]
* [http://www.azplace.com/tv.html Christian Anime Page]