The Flying House, known in Japan as Tondera Hausu no Daibōken (トンデラハウスの大冒険, Adventures of the Flying House), is a Christian anime television series produced by Tatsunoko Productions broadcast between April 1982 and March 1983 on TV Tokyo,[1] and distributed by the Christian Broadcasting Network in the United States.[2] In 2010, the Christian Broadcasting Network made the 52 episodes available for viewing online.[3]
The Flying House | |
トンデラハウスの大冒険 (Tondera Hausu no Daibōken) | |
---|---|
Genre | Christian Animation |
Anime television series | |
Directed by | Masakazu Higuchi and Mineo Fuji |
Studio | Tatsunoko Productions |
Licensed by | |
Original network | TV Tokyo |
Original run | April 5, 1982 – March 28, 1983 |
Episodes | 52 |
At the same time, CBN and Tatsunoko also produced a related series, Superbook.[2]
In the Philippines, reruns of the show were broadcast on GMA Network in 1992 ZOE TV in 2000s and on ABS-CBN in 2015. The episodes are currently broadcast on Pop Life TV via digital free-to-air television BEAM TV. It was also broadcast on the Australian Christian Channel in Australia. It also aired on TBN UK & Ireland in United Kingdom and Ireland.
The series begins at the middle of a game of hide and seek, as a young boy named Justin Casey (Gen Adachi) finishes counting and begins searching for his friends, Angela "Angie" Roberts and her little brother Corwyn "Corky" Roberts (Kanna and Tsukubo Natsuyama). As he searches for Angie and Corky in a wooded area, a thunderstorm occurs. Justin manages to sneak up on the two before the rain starts pouring, forcing them to run for cover. They eventually find a spacecraft type house in the wooded area, previously unseen according to Justin. At first glance it appears that nobody is home, until they discover a clown-battery type android named Solar Ion Robot (Kadenchin), or S.I.R. for short. They soon meet the owner of the house, Professor Humphrey Bumble (Dr. Tokio Taimu), who introduces the children to his greatest creation, a half rocket, half house one of a kind time machine named The Flying House. Professor Bumble's attempt at recreating Benjamin Franklin's famous lightning experiment with the use of a bat looking kite flying outside the house to get the machine working leads to a temporary change in S.I.R.'s personality from being nice to mean and he goes berserk, before sending The Flying House in course to the past. Justin, Angie, Corky, and S.I.R. realize how long the journey back home will take due to Professor Bumble's misguidance and errors in time travel, but in the meantime they witness and participate (with little or no consequences) in numerous events of the Bible's New Testament, from the birth of John the Baptist to the rise of the Paul the Apostle. Eventually, they make it home exactly the same way they traveled into the past in the first place. S.I.R. gets a knock in the head which, again, makes him go from being nice to mean and go berserk and he attacks The Flying House. Ironically, S.I.R.'s berserkiness fixes it in such a way that it finally sends the whole crew back to their own time period, and the show ends, with S.I.R. changed back from being mean to nice by the end of the trip.
No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original release date | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | "Blast Off For the Past" | 1982 | |
The Flying House transports the group from the 20th century to 1st century Judaea. The kids witness the birth of John the Baptist. | ||||
2 | 2 | "Star-Spangled Night" | 1982 | |
In Bethlehem, at the manger, the kids witness the birth of Jesus. | ||||
3 | 3 | "Lost and Found in Time" | 1982 | |
At the Temple in Jerusalem, the kids witness the finding of the lost 12-year-old Jesus by Mary and Joseph. | ||||
4 | 4 | "Voice in the Wilderness" | 1982 | |
On the Jordan River, the kids witness the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist. | ||||
5 | 5 | "Speak of the Devil" | 1982 | |
In the wilderness, the kids witness the temptation of Jesus. | ||||
6 | 6 | "All That Glitters" | 1982 | |
In Capernaum, the kids witness Jesus calling Matthew, the tax collector, to be his disciple. | ||||
7 | 7 | "Military Secrets" | 1982 | |
In Capernaum, the kids witness Jesus healing the centurion's servant. | ||||
8 | 8 | "The Prize That Was Won and Lost" | 1982 | |
In Machaerus, the kids witness the execution and death of John the Baptist. | ||||
9 | 9 | "Another Life" | 1982 | |
In Capernaum, the kids witness Jesus raising Jairus' daughter from dead to life. | ||||
10 | 10 | "The Runaway" | 1982 | |
At the Sea of Galilee, the kids witness Jesus feeding the 5,000 people by multiplying five loaves and two fishes. | ||||
11 | 11 | "Neighbors" | 1982 | |
The kids listen to Jesus telling the parables of the Good Samaritan and the Unforgiving Servant. | ||||
12 | 12 | "Poor Little Rich Men" | 1982 | |
The kids listen to Jesus telling the parables of the Rich Fool and the Prodigal Son. | ||||
13 | 13 | "The Greatest" | 1982 | |
The kids witness the Twelve Apostles arguing who among them is the greatest. | ||||
14 | 14 | "Back From the Grave" | 1982 | |
In Bethany, the kids witness Jesus at the home of Martha and Mary and Jesus raising Martha's and Mary's brother Lazarus from dead to life. | ||||
15 | 15 | "Real Treasure" | 1982 | |
In Jericho, the kids witness the conversion of Zacchaeus the tax collector. | ||||
16 | 16 | "What If...?" | 1982 | |
The kids listen to Jesus telling the parables of the Unprofitable Servant and the Wise and the Foolish Builders. | ||||
17 | 17 | "The Lost Sheep" | 1982 | |
The kids listen to Jesus telling the parables of the Good Shepherd and the Workers in the Vineyard. | ||||
18 | 18 | "Sour Grapes" | 1982 | |
In Cana, the kids witness the first miracle of Jesus turning water into wine during a wedding. | ||||
19 | 19 | "Dog Gone" | 1982 | |
In the region of Tyre and Sidon, the kids witness Jesus healing the Syrophoenician woman's daughter. | ||||
20 | 20 | "Little Orphan Anna" | 1982 | |
At the Temple in Jerusalem, the kids witness Jesus telling the lesson about the poor widow's offering. | ||||
21 | 21 | "A Word to the Wise" | 1982 | |
The kids listen to Jesus telling the parables of the Unjust Judge and the Wedding Feast. | ||||
22 | 22 | "Judgement Day" | 1982 | |
The kids listen to Jesus telling the parables of the Rich man and Lazarus and the Unjust Steward. | ||||
23 | 23 | "Possessed" | 1982 | |
In the region of the Gerasenes, the kids witness Jesus healing the Gadarene Demoniac. | ||||
24 | 24 | "Over the Hill" | 1982 | |
The kids witness Jesus cleansing ten lepers. | ||||
25 | 25 | "True Friends" | 1982 | |
In Capernaum, the kids witness Jesus healing a paralytic. | ||||
26 | 26 | "Devil's Gate" | 1982 | |
In Nain, the kids witness Jesus raising the widow's son from dead to life. |
The Flying House was available on VHS by Tyndale; all 52 episodes were released over 26 VHS cassettes. A DVD volume of The Flying House was released by Vision Video in 2006, featuring the first four episodes. In 2010, the Christian Broadcasting Network made the 52 episodes available for viewing online.[3] The series also airs on the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) and its children's subchannel Smile.