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WISHBONE: BARK THAT BARK (TV)

Summary

One in this children's series in which an intelligent canine named Wishbone imagines himself in a unique version of a classic tale that parallels the life of his owner, a youth named Joe. David's uncle Homer is putting on a benefit show to raise money for the Oakdale Historical Society wherein he will be telling tales from African folklore. Wishbone draws inspiration from the African folk figure Anansi in trying to steal food from Ellen. David is in charge of coordinating the event, and scrambles to try to fix the many technical issues cropping up, refusing offers of help from anyone else. While David is attempting to fix the wiring on the auditorium's audio system, Homer tells Joe, Sam, and Wishbone a story about Anansi, with Wishbone imagining himself as the title character. Anansi, son of the sky god, is a spider trickster who lives atop the Tree of Life. Although very clever, he commands no respect, and no once comes to ask him for help with their problems. Everyone in the world was given a little bit of wisdom, represented by a certain kind of flower. To gain attention, Anansi decides to collect all the wisdom in the world so that everyone will come to him with their problems. He tricks the people of the world out of their wisdom and tries to carry it up the Tree of Life in a calabash, but it proves to be too bulky until a little girl gives him advice on how to transport it. Anansi is frustrated; although he possesses all of the world's wisdom, a child proved to be smarter than him. He decides to release the captured wisdom back to the world. In doing so, some people gain enough wisdom to sprout wings and fly. Back in reality, David's wiring job accidentally ends up shorting out the building's entire electrical system. It seems that the show cannot be held there, and another venue can't be found, meaning that the show may have to be cancelled. David feels responsible for his mistake and refuses to leave his room. Joe and Wishbone visit him to try to raise his spirits, but cannot do so. Homer and Sam enter, asking him to lend his aid in fixing the problem. However, David no longer feels confident in his ability and believes he will only make another mistake. Homer tries to change David's mind by telling him another story. This one concerns Baba, meaning "father," and his son Wana, meaning "son," representations of the bond shared between all people. Wishbone imagines himself in the role of Wana as he flies around on the wings granted by the bestowal of wisdom. He spies a slave trader's ship approaching the village and warns Baba about it. However, they are too late to prevent their people from being taken by the slavers, leaving their wings behind. Many of the wisdom flowers die, but Baba and Wana are able to save a few and sneak aboard the ship as it sets off to America. David interrupts the story, unwilling to listen to any more. Homer counters that only David's "imagination" can save the show from failure. He continues the story: in America, the captured Africans are enslaved and made to forget that they ever had wings. Baba and Wana hide out in the woods and slowly tend the wisdom plants, eventually growing enough to concoct a special medicine. While Wana distracts one of the overseers, Baba administers the medicine to a young slave named Binti. With its aid, she is able to fly into the air and escape, and others soon follow. This wisdom, coupled with the spirit of freedom, remains in the modern day. After hearing this story, David devises a novel solution for lighting Homer's performance: he passes out flashlights to the audience and uses them to provide light for the stage. With this, Homer is able to put on his show without further difficulty. Includes a featurette on the flying special effects used in this episode.

Details

  • NETWORK: PBS
  • DATE: November 6, 1995 7:30 PM
  • RUNNING TIME: 0:28:12
  • COLOR/B&W: Color
  • CATALOG ID: B:45451
  • GENRE: Children's
  • SUBJECT HEADING: Children's
  • SERIES RUN: PBS - TV series, 1995-2001
  • COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

  • Rick Duffield … Executive Producer, Created by
  • Stephanie Simpson … Supervising Producer
  • Betty Buckley … Producer
  • Fred Holmes … Director
  • Vincent Brown … Writer
  • Mo Rocca … Writer
  • Tim Cissell … Music by, Theme Music by
  • Lynn Adler … Theme Music by
  • Jordan Wall … Cast, Joe Talbot
  • Christie Abbott … Cast, Sam Kepler
  • Adam Springfield … Cast, David Barnes
  • Mary Chris Wall … Cast, Ellen Talbot
  • Angee Hughes … Cast, Wanda Gilmore
  • Akin Babatunde … Cast, Baba, Homer
  • Nicole McDuffie … Cast, Binti
  • Monet Chandler … Cast, Ashanti Girl
  • Kevin Page … Cast, Overseer
  • Alex Allan Morris … Cast, Nathan Barnes
  • Maria Arita … Cast, Ruth Barnes
  • Bob Reed … Cast, Walter
  • Jazmine McGill … Cast, Emily
  • Larry Brantley … Voice, Wishbone