CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Original television episodes of "Davey and
Goliath" will be available on DVD in retail stores across the
United States starting June 7. The Evangelical Lutheran Church
in America (ELCA) and Starlight Home Entertainment, Inc., Los
Angeles, made select episodes available in a two-disc
"Collector's Edition" package.
Davey and Goliath is a classic stop-motion animated
television series starring Davey Hansen and his talking dog
Goliath. Aired on commercial television in the 1960s and 1970s,
Davey and Goliath is a property of the ELCA. The church's
mission with Davey and Goliath is to bring "moral and faith-based
values to a new generation of children in lively and engaging
ways."
Disc one contains four 15-minute episodes -- "Blind Man's
Bluff," "Finders Keepers," "Stranded on an Island" and "The Kite"
-- and an interactive read-along of "The Kite." All programs
have been restored.
"The restoration brightens the film without losing the charm
of the original look," said Kristi S. Bangert, director for
marketing and interpretation, ELCA Department for Communication.
The restoration, completed by Screen Time Images, Inc.,
Schaumburg, Ill., "was a manual, frame-by-frame process requiring
much care and detail," she said.
Disc two contains the 30-minute special "To the Rescue." At
summer camp Davey, Goliath and friends rescue survivors of a
plane crash. The special is also known as "Summer Camp."
The 2003 Davey and Goliath documentary "Oh, Davey! History
of the Davey and Goliath Television Series" is also on disc two.
Produced by the ELCA and broadcast on ABC television, the one-
hour documentary showcases the development of Davey and Goliath
and the stop-motion animation process. The documentary features
interviews with Art and Ruth Clokey, original animators and
creators of Davey and Goliath, Richard Sutcliffe, the program's
original executive producer, and others.
Starlight Home Entertainment will distribute the two-disc
set through B.J.'s Wholesale Club, Best Buy, Blockbuster,
Wal-Mart and other retail stores nationwide. The DVDs will also
be available at www.daveyandgoliath.org and Amazon.com on the
Internet.
"I want to help bring back Davey and Goliath to people who
watched it when they were kids and to a whole new generation of
viewers," said Matt Feinstein, president, Starlight Home
Entertainment.
"Starlight has fantastic relationships with important buyers
for all major DVD titles on the 'new releases' shelves of every
major retail outlet in the country. That's really where Davey
and Goliath DVDs need to be," he said.
"Faith-based programming is crossing over to mainstream
audiences at one of the highest rates of all time, and classic TV
on DVD sales are bigger than ever," according to Feinstein.
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News and information about Davey and Goliath are available
on the Internet at http://www.daveyandgoliath.org -- the official
Davey and Goliath Web site maintained by the ELCA.
Davey and Goliath images are available at
http://www.daveyandgoliath.org/media on the Internet.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news
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About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with 2.8 million members in more than 8,500 worshiping communities across the 50 states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of "God's work. Our hands.," the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA's roots are in the writings of the German church reformer Martin Luther.
For information contact:
Candice Hill Buchbinder
Public Relations Manager
Candice.HillBuchbinder@ELCA.org
