Created by: Fred Freiberger
Starring, Jim Malinda, Bill Ewing, Naomi Pollack, Christopher Man
Narrated by: Burgess Meredith
Distributed by: Warner Archive
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 344 minutes
Our Score: 3.5 out of 5 stars
“Korg: 70,000 B.C.” is a short-lived live-action Saturday morning TV series from 1974 that was executive produced by Hanna-Barbera. The show only lasted one season of 16 episodes but has developed quite the following over the years. I can’t say that I was able to watch this show during its original run, but I was aware of this series, despite its short-life and I enjoyed it quite a bit. The series also spawned a board game and comic series tie-in back in the day. Warner Archive is behind this complete collection of this show. It is the first time it has every been released on DVD.
Official Synopsis: A plaintive hunting horn, heard over a ruddy sunrise, signaled the start of something different on Saturday mornings in the mid-seventies. Clan Korg had arrived to take kids and kids at heart on a series of live-action anthropological adventures across the dangerous terrain of prehistory. Aided by consultants from both New York’s American Museum of Natural History and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Korg ditched battling dinos and discovering fire for a more mature focus on the dawn of cooperation and compassion amongst our Neanderthal brethren as personified by it’s pre-nuclear family. Korg is the patriarch of the clan, which includes Mara, his mate; Bok, Korg’s younger brother; and Korg’s three offspring: Tana, 15; Ree, 12; and Tar, 11. Together, they brave opposing tribes, cave bears and fire while discovering the roots of art, diplomacy and commerce in the world of 70,000 BC. Burgess Meredith narrates.
The quality of the episodes are decent for a 35+ year old show. This release hasn’t been remastered or restored but it has been taken from the best-quality video master currently available. So it looks good but could look much better, I am sure. But I think that fans of the series will just be happy to finally have this series available on DVD. They are presented in 4 X 3 Full Frame with it’s original aspect ration of 1.37:1. The audio track included is a Dolby Mono track, which is in line with all the Warner Archive release. There are no other extras included besides the episodes.
