The Kingdom Chums was a pair of television specials that were originally broadcast on ABC in the 1980s.
The first one, "Little David's Adventure", aired in 1986 and was produced by DiC Entertainment, and it's a retelling of David and Goliath as seen through the eyes of three children who travel back in time to witness it (compare to Superbook or Flying House). The twist is that the Biblical figures are represented by anthropomorphic animals.
The second special, produced by Rick Reinert Productions and animated by Jamie Diaz Productions, was "The Original Top Ten", a musical look at the Ten Commandments.
This series provides examples of:
- Ascended Extra: Osborn in the first special became part of the main cast in the second special.
- Art-Shifted Sequel: In the first special, the animation is animesque (and indeed it was made with Japanese staff). This was changed to a more cartoony look for "Original Top Ten".
- The Commandments: "The Original Top Ten" revolves around around the songs represents as the Ten Commandments.
- Grass is Greener: The first song of the Top Ten deals about this topic, with one segment showing a guy being jealous at another person's lawn and a bear wanting to get honey from a tree that the other one is having.
- Inevitable Waterfall: The end of the third Top Ten has Osborn falling towards the waterfall, but thankfully it's just a little one and didn't suffer any casualties.
- Innocent Swearing: Towards the halfway point of "The Original Top Ten", Osborn swore in God's name after Annie hugged him after receiving the forth Top Ten, which results him getting swooped in a swan boat ride about what he just did. The end of the song "Honor His Name" has him learning not to swear in God's name.
- Medium Blending: The opening and ending scenes of the "Original Top Ten" are real life static backgrounds while the characters and objects that interact are animated.
- Loose Canon: Despite being from the same series, neither special really has any connections to the other aside from the animal characters and possibly Osborn. Even Moses is different in each series.
- Misplaced Wildlife: The first story is a retelling of the battle of David and Goliath with stuffed animals saying they recall memories of their ancestors. Two of those animals are a lion and a tiger, both of which could have been seen in Canaan (although it was not particularly likely). The hero of our story, however, is a raccoon!
- Spelling Song: The chorus of the ninth Commandment song in The Original Top Ten is "L-I-E-S, L-I-E-S spell 'lies', 'lies'".
- Swan Boats: The third Top Ten song has Osborn in a swan boat.
- This Means War!: In The Original Top Ten, Osborn says this word-for-word to Petey after he gets mad at him for winning the first Top Ten disk.
- Two Guys and a Girl:
- "Little David's Adventure" has Peter, Sauli, and Mary Ann.
- "Original Top Ten" has Petey, Osborn, and Annie.
