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Liberty’s Kids is an animated educational historical fiction television series produced by DIC Entertainment, originally broadcast on PBS Kids from September 2, 2002 to April 4, 2003, although PBS continued to air reruns until August 2004. The show has since been syndicated by DiC to affiliates of smaller television networks such as The CW and MyNetworkTV and some independent stations so that those stations can fulfill FCC educational and informational requirements. Since September 16, 2006, the series aired on CBS’s new block called KOL Secret Slumber Party on CBS, then it was aired on KEWLopolis, which taking September 12, 2009. In 2008 it ran on The History Channel. The series is currently on the Cookie Jar Toons block on This TV and CBS’s Cookie Jar TV. In 2012, qubo announced the channel will air Liberty’s Kids in fall 2012. The series was based on an idea by Kevin O’Donnell and developed for television by Kevin O’Donnell, Robby London, Mike Maliani, and Andy Heyward.
Its purpose is to teach its audience about the origins of the United States of America. Much like the CBS cartoon mini-series based on Peanuts; This is America, Charlie Brown years before, Liberty’s Kids tells of young people in dramas surrounding the major events in the Revolutionary War days. Celebrity voices such as Walter Cronkite (as Benjamin Franklin), Sylvester Stallone (as Paul Revere), Ben Stiller (as Thomas Jefferson), Billy Crystal (as John Adams), Dustin Hoffman (as Benedict Arnold), Arnold Schwarzenegger (as Baron von Steuben), Liam Neeson (as John Paul Jones), and Don Francisco (as Bernardo de Galvez) lend credence to characters critical to the forming of a free country, from the Boston Tea Party to the Constitutional Convention.
The shows run a half-hour, including commercials. On the PBS Kids broadcast, these are replaced by segments that include “The Liberty News Network” (a newscast delivered by Cronkite summarizing the events of the episode, with each including his signature sign-off “that’s the way it is”), “Mystery Guest” (a guessing game where the kids guess a historical figure, who often is a character in the episode), “Now and Then” (a segment comparing life in the Revolutionary Era and today), and “Continental Cartoons” (a rebus word guessing game).
== Fictional characters==
Liberty’s Kids features Benjamin Franklin and four biased fictional associates of his in their experiences during the American Revolution. Although the series spans 16 years from the Boston Tea Party in 1773 to the ratification of the U.S. Constitution in 1789, none of the main characters appear to age, except for Dr. Franklin.
* Sarah Phillips (voiced by Reo Jones)
* James Hiller (voiced by Chris Lundquist)
* Henri Richard Maurice Dutoit LeFevbre (voiced by Kathleen Barr)
* Moses (voiced by D. Kevin Williams)
==Additional voices==
* Melissa Fahn
* Charles Shaughnessey
== Historical characters depicted==
===Continental Army, Navy, and American militia===
* Colonel Ethan Allen
* Brigadier General George Rogers Clark (Norman Schwarzkopf)
* Margaret “Molly” Corbin
* Major General Horatio Gates
* Major General Nathanael Greene (John Michael Lee)
* Nathan Hale
* Alexander Hamilton
* Charles Lee
* John Paul Jones (Liam Neeson)
* Tadeusz Kościuszko (Pole in Continental Army)
* Joseph Plumb Martin (Aaron Carter)
* Deborah Samson aka Robert Shurtleff (Whoopi Goldberg)
* John Sullivan
* Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben (Prussian in Continental Army) (Arnold Schwarzenegger)
* George Washington (Michael Santo)
* Anthony Wayne (seen, but does not speak)
* Udeny Wolf-Hutchinson (Carl Beck)
===British Army & Navy===
* John André
* John Burgoyne
* Henry Clinton
* General Lord Charles Cornwallis (Ralph Fiennes)
* Admiral Lord Richard Howe (Michael York)
* General William Howe
* Johann Rall (Hessian Officer in British service)
===French officers===
* Marquis de Lafayette
* Comte de Rochambeau
* Johann De Kalb
===Spanish Army===
* Bernardo de Galvez (Don Francisco)
===Native Americans===
* Joseph Brant (Russell Means)
* Cornstalk (also Russell Means)
===Turncoats===
* Benedict Arnold (Dustin Hoffman)
* Edward Bancroft
===American family members===
* Abigail Adams (Annette Bening)
* John Quincy Adams
* Peggy Shippen (Maria Shriver) British Loyalist before married to Benedict Arnold
* Thomas Adams
===American politicians===
* John Adams (Billy Crystal)
* Samuel Adams
* Samuel Chase
* Silas Deane
* Benjamin Franklin (Walter Cronkite)
* John Hancock
* Patrick Henry (Michael Douglas)
* John Jay
* Thomas Jefferson (Ben Stiller)
* Henry Laurens
* Richard Henry Lee
* James Madison (Warren Buffett)
* Caesar Rodney
* Edward Rutledge
* Dr Joseph Warren
===British politicians===
* Charles Fox
* King George III (Charles Shaughnessy)
* Alexander Wedderburn
* Lord North
===Other historical figures===
* James Armistead
* David Bushnell
* Elizabeth Freeman aka Mum Bett (Yolanda King)
* William Dawes
* Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes
* Moses Michael Hays
* Edward Jenner
* Sybil Ludington (Kayla Hinkle)
* Thomas Paine
* Paul Revere (Sylvester Stallone)
* Paul Wentworth
* Benjamin West
* Phillis Wheatley
==Theme==
The opening theme to Liberty’s Kids, “Through My Own Eyes,” is performed by Aaron Carter, who also voices Joseph Plumb Martin, appearing in episodes 24 and 36, and Kayla Hinkle, a country singer who also voices Sybil Ludington, appearing in episode 21. However, only the chorus, the second verse, and the third verse of the song serve as the series’ opening theme.
== Episodes ==
The following are the Liberty’s Kids episodes, with links to relevant historical articles.
==Funding==
The show was funded in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the viewers/stations of PBS.
==DVD release==
On October 14, 2008, Shout! Factory released Liberty’s Kids- The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1. The 6-disc box set contains all 40 episodes of the series as well as several bonus features. This release has been discontinued and is out of print.
On July 16, 2013, Mill Creek Entertainment re-released Liberty’s Kids- The Complete Series on DVD in a 4-disc set.
Source(s): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty’s_Kids