jake's journey 1988

Jake's Journey (partially found CBS pilot; 1988)

Peter Cook as King Arthur and Jake.

Status: Partially Found

Jake's Journey  is a 1988 TV pilot that was filmed for CBS. The story follows the Finley family as they make the move from America to merry old England. Their son, Jake, has a problem fitting in or adapting to the new environment. Somehow, he finds himself in another time period, the Middle Ages. He meets a knight called George and together they embark on a quest.

• 2 Cancellation
• 5 Resources

The genesis of the pilot came from a phone call in which Chapman was offered the chance to write a pilot based on Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court . Chapman, however, felt that it had a limited appeal as a TV series and would easily have become repetitive and boring. Therefore, he incorporated a time travel element to the storyline so as to ensure that there are further possibilities than just to make use of a Middle Ages setting. One of the earliest cutscenes includes Jake's trip to 1939 Europe. The network wanted Jake to make use of a time machine, however, Chapman wanted it to be more mysterious.

Chapman seemed excited about the series and the future prospects of what it could be. He talked about filming all over the world and revealed that the story would conclude in a twist as George in different incarnations and at different times in history would attract Jake for a reason which he left unrevealed.

Cancellation

Both OJRIL , a collection of scripts by Graham Chapman that was published in 1999, and Lee Goldberg in " The Best TV shows that never were " state that CBS passed because they thought the audience wouldn't understand the humor. Other potential reasons are: the 1988 writer's strike (although a Starlog article about the pilot was confident that that wouldn't be a problem), director Hal Ashby's death, and Graham Chapman's own battle with cancer, which he would loose one year later. According to the Starlog article, the head of comedy started laughing at it when he got the unfinished script. Chapman and partner David Sherlock had written the script hastily finishing about 8 or 9 minutes before presenting it to the head of comedy. It should be noted, though, that this article was published before cancellation.

• Chris Young as Jake Finley
• Graham Chapman as Sir George/The Queen
• Nancy Lenehan as Jean Finley
• Lane Smith as Mike Finley
• Fay Masterson as Sarah Finley
• Peter Cook as King Arthur
• Written by Graham Chapman, David Sherlock, and Andy Schatzberg
• Directed by Hal Ashby

From Starlog 136 Chapman as George and Young as Jake.

The Finley family.

• Kim Howard Johnson "Jake's Journey" Starlog 136.
• Lee Goldberg "The SF TV You Didn't See" Starlog 173
• Vincent Terrace "Encyclopedia of Television Pilots 1937 - 2012"
• "OJRIL: The completely incomplete Graham Chapman; unpublished scripts from Monty Python's pipe-smoking genius"
• IMDB Entry that had photos originally from Starlog Magazine 136.
• Partially found media

Lost Media Archive

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Jake's Journey (1988 CBS Pilot)

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The Clip from "The Best TV Shows That Never Were"

There were beliefs that it was passed on by the network because it was too Monty Python-y for Americans. However, this is not the case, as the pilot was filmed at an unfortunate time and it's demise came from three main reasons: The 1988 writer's strike, and the ailing health of both director Hal Ashby and actor Graham Chapman. In fact, according to a Starlog article about the pilot, the head of comedy started laughing at it when the script was not finished yet. (Chapman and partner,

The Finley family

David Sherlock had written the script hastily finishing about 8 or 9 minutes before presenting it to the head of comedy.

The genesis of the pilot cam from a phone call in which Chapman was offered the chance to write a pilot based on Mark Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court". Chapman however felt that it had a limited appeal as a TV series and would easily have become repetitive and boring. Therefore he incorporated a time travel element to the storyline so as to ensure that there are further possibilities than just to make use of a middle ages setting. One of the earliest cut scenes include Jake's trip 

Peter Cook as king Arthur and Jake

to 1939 Europe. The network wanted Jake to make use of a time machine however Chapman wanted it to be more mysterious.

Chapman seemed excited about the series and the future prospects of what it could be. He talked about filming all over the world and revealed that the story would conclude in a twist as George in different incarnations and at different times in history would attract Jake for a reason which he left unrevealed.

A copy is held at the Library of Congress.

Chris Young as Jake Finley

Behind The Scenes Clips from Jake's Journey

Graham Chapman as Sir George/The Queen

Nancy Lenehan as Jean Finley

Lane Smith as Mike Finley

Fay Masterson as Sarah Finley

Peter Cook as King Arthur

Written by Graham Chapman, David Sherlock and Andy Schatzberg

Directed by Hal Ashby

Resources [ ]

Kim Howard Johnson "Jake's Journey" Starlog 136

Lee Goldberg "The SF TV You Didn't See" Starlog 173

Vincent Terrace "Encyclopedia of Television Pilots 1937 - 2012"

• Photos originally from Starlog Magazine 136
• 1 Ulterior Motives aka "Everyone Knows That" (found song composed by Christopher and Philip Booth, 1986)
• 2 Jake and the Never Land Pirates (Found 2009 Pitch Pilot)
• 3 Lost Disney Channel "Next" Bumpers (Late 2002-2007)

Jake's Journey

Gabrielle Anwar (Princess) Peter Benson (Peasant) Susie Blake (Torturer's wife #2) Graham Chapman (Sir George) Peter Cook (King) Michael Crane (Huge Guard) Nancy Lenehan (Mother) Rik Mayall (Troll) Daniel Peacock (British Telecom Engineer) Griff Rhys Jones (Innkeeper)

A normal teenager is transported to a Monty-Pythonesque medieval fantasyland where an odd, adamant knight takes him on a quest.

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Jake's journey.

Directed by Hal Ashby

A normal teenager is transported to a Monty Pythonesque medieval fantasy land where an odd, adamant knight takes him on a quest.

Graham Chapman Peter Cook Chris Young Rik Mayall Gabrielle Anwar Nancy Lenehan Daniel Peacock Griff Rhys Jones Alexei Sayle Charles Simon Liz Smith Richard Strange Tony Slattery

Director Director

Writers writers.

Graham Chapman David Sherlock Andy Schatzberg

Witzend Productions HTV

Fantasy TV Movie Comedy Science Fiction

Releases by Date

01 jan 1988, releases by country.

25 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

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In Moscow, Tolerance Of Protests

By Bill Keller, Special To the New York Times

• June 8, 1988

In a move both Soviet officials and dissidents describe as a significant step toward greater freedom of political expression, the Moscow authorities have quietly adopted a more tolerant attitude toward unauthorized public demonstrations.

No new policy has been publicly announced and a strict anti-demonstration ordinance approved last year remains on the books, but Moscow police officials confirm that they are now under orders not to interfere with street demonstrations as long as they are orderly.

''It is our responsibility to make sure it does not interfere with the order of the city, not to have an uncontrollable situation,'' Pyotr S. Bogdanov, the Moscow police chief, said in a recent interview. ''But in general, if somebody says he wants to demonstrate for clean air, or if they want to demonstrate to leave for another country, that's their right. We won't interfere.''

''If before we used one set of measures, now we are using more democratic methods with respect to the public expression of views,'' he said. ''It is no longer our policy to detain these people.'' Defense in the Press

The Soviet press, which has traditionally condemned independent protests as unpatriotic performances for the benefit of Western journalists, has begun to defend them in some cases as a valid means of political expression.

The new approach has been evident in the past few weeks as policemen watched but did not interrupt a variety of public demonstrations in central Moscow, including two mass marches by environmentalists, a vigil by the Russian nationalist group Pamyat (Memory) honoring a czarist general, demonstrations by Jews refused permission to emigrate, and weekly gatherings of Armenians disturbed by the official handling of an ethnic dispute in two southern republics.

On Sunday police stopped traffic as scores of protesters from a self-proclaimed opposition political party marched through the center of the city demanding the release of political prisoners from Soviet labor camps. It was the group's second such protest in five days; less than a month ago several group members were arrested when they tried to meet in a Moscow suburb.

''At first we thought it was a show for the summit,'' said Yuri Mityunov, an organizer of the Sunday protest. ''But the summit is over and the police still leave us alone. Now we hope it is a small step toward democracy in our country.''

The new approach appears to apply primarily to Moscow. Recent demonstrations in Leningrad and other cities have been broken up by the police.

''In Moscow, it seems the situation is becoming more free,'' said Aleksandr Podrabinek, editor of Ekspress Khronika, a weekly bulletin of dissident activities around the country. ''But so far it seems to be limited to Moscow. We are hopeful, but it is too early to predict.''

While Mikhail S. Gorbachev's policy of glasnost has opened the way for wider expression of dissent in the press and the formation of independent political groups, the Soviet authorities have seemed unable to form a clear policy on unauthorized public protests. A Hands-Off Policy

In the past year or two, demonstrators have never been sure if they would be left alone, dispersed, arrested or beaten. On several occasions the police stood by as plainclothesmen brutally disrupted gatherings of Jewish dissidents.

Last August, after demonstrations by Russian nationalists, Crimean Tatars and Jewish dissidents, the Moscow City Council adopted an ordinance closing most of the favorite gathering places and banning any public assembly unless the organizers obtained a city permit. Those who applied for permission to demonstrate were almost invariably turned down.

Lev P. Belyansky, a spokesman for the Moscow police, said today that the ordinance ''exists mainly on paper.'' He said that the police now usually warn demonstrators that a permit is required, but that the policy is not to interfere unless a protest is snarling traffic or inciting people to violence.

On Monday, he said, police watched patiently while a small group of Russian nationalists demonstrated in honor of Aleksei A. Brusilov, a czarist general who later served the Bolsheviks. Only when the demonstrators demanded that the police remove their caps in the general's honor did the police move in to disperse the gathering peacefully, Mr. Belyansky said.

A prominent lawyer, Nina Y. Belyayeva of the State Institute of Government and Law, told an Izvestia interviewer in May that the Moscow ban and similar ordinances in Leningrad, Riga, Novosibirsk and several other cities violated the Constitution. The Constitution, which promises freedom of speech and assembly, is generally considered to have little meaning.

''Widescale, massive, genuinely self-initiated and organized demonstrations are one of the most important democratic forms of people's power,'' the lawyer declared.

The Soviet press has recently publicized proposals for creation of a legal speakers' corner, like the one at Hyde Park in London. Mr. Belyansky said the police favor this idea.

Last month the governing Central Committee of the Communist Party, in its platform for a national party conference to begin June 27, called for new laws to protect political rights including ''freedom of speech, conscience, assembly, meetings street processions and demonstrations.'' Muscovites Oppose Protest

A New York Times/CBS News Poll of 939 Muscovites last month found that a majority believed street demonstrations are ''not acceptable in our country,'' while 35 percent favored the right to demonstrate.

Mr. Bogdanov, the Moscow police chief, said police have sometimes encountered puzzled reactions from passers-by when they look on without disrupting demonstrations.

''People ask us, ''Why don't you do something?'' he said. ''It''s a new thing for us. We're just staring to understand it's a necessary thing that goes along with perestroika.''

Mr. Podrabinek said that in the last few weeks demonstrations in Leningrad, Vladimir, Riga, and Tbilisi had ended with participants being detained.

At the same time, citizens in several cities have staged public protests over the selection to the national Communist Party conference, and those meetings have been permitted.

''It seems that a lot depends on where you live,'' Mr. Podrabinek said.

Journey to Moscow

   Welcome to Moscow - the capital of Russia, its political, scientific, historical, architectural and business centre, from which power and might of the Russian state developed.

• Crossword Tips

Clue: City S of Moscow

Referring crossword puzzle answers, likely related crossword puzzle clues.

• Russian city
• Pitcher Hershiser
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Recent usage in crossword puzzles:

• New York Times - Sept. 26, 1993
• New York Times - May 20, 1985