I recall watching an educational / science fiction TV show in the 1960’s that no one I speak with can recall. It had pretty good special effects for the time, IIRC. It involved two kids out canoeing who go paddle through a cave and end up in the ice age. As they continue going downriver, they go further back in time encountering various animals along the way. Each episode was another period in the earth’s prehistory, with stop-motion animated dinosaurs, etc. One of the kids, or maybe a guide, gave a running commentary on the animals and environment as it was known to scientists back in the '60s. I believe the show ended kind of bleakly, with the kids left on the shore of a desolate Pre-Cambrian Ocean before life had emerged from the seas.
The program may have been in color, but I remember it in black-and-white as that was the TV we had at the time.
Anyone recall what this show was called or when it aired?
The American title is “Journey to the Beginning of Time”.
Thank you! I thought I had imagined the whole thing. After reading the description, I wish I had.
I don’t know if this will make you feel better about the ending, but I think the whole thing turned out to be the dream of one of the kids who fell asleep in a natural history museum. I’m a little vague on the details.
Thuis is true. In fact, they fall asleep in the 77th street Foyer of the American Museum of Natural History, my all-time favorite.
The film was made by taking an East European animated film of prehistoric life and wrapping a cover story about kids in a museum having a dream around it. I saw it in the theater as a kid, and was pretty disappointed by it. It’s been available on VHS for years. Heck, I think I may even have a copy. It might be on DVD by now, too.