# Why so many narrators for The Point? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 13, 2003, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-narrators-for-the-point/213019 "2003-11-13T13:35:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-narrators-for-the-point/213019/1 "2003-11-13T13:35:55Z")
My daughter **MilliCal** watched a videotape of Nilsson’s 1971 Tv cartoon **The Point** the other day. (It was, IIRC, the only animated entry in the ABC **Movie of the Week**. Interesting, but too long) It was narrated by Ringo Starr. I could have sworn that when I first saw it in TV it was narrated by Dustin Hoffman. So I checked on the IMDB, and they confirm that the original TV release _was_ narrated by Hoffman, but that the video version was narrated by Ringo: > **[The Point (1971) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067595/)** > > The Point: Directed by Fred Wolf. With Ringo Starr, Paul Frees, Lennie Weinrib, Bill Martin. A father tells his son a bedtime story about young Oblio (Mike Lookinland), who believes that having no point in the fantastical kingdom of pointed heads and... (I’ve caught glimpses of it on TV every now and then, and I’m sure that all of those versions had Ringo as well. I haven’t heard Hoffman since the original release). But according to the IMDB, Alan Thicke narrated it when it appeared on The Disney Channel, and Alan Barzman (who?) narrated it on the second telecast. Why so many narrators? I can’t recall any other case like this, animated or otherwise. I could _maybe_ understand it if the first narrator had a problem with the use of his voice, and had it pulled from subsequent broadcasts, or if it turned out that there was some sort of weird legal issue. But four different narrators? Something’s weird. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-narrators-for-the-point/213019/2 "2003-11-13T19:41:22Z")
Wow, I had no idea. I love The Point, but have only ever seen the Ringo Starr narration. As an addition to the narrator list,on the LP of The Point, Nilsson himself does the narration in a somewhat different script and format from the cartoon. \ “Me and my Arrow…” ---
**Author:** ![Ludo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Ludo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludo)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-narrators-for-the-point/213019/3 "2003-11-13T23:08:09Z")
I’m w/ Gargoyle. I’ve only seen the Ringo version, but I adored every second. I imagine the Hoffman version is just as wonderful.