Adventures in Rainbow Country

After about 30 years I still remember some of the episodes and most of all the wonderful landscape of Ontario where it was filmed.

Maybe there are others like Dave Rowland, who know the contents better having it on tape, but I remember loving every single minute despite the fact it was low budget and possibly not an exiting story.

After 27 years of waiting to see al this I finally got into Whitefish Falls, and it feeled like the end of a long journey for me. This TV series founded a love for Canada I will surely not loose as long as I live!

I caught one episode and watched it with interest since as a Canadian it is rare to find old Canadian shows since they rarely make it to vhs tape and DVD. (Still trying to find the first 3 or 4 seasons of the Beachcomers.) This show is supposed to be set in Canada, but aside from Lois Maxwell who does have a real Canadian accent here, my jaw dropped as the young blond actor who played Billy came on the screen. He spoke with such a cockney British accent that I thought I was listening to Eliza Doolitle from 'My Fair Lady'. And then next comes the actor who played Roger, and I swear if you close your eyes you would think this guy sounds more like John Lennon speaking in an interview than John Lennon himself sounded! Just wow. Canadians don't sound like that. What on earth were the Canadian casting directors thinking back then?

Trivia Questions about "Adventures In Rainbow Country" would be really hard to answer. How many people have even heard of this show? I know a lot about it, and it brings back a lot of memories when I watch the episodes that I have managed to tape from repeat showings of it. The show was a serious show but I always found myself laughing at parts in almost every episode. The scenery was the best thing about it. It was shot on location up around North Bay & Sudbury Ontario. The Williams home was tucked away in a cove on a beautiful lake. Lois Maxwell played "Nancy Williams" the widow & mother of two teenagers (Billy & Hanna). It's hard to believe that Lois Maxwell went from playing Miss Moneypenny in the James Bond films to this low budget Canadian production.

"Adventures In Rainbow Country" was produced in 1969 with only 26 shows being made. A few of my favorites are:

1)The Boy Who Loved The Animals. It's the story about a deaf mute who loves animals, and is nearly shot by hunters. The boy was played by Tim Pellet.

2) La Du Lab. It's about this man called Big Joe, who lives deep in the woods, but is terrified of this lake that he feels is haunted. This show has a lot of funny parts in it. Classic Line: "I don't like it when people don't trust Big Joe!! Another funny part is when he claims to know the area 500 miles around him. He also has really funny hair (the big wrap).

3) Skydiver. This is the show where a champion skydiver loses his nerve & can,t jump right anymore. Classic Line: "He Blew It!!!"

4) Bush Panic. It's the show where Billy Williams gets lost in the woods & has to be rescued by his good friend Pete Gawa....

I loved all of the episodes that were done & I am glad to have almost all of them recorded on video tape. I look forward to when recordable DVD players come out (2000?) so I can have this classic canadian tv show for years to come.

For 35 years I thought this show was based in the interior of BC and filmed on the coast. Interesting to find out that I was wrong. Sure looks like the BC coast though.

I remember this show from my youth and thought it was OK. I didn't mind watching it, which means that for a Canadian show it must've been pretty good. I haven't seen any episodes in the past 30 some odd years but today I stumbled across it on a digital channel so I sat down to revisit a bit of my youth. Storyline was very familiar and I enjoyed reliving my youth by watching the episode. While I was glad to see the show survived it was unfortunate that the media that the show was recorded on (film?) hasn't stood the test of time very well. I've seen colour film from the 40's in better shape.

Short-lived but good for its time.

The Beachcombers was the one set in B.C. and much more successful and enduring, staring the unforgettable Bruno Gerussi and Robert Clothier.

Easy to get these two shows confused, especially if you watched them as a child.