STARRING: Orson Welles, June Foray, Les Tremayne, Michael Le Clair and Shepard Menken

In those long ago days before DVD and VHS (yes, we’re talking about the '70s), a little kid yearning for the moving image had to be satisfied with whatever was on TV (only four channels and I’m not making this up) or in movie theaters. If your parents weren’t big movie buffs (and my parents weren’t – oh, the horror!), there was one other oasis of entertainment for those under 10: elementary school.

The home video revolution has robbed an entire generation of the simple pleasure of walking into a classroom and seeing a film projector. Nowadays, TV/VCR combo units are as common as a blackboard and pencil sharpener. But when movies are shown in class, the selections are the same as those available at the local video store. There’s no feeling of exclusivity. No pre-tween rush of experiencing something special. In those days, the stuff you saw at school you couldn’t catch anywhere else. When you saw a film projector set up in your class, it felt like Christmas Day.

I’m sure kids still get jazzed when they realize they’re going to watch a movie instead of do classwork, but there was something magical about those old devices. The soothing whir as they played the movie, the slappity-slap of the celluloid when it ran off the reel at the end. Childhood is playing hide-and-go-seek at dusk. It’s fresh-baked cookies. And it’s an old cartoon mesmerizing a darkened room of 1st graders.

The stuff we usually saw in school were adaptations of kid’s books – both animated and live action – or some huggy-muggy thing to promote our blossoming self-esteem. I remember seeing “Johnny Tremain,” “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Free to be You and Me” for the first time on those A/V antiques. But the one I cherish most and remember fondest is “Rikki Tikki Tavi.” This animated adaptation of a Rudyard Kipling story was first broadcast on TV in 1974, but I saw it courtesy of a rickety old film projector in Miss Lloyd’s class.

“Rikki Tikki Tavi” was written, directed and produced by Chuck Jones, animator extraordinaire and progenitor of many of our most beloved childhood memories. Like most of you, I mourned his recent passing and in honor of the late great Mr. Jones, I watched “Rikki” again. This little jewel is still pretty awesome. I make this point because how often do these precious juvenile favorites stand the test of time?

Few things age well. A lot of the stuff we loved as kids, we loved because we were kids. Our tastes and intellect just aren’t that refined during those tender years. We’ll watch anything and think it’s cool. For every member of my generation that loved “The Muppet Show,” there’s two more that thought “Sigmund the Sea Monster” was perfection. You want a modern equivalent? Look at all the rugrats that fell so hard for Barney the dinosaur. We love that crap now because it’s nostalgia, not because it’s good.

Here’s another example, I remember thinking “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century” was a sci-fi masterpiece when I was 11. My girlfriend and I watched it recently and we still can’t get the stink out of our clothes. She continues to have nightmares of Gil Gerard in his futuristic tuxedo teaching the band how to disco and “gettin’ down” with Princess Ardala. Consequently, I’m not allowed to pick the video rentals for quite some time.

“Rikki,” however, survived my childhood intact. The combination of classic material with Jones’s genius has made this little cartoon a treasure piece. I still marvel at the animation and thrill to the storyline more than 25 years after my first viewing. In fact, I’m probably more impressed now. Back then, I was delighted when anything full of color and light danced across the screen.

After experiencing three decades of animation evolution, I’m a bit more discriminating now. But I’d still put this cartoon up against anything being made today. These visuals are still amazing. Okay, the images may not be as crisp and the backgrounds are pretty static, but it was made almost 30 years ago. Even so, there’s more heart and personality in “Rikki” than what’s found in most of the goop being fed to kids today.

Jones and his talented animation crew created an exotic landscape that is a wonderful companion to the narrative. Rikki Tikki Tavi is a mongoose from the jungles of India who comes to live with a British Colonial family after a flood drives him from his home. Rikki takes to patrolling their vast garden and befriends the other animals that live there – all except the villainous cobras Nag and Nagaina. He is soon enmeshed in a battle with the cobras for control of the garden and the safety of his human family.

While the animation here is a departure from Jones’ distinctive style on the Looney Tunes characters, you can still recognize his signature flourishes. Unlike some of his more fanciful work, “Rikki” stays pretty grounded in reality. The show is populated with talking animals, but it also portrays the cobras as deadly predators and contains scenes of violence and death. “Rikki” is appropriate viewing for your five year-old, but it’s still more intense than your average Daffy Duck cartoon. The most grisly moments happen offscreen or are portrayed through bright abstract colors and graphics.

Like another Jones adaptation, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” this production benefits from the strong voice of a famous narrator. In “Grinch,” Boris Karloff’s unique articulation is as much a character as the Grinch himself. The legendary Orson Welles is just as vital to this narrative. His deep, measured tones keep the action moving. He also does the voice of Nag, instilling him with the proper balance of menace and grandeur.

I think there’s many reasons why “Rikki” still resonates with me today. It was based on a piece of literature and stayed pretty faithful to its source. It wasn’t jazzed up with musical numbers or constructed solely to sell plush toys or breakfast cereal. While the animals do speak with human voices, you don’t have a stand-up comedian cracking wise as a wacky woodchuck or anything. And the songs that are in the production don’t overwhelm the story so things never get too campy.

The ultimate success of “Rikki Tikki Tavi,” however, can be attributed to Chuck Jones’ expert guiding hand. He helped bring this simple – yet vivid – story about friendship, duty and protecting the ones you love to life. Classroom movie time was never the same again. Here’s to Mr. Jones, he made cartoons fun for kids and grownups alike. I’ll miss him. And that feeling won’t change, no matter how old I get.