 Plato
the Buffalo - Wise, fatherly buffalo featured on the
children's animated series ADVENTURES FROM THE BOOK OF
VIRTUES/PBS/1996-97. Based on the best selling anthology by
William J, Bennett, the series is set in the mythical Plato's
Peak. The show's hero and heroine, 11-year-old white boy Zach
Nichols (Pamela Segall/Andrew Francis) and a 10 year-old Native
American girl Annie Redfeather (Kath Soucie) travel to Plato's
Peak to get advice from Plato the Buffalo when they face moral
dilemmas.
Listening to their problems, the well-traveled Plato (Kevin
Michael Richardson) consults his collection of great stories
that are contained in a large brown book called the Book of
Virtues.
Each episode illustrates a single virtue through stories from
Greek mythology, the Bible or European, African and Native
American folklore.
The series addresses such virtues as wisdom, leadership,
integrity, work, friendship courage, perseverance, honesty,
responsibility, self-discipline, moderation, humility,
gratitude, compassion, responsibility, loyalty, respect, faith
and generosity.
For instance, when Zach breaks one of his father's cameras, and
concocts a story to escape blame, Plato reads the legend of
"George Washington and the Cherry Tree" to emphasize the
importance of honesty.
And, when Annie accepts Zach's challenge to a bike race, which
results in an accident that wrecks her new bike and the cakes
she was suppose to deliver, Plato offers up the tales of "Icarus
and Daedalus," "King Alfred and the Cakes" and "The Chest of
Broken Glass" to get Annie thinking about responsibility.
Other animals featured on the program include Aristotle (Jim
Cummings), a bookish prairie dog; Socrates (Frank Welker), a
bobcat; and Aurora, a wise hawk.
William J. Bennett, the creator of the series justifies the series
concept by saying "The way to respond to poor television
programming is two things, turn it off or try to put something
good on. And what we've tried here is to put something good on."
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