The Legend of Calamity Jane

**The Legend of Calamity Jane** (or simply **Calamity Jane**) is an American-French animated television series based very loosely on the real-life frontierswoman Calamity Jane and tri-produced by Canal+, France 3, and Warner Bros. Television Animation, for The WB's Kids' WB programming service.

The series was not made available at launch.

## Premise

*The Legend of Calamity Jane* follows a fictionalized version of the frontierswoman Calamity Jane, quick as a viper and as overwhelming as a buffalo stampede, a hero like no other the West has ever seen. Boldly, she defies the stereotyped female role of her time and place as she fights the various villains and plots she encounters whether it be whip or gun. With the help of her partner, Joe Presto and occasional aid from her boy friend, Wild Bill Hickok, she has all she needs to take on all comers.

## Characters

### Main

* Calamity Jane – Although based on the historical frontierswoman, her appearance and background are fictionalized. For example, in the series she knows how to read and write and says she grew up in Portsmouth, Rhode Island and Atlanta, Georgia while the real Martha Jane Canary was illiterate and grew up in Missouri. Here, she is depicted as a 24-year-old, green-eyed, pale-skinned, redhead who fights on the side of "law and order". She prefers to use a whip and drink milk.
* Joe Presto – He serves as a helpful sidekick to Jane and shows great care and concern for her throughout the series. He prefers not to kill, as evidenced by his shotgun only being loaded with rock salt.
* Wild Bill Hickok – Based on the real Wild Bill Hickok, he is depicted as an old friend of Jane's who helps her on several occasions despite his reservations toward the law.
* Quanna Parker – Jane's "blood brother" and Chief of the Comanche tribe. He likes existential philosophy. In "Troubled Waters" his tribe become millionaires thanks to finding oil on their land.
* Captain John O'Rourke – He is a polite, by-the-book officer in the US cavalry who assists Jane throughout the series. In "The Final Curtain" it is revealed he witnessed the Lincoln assassination as a child and felt responsible because his older brother, who should've been guarding the President, chose to sit by him instead.

## Production

### Development

Originally, American actress Jennifer Jason Leigh was cast as the voice of Calamity Jane. However, two weeks before the show was set to premiere, the producers decided to re-cast the role. Voice actress and visual effects animator Barbara Scaff instead got the part. None of the dialogue recorded by Leigh was used in the final show. However, due to the short notice, the promotional ads aired on The WB still used the lines by Leigh.

### Release

In the United States, three episodes were aired on The WB in 1997. The network gave the series heavy promotion, but then only quietly pulled it from their line-up after only three weeks. It was stated on Warner Bros.' website that the show would return later in the year, and that *Superman: The Animated Series* would be filling in for its timeslot with the quote "*The Legend of Calamity Jane" will temporarily step aside to make room for the all-new action packed "Men in Black: The Series," which will anchor Kids' WB!'s blockbuster line-up of star-powered super-power. She will rejoin the line-up later this season!* ", but this proved to be untrue. The series did run complete in Latin America and several European countries, and was subsequently dubbed into languages like French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Swedish and Serbian.

It aired in France and Canada from 1997 to 1998 and in Portugal in 2002. Despite its very limited short run, the series developed a cult following.

## Trivia

* Ken Pontac, writer of *Happy Tree Friends* and *Bump in the Night*, was also a writer for the series.
* The episode "I'd Rather Be in Philadelphia" takes place during the opening of the Centennial Exposition, establishing the shows' setting as being set in rural 1876.