Queen Esther B. J. Ward as Mrs. Nichols, Princess Ariadne, Walter Tell Elijah Wood as Icarus Alfre Woodard as Harriet Tubman Michael York as Androcles Production Much of the history of the production of Adventures from the Book of Virtues is situated within the strident culture wars within U.S. politics in the 1990s. In June 1994, television producer Bruce D. Johnson, then an executive vice-president at Hanna-Barbera, was browsing through a bookstore in Washington, DC when he stumbled upon Bennett's 1993 book of moral tales, The Book of Virtues. Compelled by the book's themes, Johnson called Bennett with the idea of an animated television program for children based upon the book. According to Johnson: "...I placed a cold call to William Bennett. To my surprise, he takes the call; to my chagrin, he informs me that 19 other companies have already approached him, including Disney, and that he was 'down the road' on a probable deal at that moment. Nevertheless, I inform him of my experience producing anthologies and express an interest in producing his book wherever it ended up. We have a pleasant conversation, and he offhandedly asks me to fax my resume to him. I do." Johnson and Bennett eventually met and bonded over their shared dedication to children's television and moral philosophy. From there, the two agreed to begin production on what would become Adventures. That same year in the 1994 midterm elections, the Republican Party won control of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate, giving the Party control of Congress for the first time in four decades. In January 1995, Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich expressed publicly his desire to "zero out" federal funding for PBS, stating, "Why would you say to some poor worker out here with three kids, 'We're now going to take your money and tax you for a program that you may never watch?'" As the debate over federal funding for public broadcasting was being waged in Congress, Johnson shopped the developing project around to various networks, hoping to find one that would air Adventures in a prime time slot. The final taker was PBS. Many conservative figures approved of PBS's pickup of the series. When asked whether PBS was attempting to appease Congressional Republicans by accepting a series developed by a well-regarded Reagan cabinet appointee, PBS President Ervin S. Duggan denied, stating, "We are not buying Bill Bennett's