Franklin and the Turtle Lake Treasure (Franklin et le trésor du lac in France and Benjamin et le Trésor du lac in Canadian French) is a children's animated adventure drama film released on September 6, 2006, based on the TV series Franklin. It was the first Franklin film shown in theaters in Canada and France, as well as the last production in the Franklin series to be traditionally animated. The events of this film focus around Franklin's Granny falling ill during a visit from Franklin's Aunt Lucy, who is an archaeologist. Aunt Lucy knows of a special talisman that may cure the illness, so she joins Franklin on a quest to find it, along with his friends Bear, Beaver, and Snail. But they are also accompanied by Aunt Lucy's goddaughter, Samantha "Sam", and her personality clashes with Franklin. The film was released direct-to-video in the United States, by HBO and has had occasional TV airings on Nick Jr. since then. Writer John van Bruggen, stated "this film will take Franklin on a much greater adventure than any of the past Franklin films, including Franklin and the Green Knight." The film was written by John van Bruggen and directed by Dominique Monfrey; it was distributed by Mars Distribution. StudioCanal controlled international distribution. This film has also been listed under the working titles "Franklin and the Secret Talisman" and "Franklin and Granny's Secret". It also serves as the series finale to the 1997 series, as no new episodes were produced after the film was released. This was Patricia Gage's final performance before she died four years later in 2010. Plot The film opens with black and white and a young female turtle with glasses burying a green box. The scene zooms out to a turtle shaped lake, then we see a picture of it as we hear a fire and someone shouting "Mother! Father!" before it then perishes on Granny Turtle, who wakes from a bad dream, and sighs sadly. The scene then pulls us to Franklin, Beaver and Snail playing pirates, and they were about to go to a tree with an X. Just as they were about head towards there, Bear appears playing the villainous captain and Franklin defeats him. After that, the four went home. Franklin and Snail walk by Franklin's Aunt Lucy's place and notice the door was open. They went inside to see if Aunt Lucy was