Saban's Adventures of Pinocchio

Pinocchio: The Series
Screenshot from the TV series Pinocchio: The Series, displaying Gepetto and Pinocchio
樫の木モック (Mokku of the Oak Tree)
Genre	Fantasy, Drama
Anime television series
Directed by	Seitaro Hara
Studio	Tatsunoko Production
Original network	Fuji Television
English network	BBC (United Kingdom) HBO (United States)
Original run	4 January 1972 – 1 January 1973
Episodes	52 (List of episodes)

Pinocchio: The Series, also known as Saban's The Adventures of Pinocchio and known in Japan as Mock of the Oak Tree (樫の木モック, Kashi no Ki Mokku^?) in Japan, is a 52 episode anime series by Tatsunoko Productions first aired on Fuji Television in 1972, which was edited by Saban in 1990. The story is based on the novel The Adventures of Pinocchio by Italian author Carlo Collodi.

Unlike the lighter, more cheerful tones of the Disney Version and Nippon Animation's version Piccolino no Bōken, this series has a distinctly darker, more sadistic theme, and portrays the main character, Pinocchio (Mock), as suffering from constant physical and psychological abuse and freak accidents.

This version of tells a story of an extremely gullible, naive and morally confused wooden doll/marionette brought to life by a mystical turquoise-haired fairy. Pinocchio (Mock) is characterized as having many character faults which he must learn to overcome in order to be worthy of being granted humanity. Some of these character faults include selfishness, sarcasm, insensitivity, indolence, obstinacy, over- trusting, self-pity, stupidity, disobedience, compulsive lying, arrogance, greed, cowardice, recklessness, cruelty, foolishness and an inability to learn from mistakes.

For example, during the fifth episode, 'What is a Heart', Pinocchio actually resorts to committing attempted murder to acquire a child's heart because he thinks it will help him become a real boy. Throughout the entire series Pinocchio (Mock), partly due to his own delinquency and repetitive disobedience, must undergo other costly ordeals of hardship and pain in which he is continuously tormented. In the tenth episode, 'When my nose gets longer', Pinocchio is forcefully adopted by a Nobleman and becomes a Prince, whereupon he becomes so corrupted with wealth and privileges that he becomes extremely cruel to his servants and charges about his adopted father's estates on horseback, randomly riding down any person who gets in his way, whilst laughing at the terror, indignity and danger inflicted upon others for his personal amusement. Pinocchio is of course severely punished by the blue fairy for these acts of utter selfishness who makes his nose turn into a small tree. Pinocchio is consequently disowned and cast out naked into the wilderness by his adopted father who can't stop laughing at him as he is dragged away crying out in vain for mercy. The episode ends with a forlorn Pinocchio weeping as he fumbles through the castle's surrounding undergrowth, naked and cold because his ex-adopted father has taken away his expensive attire. There are clearly illustrated scratches etched into the wood of his body from the surrounding vegetation. The subsequent episode sees Pinocchio transform into a small tree with a face and with roots fixed deep into the soil so that he can no longer move. He is eventually found by a wood cutter who chops him down and sells him as a novelty singing tree.