As gimmicky as “steampunk Huck and Tom” sounds, the characters actually may be quite well suited for steampunk. Twain’s novel Tom Sawyer Abroad was a play on Jules Verne-style adventure stories, and featured a mad professor and his absurd, futuristic airship. And Tom Sawyer had his own mystery story with Tom Sawyer, Detective. However, Twain was poking fun at the conventions of these genres, not merely using them as vehicles for his characters. If the pilot progresses, we’ll have to see if the creators use Huck and Tom to their full satirical effect. —ABC is developing the steampunk adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Yes, really..