The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin

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The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin
Image:Adventuresofteddyruxpinlogo.jpg
Title screen
Genre Animated series
Creator(s) Ken Forsse
Voices of Phil Baron
Will Ryan
John Stocker
John Koensgen
Robert Bockstael
Les Lye
Abby Hagyard
Pier Kohl
Holly Larocque
Country of origin Flag of United States United States
No. of episodes 65
Production
Running time 30 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel Syndication
Original run September 14, 1987 – December 13, 1987
Links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin is an animated television series based on the Teddy Ruxpin animatronic teddy bear created by toy manufacturer Worlds of Wonder. It was produced for television syndication by DiC using many of the same voice actors used in the book-and-tape series. While some of the stories used in the TV series were adapted from the books, many were original and greatly expanded upon the world established there. The series differed from traditional children's animation in that most of its 65 episodes were serialized rather than in traditional episodic form. In February 2006 First National Pictures began releasing the series on DVD, as of January 2007 3 volumes have been released.[1]

Contents

[edit] Plot summary

The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin follows young Teddy Ruxpin as he leaves his home on the island of Rillonia with his best friend Grubby to follow an ancient map which leads him to find a collection of crystals on the mainland of Grundo. With the help of his new friend Newton Gimmick, Teddy and Grubby discover the magical powers of what turns out to be an ancestral treasure as well as an organization with ambitions to use it for evil. Along the way, Teddy learns the long-lost history of his species and clues to the location of his missing father.

[edit] Characters

[edit] Species

The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin features a large menagerie of sentient species for its character base:

  • Illiops, brown and bear-like, with kind dispositions.
  • Octopedes, orange and caterpillar-like with eight legs, each with fully-formed hands.
  • Perlunes, humans, who usually are professional in nature (eg scientist, doctor, wizard).
  • Illipers, near-relatives to humans but broad-faced with flat noses, who live in a medieval type society.
  • Grunges, relatives of the illipers but jungle-dwellers with antennae in lieu of ears, who tend to be passionate about their hobbies.
  • Fobs, small, multicolored and penguin-like, sometimes kept as pets.
  • Elves, tiny humanoids with pointy ears and shoes.
  • Woodsprites, tiny humanoids with wings.
  • Snowzos, large, white and yeti-like, who look more dangerous than they are.
  • Bounders, red, round, two-legged and rhinocerous-like, usually sarcastic. Said by some viewers to resemble Goombas from Super Mario Brothers.
  • Mudblups, large and lumpy animated blobs of mud, dull witted and slow moving but very strong.
  • Trolls, green, thin, and with pointed noses, for them being good means being bad.
  • Gutangs, green and monkey-like who wear brown tribal-like armor, usually belligerent.

[edit] Main characters

Three of the main characters: Newton Gimmick (left), Teddy Ruxpin (center), and Grubby (right)
Three of the main characters: Newton Gimmick (left), Teddy Ruxpin (center), and Grubby (right)

The three main protagonists, often referred to collectively in fandom as The Trio:

  • Teddy Ruxpin, a young illiop whose father disappeared when he was a child.
  • Grubby, an octopede fond of cooking and eating root stew who is about Teddy's age.
  • Newton Gimmick, a bald perlune inventor with a slight stuttering problem and a broad and otherwise questionable definition of "science". Note: Teddy in the episode "Medicine Wagon" had to explain to Newton what "combustible" means.

There are three main antagonists as well:

  • Jack W. Tweeg, a troll-grunge wannabe who thinks he has a recipe to turn buttermilk into gold. Usually referred to as simply Tweeg.
  • L.B., a sarcastic bounder who usually acts as Tweeg's henchman. L.B. however, does not show a particularly high degree of loyalty.
  • Quellor, the Supreme Oppressor of the Monsters And Villains Organization (M.A.V.O.) which Tweeg desperately wants to join.

[edit] The Episodes

[edit] Overview

Although the series is mostly serialized, it is further broken down into weekly story arcs which will involve visiting a different part of Grundo or exploring a major plot thread.

There have been unconfirmed reports that a second season was planned and at least some preproduction had begun.[2] Work was halted however when the Black Monday (1987) stock market crash left Worlds of Wonder unable to fund the production. Episode 65 gives some clues that could support the theory, however. After a clip-show review of the first season's events, the episode begins to open a new storyline but abruptly stops, suggesting the possibility of a hastily changed ending. [3]

When the series was originally syndicated, each episode included a short segment called "Protect Yourself" which ran after a teaser for the next episode and prior to the credits. It featured an animated Teddy Ruxpin on a live-action set, who would introduce a contemporary child star such as Brice Beckham, Tiffany Brissette, and Shannen Doherty. The guest would then give young viewers advice on topics such as avoiding strangers, what to do in an emergency, or how to respond to inappropriate touching.

[edit] Episode list

  1. The Treasure of Grundo
  2. Beware of the Mudblups
  3. Guests of the Grunges
  4. In the Fortress of the Wizard
  5. Escape from the Treacherous Mountain
  6. Take a Good Look
  7. Grubby's Romance
  8. Tweeg's Mom
  9. The Surf Grunges
  10. The New M.A.V.O. Member
  11. The Faded Fobs
  12. The Medicine Wagon
  13. Tweeg Gets the Tweezles
  14. The Lemonade Stand
  15. The Rainbow Mine
  16. The Wooly What's-It
  17. Sign of a Friend
  18. One More Spot
  19. Elves and Woodsprites
  20. Grundo Graduation
  21. Double Grubby
  22. King Nogburt's Castle
  23. The Day Teddy Met Grubby
  24. Secret of the Illiops
  25. Through Tweeg's Fingers
  26. Uncle Grubby
  27. The Crystal Book
  28. Teddy and the Mudblups
  29. Win One For the Twipper
  30. Tweeg Joins M.A.V.O.
  31. The Mushroom Forest
  32. Something In the Soup
  33. Captured
  34. To the Rescue
  35. Escape From M.A.V.O.
  36. Leekee Lake
  37. The Third Crystal
  38. Up for Air
  39. The Black Box
  40. The Hard To Find City
  41. Octopede Sailors
  42. Tweeg the Vegetable
  43. Wizardland
  44. The Ying Zoo
  45. The Big Escape
  46. Teddy Ruxpin's Birthday
  47. Wizardweek
  48. Air and Water Races
  49. The Great Grundo Ground Race
  50. A Race To The Finish
  51. Autumn Adventure
  52. Gimmick's Gizmos and Gadgets
  53. Harvest Feast
  54. Wooly and the Giant Snowzos
  55. Winter Adventure
  56. Teddy's Quest
  57. Thin Ice
  58. Fugitives
  59. Musical Oppressors
  60. M.A.V.O. Costume Ball
  61. Father's Day
  62. The Journey Home
  63. On the Beaches
  64. L.B.'s Wedding
  65. The Mystery Unravels

[edit] Trivia

Originally, AlchemyII Inc. had hoped to create a live-action series using animatronic characters, as Ken Forsse had helped Disney do with Welcome to Pooh Corner. However, due to production costs and difficulties in this format, Forsse, AlchemyII and Worlds of Wonder decided animation would be a better route and the 65 episode animated series was created. The pilot episode of what would have been the animatronic series was instead released as a stand-alone ABC Movie of the week in 1986 and can be found on videocassette.[4]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Release Information for The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin. Tvshowsondvd.com. Retrieved on February 5, 2007.
  2. ^ [1] The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin animated series
  3. ^ [2] The last episode at TV.com
  4. ^ The Interview with Ken Forsse. Josh Isaacson, Teddy Ruxpin Online. Retrieved on February 6, 2007.

[edit] External links

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