Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears | |
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Format | Animated series |
Created by | Jymn Magon Art Vitello |
Starring | (See Character lists below) |
Country of origin | ![]() |
No. of episodes | 65 |
Production | |
Running time | 22 minutes |
Broadcast | |
Original channel | NBC 1985-1989 ABC 1989-1990 |
Original run | September 14, 1985 – December 7, 1990 |
External links | |
IMDb profile | |
TV.com summary |
Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears is an American animated television series that aired in the United States in the mid-1980s through the early 1990s. The show was created by The Walt Disney Company, and loosely inspired by the gummi bear candies; Disney CEO Michael Eisner was struck with inspiration for the show when his son requested the candies one day.[1] The series premiered on NBC on September 14, 1985, and continued to air on ABC, running for 65 half-hour installments over six seasons, concluding on December 7, 1990 as part of the Disney Afternoon television syndication package. Of these 65 shows, 30 were double-features, consisting of two 11-minute cartoons, thereby bringing the series total to 95 distinct episodes overall. The show is well-remembered for its theme music, written by Michael and Patty Silversher.
The series was later rebroadcast on the syndicated Disney Afternoon block, and rerun on the Disney Afternoon and on Saturday mornings on ABC through the summer of 1991. In later years, it was shown on the Disney Channel and Toon Disney, with its most recent televised airing occurring on Toon Disney on December 28, 2001. Seasons 1 to 3 of the series were released on DVD on November 14, 2006. [1]
Contents |
The series focuses on the escapades of the eponymous "Gummi Bears," anthropomorphic bears who are the last remnants of a once-great civilization of Gummis that fled the land centuries ago when humans, jealous of the advancements and magical skills of the Gummi Bears, forced the species into exile. Now regarded by most of humankind as fairytales, the show's main cast of Gummi Bears (six in number at the outset of the series, increased to seven during the third season) live in the vast subterranean warren of Gummi Glen in the medieval kingdom of Dunwyn. The Gummis' modern adventures begin when they are discovered by a human boy named Cavin who happens to have a Gummi Medallion. After he accidentally enters the colony's underground home of Gummi Glen, they capture and interrogate the boy as to how he gained the medallion. During the questioning, Cavin escapes, but refuses to cause any harm and attempts to befriend the reclusive bears. Impressed by this civilized behavior, they make him swear to keep their confidence and make him a privileged friend of the colony. Later, the medallion magically unlocks the colony's Great Book of Gummi, an essential reference guide to the forgotten knowledge of the Gummi Bears. Inspired by its writings, the colony resolves to rediscover their heritage and help Dunwyn defend against evil.
The main source of this evil is Duke Igthorn, a renegade noble and his army of ogres from the neighboring kingdom of Drekmore who aim to conquer the Dunwyn. Unfortunately, in stopping Igthorn's attempt to bombard his enemies with a grand catapult, the duke learns of the existence of the Gummi Bears and will stop at nothing to discover and exploit their secrets to become invincible. Chief among his primary goals is gaining a reliable supply of the Gummi Bears' vital strategic substance, Gummiberry Juice, a magic potion that endows the Gummis with bouncing abilities, but gifts humans with momentary super-strength as well as other numerous uses.
In addition to combating Igthorn's ambition, the Gummis regularly encounter other evil humans and magical beings ranging from wizards to gods, all the while attempting to hide their existence from the world at large. One of the show's main recurring storylines outside of the schemes of Igthorn is the mystery of the ancient Gummis, who are now scattered all across the world, but who have left advanced technology behind them.
The seven gummies who live in Gummi Glen are:
Disney is currently in the process of releasing Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears onto DVD. So far, one volume has been released and a Volume 2 is pending.
An episode of A New Beginning: A castle Horse Spirit jumps and kisses Cavin from The Sword in the Stone (film)
Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears was Disney's first major serialized television animation (it was released back to back with another show, The Wuzzles, which lasted only 13 episodes), and is often credited by animators and animation historians as having helped jump start the television animation boom of the late 1980s and 1990s. Consequently, it also became the forerunner to Disney's famous Disney Afternoon timeslot, which gave way to other famous serialized Disney television series, such as DuckTales, Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers, TaleSpin, Darkwing Duck, Gargoyles, and Bonkers. Although many of these subsequently-created shows exceeded Gummi Bears in budget and length, it is often credited as the sort of prototype to all of the subsequent animation which followed it, with DuckTales really jumpstarting the trend.
Additionally, while not having the largest number of total episodes, Gummi Bears has the biggest number of seasons of any Disney animated series. Whereas other shows simply produced large numbers of episodes for each of their seasons (DuckTales, for instance, had 100 episodes over three years), Gummi Bears is unique in that it was actually annually renewed for new episodes over six consecutive years, a feat which few other children's animated series can boast even today.
The show was so successful in the United Kingdom that the episodes A New Beginning and Faster than a Speeding Tummi were released as theatrical featurettes there in 1986 and 1987.
The show's popularity also led to a re-theming of Disneyland's Motor Boat Cruise, along with a small part of Disneyland that became known as "Disney Afternoon Avenue." The Motor Boat Cruise became the "Motor Boat Cruise to Gummi Glen" and plywood characters from the show made Gummi Berry juice along the waterway.
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