| SuperTed | |
|---|---|
| Format | Animated series |
| Created by | Mike Young |
| Written by | Mike Young Robin Lyons |
| Directed by | David Edwards |
| Starring | Derek Griffiths Mel Blanc Melvyn Hayes Roy Kinnear Jon Pertwee Victor Spinetti Sheila Steafel Myfanwy Talog |
| Narrated by | Peter Hawkins |
| Country of origin | Wales |
| Language(s) | Welsh |
| No. of series | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 36 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Mike Young Roger Fickling |
| Running time | 10 mins |
| Production company(s) | Siriol Animation Kalato S4C Williams and Glyn Leasing Group Ltd. |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | S4C (in Welsh) BBC1 (in English) RTÉ 2 (in Irish) |
| Picture format | 4:3 |
| Original run | 1 November 1982 – 1994 |
SuperTed is a Welsh teddy bear who has magical super powers. He along with his friend Spotty try to do good. SuperTed was a series of stories created by Mike Young who eventually created a television series based on those stories.
Contents |
'SuperTed' was created by Mike Young in 1978[1] for his son to help him overcome his fear of the dark. Later Mike decided to put the stories into book form. Superted originally was a bear from the woods who was also afraid of the dark, until one day Mother Nature give him a magic word which gives him Superpowers and transform him to SuperTed. After a while, Mike started to write actual story books about SuperTed. Then after some unsuccessful attempts, he was able to get his book published by a local printer. This led Mike to a successful career, writing and publishing over 100 SuperTed books, with illustrations done by Philip Watkins, until 1990. Just after his first book was published, his wife suggested he should produce a stuffed toy version of SuperTed which was done in 1980.[2]
The process also drew the attention of Warner Brothers in 1980 who made an offer of £250,000 for the film rights. Mike was determined to keep SuperTed Welsh,[3] as he wanted to help create local jobs and prove places outside London had talent.[2] In 1981, S4C enquired about making Superted into animations, but Mike decided to create Siriol Productions to produce the series himself. Siriol management wished to create SuperTed in a way which their own kids could be proud of, free from facile plots and hard line violence. This concept continued to be adopted to all series made by Siriol, which proves soft edge and quality animation can be more appealing to children than any amount of violence.[3] Superted was also turned into a stage show. Melvyn Hayes reprised his role but other parts were taken by other actors. Superted's popularity even led to the production of a line of vitamin supplements for children.[3]
In 1989 Mike young sold the rights to SuperTed to Abbey home media.[4]
SuperTed is a teddy bear found to be defective in the toy factory where he was made, and "threw him away like a piece of rubbish! Into an old dark storeroom." A Spotty man found him there and brought him to life with his "cosmic dust". He was then taken to Mother Nature and given magical powers that enabled him to fight evil. SuperTed's powers are activated by his "secret magic word", which (as the name suggests) remains a secret. SuperTed whispers it every time he or someone else is in peril and he transforms into a superhero with Superman-like red suit with rockets built in to the boots. These allow him to fly. In one episode, Bulk overhears the secret magic word and also whispers it, briefly acquiring identical powers to SuperTed. However, he subsequently forgets the word. The evil invariably takes the form of Texas Pete (an evil cowboy, the antagonist of the series) and his gang; Bulk (an overweight, bumbling fool) and Skeleton (an undead, outrageously camp, cowardly skeleton with pink slippers). Texas Pete's plots are generally aimed at advancing his own wealth, ruling the world and the power or the destruction of SuperTed, his nemesis.
Heroes
Villains
Other Characters
As Mike was determined to keep SuperTed Welsh, he entered into partnership with S4C ( the newly formed Welsh television channel) in 1981 who approached him about producing an animated series of SuperTed. He set up Siriol Animation with his wife, to procured the series locally, which first aired on 1 November 1982 on S4C in Welsh. A year later it was dubbed into English and broadcast throughout the whole of the United Kingdom on BBC1, from October 83.
Unlike the books the television series was ghost written by Robin Lyons and director Dave Edwards, who were also Directors of Siriol Animation, and between 1982–1986, 3 series were made:
Series 1 (1982)
|
Series 2 (1984)
|
Series 3 (1985-1986)
|
The series has been broadcast and dubbed in over 50 countries around the world:[4]
In 1989, SuperTed was revived in America by Hanna Barbera (who also made Fantastic Max). The revival was one of four series aired as part of The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera syndicated animation block.
SuperTed along with Spotty & his sister, Blotch appeared in a Public Information Film in 1986. The film was commissioned by the Central Office of Information, was entitled "Supersafe with SuperTed", and featured the three characters being flown to Earth by SuperTed, in order to teach Spotty how to cross the road safely. A flashback during the short reveals an incident when Spotty very nearly got killed, running across the road on the planet Spot (his home), to talk to his sister. It was released on two VHS videos: Magic Of SuperTed (1986) and The Biggest Ever SuperTed Video(1994).
SuperTed proceeds during the animation, to teach Spotty the right way to cross the road, including not running, not standing behind vehicles, etc. He then warns the viewer that he "can't always be there to save you, especially on planet Earth". The animated "setting" for the film was a based on Castle Street in Cardiff city centre, Wales[6] with Cardiff Castle as a backdrop.
The series won numerous awards, including the 1987 BAFTA for best animation.
The Complete original series of Superted was released on June 2008 in Region 2 (UK). The Series is yet to be release in other regions.
All 36 episodes were released over six videocassettes by Walt Disney Home Video.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||