Rupert (TV series)

Rupert is an animated television series based on the Mary Tourtel character Rupert Bear, produced by Nelvana, Ellipse Programmé and TVS for the first season, with Scottish Television (now STV Central) taking over control when TVS closed. Aired from 1991 to 1997 with 65 half-hour episodes produced. It was broadcast in syndication on YTV in Canada. In the United States, the show first aired on Nickelodeon before moving to CBS during Saturday mornings; repeats of the series came to Disney Channel on the Playhouse Disney block, Toon Disney, and on Qubo's digital service in January 2007, until May 2013. The show was broadcast in the UK on CITV and has recently been re-airing on the satellite and cable channels Tiny Pop and KidsCo. In Australia, the show was broadcast on the ABC public broadcasting network and on TV2 in New Zealand as part of the Jason Gunn Show.

Characters

Main characters

• Rupert Bear is a considerate, smart, resourceful, brave, trusty, good spirited white bear who is extremely popular with all the residents in Nutwood. On occasion he breaks the fourth wall in addressing his observations and making comments to the viewer.
• Bill Badger – Rupert's best friend, who, unlike Rupert, often presents a lot of flaws, such as cowardice, impatience, clumsiness, and a horrible singing voice. He has a baby brother named Tobey, who appears to be fond of Bill's singing voice.
• Mr. Bear – Rupert's father. He is much more clumsy and forgetful compared to Rupert. He smokes a pipe. Mr. Bear (as shown in the episode "The Firebird") and Podgy's father are part of the Nutwood Fire Brigade.
• Mrs. Bear – Rupert's mother. Like her son, she is wise and often offers advice to Rupert who later uses it during his adventures.
• Podgy Pig – A jolly, yet greedy and not very bright pig with a large appetite. He is very friendly to others and appears not to see that his friends sometimes find him annoying. His appetite at times can lead him and his friends into trouble, but Rupert can look past this to go out of his way to help Podgy.
• Pong Ping – A pekinese from China who owns an elevator that can travel underground all the way to China. He has a wealth of knowledge of his culture including dragons and various magical objects. He's also good at maths.
• Professor – A very friendly and eccentric scientist who live in old castle tower in Nutwood, who invents many incredible devices during the series. Rupert often helps out with his experiments. Once the Professor starts an experiment, he never rests. He has the catchphrase, "Think of the possibilities, my boy(s)!" whenever he is explaining his experiments and all the benefits that can come from it to Rupert and his friends.
• Tiger Lily – Rupert's female Chinese friend. The only human student in school and the member of one of few human families in Nutwood. She and her family have a lot of knowledge on magic and mystic objects.
• Algy Pug – Rupert's friend, a pug who often overestimates his abilities and takes a lot of pride in himself. Despite his flaws he is shown to be a good and helpful friend for Rupert and others.
• Edward Trunk – Another friend of Rupert. An elephant, very kind and sensitive.
• Gregory - A guinea pig who is very kind and friends with Rupert. Sometimes he can be nervous and scared, but he meets the challenges head on when his friends need help.
• Ottoline the Otter – Rupert's friend who is an otter of a Scottish descent who loves Shakespeare and lives in an old castle that belonged to her ancestors. The castle has many secret entrances hidden all over. Ottoline has vast knowledge of each entrances location and will prefer to use them instead of the stairs.
• Freddy and Ferdie Fox - Two mischievous twin foxes who spread mischief around the village of Nutwood.
• Constable Growler – A dog, local policeman, he rides a bicycle. He constantly says he needs to do "everything by the book, you know" and is always turned to by Rupert and his friends whenever they need help catching a criminal.

Voice cast

Episodes

Theme song

The theme music (the overture) played at the beginning of the show (and, with slight modifications, during the closing credits) was composed by Milan Kymlicka. The opening notes of the melody (particularly the first four notes) appear to be based on Robert Schumann's The Happy Farmer Returning from Work, Op. 68, No. 10, but the piece then evolves into a highly original, wonderfully melodic and well-orchestrated work.

When this series aired on Nickelodeon in the U.S., a different theme was written for it and used. This song was performed in a peppy, rollicking, ragtime style, with lyrics and vocals in the intro, and an instrumental of this same tune in the outro. This composition, Rupert's Number One, was co-penned by Sheree Jeacocke and Gerry Mosby, and was possibly also sung by the former.

Scenes in the intro used in this version were different from the original as well. Here, scenes used for it were taken from various episodes mostly and the ending credits differed (aside from the scene of a silhouette of one of Rupert's friends releasing the box kite as it's lifted up by the wind and Rupert pulls it away while running) from the initial, in that in the Nick, Jr. version, after getting a close up of the kite, the scene switches to various scenes of Rupert with another, different character (or other different characters). In the initial, after the kite has been lifted and there's a close-up shot of it, it's zoomed in so far that all that is seen is the color red, over which the credits are superimposed. Then there's a zoom-out of the kite and the only still scenes of either Rupert on his knees and crawling on the grass while Tiger Lily tries to bring down the kite from a tree, Rupert bends over lifting Bill to get kite, Or Rupert trying to get the kite while Podgy eats in the apples in the trees. Playhouse Disney has also aired Rupert in the Early 2000s in the United States, but used the original intro.

External links

• Rupert Bear at itv.com/citv
• Rupert at the Internet Movie Database
• Rupert at TV.com