Wowser (TV series)

Wowser (どんどんドメルとロン, Don-Don Domeru/Domel to Ron) is an anime based on the Belgian cartoon comic strip Cubitus. It consisted of 52 two-part episodes the running time of 20 minutes in total, and it originally aired from 5 April 1988 to 27 March 1989.

Plot

Wowser is a big white dog who lives with his owner, the Professor. In each episode, Wowser's appetite and the Professor's inventions, along with the interference of their wacky neighbors, results in chaos.

Characters

• Wowser (Cubitus in French and German, Dommel (ドメル Domeru) in Japanese, Dutch, Polish and Spanish, Teodoro in Italian and Kaaboul in Arabic) is the main character. A large tall white dog, he has a good-natured personality but a humongous appetite. Japanese voice actor: Naoki Tatsuta.
• Professor Dingy (Sémaphore in French, Ron (ロン) in Japanese and Polish, Semafoor in Dutch, Professore in Italian and Abqarino in Arabic) is Wowser's owner who has a big white moustache and wears a pink sweater. He is a genius inventor, although his eccentric creations usually backfire on him. Japanese voice actor: Kaneta Kimotsuki.
• Ratso (Sénéchal in French, Blackie (ブラッキー Burakkī) in Japanese and Polish, Balthazar in Dutch and Spanish, Gatto in Italian and Mushakess in Arabic) is a neighbourhood cat who appears to be Wowser's rival/sometimes Wowser's friend. He is an annoying black & white cat who often sabotages the Professor's inventions. Japanese voice actress: Rika Matsumoto. English voice actor: Robert Axelrod.
• Linda Lovely (Cherry (チェリー Cherī) in Japanese, Dutch and Polish, and Nadine in Arabic; her name is also Linda in Italian version) is a teenager who seems to take quite a fancy interest towards Wowser. Japanese voice actress: Mīna Tominaga.
• Bob Lovely is Linda's young little brother.
• Betrice (Beatrix (ベアトリクス Beatorikusu) in Japanese, Dutch and Polish, Bea in Italian) is a rather bossy middle aged woman who is often very rude to Wowser. Japanese voice actress: Kazuko Sugiyama.
• Officer Whistle is a policeman who keeps a whistle in his mouth which is used to tell people off when there is trouble about. Japanese voice actor: Kōichi Yamadera.

Foreign versions

The English version was created by Saban Entertainment. Retitled Wowser, it aired in 1990 on The Family Channel. The dub changed the names of the characters and replaced the original music.

In the UK it aired on ITV and later on Channel 4 in the early and mid 1990s and 2 videos of the series were released in 2 volumes.

In the U.S. in 1990 & 1991, the videos of the Wowser series were released in 4 volumes, and also in mini features of the running time of 30 minutes and 60 minutes.

The series were also dubbed to Arabic in Jordan, and released throughout many parts of the Arab world. This version named Ka'abool (Arabic: كعبول).

Songs

Japanese version

Opening song

"Fly away - Yume no Hikouki" sung by Mitsuko Horie

Ending song

"GO! GO! My Friend" sung by Mitsuko Horie

External links

• Cubitus (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Cubitus at the Internet Movie Database