The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin

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The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin
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	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]

1 Plot summary
2 Characters
- 2.1 Species
- 2.2 Main characters
3 The Episodes
- 3.1 Overview
- 3.2 Episode list
4 Trivia
5 References
6 External links

[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)

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

The Treasure of Grundo
Beware of the Mudblups
Guests of the Grunges
In the Fortress of the Wizard
Escape from the Treacherous Mountain
Take a Good Look
Grubby's Romance
Tweeg's Mom
The Surf Grunges
The New M.A.V.O. Member
The Faded Fobs
The Medicine Wagon
Tweeg Gets the Tweezles
The Lemonade Stand
The Rainbow Mine
The Wooly What's-It
Sign of a Friend
One More Spot
Elves and Woodsprites
Grundo Graduation
Double Grubby
King Nogburt's Castle
The Day Teddy Met Grubby
Secret of the Illiops
Through Tweeg's Fingers
Uncle Grubby
The Crystal Book
Teddy and the Mudblups
Win One For the Twipper
Tweeg Joins M.A.V.O.
The Mushroom Forest
Something In the Soup
Captured
To the Rescue
Escape From M.A.V.O.
Leekee Lake
The Third Crystal
Up for Air
The Black Box
The Hard To Find City
Octopede Sailors
Tweeg the Vegetable
Wizardland
The Ying Zoo
The Big Escape
Teddy Ruxpin's Birthday
Wizardweek
Air and Water Races
The Great Grundo Ground Race
A Race To The Finish
Autumn Adventure
Gimmick's Gizmos and Gadgets
Harvest Feast
Wooly and the Giant Snowzos
Winter Adventure
Teddy's Quest
Thin Ice
Fugitives
Musical Oppressors
M.A.V.O. Costume Ball
Father's Day
The Journey Home
On the Beaches
L.B.'s Wedding
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

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

[edit] External links

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