Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears

For the candy, see Gummy bear.
Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears
Genre Adventure
Comedy
Fantasy
Created by Micheal Eisner
Art Vitello
Jymn Magon
Starring Bill Scott (1985)
Paul Winchell (1985–1989)
June Foray
Lorenzo Music
Katie Leigh
Noelle North
Rob Paulsen
Corey Burton (1986–1990)
Jim Cummings (1990)
Michael Rye
Christian Jacobs (1985)
Brett Johnson (1986)
David Faustino (1987)
Jason Marsden (1988–1990)
R. J. Williams (1990–1991)
Roger C. Carmel (1986)
Brian Cummings (1987–1990)
Bob Holt
Howard Morris
Walker Edmiston
Theme music composer Silversher & Silversher[1]
Composer(s) Thomas Chase
Steve Rucker[1]
Country of origin United States
No. of seasons 6
No. of episodes 65 (94 segments) (list of episodes)
Production
Running time 22 minutes
Production company(s) Walt Disney Television Animation
Distributor Buena Vista Television
Release
Original network

NBC[2][3] 1985–1988
ABC[4] 1989–1990

Syndicated 1990–1991
Picture format Color
SD: 4:3 (broadcast/DVD release)
HD: 16:9 (streaming)
Audio format Mono (Season 1–2)
Stereo (Season 3–6)
Original release September 14, 1985 – February 22, 1991

Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears is a Disney animated television series that first aired in the United States from 1985 to 1991. The series was the first animated production by Walt Disney Animation Television, and loosely inspired by the gummy bear candies; Disney CEO Michael Eisner was struck with inspiration for the show when his son requested the candies one day.[5] The series premiered on NBC on September 14, 1985, and aired there for four seasons. The series moved to ABC for one season from 1989 to 1990 (airing alongside The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh as the Gummi Bears-Winnie the Pooh Hour), and concluded on September 6, 1991 as part of the Disney Afternoon television syndication package. Of the series' 65 shows, 30 were double-features, consisting of two 11-minute cartoons, thereby bringing the series total to 94 distinct episodes overall. The show is well-remembered for its theme music, written by Michael and Patty Silversher and creation of "gummiberry juice" which was a type of magic potion, gaining abilities, which allowed them to bounce away from their hunters.[6][7][8][9]

The series was later rebroadcast on the syndicated Disney Afternoon block, and rerun on the Disney Afternoon through the summer of 1991. In later years, it was shown on The Disney Channel (from October 7, 1991[10] to at least January 1997[11]), and later on Toon Disney, with its most recent televised airing occurring on December 28, 2001. Seasons 1 to 3 of the series were released on DVD on November 14, 2006.[12]

Characters

Gummi Bears from left to right: Cubbi, Sunni, Gruffi, Zummi, Tummi, Grammi.

The Gummi Bears

Gummi Bears are a fictional group of anthropomorphic bears who have a long and rich history, and are relatively unknown to the humans of the world who believe that they are legends and fairy tales. In series continuity, it is said that in ancient times (about 500 years prior to the events of the series), the Great Gummis and humans lived peacefully together side by side, but for reasons left undetailed (it is suggested in the episodes Light Makes Right and The Knights of Gummadoon that the more malevolent humans craved the magical and mechanical advancements of the Gummi Bears, and threatened them with war and possible genocide), the Great Gummis were forced to flee and sail across the sea to find a new home. The ancient Great Gummis left behind small, scattered populations of bears to watch over the Gummi cities and warrens, such as the main group of the series, the Gummi-Glen Gummis, to await the time when humans and Gummis could peacefully co-exist so they could then summon the Great Gummis to return home.

Gummi-Glen

The Gummi-Glen Gummis are a group of Gummis who live in a hollow tree known as Gummi Glen that is the base for a vast complex of underground tunnels and rooms. They harvest the Gummiberries that grow wild around them in the forest, and produce a powerful juice known as Gummiberry Juice. They try to hide from humans as much as possible, with the exception of friends Cavin, a page, and Princess Calla. In later episodes the Gummis have chance encounters with other friendly humans. It is never explained how they are related to each other, although the episode Up, Up, and Away suggests that they are the last remaining ones in Gummi-Glen, and at risk of extinction.

Ursalia

Later in the series, the Gummi-Glen Gummis discover the Great Gummies' abandoned city of Ursalia, largely unoccupied until the Barbics, a tribe of rough-and-tough Gummis from Barbic Woods, move there after their home was destroyed by hostile humans.

Humans and other figures

Castle Dunwyn

Castle Drekmore

Igthorn: Don't call me "Dukie"!
Ogres: Okay, Dukie!

Others

Gummiberry Juice

Gummiberry Juice is a concoction formulated using Gummiberries by the Gummi Bears, with the recipe known only by Grammi Gummi until she later taught it to Sunni Gummi. The juice is produced by adding six handfuls of red berries, then four orange berries, three purple berries, four blue berries, three green berries and one yellow berry. The recipe ends with the 3-step-stir: first stir slow to the right, then slow to the left, then tap the pot to banish the bubbles.[15]

Gummi Bears gain the ability to bounce at unusual heights for a limited amount of time; falling from heights which would normally be fatal to a Gummi will only cause them to bounce like rubber. The ability to direct themselves while powered by the juice, such as bouncing along the ground, is not instinctive to Gummi Bears and must be learned, as the Barbic Gummis quickly find out.

Ogres and humans both gain super strength for a similar amount of time. Drinking too much Gummiberry Juice has unforeseen side effects on the consumer (Toadie was sent streaking skywards like a firework after downing a whole cask), and the abilities gained from drinking the juice can only be used by humans once per day. With this in mind, Cavin and Calla only drink the juice if asked to do so by the Gummi Bears, and if given a dose for later, will only drink it in an emergency.

If the juice is produced inaccurately from the recipe, the results are adverse outcomes, though nothing fatal.[15] In Season 1, Episode 14 – 'The Secret of the Juice', Grammi Gummi tries to teach Sunni Gummi for the first time how to make the juice. Grammi performs the three-step-stir successfully like she always does, but when it's Sunni's turn, it ends in disaster. She stirs the pot too vigorously and then bangs it too hard, causing the pot of unstable juice to somehow explode, covering Sunni, Grammi and the entire kitchen in juice (Toadie makes a similar mistake at the end of the episode, distracting Igthorn's ogres and allowing the Gummis to escape). In one episode, an incorrect juice resulted in pink fur, but when poured in water, creates a pink sleeping mist that Igthorn once tried to use.

In the series, the Juice was used as a major plot device with the main reoccurring villain, Duke Igthorn, trying to get a good supply of the juice, or the recipe, to create mass amounts to grant himself and the ogres superstrength.

Episodes

Cameos

VHS releases

International releases

Several VHS cassettes of the series were released internationally.[16][17] Of those, eight VHS cassettes containing 32 episodes of the series are listed below. The first four cassettes ("Welcome to Gummiglen!", "Creature Feature", "Hot Little Tot!", and "A Sky Full of Gummies!"), which contain 20 episodes of the series, were released in English[16][17] in the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. These four cassettes were also released in some non-English-speaking countries (including Poland,[18][19][20] the Netherlands[21] and Germany). The other four cassettes, as well as the ones not listed below, were released exclusively in non-English-speaking countries (including the Netherlands,[17][22][23] Poland,[24][25] Finland,[26][27] and Italy.[17][28]

VHS Name Episode Titles Release Date
Adventures of the Gummi Bears (Volume 1): Welcome to Gummiglen! "A New Beginning"
"Zummi Makes it Hot"
"The Sinister Sculptor"
"Someday My Prints Will Come"
"Can I Keep Him?"
September 11, 1992
Adventures of the Gummi Bears (Volume 2): Creature Feature "The Fence Sitter"
"Night of the Gargoyle"
"Loopy, Go Home"
"A-Hunting We Will Go"
"The Secret of the Juice"
September 11, 1992
Adventures of the Gummi Bears (Volume 3): Hot Little Tot! "Sweet and Sour Gruffi"
"Duel of the Wizards"
"What You See is Me"
"Bubble Trouble"
"Toadie's Wild Ride"
"Gummi in a Strange Land"
September 11, 1992
Adventures of the Gummi Bears (Volume 4): A Sky Full of Gummies! "A Gummi in a Gilded Cage"
"The Oracle"
"When You Wish Upon a Stone"
"A Gummi by Any Other Name"
September 11, 1992
Adventures of the Gummi Bears (Volume 5): The Crimson Avenger "The Crimson Avenger"
"You Snooze, You Loose"
"Over the River and Through the Trolls"
September 10, 1993
Adventures of the Gummi Bears (Volume 6): Wild Ride "Toadie's Wild Ride"
"Sweet and Sour Gruffi"
"Duel of the Wizards"
"What You See is Me"
September 10, 1993
Adventures of the Gummi Bears (Volume 7): Up, Up, and Away "Up, Up, and Away"
"Faster Than a Speeding Tummi"
September 10, 1993
Adventures of the Gummi Bears (Volume 8): For Whom the Spell Holds "For Whom the Spell Holds"
"Little Bears Lost"
"Guess Who's Gumming to Dinner?"
September 10, 1993

DVD releases

On November 14, 2006, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears: Volume 1 on DVD in Region 1. The 3-disc set features seasons 1 to 3 and does not contain any bonus features, save for subtitles for the hearing impaired.

DVD Name Ep# Release Date
Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears: Volume 1 47 November 14, 2006
Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears: Volume 2 48 TBA

To date, the series has never officially been released on DVD in the UK.

In Australia, Disney released nine volumes, which have now long been discontinued. They are all in complete storyline production order, but the first volume starts from episode 19 in series 2. Episodes 1-18 oddly have not been released on DVD in Australia and are only available on the USA Region 1 collection. However, the Region 4 Australian DVDs do finish off the series and go right up to episode 65 of the series' final two-part double episode adventure.

Legacy

Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears was Disney's first major serialized animated television series (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, Goof Troop, Bonkers, and Gargoyles. 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.

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.

Other appearances of Gummi Bears in other media included one appearance of Gruffi Gummi starring in a D-TV music video of the Elvis Presley song "Teddy Bear" in 1986.[29]

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 Gummiberry Juice along the waterway. The Gummi Bears have also been featured as meetable characters who greet guests in Disney theme parks.

References

  1. 1 2 ""Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears Episode Guide". Bcdb.com. Retrieved April 13, 2012.
  2. Holston, Noel (August 29, 1985). "Disney Enters Saturday's Cartoon Fray". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved 2010-10-19.
  3. Farley, Ellen (February 7, 1985). "Being Moved From Longtime Home, New Series to Be Done Overseas". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-10-19.
  4. "ABC Adds 'Gummi Bears,' 'Beetlejuice'". The Los Angeles Times. April 25, 1989. Retrieved 2010-10-19.
  5. "Waldenbooks for Kids", June 1986
  6. "Gummi Bears: where can i buy gummi juice?". TV.com. Retrieved 2012-10-25.
  7. "The Great Site of Gummi". Cortneywilliams.com. Retrieved 2012-10-25.
  8. "Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears". The Tv Iv. Retrieved 2012-10-25.
  9. "Adventures of the Gummi Bears (1985–1991)". IMDb.com. Retrieved 2012-10-25.
  10. The Disney Channel Magazine, Vol. 9, no. 5, September/October 1991: pp. 20, 36, 45.
  11. The Disney Channel Magazine, Vol. 14, no. 6, December 1996/January 1997: p. 28.
  12. "DVDizzy.com / UltimateDisney.com Forum :: View topic – Adventures of THE GUMMI BEARS: Volume 1 DVD Fact Sheet". Ultimatedisney.com. Retrieved 2012-10-25.
  13. DeMott, Rick (March 7, 2007). "Beany Voice Actor Walker Edmiston Dies". Animation World Network. AWN News. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  14. "Voiceover actor Michael Rye dies at 94, Bridged the generations from radio to videogame work". Variety Magazine. September 25, 2012. Retrieved 2012-10-20.
  15. 1 2 "The Secret of the Juice". Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears. Season 1. Episode 14. November 23, 1985.
  16. 1 2 "The Great Site of Gummi". Cortneywilliams.com. Retrieved 2013-11-14.
  17. 1 2 3 4 "Disney Video List VHS and DVD Disney Videos, Disney home entertainment DVD Video". Sealvideo.co.uk. Retrieved 2013-11-14.
  18. "Polish Gummi Bears VHS cover #1". Cortneywilliams.com. Retrieved 2013-11-14.
  19. "Polish Gummi Bears VHS cover #2". Cortneywilliams.com. Retrieved 2013-11-14.
  20. "Polish Gummi Bears VHS cover #3". Cortneywilliams.com. Retrieved 2013-11-14.
  21. "Dutch Gummi Bears VHS cover #1". Cortneywilliams.com. Retrieved 2013-11-14.
  22. "Dutch Gummi Bears VHS cover #2". Cortneywilliams.com. Retrieved 2013-11-14.
  23. "Dutch Gummi Bears VHS cover #3". Cortneywilliams.com. Retrieved 2013-11-14.
  24. "Polish Gummi Bears VHS cover #4". Cortneywilliams.com. Retrieved 2013-11-14.
  25. "Polish Gummi Bears VHS cover #5". Cortneywilliams.com. Retrieved 2013-11-14.
  26. "Finnish Gummi Bears VHS cover #1". Cortneywilliams.com. Retrieved 2013-11-14.
  27. "Finnish Gummi Bears VHS cover #2". Cortneywilliams.com. Retrieved 2013-11-14.
  28. "Italian Gummi Bears VHS cover #1". Cortneywilliams.com. Retrieved 2013-11-14.
  29. "Teddy Bear". YouTube. September 25, 2009. Retrieved 2013-11-13.

External links

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