The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin

It's like having a "my first Sony" at the age of 7 or 8. That is the feeling Teddy Ruxpin brings back to me. This was the first cartoon series that slipped into my young mind and brought me the introduction to a lovely human-created fantasy world containing rare species of animals living in a world a young kid only can dream about. Whether you were looking for love, adventure or humor; Teddy Ruxpin and his friends/enemies brought it all. Quellor, the big boss of the MAVO (MESO in Dutch) was frightening, Grubby was funny, and I have to admit...I had quite a crush on Princess Aruzia :) Now that the first series have been released on DVD in the US and Canada, I hope Europe will be next. Here in the Netherlands, the series were broadcasted on VARA public TV at the end of the 80's, and later in the 90's on the Dutch children's network Kindernet and the Dutch edition of Nickelodeon.

Nowadays, when I see the crap channels like Jetix and Nickelodeon are broadcasting, I look back at the good ol' days of children's television, a time when cartoons were not only funny and thrilling, but also highly educative and gave children the opportunity to create their own personal fantasy world, a good bunch of cartoons and other children's TV series as a result. The release of the complete Teddy Ruxpin series on DVD in North America (and hopefully soon in Europe) is in that way not only suitable for all young adults grown up with this great adventure, but also for the current young MTV/Nickelodeon generation. Let them experience the adventures we encountered when we were young, made in a time when cartoons were nothing but cartoons, but in a way no other cartoon of today can compete with!

Oh, wow, I can't believe how long ago it was that I watched this. I think I caught the series in bits and pieces during several repetitions on a Canadian station we got from over the border on an antenna. I barely remember the show, except for the name of the protagonist and the way the other semi-heros of the show looked, but I miss it so much now. I don't think I ever appreciated it enough when I was younger. Teddy Ruxpin was one of perhaps two cartoons I watched that had a coherent storyline -- something I'm constantly searching for in comics and TV shows now. The other one was the excellent but ill-marketed cartoon Droids, which was written for a Star Wars audience of perhaps 10 or 11, but shown along with an unfocused Ewoks cartoon best for 5 or 6 year olds.

Teddy Ruxpin was, essentially, a good show, perfectly suitable for very young kids early on and then better for somewhat older kids as the solid storyline emerged. It was rather well-drawn, neither as stiff and careful as the old Transformers cartoon or as "loose" with form as current cartoons tend to be. I don't remember it being especially "funny," like Inspector Gadget, but it wasn't as preachy about things as Captain Planet or Care Bears could be. What it was, was an engaging, well-written cartoon that could hold interest without touching the throw-away or beat-until-dead jokes of most cartoons.

I find myself wishing this cartoon had continued for several more years, as I look back and see the kind of influence this - one of my best-remembered and most-favored cartoons of my young childhood - had on my interests and hobbies up to this day.

A syndicated animated television series created in the good old USA by Ken Forsse, but actually posed in Canada, then animated, in-betweened and colored in Korea. The 65 episode series was produced in conjunction with the wildly popular Teddy Ruxpin franchise of toys, books and audiotapes marketed by Alchemy II and Worlds Of Wonder.

Along the way, the "big three" (Teddy Ruxpin, Grubby the octopede and inventor Newton Gimmick) encounter Leota the woodsprite, Wooly Whatsit, Fobs, the Grunges, Illipers, Anythings, as well as bad dudes Jack W. Tweeg, Eleanor Tweeg (Tweeg's mom), L.B. Bounder, the gutangs, the mudblups, Quellor: the leader of the Monsters And Villains Organization (M.A.V.O.) and a host of others. Eclectic and very politically correct for its time. I believe this was one of the first cartoons that ever depicted a paraplegic character. One episode even depicted key characters "signing" to communicate to a hearing-impaired character.

Teddy Ruxpin was the nicest, most wholesome character in 1980's television cartoons. The only harm he ever did was rough up a couple of gutangs. And then only so he could steal their costumes to infiltrate their braintrust.

At times Teddy's adventures parallel that of Joseph Smith, the father of Mormonism. Particularly when his mother holds two cooking trays, one over another, to reveal a message meant just for him. Other than that, the show really doesn't preach any message, except for good old fashioned, sugar-coated American conformity.

One of my favorite websites is "Jump The Shark" and Teddy Ruxpin REALLY jumps the shark as soon as Teddy and his archrival, Tweeg, start finding their long lost dads and trying to re-establishing ties with them again. This either indicated a subliminal lack of paternal presence in the lives of the scriptwriting team, or a dearth of good ideas for plot lines in the show's late going...

While I never thought much of the show at the time, this cartoon seemed to develop a keen and loyal following in the late eighties and early nineties. Most of the kids who loved watching Teddy as four and five year-olds are the young adults forming our world of today.

First National Pictures began marketing 2 volumes of the series onto DVD by February 2006. Exactly 3 years later, in February 2009, Mill Creek Entertainment released all 65 episodes onto DVD.

Teddy Ruxpin is from long before I was born, and it hasn't had any reruns on TV at all during my lifetime, as far as I know. It has had some DVD releases when I was little in the late 2000s, and that is how I was introduced to the show. When I was 5 years old, I was on Amazon, and the Teddy Ruxpin toy popped up. If I remember correctly, DVDs of the show popped up too. I clicked on the toy and watched the commercial for him. Not too long after that, I showed him to my mother and grandparents. They thought he was neat, and my mother said she had a Teddy Ruxpin when she was a kid and loved him a lot, and I eventually came across the Grubby toy to go with him. A couple years later, Santa Claus brought me a Teddy Ruxpin, and I too loved (and still love) him a lot and still have him (in case it isn't obvious, I have an old Teddy, not the creepy remake by Wicked Cool Toys. Thank goodness they don't make them anymore), but I don't have Grubby. I used to think that the animated plush toy was based on the title character from the show, but my grandma once told me that it was actually the other way around. I also have a DVD box set of the complete series.

I must say that it's very faithful to the books that go with the toy. Some of the episodes are based on the books, and others have entirely original plots. Like the book series, it's all about Teddy and his friends going on adventures in search of hidden ancient treasures and new places, and sometimes they go simpler adventures just to learn about the world around them. Now that's an interesting and original concept! It has the same wide range of likable characters as the books (as well as some new ones), with Teddy Ruxpin being the pure hearted and easygoing titular teenage bear/"illiop" with a passion for adventure, Grubby being the food-loving couch potato who is Teddy's best friend and adverse to danger, Newton Gimmick (better known as Gimmick) being an absent minded yet genius inventor who stutters all the time and has a colorful vocabulary, Jack W. Tweeg (better known as Tweeg) being the incompetent and greedy yet sympathetic and funny villain who never gives up on trying to win, LB being Tweeg's dimwitted and wisecracking sidekick, and many more.

As faithful to the books as this is, there are some aspects of it I like that the books lack. Just to name a few examples, Tweeg and LB receive more attention, the latter has a funnier and lighter voice, more is known about the characters, and the crystals' powers are revealed. Unlike the books, Teddy and Grubby's motivation to search for adventure is explained here: Teddy wanted to learn about his family history and find the other half of his broken medal, and they both wanted to visit mysterious places that are on a treasure map that has been in Teddy's family for generations. That makes the premise even more interesting! Also, now we know what Teddy and company do with the crystals; they use them mostly to power some of Gimmick's inventions. However, some aspects of the books that I like are lacking here. For instance, some of the songs are shortened or left out altogether. To be fair, movie and TV series adaptations of books would be pointless if they were no different from the source materials.

The morals and writing are some of the most memorable things about the show, other than what I already mentioned. Tweeg has contributed to a lot of the funniest moments, and he's one of my favorite fictional villains of all time! He's far too silly to be frightening and not the tiniest bit scary looking (there's nothing wrong with that, though. Besides, that's part of the reason why I love him so much!). Some of his funniest one-liners include "Yah ha hooey!", "Stop that, you idiot! It's me, Tweak- I mean Tweeg," and "On everyone's list will be one name: Tweez- I mean Tweeg! TWEEG TWEEG TWEEG TWEEG TWEEG!" In the episode where the big three (Teddy, Grubby, and Gimmick) meet Prince Arin, they originally plan to start their search for hidden treasure, but they decide to help Prince Arin look for his missing sister, Princess Aruzia, instead and wait another day to search for treasure. Arin is surprised to hear that they'd be willing to help somebody they just met and barely know, and Teddy replies, "Of course! People are more valuable than any ole treasure." Ever since I watched that episode for the first time, I've been taking Teddy's advice and putting people over material things and places, most notably when the people around me had seemed to care more about public places and items than other people, and I've received a few positive comments for that! Thank you, Teddy! Anything in the Soup is another episode with an inspiring moral that has also been impactful on me. The Anythings steal the Jungle Grunges' vegetables without knowing they're taking something that belongs to someone, and they all turn into vegetables, that way they won't be noticed when the grunges come to pick their vegetables, being the fearsome creatures they are. Three of the anythings (Some, Another, and One More) get picked, and they're too afraid to tell the grunges that they're not real vegetables. They almost get made into grunge gumbo, the grunges' famous vegetable soup, but thankfully Teddy, Grubby, and the other three anythings (This, That, and The Other) come to the rescue, and the latter three sing a song about the importance of speaking up when you know something is wrong. Some, Another, and One More take their advice and speak up before they get cooked, and the grunges agree not to cook them. Thanks to that episode, I'm not afraid to stand up for myself and say no when I have to because nobody has more rights than me. There are plenty of heartwarming moments here and there, most notably when Teddy reunites with his long-lost dad.

The music and songs are memorable, and they have good beats. There's fast paced, action-like, and bouncy music in action scenes in a number of episodes, which sounds similar to music from the early Sonic the Hedgehog games. The show has brought some nostalgia to me because of the aforementioned music. Teddy has a soft and soothing voice like no other I've heard before, especially when he sings. A majority of the songs tackle relatable and appealing topics. For example, "Come and Discover the World with Me" asks a lot of interesting questions that the world may never know the answers to (e.g., "Why do dogs have fleas?", "What causes me to sneeze?", "Do ducks have toes?", "Why do rubber balls bounce into trees?", etc.). A number of them originated from the Teddy Ruxpin audiobooks, and some of them originated here. My favorite song from both this and the audiobooks is "Do the Grunge" because it's extremely fast paced and catchy, it's a banger, and it's all about the appeal of dancing. Like the song says, if you're already cool, dancing is easy to do; you just get up and go and do every move you've ever done. I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't like it. Enough said.

The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin is a wholesome, funny, and thrilling cartoon! It's better that most of the cartoons that are being made today! A lot of today's cartoons are mean-spirited, gross out and/or crude humored, violent, or all of the above, but not this one. If you don't like today's cartoons, you might like this better.

Wonderful Show for Children, The tale of Teddy, Grubby and

Gimmick who go on Exciting adventures to far away places.

Grundo and the land Of Ying. With a Wide array of Characters. Sadly it was cancelled in 1988, after only a year of being broadcast, due to the stock market fall, that put Worlds Of Wonder Entertainment Out of business. Will always be affiliated with the 80's, and will live on in VHS tapes and re-runs for a long time.