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alt title(s): Gummi Bears
"Dashing and daring, courageous and caring,
Faithful and friendly with stories to share,
All through the forest they sing out in chorus,
Marching along as their song fills the air..."
Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears is a truly groundbreaking series by Walt Disney. Although the
The Wuzzles was Disney's first original animated TV series, that was a really a trial run for this series that almost immediately made the company a dominant force in television animation.
The key to this success that Disney gambled that if they have a big budget to produce a quality series, they could recoup in syndication. As it happens, the dare worked and a new era of unprecedented quality in western television animation was born.
The series takes place in
The Theme Park Version of medieval time, centuries after the Great Gummis fled across the sea while a small caretaker colony stayed behind in Gummi Glen in the Kingdom of Dunwyn to maintain the civilization's extremely sophisticated infrastructure on the off-chance the Gummis could return to live with humans in peace.
Unfortunately when the story begins, the Glen Gummis declined to only six descendants who have forgotten their past skills. Fortunately, they meet a friendly human boy named Cavin who has a Gummi Medallion that unlocks their library's Great Book of Gummi, the essential book of their culture's knowledge. Inspired, the colony decide to rediscover their heritage and help the boy whose kingdom is under dire threat.
That threat comes in the form of Duke Igthorn of Drekmore and his army of really dumb ogres. He is out to conquer Dunwyn and upon discovering that the supposedly mythological Gummi Bears exist, he will stop at
nothing to exploit their secrets like their powerful magic and technology for his own use. Furthermore, he is but the most frequent of a whole host of enemies that the Gummi Bears and their human allies must oppose.
At the most uncharitable, you could call this series a copy of
The Smurfs, but it's more accurate to be essentially Disney's chance to show how to do the premise right. Apart from obviously lavish animation, the series addressed the major complaints of the H-B series and the basic ideology of 1980s; for instance, individuality is celebrated in proper proportion to the value of cooperation and the primary characters are far more nuanced with characters with carefully considered flaws and strengths. Furthermore, the female characters avoid the
The Smurfette Principle sexism with multiple characters with strong well defined personalities who bow to no one.
Even more amazing, this is perhaps the first western animated series with a
Grand Finale.
If you're wondering how they came up with a premise for, of all things,
Gummi Bears, as the story goes Michael Eisner was inspired when he was
snacking on them
. True story, straight from
That Other Wiki.
Characters:
- Affably Evil: Duke Igthorn.
- Badbutt: Gruffi
- Berserk Button / Insistent Terminology / Embarrassing Nickname: Duke Igthorn hates being called "Dukey" by his ogres. They call him "Dukey" nearly constantly.
- Book Of Shadows: The Great Book of Gummi.
- Brigadoon: "The Knights of Gummadoon".
- Chained Heat: An episode with Igthorn and Cubbi.
- Crouching Moron Hidden Badass: Tummi.
- Deadpan Snarker: Both Gusto and Artie.
- Ear Worm: The title theme.
- Elaborate Underground Base: Gummi Glen and the various tasks necessary to maintain it and the consequences of neglecting it is a source of story material.
- Embarrassing First Name: Duke Sigmund Igthorn.
"Siggy Soggy-Pants!"
- Everything's Better With Princesses: Calla.
- Evil Twin: Actually Igthorn is the evil twin, and a source of deep shame to his heroic knightly brother (whom Cavin idolizes).
- Expository Theme Tune: Quoted above.
- Gang Of Critters
- Gone Horribly Right
- Grand Finale: "King Igthorn".
- Hey, It's That Voice!: The late Bill Scott and later Corey Burton as Gruffi. Paul Winchell and later Jim Cummings as Zummi. Lorenzo Music as Tummi and Katie Leigh as Sunni to name a few.
- I Want You To Meet An Old Friend Of Mine: In season 1, Gruffi was voiced by the late Bill Scott who voiced Bullwinkle in Rocky And Bullwinkle. Grammi was voiced by June Foray who voiced Rocky in that same series.
- Jerk With A Heart Of Gold: Gruffi.
- Lethal Chef: Grammi's cooking.
- Lost Technology: By the wagonload. Even the Gummis don't know what half of it does.
- Malaproper: Zummi.
- Meaningful Name: Sunni is the Cheerful Child, Cubbi the Tagalong Kid, Tummi the Big Eater, Grammi the Apron Matron, Gruffi is a Grumpy Bear where Gusto is Hot Blooded and Zummi... um... I got nothing. May have something to do with him being a Malaproper.
- Medieval Stasis: Would instantly have been dispelled if humanity at large could have gotten their hands on Gummi technology.
- The Middle Ages: A very romanticized depiction.
- Ms. Magoo And The Gummi Bear: Tummi befriends a blind human woman.
- Given that Greg Weisman cited Gummi Bears as one of his sources for inspiration in Gargoyles (no, really), she may have inspired the Geffrey Robbins character.
- Not So Harmless: Igthorn on occasion, particularly in the finale.
- The One Who Wears Shoes: Slightly more than normal for the trope, but Sunni, Tummi and Gusto.
- The Other Darrin: After Bill Scott passed away, Corey Burton voiced Gruffi for the rest of the series. Also, Paul Winchell left the series after season 5, so Jim Cummings took over as the voice of Zummi.
- Pimped Out Dress: Calla occasionally wears one.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: King Gregor.
- Rebellious Princess: Princess Calla is a rough and tumble adventurer of the first water.
- Red Oni Blue Oni: Gruffi, the no-nonsense conservative blue oni, is often at odds with red onis Grammi, who is far more progressive, and Gusto, who is out to lunch.
- Secret Keeper: Cavin and later Calla.
- Super Hero: Cubbi's stories as the Crimson Avenger.
- Super Serum: Gummiberry Juice which makes the Gummis bounce and gives humans and ogres a moment of Super Strength. Not to mention it's also good as motor fuel for Gummi machines.
- Title Theme Tune, although it's a milder example than subsequent Disney animated shows.
- Wave Motion Gun: the Gummiscopes. Although its real purpose is as a giant solar powered messaging machine, it can be used as as a massive energy cannon if there is enough solar power to power it.
- Whole Costume Reference
- Why Did It Have To Be Snakes?: Zummi is deathly afraid of heights.
- The Wonka: Gusto. Of course, let's see you spend twelve years on a Deserted Island with only a toucan for company, and see how sane you are when you finally escape.
- You Don't Want To Catch This: Gummioleosis, when Cubbi and Gusto are captured by the Ogres.
