Little Wizards is a short-lived 13 episode cartoon by Marvel Productions that aired from 1987 to 88 on ABC. It revolves around an exiled young prince named Dexter, whose crown was usurped by the evil sorcerer Renvick after the death of Dexter's father. Rescued from Renvick's henchmen by the benevolent magician Phineas, Prince Dexter begins training in magic under his savior in hopes of one day defeating Renvick and reclaiming his kingdom. In this task, he is aided by Winkle, Gump and Boo; three magical little monsters Dexter accidentally created by knocking an assortment of magical potions and bric-a-brac into a bubbling cauldron.
Save for a copy of the introductory theme clip
, no copies of this series in English are known to exist anywhere online; the series can be found, but only in its Italian or German dub.
This show contains examples of:
- All Trolls Are Different: They're hipster-like goblins with muzzles who act and dress like hip-hop street punks, who're introduced dealing out Puffpods.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Phineas is a kindly old man and very much an iconic "good wizard"... but get him angry, and he can surprisingly scary. He punishes the Witch of the Petrified Forest for trying to steal his magic and endangering his students by turning her into a monster and driving her off into the wilderness, whilst in another episode, he deals with a pair of trolls by turning Prince Dexter's sword into a monster that nearly eats them.
- Big Eater: Gump has a ravenous appetite, and is always looking for food.
- Blackmail: The trolls use Boo's desire for more Puffpods to control his intense anxiety by demanding he copy a plant quick-growth formula from Phineas' spellbooks for them first.
- The Bully: Gump basically tries to be this, but Boo is the only one who will submit to him... and even Boo will stand up to him at times.
- Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: When Gump learns that, as part of his status as The Wise One of the gnomes of the Woolly Woods, he must marry Princess Luka — or else be fed to the giant Gormalu — his friends immediately plan to sneak him away at dawn. The only problem is that as they are sneaking away, Gump catches the smell of the gnomes making breakfast and immediately wants to go and eat. Dexter forcibly stops him... and Gump howls so loudly in protest he wakes up the entire village, who immediately give chase.
- Cowardly Lion: Boo is a very timid figure, who is often shivering, knocking-knees or biting his own fingernails in anxiety, but always comes through when his friends need him.
- Creating Life Is Unforeseen: Winkle, Gump and Boo were a very happy accident, resulting from Dexter knocking a bundle of grimoires, spell scrolls and potions into a bubbling cauldron full of magical elixir.
- Evil Sorcerer: The False King, Renvick, a powerful and malevolent wizard who usurped control of the kingdom after Dexter's father died.
- Expository Theme Tune: The theme song recounts how Dexter was orphaned as a teen, only to have his kingdom usurped by Renvick, which led to his rescue by Phineas and the creation of the three monsters.
- Extreme Omnivore: Gump is capable of happily eating pretty much anything that can be eaten, and more than a few things that won't. One episode has him consuming literal mud cakes, not once but twice, and both times actively enjoying it.
- Fantastic Drug: Puffpods; a bizarre fruit/nut that looks like an organic cigar, is smoked the same way, but has effects similar to stereotypical marijuana — clouded memory, physical and emotional relaxation, lowered fear response, and a general tendency to act foolish.
- Feed It with Fire: To destroy the puffpod plantation, the Little Wizards feed the entirety of the magical quick-grow potion to a single plant. The result is that it grows a single puffpod so huge that it finally explodes, literally blowing the plantation to bits.
- Flight: Winkle's unique power is that she can levitate by holding her breath (with comically bulging cheeks as she does so) and propel herself by flapping her oversized feet. The downside is that when she runs out of breath, she drops back to the ground.
- Forced Transformation: At the end of her episode, the Witch of the Petrified Forest loses a Wizard Duel with Phineas and is transformed into a creature that resembles a cross between a deformed owl and an obscenely fat rat, before he sends her scurrying out into the wilderness with tongues of arcane flame that scorch her butt.
- Invisibility: This is Boo's unique power, rendering himself completely invisible (except for his open eyes) at will.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Gump can be a real pain in the ass, but he is loyal to his friends/family at heart and will stick up for them.
- The Load: Gump's arrogance, impulsiveness and foolishness can be a real burden to the rest of his allies. In one episode, they have to go to the Woolly Woods and rescue him after he runs away in a fit of pique over being chastised repeatedly for taking other peoples' property. In another episode, he breaks Phineas' magical staff and gets a replacement by stealing it from an evil witch's hut in the Petrified Forest. This almost gets Dexter killed when a magic ritual Phineas is performing goes wrong, and gets Lulu kidnapped by the self-same witch he stole it from, and almost gets Phineas' magic stolen from him by said witch.
- Noble Fugitive: Prince Dexter, who is the rightful heir to the throne that Renvick has stolen.
- Object Shifting: Inverted in the puffpods episode; at the episode's climax, Phineas scares away the trolls by turning Prince Dexter's wooden sword into a giant monstrous creature that seems poised to devour the trolls before they flee in terror.
- Our Dragons Are Different: Dragons in this world are bipedal, wingless, speak an almost-English gibberish, eat flowers, and their breath is very useful for brewing magical potions and rituals.
- Our Giants Are Bigger: Gormalu, the much-feared Giant of the Woolly Woods, who turns out to be a human youth cursed into the form of a massive, terrifying giant.
- Our Gnomes Are Weirder: They look like small humans with colorful pointy hats, and inhabit the Woolly Woods. They don't display any particular magic in their debut episode, but they are known to grow magical golden apples that can break curses when eaten, and the Gnome King's daughter Luka turns out to be capable of Voluntary Shapeshifting.
- Our Goblins Are Different: "Finder's Elves" look like ugly little goblins, but are good-hearted fae beings who can sniff out literally anything and track it down effortlessly. One appears in the episode "The Ugly Elf", where Renvik seeks to entice one into finding Prince Dexter for him by promising to make him a handsome elf in return.
- Poor Communication Kills: After he is captured by the gnomes, Gormalu sobbingly explains he's not a giant but a cursed human, and never intended to hurt anyone; he was just trying to beg the gnomes for one of their magical golden apples, the only things that can break the spell. When the incredulous Gnome King asks why he didn't tell them this long ago, he points out that they always ran away at the sight of him.
- Pragmatic Villainy: The trolls may be perfectly happy to sell puffpods — to kids, no less — but aren't stupid enough to indulge in their use themselves, being aware that they are potentially deadly. When Flugle momentarily forgets this after they make their first sale to Boo, his boss slaps the puffpod out of Flugle's hand and chides him for his lapse of judgment.Boss Troll: Are you crazy, Flugle?! That stuff'll kill ya!
Flugle: Oh-oh yeah, I forgot. (swallows nervously) - Smoking Is Not Cool: The puffpods episode sits somewhere between this and Drugs Are Bad on the Very Special Episode scale. The puffpods combine the aesthetic of cigars with the effects of marijuana, turn their users into giggling idiots who put themselves in considerable danger, and even the trolls who sell them won't use them personally, with an implication they may actually cause health problems. The episode ends with the Little Wizards strongly resolving to never use them again and then working to shut down the trolls before they can start selling them.
- The Smurfette Principle: Zigzagged; Winkle is the only female member of the four Little Wizards, and the only female monster, but the female dragon Lulu and the human servant girl Clovie are both important figures in the show as well.
- Sorcerous Overlord: The series' primary antagonist is Renvick, an Evil Sorcerer who stole the throne from Prince Dexter. Ironically, Dexter himself is in training to become a good Sorcerous Overlord, as the plan is that when he has mastered magic, he will be able to defeat Renvick in a Wizard Duel and then take his place as a Benevolent Mage Ruler.
- Too Dumb to Live: Gump, to put it bluntly. As explained under Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like, Gump literally foiled his own rescue over not getting any breakfast!
- Voluntary Shapeshifting:
- Gump's unique power is that he can turn into any inanimate object he wants, when he wants.
- The Gnome Princess Luka eventually reveals she can do the same thing. She and Gump use their powers simultaneously to create a boulder big enough to topple Gormalu, the Giant of the Woolly Woods.
- Wicked Witch: The Witch of the Petrified Forest, who tries to steal all of Phineas' magical powers from him.
- Wizard Classic: Phineas fits almost every part of the goodly wizard variant of the archetype, except perhaps the fact he's got brown skin.
- Women Are Wiser: Winkle is the only one of the Little Wizards who doesn't partake in the puffpods, and openly speaks against the boys using them. Likewise, Phineas' assistant Lulu often seems a little more sensible than her employer.
