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Adventures of the
Gummi Bears
-Volume 1:
Seasons 1-3
-Disney
(1985-87)
Summary
They
bounce here. They bounce there. They bounce everywhere. They’re the frakkin'
Gummi Bears.
My
Thoughts
I know
you’re wondering why I watched Gummi Bears. Not just an episode or two,
but seasons 1-3. Well, a good friend of mine knows the theme song by heart and
would sing it quite a bit. He loved the show and would talk of how great it was.
Because of that I went ahead and started watching the episodes. I know I had
seen the show before when I was young, but I don’t think that I watched it much,
maybe just an episode here or there. Once I stated watching the episodes, I
remembered the characters, but not any of the situations or zany plots they got
into.
Surprisingly, the show holds up fairly well. Since it’s a cartoon for young
kids, much of the humor doesn’t connect with me now, but I did find a few funny
moments. I found that the "high adventure that's beyond compare" promised in the
theme song only appears in a few episodes. Gummi Bears usually have mild
adventure that's beyond compare.
The main
characters are six differently colored Gummi Bears that live in an underground
place called Gummi Glen. Zummi is a magician and holds all the wisdom of the
Great Gummies. Grammi is like the mom of the group. She cooks, cleans, and makes
the Gummiberry Juice. Tummi likes to eat and between adventures that’s about all
he does. He even has an adventure where the whole point is for him to eat more.
Tummi is also voiced by Lorenzo Music, who is probably best known for voicing of
Garfield and Peter Venkman from The Real Ghostbusters. Sunni is a young
teen and is sometimes the “dumb blonde” of the group. Cubbi is the youngest. He
wants to become a knight and is cursed with being a pink-colored male bear. He
makes up for it with his can-do attitude and fighting spirit. Throughout the
series other Gummi Bears are introduced. Some are around for only an episode
while one, Augustus, eventually joins the group, making seven gummies at Gummi
Glen.
There are
a few main human characters, but they are not featured in every episode. Cavin
is a young boy who is the first human to make friends with the Gummi Bears.
Eventually Princess Calla, the princess of Castle Dunwyn and Cavin’s love
interest, also becomes friends with the bears. The main villain of the series is
Duke Igthorn who wants to takeover Castle Dunwyn and the secret of Gummiberry
Juice. He has a short ogre named Toadie that he likes to kicks around. Igthorn
also has a small army of ogres that seem to cause almost as trouble for Igthorn
as the bears do.
Basically,
the Gummi Bears guard Gummi Glen until it is safe to signal the Great Gummies to
return. The Great Gummies left the mainland hundreds of years ago to escape the
humans that wanted their secrets. One of their most guarded secrets is the
recipe for Gummiberry Juice. When the bears drink Gummiberry Juice it give them
the ability to bounce. It seems that they also become near indestructible,
because they sometimes bounce in ways that would assuredly kill any normal
creature. If a human drinks the juice they become super strong, but it only
lasts for a minute.
The
episodes of Gummi Bears vary in length. Sometimes there is one 22-minute
episode, while other times the show will have two shorter episodes. I can see
how this would be kind of exciting when watching this as a kid. You don’t know
if you’re getting one big adventure or two smaller adventures.
Many of
the episodes try to give a valuable moral lesson. There are the typical don’t be
selfish, listen to others even if they are small, don’t eat too much, and accept
help when you need it, but I found some lessons that the creators of the show
may have not foreseen. Here are a few notable episodes whether they were good or
bad. I have also included the lesson I learned from that episode.
A New
Beginning: Sure,
it’s the first episode, but it’s an important one because it sets up all the
main heroes and villains. Plus, there is a joke that humans eat Gummi Bears,
an obvious, yet needed line for a cartoon based on delicious candy.
Lesson
learned: Gummi Bears are good to eat.
Someday My Prints Will Come:
Tummi discovers a secret passageway and ends up getting stuck inside a
mechanical leg that jumps around the forest. The knights think a dragon is
rampaging and charge into defeat it. The bears meet a real dragon who turns
out to be very nice and was the foot model for the mechanical leg. Now, the
knights clearly see the one leg jumping around yet they still think it’s a
dragon? What kind of dragon is just a leg?
Lesson
learned: You don't need brains or be able to see properly to become a knight
A
Gummi in a Gilded Cage:
Sunni wants to be a singer and sings for the rest of the bears. Gruffi falls
asleep during her performance, but I don’t know how anyone could fall asleep
with her off-key shrill of a voice. Later while their out picking
Gummiberries, Sunni “writes” a new song. Here is the entire song: “Gummiberry.
Gummiberry juice,” repeat ad nausea. A couple of vultures kidnap Sunni and
take her to their vulture king. The king wants a new songbird and locks her in
a cage. Sunni then sings the words “Gummiberry. Gummiberry juice,” over and
over for the rest of the episode until she is rescued. Hearing her new song
the first time was bad enough, but ten minutes of it drives you mad.
Lesson
learned: Write songs with more than two words.
When
you Wish Upon a Stone:
Cavin is sick of being pushed around. He wants to be big. With the help of the
bears Cavin finds a stone that will make him big… except there is a giant
guarding the stone. The giant looks like he is sixty, has a big beard and is
covered in filth, yet when the final wish on the stone is made; he turns into
a boy younger than Cavin. I can understand the stone making you bigger, but
older and filthier at the same time?
Lesson
learned: Be happy with your size or you’ll be old and covered in crap in a few
seconds.
Sweet
and Sour Gruffi: A
storm has damaged part of the Gummi lair and if the bears don’t patch it up
soon, King Gregor will discover the Gummi’s lair. Gruffi takes charge of
getting the hole fixed, but his attitude doesn’t sit well with the others.
Zummi casts a spell on him to make him super-extra-flamboyantly nice, but only
if someone says please. Should someone say thank you, Gruffi turns into the
Hulk: full of rage but without the green. The others try not to say thank you
until Zummi can find a reverse spell.
Lesson
learned: Never say please and thank you.
Duel
of the Wizards:
This episode has the greatest wizard battle ever. Okay, not really, but it’s
not bad. Igthorn steals a key from the wizard Dom Gordo and hides it in a tree
(which just happens to be a port hole to the bears’ lair). Zummi finds the key
and puts it in his pocket. Igthorn and Dom make a deal. With Igthorn off
completing his part, Dom searches for the key: by tearing six inch thick
sheets of grass and earth off the ground. Seriously, why would you look for
the key, that has been gone for a minute, five inches below the ground? Well,
Zummi asks Dom if he needs help, Dom gets angry and the wizard battle of the
ages ensues.
Lesson
learned: Wizards are jerks.
Light
Makes Right: This
episode has the best opening of any Gummi Bears episode. Hundreds of
ancient Gummi Bears are leaving the mainland in ships. I thought I was
watching some Ewok movie for a few seconds because they looked just like
Ewoks. I also thought I was in for an epic adventure that explained everything
about the bears, but then we see that Grammi is just reading from a book about
the ancient bears. Zummi remembers an old device made to communicate with the
three other Gummi cities that the ancients settled to. As pure cartoon
coincidence would have it, Igthorn also learns of the device which can also be
used as a weapon. The Gummi Bears find the device and send messages to the
first of the three cities. The problem is that they only wait two seconds for
a response before turning it to the other city. The same thing happens on the
second. The third city sends a message back. Tummi has a moment of stupidity
and only part of the message is delivered just as Igthorn finds the them.
Igthorn uses the device to destroy parts of Castle Dunwyn, including a tower
that Calla and Cavin are in. Calla and Cavin should totally be dead after the
attack, but Cavin is just fine and Calla is unconscious. The bears figure that
the only way to save the castle is to destroy the device. During the ensuing
battle, Zummi fires off the device to the third city to repeat the message.
The message is delivered in full, but the mountain comes down just as it’s
finished. Zummi finds the message but can’t read it because it’s smeared from
water. What a disappointment, even I wanted to know what it said. I was also
hoping for more ancient Gummi/Ewok scenes, but regardless, this is still a
great, if maddening, episode.
Lesson
learned: Don’t screw around when you’re receiving a message from someone you
haven’t heard from in over a hundred years.
For a
Few Sovereigns More:
As the title implies, this is taken from the movie For a Few Dollars More.
It even has a bounty hunter character that looks and talks like Clint
Eastwood. His name is… wait for it… Flint Shrubwood. His name is stupid but,
Flint has boomerang pistols. They are awesome. Igthorn tries to scam Flint by
not giving him his pay for capturing and delivering a Gummi Bear, Cubbi. Flint
chains together Igthorn and Cubbi who need to work together to escape. Near
the end of the episode the two get released from their chain and Igthorn is
holding a chest of gold that Flint wants. Igthorn drops the chest and attempts
to get it back. At this time Flint says “Go ahead. Take my pay.” Yes, it’s
terrible.
Lesson
learned: Never try to screw over Clint Eastwood.
My
Gummi Lies Over the Ocean:
If any episode has “high adventure that’s beyond compare” it’s this one.
Tummi, who we’ve seen building model ships, builds a real boat and Gruffi
helps him test it out. After a mishap with a sea monster, the two find their
way onto an island in the middle of the ocean surrounded by a circular
waterfall – in short there is no way off the island. Here they meet Augustus,
a Gummi Bear who has become mildly insane during his 12+ years on the island
and is the only bear not to have a name that ends in “i.” He is an artist and
has carved a huge dragon statue on the side of the volcano. Gruffi doesn’t
like him and wants to get off the island before the volcano blows. I would say
that this is my favorite episode. The dragon looks fantastic and there is some
good dialogue between the characters. Unfortunately, it seems like no
continuity is followed after this episode because
Augustus
doesn’t appear again until about the second half of season three. What
happened during this time? I was ready for a new character to join the regular
lot, but he’s was nowhere to be found. Did Gruffi kick him overboard on their
way back home? When they got home did
Augustus
continue to sail onward by himself? Was he captured by pirates? Or perhaps
this episode was aired before it should have been.
Lesson
learned: Creating giant dragon sculptures is cool, but ultimately a waste of
time.
Too
Many Cooks: I like
this episode simply because there is a character with the title of Imperial
Taffy Maker.
Lesson
learned: Only the Imperials know how to make good taffy.
Water Way to Go:
Augustus has decided not to live with the other Gummis and has his own little
place behind a waterfall. He is an artist and is starving for something new to
draw. Sunni has a crush on Augustus and suggests multiple times that he should
draw her. On man, I think I know where this is going. The two go to a nearby
beach where they find a mermaid named Aquarianne.
Augustus wants nothing but
to draw her. Sunni becomes jealous and scares Aquarianne off by telling her
that Augustus will chop off her head and mount it above his fireplace.
Aquarianne believes her and swims away, but is captured by Igthorn. The two
Gummies then attempt a rescue.
Lesson
learned: Like Augustus, hot mermaids also inspire me more than underage bears
do.
The
Knights of Gummadoon:
The ancient Gummi castle of Gummadoon only appears once ever hundred years or
so. Cubbi and Cavin get into a fight with Igthorn and Gummi knights help them
win the battle, but Cubbi is knocked unconscious. He is taken to the castle
and becomes a knight for a day. Cavin enters the castle to warn the bears of
Igthorn's plan, but the ancient Gummies lock up Cavin because they distrust
humans. The only way to free Cavin is for Cubbi to fight and win against a
Gummi knight. Basically, the ancient Gummies go by the “might makes right” way
of doing things. This seems odd to me because in many of the other episodes
Zummi kept saying how wise the Great Gummies are supposed to be. “Might makes
right” certainly isn’t a wise way of thinking.
Lesson
learned: Might makes right.
Seasons
1-3 holds 47 episodes of Gummi adventure on three discs. Unfortunately the
quality of this set isn't where it should be. There are some episodes that do
look very nice, but it is inconsistent.
The picture quality is not bad,
but it obviously has not been restored or cleaned in any way, which means that
sometimes you get faded colors mixed into the usually colorful episodes. The
audio is in Dolby Mono.
I also
found it odd that right before the first episode there is a "Today on the Gummi
Bears" preview of what is to come in the episode. This is the only time the
preview thing is shown. Was there only really one preview or did Disney just
give up trying to make a complete DVD box set? I'm going with the second choice.
Extras
There are
no extras. There had to be some kind of commercials, pictures of merchandise,
promos, or something, but there is absolutely nothing on these discs.
Score:
Episode
Average: 7.0
Extras:
0.0
Edition:
2.5
At least
you get seasons 1-3 in one box.
- Shawn
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