''Bruno the Kid'' is a syndicated cartoon series created by

Bruce Willis Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955) is a retired American actor. He achieved fame with a leading role on the comedy-drama series ''Moonlighting'' (1985–1989) and appeared in over a hundred films, gaining recognition as an action hero a ...

and produced by Film Roman In association with Flying Heart Films, Taurus Film GmbH and Co. and Nickelodeon UK. The series consists of 36 half-hour episodes, and ran from September 23, 1996, to May 26, 1997. Spanish-dubbed episodes of the series aired on ''

Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the Latino public and includes ...

'' in the United States from September 16, 2000, to September 8, 2001, as part of the ''¡De Cabeza!'' Saturday Morning Block.¡De Cabeza!" - (Univision Network) - Promo (2001) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXd__2nzeMg It also has Spanish-dubbed episodes of the series aired on Telefutura from 2003 as part of '' Toonturama'' on Saturday and Sunday Morning Block along with ''

The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat ''The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat'' is an American animated television series produced by Film Roman. The series first aired on September 16, 1995 on CBS lasting for two seasons with the final episode airing on April 12, 1997. The first seaso ...

'' and '' Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm''.

Plot

This cartoon series stars

as the voice of Bruno, an 11-year-old boy who becomes a top spy for a secret espionage organization. The organization, named GLOBE, contacts Bruno via his computer and a special gadget watch, and is completely unaware of its top spy's young age, as he hides behind a computer-simulated avatar of a full-grown man (in the image of Bruce Willis). The members of GLOBE that Bruno works with in person, such as Jarlsburg (voiced by

Tony Jay Tony Jay (2 February 1933 – 13 August 2006) was a British actor. A former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, he was known for his voice work in radio, animation, film, and video games. Jay was particularly noted for his distinctive bari ...

), and Harris (voiced by Mark Hamill), are also unaware that GLOBE does not know Bruno's actual age, and assume that the organization ''must'' know what it is doing in sending the boy into dangerous situations. The episodes consist of Bruno managing to live a double life without the knowledge of his parents or friends (for example, in one episode he tells his parents that he is camping in the garden and he sets up a torch to project a fake silhouette of himself onto the side of the tent, so that it looks like he is inside it). Meanwhile, with an alibi set up, Bruno will be out saving the world, or foiling a major heist with the aid of his British spy partner Jarlsburg (in one episode, one of Bruno's classmates catches Bruno on camera in the process of carrying out a spy mission and tries to blackmail him; however, Bruno erases the videotape and his secret is safe; his classmate was unable to expose him). Later in the series, Jarlsburg quits being Bruno's partner, after hesitating to fire a weapon in fear that he will hit Bruno. Bruno objects to Jarley quitting the team. Jarley eventually comes to his senses and returns to being Bruno's partner. He apologizes to Bruno for quitting. In the course of each mission, they usually meet Harris (a spoof of the character "Q" in the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

books and films) who supplies Bruno with gadgets, which Bruno usually finds a use for later on in the episode. As well as voicing the title character, Willis was one of the executive producers and also co-wrote and sang the

theme song Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...

for the show with backing singers.

Cast and characters

Heroes

as Bruno the Kid *

as Jarlesburg * Mark Hamill as Harris

Villains

Tim Curry Timothy James Curry (born 19 April 1946) is an English actor and singer. He rose to prominence for his portrayal of Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the film ''The Rocky Horror Picture Show'' (1975), reprising the role he had originated in the 1973 London ...

as Lazlo Gigahurtz *

Kenneth Mars Kenneth Mars (April 4, 1935 – February 12, 2011) was an American actor. He appeared in two Mel Brooks films: as the deranged Nazi playwright Franz Liebkind in '' The Producers'' (1967) and Police Inspector Hans Wilhelm Friedrich Kemp in ''Youn ...

as Professor Von Trapp * Bronson Pinchot as General Armando Castrato * René Auberjonois as Leonard DaLinguini *

Matt Frewer Matthew George Frewer (born January 4, 1958) is an American-Canadian actor, singer and comedian. He portrayed the 1980s icon Max Headroom in the 1985 TV movie and 1987 television series of the same names. He became prominent when playing role ...

as Booby Vicious *

Dawnn Lewis Dawnn Jewel Lewis (born August 13, 1961) is an American actress. Lewis is best known for her role as Jaleesa Vinson–Taylor on the NBC television sitcom ''A Different World'' from the series beginning in 1987 until the end of its fifth season in ...

as Di Archer *

Edward Asner Eddie Asner (; November 15, 1929 – August 29, 2021) was an American actor and former president of the Screen Actors Guild. He is best remembered for portraying Lou Grant during the 1970s and early 1980s, on both ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' a ...

as the Engineer *

Ed McMahon Edward Leo Peter McMahon Jr. (March 6, 1923 – June 23, 2009) was an American announcer, game show host, comedian, actor, singer, and combat aviator. McMahon and Johnny Carson began their association in their first TV series, the ABC game sh ...

as the Engineer's henchman * Frank Welker as Koos Koos

Other characters

Jennifer Hale Jennifer Hale is a Canadian-American voice actress. She is best known for her work in video game franchises such as ''Baldur's Gate'', '' Mass Effect'', '' Metal Gear Solid'', '' BioShock Infinite'', '' Metroid Prime'', ''Overwatch'', and '' Sta ...

as Leecy Davidson * John Bower as Howard (Bruno's father) *

Kath Soucie Kath or KATH may refer to: * Kath (city), the historical capital of Khwarezm * Kath (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname * KATH-TV, the NBC TV station in Juneau, Alaska * KATH (AM), a radio station in ...

as Grace (Bruno's mother)

Additional voices

Included in the list of additional voices were Frank Welker,

Earl Boen Earl Boen () is an American retired film, television and voice actor, best known as criminal psychologist Dr. Peter Silberman in ''The Terminator'' (1984), '' Terminator 2: Judgment Day'' (1991), '' Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines'' (2003) and ...

Ed Gilbert Edmund Francis Gilbert (June 29, 1931 – May 8, 1999) was an American actor, with extensive credits in both live-action roles and voice work in animation, although he was better known for the latter. He is also credited, under his birth name (E ...

and

Episodes

Video and DVD release

Episodes were released on VHS by

Family Home Entertainment Family Home Entertainment (FHE) was an American home video company founded in 1980 by Noel C. Bloom. It was a division of International Video Entertainment, which had its headquarters in Newbury Park, California. History The company was founde ...

, but as of December 2, 2009, there have been no plans for a U.S. DVD release. The series is available on

Tubi Tubi is an American over-the-top content platform and ad-supported streaming service owned by Fox Corporation. The service was launched on April 1, 2014, and is based in Los Angeles, California. In January 2021, Tubi reached 33 million monthly ...

and IMDb TV. However, the episodes are released out of order. In Italy in 2008, nine single DVD volumes were released with four episodes per volume with English soundtrack & English credits, which are now out of print.

References

External links

*
Episode index
at the

Big Cartoon DataBase The Big Cartoon DataBase (or BCDB for short) is an online database of information about animated cartoons, Feature film, animated feature films, Animated television series, animated television shows, and cartoon Short film, shorts. The BCDB proj ...

{{Film Roman Fictional secret agents and spies Espionage television series First-run syndicated television programs in the United States 1990s American animated television series 1996 American television series debuts 1997 American television series endings Television series by CBS Studios American children's animated action television series Television series by Film Roman Animated television series about children