''Rupert'' is a traditionally animated

children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early evenin ...

based on the

Mary Tourtel Mary Tourtel (born Mary Caldwell on 28 January 187415 March 1948) was a British artist and creator of the comic strip Rupert Bear. Her works have sold 50 million copies internationally. Early life Mary Tourtel was born Mary Caldwell, 28 January ...

character ''

Rupert Bear Rupert Bear is a British children's comic strip character and franchise created by artist Mary Tourtel and first appearing in the ''Daily Express'' newspaper on 8 November 1920. Rupert's initial purpose was to win sales from the rival ''Da ...

'', which aired from 1991 to 1997 with 65 half-hour episodes produced. The series is produced by

Nelvana Nelvana Enterprises, Inc. (; previously known as Nelvana Limited, sometimes known as Nelvana Animation and simply Nelvana or Nelvana Communications) is a Canadian animation studio and entertainment company owned by Corus Entertainment. Founded ...

, in co-production with

Ellipse Programmé Ellipsanime (formerly known as Le Studio Ellipse, Ellipse Programme and Ellipse Animation) is a French animation studio that produces television programs. It was founded in 1987. In February 2000 it merged with Expand SA; Expand sold the company to ...

for the first three seasons, in association with YTV Canada, Inc. (Seasons 1–3 and 5), and ITV franchisees TVS Television (Season 1) and Scottish Television (Seasons 2–5).

Synopsis

Rupert is a very intelligent and witty

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Nor ...

, and he has many friends from every corner of the world. Although he lives in a small village called Nutwood, he enjoys traveling around the world, discovering new cultures, living great adventures, unraveling mysteries and unmasking villains. The Nordic culture of the European countries influences the visual of the cartoon, with many castles, citadels and clothes, besides personages, like elves and the monster of Loch Ness, that they refer to the European culture. The landscapes of Rupert's books, which inspired the series, were based in the region of

Snowdonia Snowdonia or Eryri (), is a mountainous region in northwestern Wales and a national park of in area. It was the first to be designated of the three national parks in Wales, in 1951. Name and extent It was a commonly held belief that the nam ...

and ''

Vale of Clwyd The Vale of Clwyd ( cy, Dyffryn Clwyd) is a tract of low-lying ground in the county of Denbighshire in north-east Wales. The Vale extends south-southwestwards from the coast of the Irish Sea for some 20 miles (about 30 km) forming a triangl ...

'', in the northern part of

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

Episodes

Characters

is a considerate, smart, resourceful, brave, trusty, good-spirited bear who is extremely popular with all the residents in Nutwood. On occasion, he breaks the fourth wall in addressing his observations and making comments to the viewer. * Mr. Bear is Rupert's father. He is much more clumsy and forgetful compared to Rupert. He often smokes a pipe. It as revealed in the episode "Firebird" that both Mr. Bear and Podgy's father are part of the Nutwood Fire Brigade. * Mrs. Bear is Rupert's mother. Like her son, she is wise and often offers advice to Rupert who later uses it during his adventures. * Bill Badger is Rupert's best friend, who, unlike Rupert, often presents a lot of flaws, such as cowardice, impatience, clumsiness, a quick temper, and a horrible singing voice. He has a baby brother named Toby, who is fond of Bill's singing voice. * Podgy Pig is a jolly, yet greedy and not very bright pig with a large appetite. He is very friendly to others and appears not to see that his friends sometimes find him annoying. His appetite at times can lead him and his friends into trouble, but Rupert can look past this to go out of his way to help Podgy. * Pong Ping is a Pekingese from China who owns an elevator that can travel underground all the way to China. He has a wealth of knowledge of his culture including dragons and various magical objects. He's also good at math. * Tiger Lily is Rupert's female and

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

friend. The only human student in school and the member of one of few human families in Nutwood. She and her family have a lot of knowledge on magical and mystical objects. * Algy Pug is Rupert's friend, a pug who often overestimates his abilities and takes a lot of pride in himself. Despite his flaws, he is shown to be a good and helpful friend for Rupert and others. * Edward Trunk is another friend of Rupert. An elephant, very kind, sensitive and strong. He is often seen helping his father who works in plumbing. * Gregory Guinea Pig is a very kind guinea pig and another friend of Rupert. Sometimes he can be nervous and scared, but he meets the challenges head on when his friends need help. * Ottoline Otter is Rupert's friend who is an otter of a Scottish descent who loves Shakespeare and lives in an old castle that belonged to her ancestors. The castle has many secret entrances hidden all over. Ottoline has vast knowledge of each entrances' location and will prefer to use them instead of the stairs. * Freddy and Ferdy Fox are two mischievous twin foxes who spread mischief around the village of Nutwood. * Constable Growler is a

dog The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf, and the modern wolf is the dog's nearest living relative. Do ...

and local policeman who rides a

bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-powered assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist. Bic ...

. He constantly says he needs to do "everything by the book, you know" and is always turned to by Rupert and his friends whenever they need help catching a criminal. * The Professor is a very friendly and eccentric human scientist who resides in an old castle tower in Nutwood, who invents many incredible devices during the series. Rupert often helps out with his experiments. Once the Professor starts an experiment, he never rests. He has the catchphrase, "Think of the possibilities, my boy(s)!" whenever he is explaining his experiments and all the benefits that can come from it to Rupert and his friends. * The Sage of Um is a jolly wizard who comes from the island of Um and flies in an upside-down umbrella. He is a friend of Tiger Lily's father; the Conjurer. * Odmedod is a talking friendly scarecrow that lives in Farmer Turbit's farm and a friend of Rupert. * Reika is a Swiss human girl who lives in Lapland looking after the reindeer of

Santa Claus Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a Legend, legendary figure originating in Western Christianity, Western Christian culture who is said to Christmas gift-bringer, bring ...

. * Billy Blizzard is an ambitious villain, who with the help of a magic whistle, plans to freeze the villagers of the North Pole and become the leader of the place. * Sir Humphrey Pumphrey is a greedy, ruthless explorer who tries to find or plunder riches for his own selfish desires.

Voice cast

Ian James Corlett Ian James Corlett (born August 29, 1962) is a Canadian voice actor, animator, and author. He is the creator of Studio B Productions' animated series ''Being Ian'' and ''Yvon of the Yukon''. One of his best-known animation roles was the first En ...

as Rupert Bear (1991) *

Julie Lemieux Julie Lemieux (born December 4, 1962) is a Canadian voice actress. Career Lemieux has provided the voice for characters such as Sammy Tsukino in '' Sailor Moon'', young Darien Shields in '' Sailor Moon R: The Movie'', and Peruru in '' Sailor Moo ...

as Rupert Bear (1992–1997) * Guy Bannerman as Mr. Bear *

Lally Cadeau Lally Cadeau (born Alice Mary Cadeau, 10 January 1948) is a Canadian stage, television, film, and radio actress. Life and career Alice Mary Cadeau was born in Burlington, Ontario, the youngest child and only daughter of a once-aspiring actres ...

as Mrs. Bear (1991–1992) * Valerie Boyle as Mrs. Bear (1992–1997) *

Torquil Campbell Torquil Campbell (born 17 March 1972) is the co-lead singer and a songwriter for the Montreal-based indie rock band Stars. In addition to singing, he also plays the melodica, trumpet, synthesizer, and tambourine. Campbell is also an actor and ...

as Bill Badger *

Hadley Kay Hadley Kay (born ) is a Canadian film, stage, television and voice actor, best known for his appearances in ''The Care Bears Movie'', '' Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation'' and ''Popples''. Career At age six, he made his film debut opposite ...

as Podgy Pig * Keith White as Algy Pug * Oscar Hsu as Pong Ping *

Stephanie Morgenstern Stephanie Morgenstern is a Canadian actress, filmmaker, and screenwriter for television and film. She has worked extensively on stage, film, and television in both English and French. Her most widely seen feature film credits have been '' The S ...

as Tiger Lily *

Wayne Robson Wayne Robson (April 29, 1946 – April 4, 2011) was a Canadian television, stage, voice and film actor known for playing the part of Mike Hamar, an ex-convict and sometime thief, on the Canadian sitcom '' The Red Green Show'' from 1993 to 2006, a ...

as Sage of Um * Colin Fox as Professor *

Eric Roberts Eric Anthony Roberts (born April 18, 1956) is an American actor. His career began with a leading role in '' King of the Gypsies'' (1978) for which he received his first Golden Globe Award nomination. He was nominated again at the Golden Globes ...

as Chinese Emperor; Chinese Conjuror; Captain Bill; additional voices *

Alan Ituriel Alan may refer to: People * Alan (surname), an English and Turkish surname * Alan (given name), an English given name ** List of people with given name Alan ''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.'' ...

as Tung Lai *

Jeremy Ratchford Jeremy Ratchford (born August 6, 1965) is a Canadian actor. He starred as Nick Vera on the TV series ''Cold Case''. Career While in Canada, Ratchford played Marvel Comic book character Banshee in the live action TV super hero film ''Generati ...

as Botkin *

Peter Wildman Peter Wildman (born December 29, 1954) is a Canadian actor, voice actor, musician, writer and member of the Frantics comedy troupe. He appeared as Buzz Sherwood on ''The Red Green Show'', and voiced Mojo in '' X-Men: The Animated Series'' and M ...

as Mr. Ribbons; Captain Sir *

Dan Hennessey Dan Hennessey (born August 25)https://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Dan-Hennessey/ is a Canadian voice director and voice actor who, early on in his career, performed with a children's comedy troupe The Zoo Factory (with John Stocker, Bruce Gord ...

as Tom *

Stephen Ouimette Stephen Ouimette is a Canadian actor and director. Although mostly known for his stage work, particularly at the Stratford Festival of Canada and recently on Broadway in '' La Bete'', he achieved TV fame (and a Gemini Award) as the ghostly Olive ...

as additional voices * Kristin LeMunyon as Clarice * Allen Stewart-Coates as Cedric Pig; Constable Growler; additional voices * Keith Knight as Timid Snowman; Mr. Chimp; The Sandman; additional voices * Rick Jones as Yum * Marla Lukofsky as Phoebe * Additional voice as Edward Trunk

Production

The series was produced by

, and TVS for its first season, with

Scottish Television Scottish Television (now, legally, known as STV Central Limited) is the ITV network franchisee for Central Scotland. The channel — the largest of the three ITV franchises in Scotland — has been in operation since 31 August 1957 and is the ...

taking over for the second season onwards when TVS lost its franchise.

Broadcast

It was broadcast in syndication on YTV in Canada. In the United States, the series first aired on

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

as part of

Nick Jr. Nick Jr. (known on-air as the Nick Jr. Channel) is an American pay television channel spun off from Nickelodeon's long-running programming block of the same name. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Gr ...

in 1995 before moving to

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

Saturday mornings in 1999. Repeats of the series came to

Disney Channel Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Compan ...

on the

Playhouse Disney Playhouse Disney was a brand of programming blocks and international cable and satellite television channels that were owned by the Disney Channels Worldwide unit (now Disney Branded Television) of The Walt Disney Company's Disney–ABC Televis ...

block,

Toon Disney Toon Disney was an American multinational pay television channel owned by Disney Channels Worldwide, a subsidiary of Disney-ABC Television Group. The channel's target audience was children ages 2–11, and children ages 6–13 during the Jetix ...

, and on

Qubo Qubo ( ; stylized as qubo) was an American television network for children between the ages of 5 and 14. Owned by Ion Media, it consisted of a 24-hour free-to-air television network often mentioned as the "Qubo channel" (available as a digital ...

's digital service in January 2007. The series was broadcast in the United Kingdom on

CITV CITV (short for Children's ITV, also known as the CITV Channel) is a British free-to-air children's television channel owned by ITV plc. It broadcasts content from the CITV archive and acquisitions, every day from 6 am to 9 pm which ...

Tiny Pop Tiny Pop (styled as tiny POP) is a British free-to-air children's television channel in the United Kingdom, owned by Narrative Entertainment UK Limited. Broadcast on many of the major digital television platforms in the UK, Tiny Pop, which was ...

, and

KidsCo KidsCo was an international children's television channel founded and owned by a joint-venture between Corus Entertainment, DIC Entertainment, and Universal Networks International, Sparrowhawk Media Group in April 2007. By the end of 2007, Spar ...

. In Australia, the series was broadcast on the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

It aired broadcasting network and later on the Australian

network and on TV2 in New Zealand. It aired on

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...

in Ireland as part of their children's block ''

The Den The Den (previously The New Den) is a football stadium in New Cross, south-east London, and the home of Millwall Football Club. The Den is adjacent to the South London railway originating at , and a quarter of a mile from the Old Den, which i ...

''. In

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

, the series was broadcast in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

TV Cultura TV Cultura or simply Cultura, is a free Brazilian public television network headquartered in São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the mos ...

from February 2, 1998 to 2006, with audience peaks, according to the

Folha de São Paulo ''Folha de S.Paulo'' (sometimes spelled ''Folha de São Paulo''), also known as simply ''Folha'' (, ''Sheet''), is a Brazilian daily newspaper founded in 1921 under the name ''Folha da Noite'' and published in São Paulo by the Folha da Manhã c ...

portal, between 2002 and 2004. In

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, the series was broadcast on both

Bop TV Bop TV was a television station run by the Bophuthatswana Broadcasting Corporation in the former Republic of Bophuthatswana in South Africa. History Commencing operations in 1984, it primarily transmitted imported programmes in an unedited for ...

and

M-Net M-Net (an abbreviation of Electronic Media Network) is a South African pay television channel established by Naspers in 1986. The channel broadcasts both local and international programming, including general entertainment, children's series, ...

as part of their wrapper programme for children ''

K-T.V. K-T.V. (also known as ''Kids TV'') was a children's network broadcast in Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Cyprus and South Africa as a programming block on M-Net and later on FilmNet. It was owned by Multichoice. In Greece, it used ...

''. The series was also played in Namibia on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

. It also aired in the United Arab Emirates; it was broadcast on the English free for air channel

Dubai 33 Dubai Channel 33 (originally branded as Ch33) was a national television channel transmitting terrestrially out of Dubai in English, targeting the expat community in the U.A.E. It was founded in 1977. Up until the late 1980s, it was a 12-hour channe ...

. In

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, the series was broadcast during the 1990s on the RTP channel. In Zimbabwe, the series aired on both ZBC and ZTV. The series was also broadcast on RTB in Brunei. In the American overseas territory Guam, the series was screened on

KUAM-LP KUAM-LP, UHF analog channel 20, was a low-power CBS- affiliated television station serving the U.S. territory of Guam that was licensed to Tamuning. The station was owned by Pacific Telestations, Inc. History KUAM-LP began telecasting on Nov ...

. In Kenya, it aired on KBC. In Saudi Arabia, the series was played on the country's English speaking channel Saudi 2, and In the Arab World, it aired on

Spacetoon ( ar, سبيستون or ) is a pan-Arab free-to-air television channel that specializes in animation and children programs. It began broadcasting on 15 March 2000 and it is headquartered in Dubai, UAE with offices in Riyadh. The channel targe ...

from 2000 to 2014 in Arabic.

Theme and closing song

Both the theme and closing song were composed by

Milan Kymlicka Milan Kymlicka (Czech: Milan Kymlička; 15 May 1936 – 9 October 2008) was a Czechoslovak and Canadian arranger, composer and Conducting, conductor. He was known for his composition of film scores, film and television scores, including those for ...

They are based on

Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...

's '' The Happy Farmer, Returning from Work in F major, Op. 68, No. 10''. When the series aired on

in the U.S., a different theme song was used, with lyrics and vocals in the intro, and an instrumental of the same tune in the outro. This composition, ''Rupert's Number One'', was co-penned by Sheree Jeacocke and Gerry Mosby.

Feature film version

According to

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

, in 2000,

made plans to produce a feature film about Rupert at Hollywood studios but the project was not implemented. The film would have been released possibly between 2001 and 2002.

References

External links

''Rupert Bear''
at

itv.com itv.com is the main website of ITV plc, the UK's largest commercial television broadcaster which operates 13 out of 15 regions on the ITV network under the ITV brand (or the UTV brand in Northern Ireland). The website offers online streaming, ...