''Ultimate Book of Spells'' is a 2001-2002 Canadian children's animated television series produced by

BKN International BKN International AG (BKNI) was a German kids TV production and distribution company that formerly operated as the international division of BKN, Inc. History BKN International was originally founded as Bohbot Entertainment Worldwide in 1994 ...

. It ran for 26 episodes. Inspired by the popular ''

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...

'' book and movie series, the show presents a trio of " wizards-in-training" at an enchanted private school run by Miss Crystalgazer. Cassy is a junior witch, Gus is a half-elf/half-human junior wizard, and Verne is a promising "mortie", i.e. a non-magical human. With the guidance of the talking Ultimate Book of Spells (aka UBOS), the three have to battle the evil wizard Zarlak, who's trying to steal all of the world's spells.

Characters

Main characters

*Cassandra "Cassy" (voiced by

Janyse Jaud Janyse Jaud (, born November 26, 1969) is a Canadian actress, musician and author. Her major voiceover roles include '' Hulk Versus'', '' My Little Pony'', ''Inuyasha'', ''Ed Edd n Eddy'', '' Batman: Black & White'', ''Baby Looney Tunes'', ''War ...

) - the leader of the trio, junior witch and the main protagonist of the series. She wants to become a sorceress, a class considered superior to witches. It is revealed that Cassy is the great-granddaughter of the wizard who defeated and banished Zarlak - a wizard that is now disguised as UBOS. *Gus - he is half-

elf An elf () is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology. They are subsequently mentioned in Snorri Sturluson's Icelandic Prose Edda. He distinguishes "ligh ...

and half-wizard. He is quite confident and sometimes acts childishly. Initially, he looks down on Verne; due to his "mortie" status, but Verne manages to redeem himself by saving Gus's life. *Verne (voiced by

Cathy Weseluck Cathy Weseluck is a Canadian actress and comedian who frequently works with Ocean Productions in Vancouver, British Columbia and is known for her roles as Near in '' Death Note'', Cybersix/Adrian Seidelman in ''Cybersix'', and Spike in '' My Littl ...

) - he is a mortal wizard who has magical powers and can naturally mend electronic devices. Because of his mortal status, he is called a "mortie". At some points, he is quite cowardly and is surprised by almost anything that involves magic. He is quite skilled in techno magic which is good for putting ordinary electronics or mechanical devices together to make useful gadgets. It is revealed that Verne is a descendent of

Merlin Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and le ...

and they share same surname Ambrocious. *UBOS (voiced by Ron Halder): An elderly looking book that has the power to teleport the three to the centre of the world where they must stop Zarlak. He tends to be quite grumpy (mostly when Cassy stuffs him in her backpack) and hits the three on the head when he's scolding them. It is revealed throughout the series that he is Cassy's great-grandfather. UBOS is also the title character of the series. *Erbert (voiced by Michael Dobson) - he is a prince who was cursed by Zarlack to look like a toy frog and confined at the magic school the Vonderland. He is the friend of the trio and UBOS. He stays with Gus and Verne in their room. Although he refuses at first he is seen travelling with them to defeat Zarlack in some episodes. *Zarlak - an evil wizard and the main

antagonist An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the chief foe of the protagonist. Etymology The English word antagonist comes from the Greek ἀνταγωνιστής – ''antagonistēs'', "opponent, competitor, villain, enemy, riv ...

of the series; who seeks world domination. He desires to get his hands on UBOS; so that he will have enough power to not only escape his prison, but to destroy and rule the world. *Rowce and Snerrot - Zarlack's henchmen whom he often loses patience with. They have the power to combine to become a two-headed dragon, but like most henchmen, are rather dimwitted.

Other characters

*Ilsa - a 12-foot-tall (3.7 m) giant girl whose father is a big man (literally) in Vonderland. She was roommates with Cassy for a short while. Due to her size, Ilsa had trouble fitting in. *Lucretia and Borgia - the evil fraternal twins who try to make trouble for Cassy, Gus and Verne. Their father used to serve Zarlak, but defected before Zarlak's defeat, thus; avoiding punishment for his crimes. *Crystalgazer - the headmistress of Vonderland. She can transform into a cat at will. *Saysme - another teacher of Vonderland; he is a young man with a top hat and teaches age regression magic. *Beagleboyce - the librarian of Vonderland. *Mayday - a ghost in charge of scoot-zoomer driving tests. *Scrimpy - an imp who calls out to the trio for help when Zarlack attacks his village. *Flaherty - a leprechaun who was forced into helping Lucretia cheat, by tinkering with Cassie's scoot-zoomer while racing, before he was freed. *Wingo and Jingo - the two mischievous gremlins who were cast into a cuckoo clock for 100 years after losing a battle with Vonderland's builders. They are allowed to come out once a century to play while the whole school is put under a sleeping spell. *Snap the Dragon (voiced by Michael Dobson) - a dragon.

Other voices

* Tony Alcanter *

Michael Benyaer Michael Benyaer is a Canadian-American actor. He is best known for his roles as Bob in the Canadian CGI series ''ReBoot'' and Hadji Singh in season one of ''The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest''. On playing Hadji, Benyaer stated, " eis one of the ...

* Don Brown * Jim Byrnes * Richard Cox * Paul Dobson *

Patricia Drake Patricia Drake is a Canadian actress working on TV and in animated shows, mostly with Ocean Studios in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Filmography Anime roles * ''Black Lagoon'' as Balalaika * ''Dragon Ball Z'' as Android 19 (Ocean dub) * ...

Brian Drummond Brian Drummond (born August 10, 1969) is a Canadian voice actor. He formerly served on the board of directors for the New Westminster-based Urban Academy along with his wife, Laura Drummond, also a voice artist. Usually working in Vancouver, h ...

Andrew Francis Andrew Michael Scott Francis is a Canadian actor. He has appeared in many television shows and films including '' My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic'' as Shining Armor, '' MegaMan NT Warrior'' as MegaMan.EXE, ''Hero 108'' as Lin Chung, ''Lam ...

* McKenzie Gray *Ron Halder *

Phil Hayes Phillip Lee Hayes (born 17 May 1986) is a former English cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two b ...

Saffron Henderson Saffron Henderson (born September 25) is a Canadian voice actress and singer who often works with Ocean Productions in numerous anime dubs. Career Henderson tends to be cast as mature and flirtatious women, young boys and teenage girls, as wel ...

* Mark Hildreth *

Matt Hill Matthew Hill (born January 19, 1968) is a Canadian voice actor working for Ocean Productions. Career His roles include List of Ed, Edd n Eddy characters#Ed, Ed in ''Ed, Edd n Eddy'', Kevin Keene, Kevin Keene/Captain N in ''Captain N: The Game Ma ...

* Ellie King *

Terry Klassen Terry Klassen is a Canadian voice actor, ADR director and writer. Before animation, Klassen worked in radio in Winnipeg (CITI-FM), Toronto (Q107), Calgary (CFAC), Portage la Prairie (CFRY) and part-time at CFOX and CFMI. In animation, he is best ...

Michael Kopsa Michael Kopsa (January 22, 1956 – October 23, 2022) was a Canadian actor. Kopsa was best known for his role as Char Aznable in the English dub of ''Mobile Suit Gundam'' and for his role as Commander Volcott O'Huey in ''Galaxy Angel''. He als ...

Campbell Lane Campbell Lane (July 15, 1935 – January 30, 2014) was a Canadian actor who primarily did his work in Vancouver. He appeared in many television shows produced there, and was also a voice over artist. Death Campbell Lane died on January 30, 2014 ...

*Blu Mankuma *

Kirby Morrow Kirby Robert Morrow (1973 – November 18, 2020) was a Canadian actor, comedian and writer. In animation, he was known as the voice of Miroku from ''InuYasha'', its four movies, and '' Inuyasha: The Final Act'', Van Fanel from the Ocean dub o ...

*Colin Murdock * Richard Newman *

Pauline Newstone Pauline Newstone is a Canadian voice actress best known as the voice of List of Beast Wars characters, Airazor in the computer animated series ''Beast Wars'' and as Frieza in the English Ocean and Westwood dubs of ''Dragon Ball Z''. Voice credits ...

Nicole Oliver Nicole Lyn Oliver (born February 22, 1970) is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her roles as Princess Celestia and Cheerilee in '' My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic'' and Zoe Trent in ''Littlest Pet Shop''. Early life Oliver was born i ...

* William Samples *

Tabitha St. Germain Tabitha St. Germain, formerly known as Paulina Gillis Germain and also known as Tabitha or Kitanou St. Germain, is a Canadian actress and comedian. She is known for a variety of roles across many different shows. She has been actively doing voi ...

* Samuel Vincent *

* Colleen Wheeler *

Alec Willows Alec or Aleck is a Scottish form of the given name Alex. It may be a diminutive of the name Alexander or a given name in its own right. Notable people with the name include: People *Alec Aalto (1942–2018), Finnish diplomat *Alec Acton (1938–1 ...

Crew

Susan Blu Susan Maria Blue, better known as Sue Blu, is an American voice-actress, voice-director, and casting-director in American and Canadian cinema and television. She most notably voiced Arcee in '' The Transformers: The Movie'' and Seasons 3 and 4 of ...

- Voice Director *Sean Catherine Derek - Story Editor

Episodes

In the U.S. DVD release of this series, "Solo Sorceress" is not the final episode and occurs significantly earlier in the play order.

Production

On 19 April 2001, BKN pre-sold the series to

CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...

in the United Kingdom. On 20 June 2002,

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 ...

purchased the North American broadcast rights for the series. In 2021, the show started airing on London Live in the United Kingdom.

Home Media

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom,

Universal Pictures UK United International Pictures (UIP) is a joint venture of Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures that distributes their films outside the United States and Canada. UIP also had international distribution rights to certain Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer a ...

released two VHS volumes. The first - "Three is a Charm", was released in 2002, and the second: "Solo Sorceress" was released on 21 April 2003. A double-pack containing both tapes was also released. "Three is a Charm" was later released on DVD by Universal on 10 May 2004.

United States

A VHS tape containing two episodes titled "The Mystic Gem" was released at an unknown date. Budget distributor Digiview Entertainment released three DVDs each containing four episodes in 2007, titled "Three's a Charm", "Fire with Fire" and "Out of Shape". Mill Creek Entertainment released a two-disc boxset containing all 26 episodes on 5 January 2010.

Cancelled Video Game

On 7 October 2001,

TDK Mediactive TDK Mediactive was the brand name used by Japanese company TDK as a media subsidiary in Europe, and as a video game publishing subsidiary in North America. TDK Mediactive Europe TDK Mediactive Europe was a division of TDK Recording Media Europ ...

announced they would produce a video game based on the series in 2002, although nothing was confirmed afterwards.

References

External links

*
UBOS Theme tune on YouTube
{{Former YTV original series Canadian children's animated fantasy television series 2001 Canadian television series debuts 2002 Canadian television series endings 2000s Canadian animated television series German children's animated fantasy television series 2001 German television series debuts 2002 German television series endings Television series by Corus Entertainment YTV (Canadian TV channel) original programming Animated television series about children English-language television shows