''It's Punky Brewster'' is a 1985–86

animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...

spin-off Spin-off, Spin Off, Spin-Off, or Spinoff may refer to: Entertainment and media *Spinoff (media), a media work derived from an existing work *''The Spinoff'', a New Zealand current affairs magazine * ''Spin Off'' (Canadian game show), a 2013 Canad ...

of the live-action television sitcom ''

Punky Brewster ''Punky Brewster'' is an American Situation comedy, sitcom television series about a young girl (Soleil Moon Frye) being raised by a foster parent (George Gaynes) in Chicago. The show ran on NBC from September 16, 1984, to March 9, 1986, and ag ...

''. It was animated by Ruby-Spears Productions. The show uses the same premise and main cast as its parent series, but also includes a magical sprite named Glomer. 26 episodes were produced over two seasons.

Synopsis

The series featured the voices of the original ''Punky Brewster'' cast as their respective characters. A new character, Glomer (voiced by

Frank Welker Franklin Wendell Welker (born March 12, 1946) is an American actor who specializes in voice acting. He began his career in the 1960s, and held around 850 film, television, and video game credits as of 2020, making him one of the most prolific v ...

), was added as the " leprechaun gopher". He came from Chaundoon, a city at the end of the

rainbow A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...

and possesses all of magical powers. One such power was the ability to teleport Punky and her friends, Margaux, Cherie, and Allen, and at times her pet dog, Brandon, to any part of the Earth instantly. Some episodes included Glomer having to correct his own mistakes, as when he plays around with magic and transforms Henry into a statue of

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

Title

''It's Punky Brewster'' is the series' unofficial name (''Punky'' when the show first premiered); on the title card and in TV listings, it was simply called ''Punky Brewster.''

Release

In season 2, shows up 4 through 13 had a first-run episode and a rerun from the first season. The show was canceled in September 1987, but reruns came back from October 1988 until September 1989 after NBC's live-action, preteen-aimed show '' 2 Hip 4 TV'' was cancelled. The show was syndicated as a revolving feature of '' Maxie's World'' during the 1989–90 season.

Cast

* Soleil Moon Frye - Punky Brewster * George Gaynes - Henry Warnimont *

Ami Foster Ami Foster (born August 5, 1975) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her role as Margaux Kramer in the TV series ''Punky Brewster''. Biography Foster, a native of California, won the National Tap Dance Championship after ...

- Margaux Kramer *

Cherie Johnson Cherie Johnson (born November 21, 1975) is an American actress, writer, film producer, and author. She is known for her roles on ''Punky Brewster'' as Punky's best friend Cherie and '' Family Matters'', where she played Laura Winslow's best f ...

- Cherie Johnson *

Casey Ellison Casey Ellison (born March 2, 1976, in the United States) is a former American actor who is famous for his role as Allen Anderson on the NBC sitcom ''Punky Brewster''. In 1986, he left the show and never appeared in the new 2021 revival. Career ...

- Allen Anderson *

- Glomer, Brandon (barking; speaking voice in "Brandon the Dialogue Dog")

Additional voices

* René Auberjonois *

Vince Edwards Vince Edwards (born Vincent Edward Zoine; July 9, 1928 – March 11, 1996) was an American actor, director, and singer. He was best known for his TV role as Dr. Ben Casey and as Major Cliff Bricker in the 1968 war film '' The Devil's Brigade' ...

Pat Fraley Pat Fraley is an American voice actor and voice-over teacher, known as the voice of Krang, Casey Jones, Baxter Stockman and numerous other characters in the 1987 ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' animated television series and voiced Falcon in ...

* Alejandro Garay * Linda Gary * Patty Glick *

Renae Jacobs Renae Jacobs (born February 1, 1957) is an American voice actress, who is perhaps best known for voicing journalist and reporter April O'Neil in the original ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' animated series. Early life Renae Jacobs was born Feb ...

* Christina Lange *

Katie Leigh Katie Leigh is an American voice actress. She has voice acted in both television, film and occasionally video game roles. Career Katie Leigh is known for her voice roles such as Sunni Gummi in '' Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears'', Zuzu in ...

* Joycelyne Lew *

Tress MacNeille Teressa Claire "Tress" MacNeille (; born June 20, 1951) >https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/macneille-tress-1951 is an American voice actress, who has contributed to voice-over work with credits including vo ...

* Mea Martineau * Janet Mays * David Mendenhall *

Scott Menville Scott David Menville (born February 12, 1971) is an American actor and musician who is known for his voice work in animated films, television series and video games. He voices Robin in Cartoon Network's ''Teen Titans'' (2003–2006) and ''Teen ...

- Chucky * Lilly Moon *

Pat Musick Patricia Anne Musick is an American voice actress who has provided numerous voices in many television shows, films, and video games. Career Musick’s first role was in the 1981 film ''The Loch Ness Horror''. Her roles in animation include Snapp ...

* Denise Pickering *

Hal Rayle Hal Rayle (born January 3, 1955) is an American voice actor. He has done many roles for both animated series and live action movies. Career Rayle has had a number of voice acting jobs over his career. Rayle's animated series roles include Miss P ...

* Josh Rodine * Neil Ross *

Shavar Ross Shavar Ross is an American actor, film director, screenwriter, film producer, editor, photographer, author, online retail entrepreneur, and spiritual mentor and teacher. He is known for his recurring television role as Dudley Johnson, Arnold Ja ...

Susie Garrett, who played Betty Johnson, and T. K. Carter, who played Mike, are the only regular cast members of the sitcom that did not appear in the cartoon.

Episodes

Season 1 (1985)

Season 2 (1986)

Home media

The show was released on VHS in 1991, and several different tapes were made. The series is available on DVD as part of the ''Punky Brewster'' DVD releases. Each season also contains a certain number of episodes from it as a bonus feature. Due to music rights issues, "The Shoe Must Go On" is the only episode not released on DVD in the season box sets released by

Shout! Factory Shout! Factory, LLC, doing business as Shout! Studios (formerly doing business as Shout! Factory, its current legal name), is an American home video and music distributor founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases, issued i ...

; a song featured in that episode was "

Axel F "Axel F" is an electronic instrumental track by German musician Harold Faltermeyer. The track served as the theme tune to the film '' Beverly Hills Cop'', its eponymous character, and the film franchise it is based on, and became an interna ...

" by

Harold Faltermeyer Hans Hugo Harold Faltermeyer (born 5 October 1952) is a German musician, composer and record producer. Faltermeyer is best known for composing the " Axel F" theme for the feature film '' Beverly Hills Cop'', an influential synth-pop hit in the ...

, the theme to ''

Beverly Hills Cop ''Beverly Hills Cop'' is a 1984 American buddy cop action comedy film directed by Martin Brest, with a screenplay by Daniel Petrie Jr., and story by Danilo Bach and Daniel Petrie Jr. It stars Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley, a street-smart Det ...

''.

Popular culture

The series was parodied in the ''

Robot Chicken ''Robot Chicken'' is an American adult animation, adult stop motion, stop-motion animated sketch comedy television series created by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich for Cartoon Network's nighttime programming block Adult Swim. The twelve-minute ...

'' episode "But Not in That Way" (aired February 8, 2009) with Soleil Moon Frye reprising the title character's role, while

Seth Green Seth Benjamin Green ( ''né'' Gesshel-Green; born February 8, 1974) is an American actor. His film debut was '' The Hotel New Hampshire'' (1984), and he went on to have supporting roles in comedy films in the 1980s, including '' Radio Days'' ( ...

voiced Henry Warnimont and

Tom Kane Tom Kane (born 1962) is an American former voice actor. He is known for his work in animation and video games, most notably the ''Star Wars'' franchise. Career Kane began his voice acting career in 1977 when he was just 14 years old. Some of his ...

voiced Glomer.

Notes

References

External links

* {{Portal bar, Cartoon, Animation, Television, 1980s 1980s American animated comedy television series 1980s American children's comedy television series 1985 American animated television series debuts 1986 American television series endings American animated television spinoffs American children's animated comedy television series American children's animated fantasy television series Animated television series about orphans Animation based on real people American English-language television shows Television series by Ruby-Spears Television series by Universal Television Television series by Sony Pictures Television NBC animated television series Fiction about teleportation Depictions of Julius Caesar on television Punky Brewster