Sport Billy

''Sport Billy'' is an animated television series produced in 1980 by Filmation in the United States based on a German comic book created by Rolf Deyhle in 1977, whose eponymous hero is a boy who promotes sportsmanship. A single 26-episode season was produced, first broadcast in Germany and other parts of Europe from 1980 to 1981. In 1982, Filmation carried the show over to the United States for syndication,Lenburg, Jeff, ''Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons'', Second Edition, 1999. and as a summer replacement for ''The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends'' in NBC's Saturday morning children's programming.

Synopsis

The story revolves around a young boy named Sport Billy, who is from the planet Olympus (a twin of Earth on the opposite side of the Sun), which is populated by athletic god-like beings, ruled by the benevolent President Sportikus XI and his wife, Pandusa. Billy himself has a magic size-changing gym bag, the Omni-Sack, which produces various tools as he needs them. He travels to Earth on a mission to promote teamwork and sportsmanship. Described by the show's theme song as a "hero from another planet", Billy battles the evil Queen Vanda and her gnome-like henchman, Sipe. Vanda's mission is to destroy all sports in the galaxy since fairness disgusts her.

Billy is assisted by two faithful companions, his girlfriend named Sport Lilly and her talking dog named Willy. The trio travels around in a time traveling spaceship named the Timeship, which is mounted on two rocket engines and resembles a giant wind-up clock, complete with a ringing bell. In each episode the trio travels through time in order to save a different Earth sport from Vanda's grasp.

Production

Sport Billy was originally a German comic character created by Rolf Deyhle out of his love for cartoons in 1977, and already had a presence in Europe and parts of Latin America. The comics were written and drawn by Walter Neugebauer, Gisela Künstner, and Kurt Italiaander, and followed the sporting adventures of Billy, his friends Susy and Dickie (who was later dropped from the comics), and his dog Hannibal. Sport Billy was adopted by FIFA as the fair-play mascot for the FIFA World Cup, and a trophy of the character was presented to the sporting team at the 1978 tournament. The character was internationally used as a mascot in many sporting youth programs, for the purpose of promoting sportsmanship and fair play. Sport Billy Productions, owners of the ''Sport Billy'' franchise, licensed the property to the American studio Filmation so it could create a cartoon based on the character. As a European character, Sport Billy's main sport was association football, and this was reflected in the introductory sequence of the program. Susy and Hannibal were renamed "Lilly" and "Willy".

The series consisted of 26 episodes. It was marketed at MIPTV Media Market in Cannes in April 1980, and first broadcast that September by ARD in West Germany. In the original English version, Sport Billy was voiced by Lane Scheimer, the son of producer Lou Scheimer, who voiced the Olympian Computer. Sport Lilly, Queen Vanda and Pandusa were voiced by Joyce Bulifant, and Willy, Sportikus XI, Sipe and Poco were voiced by Frank Welker. The series was scheduled for broadcast on NBC in the United States in the fall of 1980, but the US Olympics boycott almost bankrupted NBC, whose payment for the broadcasting rights was predicated on high domestic interest. The series was shelved for two years until after the 1982 FIFA World Cup, when it aired as a summer replacement for ''The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends'' in NBC's Saturday morning children's programming. It was the last first-run series produced by Filmation to air on NBC. The series was also shown in the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Gibraltar, Italy, Yugoslavia, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Greece, Cyprus, Spain, Turkey, Peru, Mexico, Portugal, Romania, Czechoslovakia and other countries. In contrast to its success elsewhere, the series did lower numbers in U.S. syndication than ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'', ''The Jetsons'' and ''Jonny Quest'', but more than ''The Space Kidettes'', ''The Roman Holidays'' and '' Samson & Goliath''.

Parts of the early episodes were recut into a television film shown on HBO in 1980 and RTÉ2 in 1986. It was written by Reubin Guberman, produced by William L. Cooper Jr. and Wolfgang Stein, and directed by Peter Fernandez. All the voices in the film were redubbed by Fernandez, Corinne Orr and Lionel Wilson to fit in the new script for linking the episodes together. The film was released split in parts as "episodes" on VHS in the UK.

Voice cast

* Lane Scheimer as Sport Billy
* Joyce Bulifant as Sport Lilly, Queen Vanda, Pandusa, additional voices
* Frank Welker as Willy, Sipe, Poco, Sportikus XI, additional voices
* Lou Scheimer (uncredited) as Olympian Computer, additional voices
* Corinne Orr (uncredited) as Sport Billy, Sport Lilly, Queen Vanda, Pandusa, additional voices (film)
* Lionel Wilson (uncredited) as Willy, Sipe, Olympian Computer, additional voices (film)
* Peter Fernandez (uncredited) as Sportikus XI, Narrator, additional voices (film)

Crew

* Developed by Arthur Nadel
* Writers: Paul Aratow, Paul Dini, Dan DiStefano, Barry Gaines, Jack Hanrahan, Martha Humphreys, Coslough Johnson, Ted Pedersen, Tom Ruegger

Episode list

Public service announcements

In addition to this series, there were also ten 30-second public service announcements produced by Michael Sporn Animation for syndicated television during the general period when the series aired. These spots also taught the value of fair play and sportsmanship, but without the plot of the series.

Musical group

During the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain, in which Argentina participated, Buenos Aires-based music label Tonodisc S.A. held a mass casting to create a children's musical group that would promote sports through music and encourage Argentina in that World Cup. The group was named "Sport-Billy", and consisted of Fabiana Íncola, Analía Santos, Luis Gasparini, Marcelo Ragonesse and Walter Ferreyra. They released their first album on December 5, 1981, with their songs produced and directed by Bubby Lavecchia. In May 1982, they visited Peru to promote themselves and perform at the Estádio Nacional and the Jesús Obrero Coliseum in Comas, as well as in other towns in the country such as Iquitos, Tacna, Trujillo and Piura. In Lima, they were interviewed on various popular radio stations of the time, such as Radio Miraflores, Radio Panamericana, Radio 1160, and Radio Onda Popular Perú. The group also performed on ''Show del Tío Pepe'' on Radio Unión, with a multitudinous reception from the auditorium of said station.

In December 1982, Sport-Billy returned on their second visit to Peru and again visited the radio stations. This time, the songs were slightly more oriented toward youth, such as "100 kilos de barro" and "Medley a Triny Lopez". Sport-Billy performed again at the Estádio Nacional to modest success. They also performed on ''Segunda Teletón'' on Panamericana Televisión. According to Íncola, "That night of the presentation at the Estádio Nacional I was very sick, with a fever, but I got over it and went out to perform, and with the love of the public I was cured."

It was not until 1983 that Sport-Billy launched in Peru, with its second album on records and cassettes promoted by Panamericana Televisión. At that time in Argentina, amidst bitter discussions between the parents of the children and the record company, they released a shared album with the Spanish group Sus Amigos/Viva's (made up of former members of Parchis) entitled ''Vamos a la Playa''. This album, although never released in the country, was promoted by Sport-Billy's fan club on different stations hoping for a return of the group. Shortly after the release of that album came ''Superagentes y titanes'', an Argentine catch-up film in which Sport-Billy participated with two songs from their second album and two unreleased songs. The film was released in neighborhood theaters in Lima such as the now-defunct Cines México and Cines Bolívar. After this, the group broke up and Tonodisc ceased operations.

Since the group's last visit to Peru, Sport-Billy's fan club grew over time and became the radio station Sol Frecuencia Primera. In December 2008, the station's director and founder, journalist Sandro Parodi Cerna, interviewed Íncola (now a mother of three children) via telephone in Episode 43 of the journalist program ''Extremos'', to the surprise of the former singer. Íncola recorded a song by the group Sin Bandera, "Que Me Alcance la Vida", although she stated that she no longer dedicates herself professionally to singing. This brought about a "nostalgic rebirth" of Sport-Billy on social networks in Latin America, with Íncola and Ragonesse receive hundreds of admirers on Facebook.

Sources

*

References

External links

''Sport Billy''
at Don Markstein's Toonopedia
Archived
from the original on February 15, 2016.
*

{{Children's programming on NBC in the 1980s

1980s American animated television series
1980s American children's television series
1980s American sports television series
1980 American animated television series debuts
1981 American television series endings
1980s American time travel television series
American children's animated sports television series
Animated television series about children
First-run syndicated animated television series
Television series by Filmation
Television series by Universal Television
NBC animated television series
Television series about queens
Television series about size change