Rubik, the Amazing Cube
Rubik, the Amazing Cube is a 1983 half-hour Saturday morning animated series based on the puzzle created by Ernő Rubik, produced by Ruby-Spears Enterprises and broadcast as part of The Pac-Man/Rubik, the Amazing Cube Hour block on ABC from September 10 to December 10, 1983. The Rubik half hour was broadcast in reruns as a standalone series on ABC from May 4 to August 31, 1985.[1]
| Rubik, the Amazing Cube | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Written by | Tom Dagenais Janis Diamond Jack Enyart Gary Greenfield Mark Jones Gordon Kent Norman Maurer Richard Merwin |
| Directed by | John Kimball Rudy Larriva Norm McCabe |
| Voices of | Ron Palillo Michael Saucedo Jennifer Fajardo Michael Bell Ángela Moya |
| Theme music composer | Dean Elliott |
| Opening theme | Menudo |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 13 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Joe Ruby Ken Spears |
| Producer(s) | Mark Jones Steven Werner |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Ruby-Spears Enterprises |
| Distributor | Warner Bros. Television Distribution |
| Release | |
| Original network | ABC |
| Picture format | 4:3 SDTV |
| Original release | September 10 – December 10, 1983 |
The program features a magic Rubik's Cube named Rubik who can fly through the air and has other special powers. Rubik can only come alive when the colored squares on his sides had been matched up.[2] The voice of Rubik, Ron Palillo, told TV Guide in 1983 that for the role, he spoke very slowly and then technicians sped up the tapes and raised the pitch. Palillo said Rubik's giggle is very different from the trademark laugh of Horshack, his character on the TV series Welcome Back, Kotter, and that it is pretty "for an inanimate object".[3]
Premise
Rubik had fallen out of the stagecoach of an evil magician, who became the main villain of the series. Rubik helped Carlos, Lisa, and Reynaldo Rodriguez, in foiling the magician’s attempts to recover Rubik. Once, Rubik was recovered by a detective who was a relative of the magician, but then decided the children should keep Rubik as the magician would use him for evil and selfish purposes.
Outside of the evil magician, episodes usually dealt with more normal adversaries, such as when the eldest son had run afoul of a bully who had thwarted his efforts to gain a potential girlfriend, while at the same time the bully was making himself appear decent to the girl. Rubik worked in secret to expose the bully’s true brutal personality in front of the girl.
For dramatic purposes, the cube was easily fully scrambled (such as by being dropped or grabbed by the family dog, and at least once Rubik scrambled himself) and usually solved quickly by the Rodriguez children, although in stressful circumstances it took them longer. When scrambled, Rubik can only be heard making low-key gibberish and sometime can be heard saying, "Help."
Cast
- Ron Palillo – Rubik
- Michael Bell – Reynaldo Rodriguez
- Jennifer Fajardo – Lisa Rodriguez
- Michael Saucedo – Carlos Rodriguez
- Angela Moya – Marla
Additional voices: Jack DeLeon, Alan Dinehart, Laurie Faso, Takayo Fischer, Bob Holt, Tress MacNeille, Tysun McMullan, Neil Ross, John Stephenson, Janet Waldo, Alan Young
Theme music
In keeping with the Hispanic flavor of the show, the theme song was sung by Puerto Rican boy band Menudo. Featured in the song were Johnny Lozada, Ricky Melendez, Charlie Masso, Ray Reyes and Roy Rossello.
Episodes
| No. | Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Rubik, the Amazing Cube" | September 10, 1983 |
| 2 | "Back Packin' Rubik" | September 17, 1983 |
| 3 | "Rubik and the Buried Treasure" | October 1, 1983 |
| 4 | "Rubik and the Lucky Helmet" | October 8, 1983 |
| 5 | "Rubik and the Mysterious Man" | October 15, 1983 |
| 6 | "Rubik and the Pooch Nappers" | October 22, 1983 |
| 7 | "Rubik and the Science Fair" | October 29, 1983 |
| 8 | "Rubik in Wonderland" | November 5, 1983 |
| 9 | "Honolulu Rubik" | September 24, 1983 |
| 10 | "Rubik's First Christmas" | November 19, 1983 |
| 11 | "Saturday Night Rubik" | November 26, 1983 |
| 12 | "Super Power Lisa" | December 3, 1983 |
| 13 | "Time Machine Rubik[4]" | December 10, 1983 |
References
- Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 -2003, The Shows M-Z (Volume 2) (2nd ed.). Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company. pp. 600, 691. ISBN 978-0786422562.
- Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 519–520. ISBN 978-1538103739.
- "Palillo's Puzzled". TV Guide. 31 (45): 78. November 5, 1983. ISSN 0039-8543.
- "Rubik, the Amazing Cube Fan Site". Archived from the original on 2009-10-03.
External links
- Rubik, the Amazing Cube on IMDb
- Episode index at the Big Cartoon DataBase