Classic Cartoons - SuperTed

There was this cartoon that i always tried to remember the name of. Since i used to watch it regularly when it was on television every day after school, i forgot the name of the character but had a very vivid idea of what the cartoon was about. A teddy bear who had super powers, had a cape, could fly and always a hero. He also had a side kick, but i couldn't remember his name either.

Thinking over and over again for a while, i managed to suddenly, after a few years (yes, that long!), remebered the name!

Superted!

Boy, was i excited! I looked everywhere for Superted dvds, but but couldn't find them anywhere, so straight on to You Tube i went to catch an episode of one of my favourite superheroes of my younger days! Did i enjoy it? Of course i did! I won't forget him anymore, i know that for sure!

The beginning of the cartoon was gripping, especially when the narrator speaks about Superted being just an ordinary, but found to be defective in the factory he was made in, teddy bear. It goes something like this:-

"This is a story about an ordinary teddy bear. When he was made, they found something wrong with him and threw him away like a piece of rubbish, into an old dark storeroom. Then, from outer space, a spotty man brought him to life with his cosmic dust. He took him to a magic cloud where Mother Nature gave him super powers. that bear became SUPERTED!"

This animated series has some really interesting history.

Mike Young created Superted in stories he told his stepson, and then ended up writing over 100 books based on the character. S4C, a Welsh television channel, approached Mike Young about an animated series. He and Robin Lyons created the charatcer as an animated series for television.

Superted is a Welsh animated cartoon series which won quite a few awards. It was first aired in 1982 in Wales in the Welsh language, and then shown throughout the United Kingdom on BBC1 in English. The series was also dubbed in Irish language for the Irish channel RTE.

The series, Superted, won numerous awards which included the 1987 BAFTA awards in United Kingdom for best animation. That's how popular the animated character series became!

So where does Superted get his special powers from? Very simple. As i've already mentioned that he was given special powers by Mother Nature in the magic cloud, he was taught 'secret magic words'. Every time he or someone else was in peril, Superted would say his secret magic words, and would unwrap his red suit with the cape and yellow shoes which have rockets built in to them for super speed. He would then deal with his enemies and bring peace to the world.

Yes, even a teddy bear like Superted, has enemies! His enemy is in the form of an American Cowboy called 'Texas Pete'. They are a gang of a total of three evil characters. Texas Pete (with his great big grey chin) has already been named, so there is also 'Bulk', who is 'sort of' a brainless overweight fool, and then there is 'Skeleton', who wears pink slippers, who is a coward and very camp in personality. As their names and descriptions suggest, they are very evil and will do anything to tak eover the world, become really wealthy and finish off all their enemies, namely Superted.

In comes 'Spotty'! Superted's sidekick.

 Spotty was green spotted, yellow alien who brought Superted to life in the dark old store room. Then took him to the magic cloud to meet Mother Nature. Spotty is Superted's best friend and bumbling companion who is always there for him, whatever the situation.

Spotty originates from the alien planet called 'Spot', hence the name Spotty.

 Superted became the first ever British cartoon series to be aired on Disney Channel, 1984 in United States of America. All 36 episodes were released by Walt Disney Home Video on six video cassettes.

Superted was revived in America by Hanna Barbera, naming the series, 'Further Adventures of Superted'. The new versions were more of an epic format which were split into two episodes and didn't really have much impact on the viewers, and so lasted justed one season.

New villains in the new episodes were added alongside the usual Texas Pete, Bulk and Skeleton. The theme song was also changed into more of a dramatic overture. In time the original seasons of Superted phased out and was then replaced by Fantastic Max, which i don't really remember!

Long live Superted! He will always be one of my favourite animated superheroes!

This is part of my collection of 'Classic Cartoons' hubs.

I have also published another hub in this series called:

'Classic Cartoons - Popeye The Sailor Man'