14 interesting facts about the cult animated series of our childhood “The Adventures of the Gummi Bears” (11 photos + 1 video)

As a child, I simply adored the animated series “The Adventures of the Gummi Bears,” and I wasn’t the only one. I was looking forward to the next Sunday to watch the new episode of this cult animated series.





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1. The idea for the cartoon “The Adventures of the Gummi Bears” was born in the head of Disney chairman Michael Eisner thanks to colorful gummy bears from the famous German confectionery company “Haribo”.



One day his son asked to buy his pack of Gummibarchen gummy bears (literally translated as “Rubber Bears”). Arriving home, Michael opened the package and began to peer thoughtfully at this funny delicacy. After this, he had the idea to create an animated series about heroic fairy-tale bears. Actually, the heroes were named after this marmalade.

2. The animated series about Gummi Bears has become a very large-scale project. As many as 32 people worked on the script alone.

3. In total, the animated series has 65 episodes, since this was the minimum requirement for showing the series on television. In our country, only 52 episodes were shown to young viewers, so in the 90s we never found out how the animated series ended, but it has a completely logical ending.





Only in 2010, all episodes of this animated series were shown on the STS TV channel.

4. It’s unlikely that you heard the name of Duke Ikthorn in the animated series, or you simply forgot it. But if you're wondering, his name is Sigmund.



5. In our voice acting, the bears are called Grumpy, Sorcerer, Sunny, Grandma, Fatty and Baby. In the original, their names sound like Gruffi, Zummi, Sunny, Grammy, Tummi and Cubby.

Although, these names are more like nicknames. It is unlikely that anyone in their right mind could call their daughter Grandmother or their son Sorcerer.



Also, the cartoon does not say whether the bears are related, and if so, how close. It would be logical if Grandma was Baby’s grandmother, but apparently that’s her name. Moreover, the Sorcerer has known Grandma since childhood, but he still calls her that.

6. The huge minions of Duke Ikthorn are called goblins in the localization, although in the original they are ogres. The localizers decided that viewers know perfectly well who goblins are, but do not know who ogres are, so they decided to translate them that way.



Well, in principle, they are right, since I first watched the animated series in the early 90s, when it was broadcast on RTR, and I first heard about ogres only in the mid-90s, when I played the game "Warcraft 2".

7. Duke Ikthorn has a twin brother. They differ from each other only in hairstyle, hair color, the presence of a mustache and, of course, character. Sir Victor Ikthorne (brother of the Duke) is a hero, a white knight and a loyal subject of the king, while his brother wants to take over the kingdom. And yes, he is ashamed of his brother, so he tries to hide this fact from everyone.



In one of the episodes, Ikthorn decides to take advantage of this similarity for his own insidious purposes.

8. We became acquainted with Disney animated series thanks to such hits as “DuckTales” and “Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers,” since these were the first Disney animated series that were broadcast in our country (then the USSR).

But in fact, the very first animated series of the Walt Disney Television Animation division was the project “The Adventures of the Gummi Bears,” released back in 1985.



And by the way, the Sunday block “The Magical World of Disney,” which we all enjoyed watching, was accompanied by music from the intro of the animated series about the Gummi Bears.

9. The creators of the animated series deliberately gave each member of the Gummi family their own unique character traits. Firstly, it is much more interesting to look at diverse bears, and secondly, young viewers could recognize themselves in one of these characters.

10. If at the beginning there are only six main characters, then by the end of the series the number of Gummi Bears increases to 12, including Gusto, Sir Thornbury, Ursa, Gritty and Buddy. And I'm not even talking about other residents of Ursalia.



At the end of the final episode, the bears travel to the legendary Ursalia, leaving the kingdom of Dunwyn forever.

11. Even though Duke Ikthorn is a villain, he is a very cunning and intelligent character. Moreover, in fact, he is almost the strongest person in this series. He is capable of defeating any knight in the kingdom in a one-on-one fight. Except that King Gregor is still cooler than him.



Also, despite Ikthorn’s cunning and cunning, the concept of honor is not alien to him. In one of the episodes, Ikthorn, who had lost his castle, turned to the Gummi Bears for help to help him regain his castle. For this, he will not destroy the bushes with Gummi berries. When the bears helped him, he kept his word.

12. Most episodes of the animated series "The Adventures of the Gummi Bears" are short and divided into two episodes.

13. In the episode "The Villain Sculptor" (Season 1, Episode 1, Episode 2) there is a reference to Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse. In the story, a certain sculptor turns living creatures into statues and then sells them as his sculptures. When he opens his vault, we can see the outlines of Donald and Mickey.



14. Despite the popularity of the cartoon and the universal love of the audience, not a single game based on “Gummi Bears” was released in the 90s (not counting pirated ones), unlike other Disney animated series, such as “DuckTales”, “Miracles on the Bends” , "Blackcoat", "Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers" and even "Nuts".