THE NEW ARCHIES
(NBC,
September 12-December 5, 1987)
DiC
Entertainment, Saban Entertainment
MAIN CAST:
Marvin Goldhar – Mr. Weatherbee
Colin Waterman – Eugene
Karen Burthwright – Amani
Linda Sorenson – Miss Grundy
Greg Swanson – Coach Kleats
Rex Hagon – Hot Dog
For the history of Archie, check out the post here.
![]() |
Archie Comics ad for the show, featuring Miss Grundy, Mr. Weatherbee, Amani, Reggie, Veronica, Archie, Moose, Jughead, Eugene, Betty, Hot Dog and Red. |
After being a constant
presence on Saturday mornings throughout most of the 70s, Archie Comics’ flagship franchise took
almost a decade-long break before returning to the airwaves. With the current
trend of babyfication (the reduction of the ages of established characters) thanks
to the runaway success of Muppet Babies, the latest Archie show sought
to follow suit by reducing its principle characters from high school aged down
to junior high resulting in the creation of The
New Archies co-produced by DiC Entertainment and
Saban Entertainment. This wasn’t
the first time the Archie crew was de-aged, though. In 1956, Archie began
publishing a series of comics called Little Archie, in
which the characters were all elementary school aged (and yet somehow still had
the same teachers).
![]() |
Reggie, disguised as Veronica, with bully Fangs. |
The New Archies was a product of its time, being firmly ingrained in
the 80s in the character designs by Jim Simon and Gary Payn. Archie (J. Michael
Roncetti) sported a mullet, the clothing was loud and colorful (Jughead, voiced
by Michael Fantini, wore a pink beanie, of all things), and their favorite
hangout was updated from the Chock’lit Shop to a Video Café where they could
eat and play arcade games. Veronica (Alyson Court) even spoke with a Valley
Girl accent, which was a departure from the southern accent all of her other
animated and radio counterparts featured. Little
Archie resident bully Fangs Fogarty even appeared on the series, marking
his animated debut. Also carried over from Little
Archie was the fact Archie had a dog, however his name was Red rather than
Spotty as it was in the comics.
![]() |
Eugene and Amani learning they like each other as they are. |
Two new characters were created specifically for the show: Eugene (Colin
Waterman) and Amani (Karen Burthwright), both Black characters designed to add
diversity to the show’s cast. Eugene was essentially a race-swapped version of
the comics’ resident genius Dilton Doiley,
effectively condensing his character with that of Chuck Clayton
(sans his artistic talents). Amani was just Chuck’s girlfriend Nancy Woods from the
comics with a new name, for inexplicable reasons. Both Eugene and Amani even became
a couple during the show like Chuck and Nancy.
![]() |
Comic book ad for NBC's 1987 Saturday morning. |
The New Archies debuted on NBC
on September 12, 1987, after having been showcased the night before on the preview
special Alf Loves a
Mystery. It was written by Pat Allee, Scott Anderson,
Eleanor Burian-Mohr, Jon Cohen, Herb Englehardt, Gary Greenfield, Jack Hanrahan, Ben Hurst, Dennis O’Flaherty and Kimmer Ringwald,
who also served as story editor and developed the show. Each episode was broken
up into two story segments. Along with producing, Haim Saban composed the music with Shuki Levy and it was animated by Toei Animation. The stories played
out relatively close to how they would in the comics, featuring slice of life adventures
around Riverdale. When not dealing with the ordinary, they would be drawn into
the world of the fantastic through Eugene’s inventions or encounters with
strange beings, like aliens. And, of course, a healthy dose of imagination and
daydreams.
![]() |
The New Archies #1. |
Unfortunately, The New Archies lacked
the staying power of the earlier animated efforts and only lasted a single
season of 13 episodes. The series did gain an extended life by airing reruns
from 1988-95 on Canada’s YTV, on The
Family Channel’s Saturday mornings from 1991-93, and on Toon Disney from 1998-2002.
Archie published a comic set in the world of the show between 1987 and 1990. It
ran for 22 issues.
In 1988, Archie began a secondary digest title that only lasted 14 issues, ending in
1991. Although these character designs were retired with the end of the show
and the comics, the various stories have been reprinted later on in various
Archie digest collections, digitally in Pep
Digital #54 in 2013, and in a collected
edition published in 2020. Three VHS
collections with an episode each were released by Golden Book Video. While
no plans to release the series to DVD have yet been announced, DHX Media, the current rights holders to
the DiC library, had the first five episodes released on one of their YouTube channels before their changeover to
WildBrain. The series was also made available to stream on Amazon
Prime Video with a CBS
All Access account.
EPISODE
GUIDE:
“The Visitor /
Ballot Box Blues” (9/12/87) – Eugene accidentally shoots down a UFO and the
gang tries to help him get home. / Betty and Veronica both run for class
president with Archie and Reggie as their campaign managers.
“The Last Laugh
/ Thief! (of Hearts)” (9/19/87) – When Reggie’s pranks get him in trouble with
Fangs, he has to set Fangs up with Veronica for the dance. / Clues lead the
gang to believe Mr. Weatherbee is a local jewel thief.
“I Got to Be
me, Or Is It You? / Sir Jughead Jones” (9/26/87) – Amani and Eugene have
crushes on each other and the gang helps change them to attract the other. /
When Jughead is due to inherit a fortune, Reggie and Veronica give him lessons
in snobbery.
“The Awful
Truth / Jughead Predicts” (10/3/87) – Eugene’s truth-telling machine works a
bit too well. / A clunk on the head enables Jughead to tell the future, which
causes trouble for Reggie.
“Future Shock /
Stealing the Show” (10/10/87) – After learning that the picnic queen and king
usually end up married, Archie imagines what his future would hold if he won. /
When Betty is cast as the lead in the school play, Veronica makes plans to take
the role for herself.
“Hamburger
Helpers / Goodbye Ms. Grundy” (10/17/87) – Jughead bets Veronica he could give
up burgers for a week in exchange for her buying all he can eat for a day. / Archie
overhears Ms. Grundy is considering going to another school and her students
try to change her mind.
Red to the
Rescue / Jughead the Jinx” (10/24/87) – A neighbor is determined to get Red
taken away for a series of disturbances, but first they have to find him and
her cat. / Jughead believes himself a jinx after smashing a mirror, and Reggie
is determined to make that true.
“Telegraph,
Telephone, Tell Reggie / Wooden it Be Loverly” (10/31/87) – Reggie plans to
spoil the gang’s party until he learns the party is for him. / The gang rallies
to save their tree house from Reggie’s uncle’s development, but their efforts
are sabotaged from the inside.
“I Was A 12
Year Old Werewolf / The Prince of Riverdale” (11/7/87) – Archie accidentally gets
some chemicals spilled on him that turns him into a wolf-boy. / Archie changes
places with a prince who looks like him.
“Loose Lips
Stops Slips / A Change of Minds” (11/14/87) – The kids all try to do a good
deed sufficient enough to win a miniature statue of the town’s founder. / Eugene’s
latest invention causes him and Moose to swap minds.
“Incredible
Shrinking Archie / Gunk for Gold” (11/21/87) – While trying to make perfume for
Veronica, Archie instead creates a formula that shrinks him and Jughead. /
Archie accidentally causes Eugene’s formula to become a substance that will
help the school win at soccer.
“Jughead’s
Millions / Making of Mr. Righteous” (11/28/87) – Jughead invests in a stock for
a school project and it ends up taking off. / Moose accidentally activates an
untested robot duplicate of Eugene and brings him to school, believing it to be
the real Eugene.
“Take My
Butler, Please / Hooray for Hollywood” (12/5/87) – Smithers becomes Archie’s
butler after Archie saves him from a runaway piano. / Tired of how everyone
perceives her, Betty decides to get a Hollywood makeover and a new personality.
Originally posted in 2015. Updated in 2020.
No comments:
Post a Comment