Remember that one day when you could wake up without an alarm? When you would get your favorite bowl of cereal and sit between the hours of 8 and 12? This is a blog dedicated to the greatest time of our childhood: Saturday mornings. The television programs you watched, the memories attached to them, and maybe introducing you to something you didn't realize existed. Updated every weekend.
For the history of Sabrina, check out the post here.
Sabrina #38 where the series underwent a soft reboot to bring the teenage version back.
Sabrina: Secrets of a Teenage Witch
was the sixth series based on Archie
Comics’ teenage witch, and the first to be rendered in CGI with characters
designed by Trevor Wall.
Developed by the veteran writing team of Pamela Hickey and Dennys McCoy, Secrets took the majority of its
inspiration from the third ongoing series of Sabrina comics in the early 2000s after it changed formats from
adapting Sabrina: the Animated Seriesback to the classic teenaged version
with issue
#38.
Sabrina with Enchantra, Zandra, Londa and Veralupa.
Secrets focused on the life of
teenager Sabrina Spellman (Ashley Tisdale) who lived in the town of Greendale.
Because she was a half-witch, she spent half of her time in the Witch World
learning about her magic in witch school. To extend the day, Sabrina utilized
the Hourglass of Horus which slowed down time in the mortal realm to an hour
for every eight she spent in Witch World. Unlike other versions of Sabrina,
this one was prophesized to be a witch princess destined to rule Witch World.
As a result, her headmistress, Enchantra (Kathleen Barr), took whatever
underhanded steps were necessary to try and steal Sabrina’s powers in order to
become queen herself.
Sabrina with aunts Hilda and Zelda about to drive into her kitchen portal to Witch World.
Sabrina lived with her two witch aunts, Hilda (Tabitha St. Germain) and
Zelda (Erin Mathews). Although they kept their more human-like appearances from
the later Sabrina comics rather than
their initial traditional witch looks, they were given their original physical
attributes: Hilda was tall and slender while Zelda was short and chunky with
glasses. Unlike other versions of Sabrina, the Spellmans resided above a bakery
they owned and operated. Living with the Spellmans was a black cat named Salem
(Ian James Corlett, doing a Paul
Lynde impression). Salem was different from previous versions in that the
Spellmans didn’t know his origins as a wizard and that he served as a reluctant
spy for Enchantra, with designs to make Sabrina’s life in the mortal world as
miserable as possible.
Harvey at Greendale High.
Following the core Sabrina characters was Harvey Kinkle (Matthew
Erickson). Usually depicted as athletic and Sabrina’s main romantic interest,
Harvey instead was nerdy and just one of her very good friends. Harvey’s normal
attributes, and Sabrina’s interest, was switched over to the new character of
Jim (David Kaye). Sabrina’s mortal best friend was another new character,
Jessie (Mathews), who knew of Sabrina’s double life. Her chief rival was the
spoiled brat Amy (Maryke Hendrikse), who always tried to one-up Sabrina
whenever possible.
Shinji and Professor Geist.
Over in Witch World, Sabrina’s classmates consisted of her cousin Ambrose
(Andrew Francis), who had appeared previously in other shows but for the first
time was depicted as being relatively close to Sabrina’s age; Veralupa (St.
Germain), a half-werewolf half-witch who was Sabrina’s best friend in Witch
World; and twins Zanda (Barr) and Londa (Hendrikse). Shinji Yagami (James
Higuchi) was Enchantra’s son and often aided her in her schemes against
Sabrina. Shinji was a braggart who took every chance to show off his magic and
belittle his classmates, which usually ended up in some magical trouble. Their
primary teacher at witch school was Professor Geist (Corlett, using a Scottish
accent), a powerful witch whose lower half resembled that of a ghost.
“Dances with Werewolves” (10/12/13) – Magic escapes from Witch World
and turns Harvey into a werewolf.
“Scream It with Flowers!” (10/19/13) – Veralupa helps Sabrina round up
the roses she gave out on Valentine’s Day that have been cursed by Enchantra.
“Ice Giant for Tea” (10/26/13) – Sabrina has to juggle helping Jessie
with the school play and battling an ice giant with Ambrose at the same time.
“Shock Rock” (11/2/13) – Shinji puts together his own band to make
Sabrina’s task of finding one for a benefit in Greendale difficult.
“No Time” (11/9/13) – Sabrina accidentally loses her hourglass,
causing the human world to freeze in time.
“Faking Up is Hard to Do!” (11/16/13) – Enchantra forces Sabrina to
cancel her date with Jim to have a romantic dinner with Shinji.
“Hic! Hic! Boom!” (11/23/13) – Sabrina has to find a baby dragon
Shinji accidentally let loose in the human world before its mother destroys the
witch school.
“Best Friends Fighting” (11/30/13) – Enchantra hides fighting sprites
in Sabrina and Jessie’s bracelets, turning them into mortal enemies.
“Return of the Werewolf” (12/7/13) – Sabrina and Veralupa have to
wrangle Harvey who has transformed into a werewolf again.
“Creatures and Caves” (12/14/13) – Sabrina’s friends accidentally
enter a portal in the woods to Witch World.
“See No Sabrina, Hear No Sabrina!” (12/28/13) – Salem wants to turn
Jim invisible so Sabrina will pay attention to him, but casts the spell on her
instead.
“Hurry Scurry” (1/4/14) – Salem accidentally turns her teacher and
aunts into a chicken and mice, and Salem is hungry.
“Ultra-Stitious” (1/11/14) – Sabrina must make humans superstitious to
charge up their magical wands, but she does too good a job and opens a
dangerous vortex in Witch World.
“Sabrina the Troll Princess” (3/15/14) – When trolls convince an
amnesiac Sabrina she’s their princess, she leads them in an attack on the witch
school.
“Baby-Witching” (3/22/14) – Sabrina offers to babysit Jessie’s cousin,
but the task is made difficult by the super-strength spell Enchantra puts on
the kid.
“Night Pests” (3/29/14) – Sabrina discovers all her friends are
sharing the same nightmare with her.
“A Renewed Sense of Magic” (4/5/14) – Sabrina’s in charge when her
aunts are turned into teenagers.
“Super-Brina” (4/12/14) – Harvey believes Sabrina is a superhero when
he sees her use her powers.
“Home Sweet Home” (4/19/14) – Sabrina needs help from Witch World to
keep her home from being torn down.
“Now You See It…” (4/26/14) – Harvey finds Sabrina’s wand and uses it
for his magic act in the school talent show.
“No More Magic” (5/3/14) – Sabrina and Shinji must race to find a cure
for a magic-stealing illness before the trolls attack the witch school.
“What a Ride!” (5/10/14) – Sabrina makes deliveries for her aunts, and
Shinji ends up trapped inside her scooter.
“Who Let the Cat Out?” (5/17/14) – Salem escapes Enchantra’s employ by
running away and taking human form.
“Chariots of Fear” (5/24/14) – Hilda covers for Sabrina at school
while she and Shinji go on a dangerous journey.
“Careful What You Witch For!” (5/31/14) – Sabrina frees a genie who
not only grants her wishes, but the wishes of everyone in town.
“Spella!” (6/7/14) – Spella bans Sabrina and Enchantra from Witch
World and the two must work together to return and defeat her.
Strawberry Shortcake was a character designed for American Greetings by Muriel Fahrion in 1977.
The character was a bright and energetic six-year-old girl with a cat named
Custard who was always ready to help her friends, which were created by
Fahrion, Cindy Moyer Patton and Janet Jones. Each character in the series had a
fruit or dessert-themed name with clothing and a pet to match, as well as lived
in a pastry house in Strawberry Land. The story and personality of each
character was developed by line editor Lynn Edwards. In 1979, Strawberry and
her friends made their debut on a series of greeting
cards and posters
through American Greetings’ Those Characters From Cleveland division.
The original line of Strawberry Shortcake dolls.
When the character proved popular, Kenner licensed her
and released the first doll; a rag doll designed by Fahrion and created by her
sister, Susan Trentel. The doll’s signature feature was the fact that it
smelled like strawberries. Each
doll in the line would have its own scent representative of their name.
Strawberry Shortcake quickly became a hit with young girls, sending American
Greetings into full promotion of the line expanding beyond greeting cards and
posters into video games,
comic books and
more.
Starting in early 1980 and running through 1985, an annual half-hour
animated special featuring Strawberry and her friends was produced and released
on television in first-run syndication. Murakami-Wolf-Swenson
and Toei Doga animated the first and
third, Perpetual Motion
Pictures the second, and Nelvana the
final three. Russi Taylor
voiced Strawberry throughout all of them.
Like all fads, the Strawberry Shortcake one ran its course by 1985. In
1991, Toy Head-Quarters (better known as video game developer THQ) tried to revive it by updating five of
the dolls and releasing them. The dolls resembled the Kenner line and came
with two outfits: one from Strawberry Land, and a more realistic one to
symbolize the characters being able to cross over into the real world. The line
was only moderately successful and lasted just a single year. Another revival
came about in 2002 with Bandai assuming the
manufacturing rights to create new dolls and other merchandise. In 2003, a new
animated series was produced by DiC Entertainment
and 20th Century Fox
featuring the changes Bandai made to the line. Sarah Heinke assumed the
Strawberry role, and the show ran for four seasons.
Strawberry Shortcake's evolution.
In 2006, Strawberry changed hands as Playmates Toys picked up the licensing
rights to the franchise. They introduced a new character, Frosty Puff,
and shuffled around all the pets between the characters. That same year, DiC released
their fourth theatrical film, The Sweet Dreams Movie, which
brought the character into 3D computer animation with Heinke reprising her role.
Hasbro's Strawberry Shortcake with pilot DVD.
The Playmates toy line proved unsuccessful both with fans of the
franchise and the general public. American Greetings transferred the rights
over to Hasbro in 2009 and they began a
complete reboot of the franchise. All of the characters were reimagined and redesigned,
as was the world that surrounded them. To promote the new toys, Hasbro
authorized the production of Strawberry’s third animated incarnation by the MoonScoop Group to be
broadcast on their new network, The
Hub.
Princess Berrykin and two of her Berrykin subjects.
Other residents included the Berrykins;
even smaller people who had berry-like heads and came in a variety of colors.
The Berrykins were responsible for the creation and maintenance of Berry Bitty
City, with the exception of the city’s ruler Princess Berrykin (Libman using a
British accent). Notable Berrykins included Berrykin
Bloom (Paul Dobson), the
eldest Berrykin who enjoyed gardening and inventing; Berrykin
Ed (Scott McNeil) and Berrykin
Earl (Sam Vincent), two
maintenance Berrykins that often worked together; and Berrykin
Bruce (Vincent), who specialized in mechanism engineering and inventing
complex apparatuses. Other residents included Postmaster
Bumblebee (McNeil), a bumblebee who ran the post office; Mr.
Longface (Dobson), a caterpillar who ran the Berry Bitty Mini Golf Course; Jadeybug
(Nicole Oliver), a ladybug
who worked at the post office; and Doctor
Hazel Nutby (Oliver), a squirrel doctor who traveled between Berry Bitty
City and the neighboring Berry Big City.
Lemon's attempt at a new hairstyle goes a bit wrong.
The series largely followed the daily lives of Strawberry and her friends
as they, and the audience, learned important life lessons as they dealt with
the various problems or situations that would arise. One of the quirks of the
show was the use of “berry” as a replacement for “very” whenever characters
would speak. The series’ theme was composed by Chip Whitewood and Ashley Saunig,
while Whitewood and Marco Luciani
composed the series’ music.
Sweet and Sour Grapes.
As the series progressed, improvements in technology allowed animators to
update the designs of the show and introduce more fluid movements and
renderings. New characters were also introduced, including musician Cherry Jam
(Shannon Chan-Kent speaking, Victoria Duffield singing), Huckleberry Pie (Aidan
Drummond) who ran a pet adoption service, Strawberry’s adventurous cousin Apple
Dumplin’ (Rebecca Shoichet) and perennially arguing sisters Sweet (Libman) and
Sour (Diana Kaarina) Grapes.
Blueberry attempts to juggle the legalities of their franchise.
While the show was in production, Hasbro lost the manufacturing rights to
the franchise to The Bridge Direct (now Basic Fun!) in 2014. The Bridge
Direct continued on with the designs from the 2009 reboot for their own series of toys,
as well as resurrected the classic designs. American Greetings had previously
attempted to sell off the franchise back in 2008, with Cookie Jar
Entertainment, the successor to DiC, and MoonScoop competing against each
other for the property. American Greetings ultimately retained the rights until
putting the franchise up for sale once again, with Iconix Brand Group acquiring the rights
in 2015. As a result of these changes, after Berry Bitty Adventures reached four seasons and the 65 episodes
needed for syndication rights, the show came to an end on September 12, 2015.
Iconix announced in 2016 that it will oversee production of a new series with DHX
Media (now WildBrain), the successor
to Cookie Jar and production company behind several other Hasbro properties.
Strawberry on DVD.
20th Century Fox released a series
of DVD collections featuring several episodes put together, as well as two-packs
collecting the individual releases. No complete season sets have yet been made
available. In 2011, Ape Entertainment began publication of a Strawberry Shortcake comic based on Berry Bitty Adventures. The series ran for two volumes and were
direct adaptations of episodes. In 2016, IDW
Publishing picked up the publication rights and began an all-new series,
this time focusing on original adventures picking up from the show’s 4th
season. Each issue is typically
comprised of one long adventure and a shorter, unrelated back-up story. The
comics also introduced classic characters that hadn’t made it onto the show,
including villains The Purple Pie
Man and Raisin
Cane.
“Fish Out of Water” (10/10/10) – Orange Blossom ends up adopting a
tadpole that causes a lot of problems.
“A Stitch in Time” (10/12/10) – Plum Pudding secretly tries to help
Raspberry Torte decide how to stitch Strawberry Shortcake’s new dress.
“Vanishing Violets” (10/13/10) – Lemon Meringue suspects Berrykin
Bloom of stealing the flowers she grew for a festival.
“Babysitter Blues” (10/14/10) – After Baby Berrykin causes some
trouble, Strawberry offers to babysit him and discovers what a difficult task
it is.
“Hair Today Gone Tomorrow” (10/15/10) – Lemon’s new hair-styling
machine makes her feel like her job is in peril.
“Pop Goes the Garden” (10/18/10) – Blueberry’s daisy seeds turn out to
actually be for explosive corn stalks instead.
“The Berry Best You Can Bee” (10/19/10) – Strawberry offers to help
Postmaster Bumble-Bee deliver a special birthday package to Bitty Dale when a
bee gets sick.
“Strawberry’s House Pest” (10/20/10) – Strawberry struggles to be a
good hostess despite her lousy house guest.
“Berry Bitty World Record” (10/21/10) – Her friends try to help Orange
figure out how to win a holiday trip for Berrykin Bloom.
“Too Cool for Rules” (10/22/10) – Plum starts making up weird rules at
her dance studio.
“Berry Best BerryFest Princess” (10/25/10) – In Princess Berrykin’s
absence the town holds an election for a replacement.
“Strawberry’s Berry Big Parade” (10/26/10) – Strawberry asks her
friends to help her put on the BerryFest parade.
“The Berry Best Choice” (10/27/10) – Strawberry learns how to overcome
obstacles in order to make the BerryFest a success.
“Nothing to Fear but Berries Themselves” (10/28/10) – Orange makes her
friends believe a monster is after them when the power goes out in Lemon’s
salon.
“Where Oh Where Has My Blueberry Gone?” (10/29/10) – Blueberry gets so
engrossed in a series of mystery novels she forgets to live her life.
“Manners Meltdown” (11/1/10) – To avoid future embarrassment,
Blueberry reads up on manners and strictly enforces them during the Berry Derby
Party.
“Trading Sizes” (11/2/10) – Raspberry finds a way to make the
Berrykins her size.
“Different Waltz for Different Faults” (11/3/10) – Plum tries to win a
dance-off by having her friends imitate the style of a rival team.
“Happy First Frost” (11/4/10) – Blueberry’s First Frost Day gift seems
more suited for her than the recipient.
“A Circle of Friends” (11/5/10) – Raspberry believes her friends are
copying her lantern design for the GlimmerBerry Gathering.
“GlimmerBerry Ball” (11/8/10) – Plum finds the best location for the
ball, but two chipmunks keep causing trouble.
“Nice as Nails” (11/9/10) – Lemon develops a manicure that’s like a
miniature party, but the novelty quickly wears off.
“How You Play the Game” (11/10/10) – A new game in town quickly
overshadows the other town activities.
“Good Citizens Club” (11/11/10) – Plum would do anything to be part of
Sadiebug and Kadiebug’s new club.
“Team for Two” (11/12/10) – Lemon and Raspberry work together to
create a day care center for the baby Berrykins.
“Lost and Found” (11/15/10) – Strawberry’s friends help her look for
her missing pets.
Season 2:
“The Berry Big Harvest” (11/5/11) – Orange has to deal with massive
overstock at her store.
“Room at the Top” (11/12/11) – Strawberry’s friends help her add on a
new bedroom over her new produce marketplace.
“Starlight, Star Bright” (11/19/11) – Strawberry’s friends invite her
favorite singer, Cherry Jam, to town to perform at her marketplace’s grand
opening.
“Practice Makes Perfect” (11/26/11) – When Cherry holds a recital,
Plum gets stage fright.
“Top Talent” (12/3/11) – Lemon refuses any help from her friends in
trying to win the talent show.
“A Star is Fashioned” (12/10/11) – Raspberry considers a move to the
city in order to have access to the top fashion designers.
“No Blueberry is an Island” (1/28/12) – Blueberry overhears Strawberry
talking about a dream vacation and misinterprets it as her planning the trip
for all of them.
“Where the Berry Breeze Blows” (2/11/12) – Strawberry and friends head
out for a vacation, but the resort ends up cancelling on them.
“The Berry Best Vacation” (3/1/12) – The vacation is interrupted when
a reporter wants to interview Cherry.
“The Berry Long Winter” (3/8/12) – Winter runs longer than expected,
resulting in the town to wonder how to handle their supplies.
“The Big Freeze” (3/15/12) – Blueberry invents parasol-powered ice
skates that lands her her own musical commercial.
“On Ice” (3/22/12) – Strawberry helps Raspberry and Berrykin Bruce
come to a compromise over spring-themed events they want to hold at the same
place at the same time.
“On the Road” (3/29/12) – The girls train the Berrykins to do their
jobs so that they can enjoy a concert tour.
Season 3:
“A Boy and His Dogs” (2/23/13) – When Huckleberry Pie’s van breaks
down in town, the girls offer to babysit the puppies he has in tow.
“Partners in Crime” (2/23/13) – Blueberry invites Huckleberry to join
her in writing a mystery story for an online magazine.
“The Mystery of the Disappearing Dog Show” (3/2/13) – Plum attempts to
turn Strawberry’s dog show into an extravagant performance.
“Snowberry and the Seven Berrykins” (3/9/13) – Plum’s direction of a
play becomes too elaborate, turning it into a comical disaster.
“Berryella and Prince Charming” (3/16/13) – Huck is drafted to play
Prince Charming in a new play.
“The Littlest Berrykin” (3/23/13) – The girls’ imaginations take over
as Blueberry and Huckleberry narrate their new play.
“The Berry Big Relay Race” (3/30/13) – To pass the time waiting for
the sparkleberry juice system to be fixed, the girls decide to have a relay
race.
“The Berry Best Treasure” (4/6/13) – The girls go on a treasure hunt
for their missing puppies.
“The Berry Scary Fun Adventure” (4/13/13) – The girls become scared on
a camping trip and decide to protect their site with a series of traps.
“The Berry Lucky Day” (4/20/13) – Huck finds Cherry’s good luck charm
and Strawberry helps them realize where their luck really comes from.
“All Dogs Allowed” (4/27/13) – The girls try to figure out what’s
scaring their dogs away from the inaugural dog park tea party.
“A Basket of Blue Berries” (5/4/13) – Blueberry takes ill after
inviting Huck to the masquerade ball.
“The Berry Biggest, Berry Baddest Bakeoff” (5/11/13) – Competition
runs wild as the girls try to outdo each other in Berrykin Bloom’s bakeoff.
“Berry Bitty Adventurer” (6/27/15) – Strawberry’s cousin Apple Dumplin
comes for a visit, but it ends up being anything but quiet.
“High Tech Drama” (7/4/15) – Sweet and Sour Grapes’ latest argument is
caught on camera and broadcast across the net as part of Lemon and Raspberry’s
fashion podcast.
“A Berry Merry Birthday” (7/11/15) – The Grapes decide to separate
their birthday parties but soon end up missing each other.
“Tell Tale Trio” (7/18/15) – The festivities begin early as Orange,
Plum and Cherry make up tall-tales about why they were late to the campout.
“Berry Big Tale-Teller” (7/25/15) – Sour tries to get Sweet involved
in the tall tale of their adventure in the forest, but Sweet can’t keep up.
“The Berry Bitty Great Race” (8/1/15) – Unaware of the tall tale
tradition, Apple regales her friends with the story of a road rally she really
entered.
“The Berry Best Taste Test” (8/8/15) – Strawberry’s stuffed-up nose
leads her to bake a bad cake for the Queen of Berryvania, whose delivery Apple
must now try to stop.
“The Berry Best Biscuit” (8/15/15) – Sour and Apple are sentenced to
camp alone together for a weekend after they erupt into a prank war.
“Hot Sauce Cook Off” (8/22/15) – Sour and Apple deicide to help
Berrykin Bloom beat his brother in the hot sauce competition.
“The Berry Bitty Dance Disaster” (8/29/15) – Tired of being left out,
Apple invents dancing boots to help her dance like a pro—unfortunately, they
end up going out of control.
“The Doggie Dance No-Show” (9/5/15) – Apple uses her boots to teach
the dogs to dance in a show, and Huck tries to get the frightened Tom Tom to
join in.
“Dance Puppy Dance” (9/12/15) – Cherry can’t escape her new song and
it drives her nuts.
Film:
“Sky’s the Limit” (2009) – When the water supply is blocked by a giant
rock, the town must work together to find a new source before they’re forced to
evacuate forever.
