Disney will never let you down when it comes to original animated programmes, you know. Disney introduced a novel idea to our screens in the 1980s with a cartoon programme that would fundamentally alter the story for the following generation. After months of anticipation, the “Adventures of the Gummi Bears” television series was finally released on a Saturday morning, and people could not stop talking about it.
After all, it was the first time that candy was the star of a television program. The tale of the idea that led to the creation of this series is also rather intriguing. So without further ado, let us watch the film and examine everything about The Adventures of the Gummi Bears, including the plot and the characters.
What was the show all about?
Walt Disney Television’s first animated production was Adventures of the Gummi Bears. It had a September 1985 NBC premiere and ran for four seasons. Later, following the conclusion of the fourth season, ABC took over the production of the show for the fifth season, which aired from 1989 to 1990. Finally, the Disney Afternoon television syndication package included the sixth and final season.
TV and film writer Jymn Magon, Art Vitello, and Disney CEO Michael Eisner were the creators of the series. The most commonplace thing inspired Michael Eisner to create the show. A brilliant idea for a cartoon series featuring gummy bear sweets suddenly appeared in his head after he one day became aware of his son’s infatuation with eating gummy bear candy. As a result, Saturday morning television viewing among kids in the 1980s quickly established a Saturday morning ritual. The story takes place in an universe where gummy bear candies are transformed into talking, walking bears.
The show consists of 65 episodes in total, however 30 of those are split into two halves that last 11 minutes each. The aggregate tally now stands at 95 episodes. The opening theme music, “Gummi Bears Theme,” written by Michael and Patty Silversher, embodies the series’ timeless charm. Joseph Stanley Williams, the lead vocalist for the rock group Toto, delivered the performance.
Exploring the first few episodes and the overall story arc
“A New Beginning” is the name of the first episode of the show, which Douglas Hutchinson wrote. Duke Sigmund Igthorn builds weaponry at the start of the narrative in an effort to depose King Gregor of the Dunwyn Kingdom. He intends to use his army of ogres to destroy the Dunwyn Castle in order to seize control of it. At the same moment, we come across two squires named Unwin and Cavin in the woods in front of the Castle.
They are on their horses carrying lunch for a bunch of yokel woodcutters. Unwin is a bit older than Cavin and tends to tease him quite often. On this particular occasion, he notices a chain that Cavin is wearing around his neck. He snatches it from him and realizes that it is a Gummi Bear medallion. Unwin considers it a child’s toy and ridicules Cavin for carrying it around even though Cavin is just an 11-year-old boy. But Cavin believes that there was a time when the Gummi Bears actually used to exist.
However, Unwin sees him as a fool for believing in them because everyone knows that the Gummi Bears are just fairy tales. Soon the boys meet the yokel woodcutters who are hard at work, and their supervisor Sir Tuxford is yawning away. In the court of King Gregor, he is the highest-ranking knight, and Cavin is his page. Cavin thinks that Sir Tuxford should be keeping an eye out for the ogres, but the Knight is too busy resting. As soon as he utters these words, some giant ogres attack them. While Cavin tries to fight them off, Sir Tuxford runs away on his horse like a coward.
As it turns out, these ogres attacked on orders given by Duke Sigmund Igthorn. The woodcutters were getting too close to the construction of his weapon, so he needed to scare them away. On the other hand, Cavin, while running away from a few ogres, ends up falling down the hill. At the Dunwyn Castle, we finally meet King Gregor and his daughter, Princess Calla. Sir Tuxford informs them that they have to look for Cavin because he has been taken away by the ogres in the woods.
Now, back in the forest, we are finally introduced to the stars of the show, the Gummi Bears. Cavin is lying unconscious, and six tiny-looking Gummi Bears surround him. One of them, who is known as Cubbi Gummi, sees a human up close for the first time. When he asks the oldest Gummi Bear, Zummi Gummi, if humans actually eat Gummi Bears or not, he is told that that is just a story. They are all wondering what to do with the human. Sunni Gummi, the young girl, suggests that they should help the boy, but Gruffi Gummi says that humans are nothing but trouble, so they should leave him as he is.
Just then, Cubbi Gummi, the youngest among them, notices the Gummi Medallion around Cavin’s neck. Zummi Gummi confirms that it is one of the Great Gummi Medallions. But since it belongs to their world, the real question is how the boy got his hands on it. As their discussion continues, Cavin wakes up in shock but is excited to see real life Gummi Bears. But they get scared and run away from him. Cavin chases after Cubbi Gummi, trying to reassure them that he means no harm.
Cubbi Gummi drinks something out of a tiny bottle and starts bouncing around. Just then an ogre attacks all of them, and together the gummi bears run inside the openings in three different tree trunks. Cavin also ends up falling inside it. They reach inside a house where one more Gummi Bear is present, known as Grammi Gummi. But everyone hides as soon as they realize that the young boy is also among them. Gruffi Gummi then quickly ties Cavin up with a rope.
Now, at Duke Igthorn’s lair, he is getting his garments prepared based on what a king would wear. He has been building a catapult and is finally ready for a test. When he launches a huge rock with the catapult, it fails since it falls on top of them. Clearly, he is still not ready to attack the Dunwyn Castle. Back at the house of the gummi bears, they start questioning Cavin about the gummi medallion. It turns out that when his grandfather was a boy, he found it in a ruined city way up in the Western Mountains and later gave it to Cavin.
When he asks them for something to drink, Tummi Gummi gets something in a glass, and after Cavin drinks it, a very strange thing suddenly happens. Cavin feels oddly strong and is able to break free from the ropes. This gives him the idea that he has what it takes to become the greatest knight ever and also stand out in front of Princess Calla. He is somehow able to lift tables and doors with just one hand. But soon, his strength vanishes, and the door falls on him. The Gummi Bears now think that they can trust Cavin.
Sunni Gummi tells him that what he drank was gummi berry juice. The Gummi Bears have been making it for centuries, and after drinking it, they are able to bounce, just like Cubbi Gummi did when Cavin was running after him in the woods. But it has a different effect on humans. It gives them super strength. Zummi Gummi then takes Cavin to the Great Book of Gummi. It has been locked for centuries, and no one knows what is written inside it. Zummi Gummi makes Cavin put his hand on the book and asks him to promise that he will never tell anyone about their existence, home, or gummi berry juice. When Cavin gives him his word, the book lights up, which signifies that he is not lying.
Sunni and Cubbi Gummi then take Cavin to the Quick tunnels. The ancient gummies built them so that they could go anywhere in the forest. It is like one of the fastest roller coaster rides but inside the trees and between the woods. When they pause and get out of their cart, they see Duke Igthorn with his catapult. He has now perfected it and the weapon is ready to attack the Dunwyn Castle. Cavin holds a meeting with all six gummi bears and asks them to help King Gregor.
He is disappointed when Zummi Gummi tells him that they can’t help because they do not have any magic or weapons. In fact, the secrets of the ancient gummies are lost as well. Despite that, Cavin is ready to try his best and is enraged to see that the gummi bears will just sit idly and let people get hurt. So, he throws his gummi medallion on the ground and storms off. Gruffi Gummi tells everyone they have nothing to feel ashamed of because he believes it has been the gummi tradition to stay out of the fights between humans.
Now suddenly, the gummi medallion that now hangs on Zummi Gummi’s neck begins to glow and point in a direction. It takes them to the Great Book of Gummi, where the medallion fits inside the lock and the book opens. The words inside it read, “I, the last of the Great Gummies, locked this book containing all our lore and magic. You, who read these pages, have unlocked your past. Now find your future. Help the good fight the wicked. Strive to make Gummies great once more.” When Zummi Gummi finishes reading it, the words vanish away from the book just as mysteriously as they had appeared.
With a rush of courage, the gummies agree to help Cavin one by one. Meanwhile, Cavin is at Duke Igthorn’s lair and is trying to cut off the wheels of the catapult with a saw. An ogre soon catches him and ties him to a piece of wood. Luckily the gummi bears arrive soon and decide to help Cavin by giving him the gummi berry juice. Zummi Gummi casts a newly found invisibility spell on Gruffi Gummi so that he can walk past the ogres without getting caught.
However, just when he is in the middle of a lot of ogres, the spell starts to fade away and he becomes visible again. He still manages to give Cavin the gummi berry juice, and by channeling all the extra strength in his body, Cavin throws two of the ogres far away in the sky. Now, at the Dunwyn Castle, Sir Tuxford is getting ready to fight along with some other knights of the kingdom. But they get stuck inside the castle because Igthorn threw a tar ball at the doors and now the soldiers are unable to lower the drawbridge.
Igthorn starts throwing giant rocks toward the castle, and the gummi bears prepare themselves for battle by drinking the magical gummi berry juice. They attack the army of ogres while Cavin tries to think of a way to stop the catapult. In the middle of this, Duke Igthorn spots him holding the bottle of gummi berry juice and throws the smallest ogre, known as Toadie, at him to steal it. Soon the bottle is in the hands of Igthorn, but he is unaware that his new and increased strength will wear off in a minute.
In the meantime, Cavin and the gummi bears manage to set the catapult loose. Igthorn holds a giant rock with his bare hands, ready to throw it at the castle, but in a second, his powers fade, and he gets crushed under the rock. When the catapult launches, even Igthorn gets thrown away with the rock. Now, the catapult is rolling downhill and is about to hit the castle while Cavin is still stuck on it. It breaks into a million pieces after the crash, and luckily Cavin emerges alive.
Hiding in the woods, the gummi bears cheer for the young page, and the Dunwyn Castle is safe for the time being. Later, at the house of the gummi bears, Zummi Gummi informs the others that the Great Book of Gummi will never be finished, and it is their duty to record every important deed done by a Gummi. The episode comes to an end as he writes “Today, we helped a young boy save his kingdom.”
In the next episode, titled “The Sinister Sculptor,” the gummi bears are about to face a new threat. It begins with Grammi and Griffin Gummi fighting over a piece of the puzzle. A man who calls himself the Great Davini is trying to catch a rodent out in the woods. After he secures it in his grip, he throws some kind of magic powder on it, and the rodent becomes still like a statue. Even the hair on its face does not move. The Great Davini had a cart full of such animals that he transformed into statues.
Now, he also laid out cage traps in the forest, and some new animals have finally been caught. Well, as it turns out, these are some of the gummi bears. Tummi, Zummi, Sunni, and Cubbi Gummi were picking berries in the forest; that is how they got trapped inside the cages. The Great Davini realizes that these are the gummi bears from the fairy tale legend. He tells them that he is such a great artist that he can immortalize them in stone. Sunni Gummi gets excited at the thought without realizing what is about to happen.
The Great Davini then sprays his magical powder from a pouch and the four gummi bears have now turned into statues. On the other hand, both Gruffi and Grammi Gummi are hiding in the bushes on opposite sides, unaware of the other’s presence at the scene. Both of them try their own ways to do something to save their friends but end up trapping each other instead of the Great Davini. Now, the con artist has reached the kingdom of Dunwyn to showcase and sell his captured animals as statues that he sculpted.
He shows Sir Tuxford a bird but he asks the sculptor for one whose wings are spread. So, the Great Davini takes that bird inside his vehicle, gets a stone tablet out of his bag, and utters some words that sound like a spell. In an instant, the bird comes back to life, and as soon as it spreads its wings, he sprays his magic powder and converts the bird into a statue once again. Perhaps with these powers, he should be invited to attend Hogwarts.
Anyway, Cavin, Princess Calla, and King Gregor soon arrive before the sculptor. He shows them the gummi bears and Princess Calla insists on buying them. Grammi and Gruffi then tell Cavin about what has happened and that reciting those words from the stone tablet will return the statues to normal. So, they devise a plan to save their friends. At night, Grammi and Gruffi climb through the vines to reach the sculptor’s room in order to retrieve the tablet.
Meanwhile, Cavin tries to create a diversion by bringing some late-night snacks to the sculptor’s room. But soon, Grammi and Gruffi get caught when they again start fighting over who should be holding the tablet. As a result, it breaks, but they manage to escape with all the broken pieces. The four gummi bears are in Princess Calla’s room. So, they quietly sneak in, adjust the tablet together, and Grammi Gummi recites the spell. Like magic, Zummi, Tummi, Sunni, and Cubbi are alive again.
However, the sculptor storms into the room just as the gummi bears escape. Princess Calla wakes up, and the Great Davini turns her into a statue. Clearly, Cavin’s troubles are not over yet. The Gummi Bears successfully set all the statues free and scare away the sculptor. They also destroy his magic power so that he can never make any more statues. Now, just when Grammi Gummi is about to destroy the stone tablet, Cavin catches it because he needs it to return Princess Calla to normal.
Gruffi and Grammi drink the gummi berry juice and bounce Cavin up through the Princess’ window. This seems like a classic fairy tale movie where the hero arrives through the window to save the damsel in distress. The episode comes to an end with the two sharing a sweet moment as Princess Calla tells Cavin she wishes the gummi bears were real, and Cavin tells her that they are real but in her imagination.
Exploring some of the memorable characters from the show
The actual place where all the gummies live is revealed to us much later in the series. It is a hollow tree known as Gummi Glen. The place has a lot of tunnels and rooms which the last remaining gummi bears inhabit. Now let us take a look at some of the most important characters in the Adventures of the Gummi Bears.
Zummi Gummi
The character of Zummi Gummi is voiced by Paul Winchell in seasons one through five and Jim Cummings in season six. He is the oldest gummi bear and is known as the keeper of gummi wisdom. He looks after the library and ensures that the history of the gummi bears is recorded and stored properly. He is also the keeper of the gummi medallion that he got from Cavin and handles the Great Book of Gummi. Soon, he becomes the magician of their team, and even though he often tends to forget his spells, he constantly tries his best to improve them. He is able to produce fire from a new spell he discovered. However, the one thing he is afraid of is heights.
Grammi Gummi
June Foray voices the character of Grammi Gummi. She is also one of the old gummi bears. But unlike Zummi, Grammi Gummi is more responsible and looks after their entire house. She cooks, cleans, and also makes the gummi berry juice all by herself. She has a very caring nature and was the first to show Cavin kindness when he was nothing but a stranger to the gummi bears. She often fights and argues with Gruffi Gummi, and it is clear that the two do not get along well. In fact, they are so competitive that they will end up quarreling with each other even when there is an enemy to defeat.
Gruffi Gummi
The character of Gruffi Gummi is voiced by Bill Scott in season 1 and Corey Burton in seasons two through six. When it comes to fixing things around the house, Gruffi is your man. He is excellent at building traps for the enemies and always ensures the safety of the other gummi bears before his own.
He likes being the one in charge of things. Perhaps that is why he has so many fights with Grammi Gummi. They both want to do things their own way, which is why they often end up messing up the task. He strategizes all of their battles and almost always comes up with the best plans. However, Gruffi is also stubborn most of the time as he prefers to do things the way they used to be done in the past.
Tummi Gummi
The character of Tummi Gummi is voiced by Lorenzo Music. Of all the gummi bears, Tummi appreciates food as nobody else does. Most of the time, that is all he thinks about. He usually does not think before doing something and ends up creating a mess when all he wants to do is help. Despite that, he is a useful character because of his easygoing nature. He listens to everyone and lends a helping hand wherever possible. He often accompanies Zummi Gummi with his tasks and pays attention to his elaborate explanations even though everything goes above his head. Eventually, we also discover his hidden talents such as being a sailor, craftsman and gardener.
Sunni Gummi
Katie Leigh voices the character of Sunni Gummi. From the beginning, it is evident that Sunni is quite adventurous and likes to explore things. When they met Cavin for the first time, she could only think about getting to know the human world, their culture and fashion. Her nature is full of curiosity and she wishes to become a princess someday, just like the sweet Princess Calla. She often roams around with Cubbi Gummi, and the two certainly share a close bond.
Cubbi Gummi
Noelle North voices the character of Cubbi Gummi. He is the youngest gummi bear in the squad. Cubbi is always thrilled whenever they have to defeat a new enemy because it means that he gets to practice his fighting skills. He has only one dream, and that is to become the greatest gummi knight in the entire gummi history. Since Cubbi is the youngest, he is always pampered by Grammi Gummi. Even though he gets distracted from things very quickly, he never disobeys his elders. Cubbi is also very fond of Cavin, his favorite human, and their pair is sure to remind you of Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin.
Now, let us take a look at some of the inhabitants of Dunwyn Castle.
Cavin
The character of Cavin has had multiple voice actors throughout the series. In season one, he is voiced by Christian Jacobs. Next, Brett Johnson provides the voice for season two, David Faustino in season three, Jason Marsden in seasons four and five, and Robert Jackson Williams in season six. Cavin is Sir Tuxford’s page and squire. He is also pursuing his dream of becoming a knight. At the young age of 11, Cavin has probably gone on more adventures than any of us because he is friends with the gummi bears. He shares a good relationship with all of them and is trusted by them. He promised them he would never tell anyone about their existence, so he even hides it from Princess Calla, whom he has a crush on.
Princess Calla
The character of Princess Calla is voiced by Noelle North, who also voices Cubbi Gummi. As the daughter of the ruler of the kingdom, she usually always gets what she wishes for. Despite that, she does not act like a spoilt child. In fact, she treats everyone with immense kindness. She does not always like to follow the rules that come with being a princess because she is free-spirited and wants to do everything she desires without any restrictions. Eventually, she too learns about the gummi bears and becomes friends with them. She has also trained herself to use weapons so that she does not have to look to someone else for protection.
Duke Sigmund Igthorn
Michael Rye voices the character of Duke Sigmund Igthorn. He is the main villain of the series, and there was a time when he used to be one of the greatest knights of Dunwyn. Now he constantly comes up with new plans to destroy the kingdom of Dunwyn.
This hatred began after he was banished from the castle for conspiring against King Gregor. So, when he found a place in the woods where the ogres live, known as castle Drekmore, Igthorn became their ruler. He does not pay the ogres for the work he makes them do and does not even feel bad about it. He is evil to his very core and wants nothing more than to take control of the Dunwyn Castle. When he finds out about the gummi bears and the effects of their gummi berry juice on humans, he tries to kidnap them in order to attain more power. However, Cavin and his gummi bear friends stop his attempts every single time.
Marvelous Verdict – The show was an example of Disney’s finest hour!
What the ’80s cartoons lacked in spectacular animation, they more than made up for in plot and characters, and The Adventures of the Gummi Bears is no exception. This is a cartoon show that includes everything from comedy and fun to some lessons for kids. It is an 80s favorite that the fans are not able to get enough of even now. From the very first episode, it grabs your attention and takes you to a different world from which you will not want to come back.
This is not just a story about some gummi bear candies. In fact, it creates an entire fictional world based on their culture and powers and even gives us a deep history of their existence and where they originated from. The series brings a whole new experience to our screens and gives us something to remember about the good old Saturday mornings. The magic of the series is not just in its adventures and brave characters but also in the opening theme song. It hooked the audience too quickly, which has never happened before with a show. Watching the adventures of the Gummi Bears is undoubtedly a lifetime experience.
Is there a reboot possibility?
The idea of a reboot of the adventures of the Gummi Bears was first introduced to us when another 80s classic cartoon show DuckTales got a reboot back in 2017. The show was initially released two years after the adventures of the Gummi Bears and received immense love from the same audience. By that time, the gummi bears had created a market for shows that included anthropomorphic characters, and well, as the old saying goes, the more, the merrier.
So, in DuckTales’ reboot, there is an entire episode that is dedicated to the adventures of the Gummi Bears and hints at the possibility of a reboot. This episode contains a lot of things from the gummi bear world that we saw in the original 1985 show, like pages from the Great Book of Gummi, as well as the gummi berry juice. Well, even though there is no solid proof about the reboot, we can at least hope for Disney to bring the nostalgia of this incredible cartoon show back to our screens.
Well, guys, that is all for today; we hope you enjoyed watching this video as much as we enjoyed making it for you. Have a fantastic day ahead!