Rubik, the Amazing Cube
| Rubik, the Amazing Cube | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Animation |
| Written by |
Tom Dagenais Janis Diamond Jack Enyart Gary Greenfield Mark Jones Gordon Kent Norman Maurer Richard Merwin |
| Directed by |
John Kimball Rudy Larriva Norm McCabe |
| Voices of |
Ron Palillo Michael Saucedo Jennifer Fajardo Michael Bell Ángela Moya |
| Theme music composer | Dean Elliott |
| Opening theme | Menudo |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 13 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
Joe Ruby Ken Spears |
| Producer(s) |
Mark Jones Steven Werner |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Ruby-Spears Enterprises |
| Release | |
| Original network | ABC |
| Picture format | 4:3 SDTV |
| Original release | September 10, 1983 – September 1, 1984 |
Rubik, the Amazing Cube is a 30-minute Saturday morning animated series based on the puzzle created by Ernő Rubik, produced by Ruby-Spears Enterprises and broadcast as part of The Pac-Man/Rubik, the Amazing Cube Hour block on ABC from September 10, 1983 to September 1, 1984. The program featured a magic Rubik’s Cube named Rubik who could fly through the air and had other special powers. Rubik could only come alive when the colored squares on his sides had been matched up.
Premise
Rubik had fallen out of the stagecoach of an evil magician, who became the main villain of the series. Rubik helped 3 siblings—Carlos, Lisa, and Reynaldo Rodriguez—in foiling the magician’s attempts to recover Rubik. Once, Rubik was recovered by a detective who was a relative of the magician, but then decided the children should keep Rubik as the magician would use him for evil and selfish purposes.
Outside of the evil magician, episodes usually dealt with more normal adversaries, such as when the eldest son had run afoul of a bully who had thwarted his efforts to gain a potential girlfriend, while at the same time the bully was making himself appear decent to the girl. Rubik worked in secret to expose the bully’s true brutal personality in front of the girl.
For dramatic purposes, the cube was easily fully scrambled (such as by being dropped or grabbed by the family dog) and usually solved quickly by the Rodriguez children, although in stressful circumstances it took them longer.
Cast
- Ron Palillo – Rubik
- Michael Bell – Reynaldo
- Angela Moya – Marla
- Jennifer Fajardo – Lisa
- Michael Saucedo – Carlos
Additional voices: Jack DeLeon, Alan Dinehart, Laurie Faso, Takayo Fischer, Bob Holt, Tress MacNeille, Tysun McMullan, Neil Ross, John Stephenson, Janet Waldo, Alan Young
Theme music
In keeping with the Hispanic flavor of the show, the theme song was done by Puerto Rican boy band Menudo.
Episodes
| No. | Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Rubik, the Amazing Cube" | September 10, 1983 |
| 2 | "Back Packin' Rubik" | September 17, 1983 |
| 3 | "Rubik and the Buried Treasure" | October 1, 1983 |
| 4 | "Rubik and the Lucky Helmet" | October 8, 1983 |
| 5 | "Rubik and the Mysterious Man" | October 15, 1983 |
| 6 | "Rubik and the Pooch Nappers" | October 22, 1983 |
| 7 | "Rubik and the Science Fair" | October 29, 1983 |
| 8 | "Rubik in Wonderland" | November 5, 1983 |
| 9 | "Honolulu Rubik" | September 24, 1983 |
| 10 | "Rubik's First Christmas" | November 19, 1983 |
| 11 | "Saturday Night Rubik" | November 26, 1983 |
| 12 | "Super Power Lisa" | December 3, 1983 |
| 13 | "The Travelin' Rubik" | December 10, 1983 |