Sport Billy
Sport Billy is a 1980 animated television cartoon made by Filmation Associates, initially for broadcast in Germany. The series was a single 26 episode saga that premiered in Germany and other parts of Europe from 1980 to 1981.[1] In 1982, Filmation carried the show over to the United States for syndication, and as a summer replacement in NBC's Saturday morning children's programming.[2] It was the last first-run series produced by Filmation Associates to air on NBC.
| Sport Billy | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Animation |
| Developed by | Arthur Nadel |
| Written by | Paul Aratow Paul Dini Dan DiStefano Barry Gaines Jack Hanrahan Martha Humphreys Coslough Johnson Ted Pedersen Tom Ruegger |
| Voices of | Lane Scheimer Frank Welker Joyce Bulifant Lou Scheimer Jay Scheimer |
| Country of origin | International |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 26 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 min. |
| Production company(s) | Filmation Associates Sport Billy Limited |
| Release | |
| Original release | September 16, 1980 – November 16, 1981 |
Overview
Sport Billy was originally a European comic character and it already had a presence in Europe and parts of Latin America. Sport Billy Productions, owners of the Sport Billy franchise, licensed the property to the American studio Filmation so it could create a cartoon based on the character. As a European character, Sport Billy's main sport was soccer, and this was reflected in the introductory sequence of the Filmation program.
Sport Billy was adopted by FIFA as the Fair Play Mascot for FIFA World Cups, and a trophy of the character was presented to the most sporting team at each World Cup. The character was internationally used as a mascot in many sporting youth programs, for the purpose of promoting sportsmanship and fair play .
The series consisted of 26 episodes. It was also shown in the UK, France, Gibraltar, Italy, Yugoslavia, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Greece, Cyprus, Spain, Turkey, Peru, Mexico, Portugal, Romania and some other countries. Sport Billy was voiced by Lane Scheimer, the son of producer Lou Scheimer, who voiced the Master Sports Computer and Queen Vanda's Computer. Lilly and Queen Vanda were voiced by Joyce Bulifant, Willy, Sporticus XI and Sipe were voiced by Frank Welker, and Queen Pandusa was voiced by Jay Scheimer.
Synopsis
The story revolves around a young boy named Sport Billy who is from the planet Olympus (a twin of Earth on the opposite side of the Sun) which is populated by athletic god-like beings. Billy himself has a magic size-changing gym bag - the Omni-Sack - which produces various tools as he needs them. He travels to Earth on a mission to promote teamwork and sportsmanship. Described by the show's theme song as a "hero from another planet", Billy battles the evil Queen Vanda and her gnome-like henchman, Sipe. Vanda's mission is to destroy all sports in the galaxy since fairness disgusts her.
Billy is assisted by two faithful companions, a girl named Lilly and a talking dog named Willy. The trio travels around in a time traveling spaceship, which is mounted on two rocket engines and resembles a giant wind-up clock, complete with a ringing bell. In each episode the trio travels through time in order to save a different Earth sport from Queen Vanda's grasp.
Episode list
| Nº | Title | Original air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Joust in Time" | 6 July 1982 |
| 2 | "Trouble in Tokyo" | 7 July 1982 |
| 3 | "Mexican Holiday" | 8 July 1982 |
| 4 | "Return to Olympus" | 9 July 1982 |
| 5 | "Chinese Puzzle" | 12 July 1982 |
| 6 | "Teamwork" | 13 July 1982 |
| 7 | "Bad Weather Blues" | 14 July 1982 |
| 8 | "A Voice in the Wilderness" | 15 July 1982 |
| 9 | "Wheel of Fortune" | 16 July 1982 |
| 10 | "Hyde and Seek" | 19 July 1982 |
| 11 | "Power of the Omnisac" | 20 July 1982 |
| 12 | "A Race in Space" | 21 July 1982 |
| 13 | "Trial by Fire" | 22 July 1982 |
| 14 | "The Great Texas Hole in One" | 23 July 1982 |
| 15 | "Arabian Knights and Days" | 26 July 1982 |
| 16 | "Mixed Doubles" | 27 July 1982 |
| 17 | "Viking for a Day" | 28 July 1982 |
| 18 | "Monster from the Loch" | 29 July 1982 |
| 19 | "Mystery of the Russian Cave" | 30 July 1982 |
| 20 | "Rah! Rah! Billy!" | 31 July 1982 |
| 21 | "Peril in Peru" | 7 August 1982 |
| 22 | "Athenian Adventure" | 14 August 1982 |
| 23 | "Pure Luck" | 21 August 1982 |
| 24 | "Taj Mahal Mystery" | 28 August 1982 |
| 25 | "Australian Adventure" | 4 September 1982 |
| 26 | "A Tale of Two Billys" | 11 September 1982 |
Public service announcements
In addition to this series, there were also ten 30-second public service announcements produced by Michael Sporn Animation for syndicated TV during the general period when the series aired. These spots also taught the value of fair play and sportsmanship, but without the plot of the series. [3]
References
- Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. p. 786. ISBN 978-1476665993.
- Lenburg, Jeff, Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons, Second Edition, 1999.
- Michael Sporn Animation filmography http://www.michaelspornanimation.com/filmography.html
External links
- Sport Billy at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on February 15, 2016.
- Sport Billy at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- Sport Billy on IMDb