8.7 /10 2 Votes
7.7/10 TV Directed by Masakazu Higuchi First episode date 1981 | 7.1/10 IMDb Genre Christianity Written by Akiyoshi Sakai | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Studio Tatsunoko Productions, Production LOOSE Original run October 1, 1981 – March 25, 1982 Characters Azusa Yamato, Sho Asuka, Yuu Asuka Cast Billie Lou Watt, Sonia Owens, Ray Owens, Hal Studer, Peter Fernandez Similar Cosmic Quantum Ray, Littlest Pet Shop (2012 TV series), The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1980 TV series) Profiles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Superbook, also known as Animated Parent and Child Theatre (アニメ 親子劇場, anime Oyako Gekijō), is an anime television series from the early 1980s, initially produced by Tatsunoko Productions in Japan in conjunction with the Christian Broadcasting Network in the United States and more recently solely produced by CBN for global distribution and broadcast.
Contents
- Superbook season 1 opening
- Plot
- Main characters
- Bible characters
- Series 1 198182
- Superbook Explorer 2016
- VHSDVD releases
- References
The series chronicled the events of the Bible's Old and New Testaments in its 52 episode run. The first 26 episodes aired from October 1, 1981 to March 25, 1982. The series returned as Superbook II (パソコントラベル探偵団, Pasokon Toraberu Tanteidan, lit. Personal Computer Travel Detective Team) with 26 episodes to air from April 4, 1983 to September 26, 1983. Between both series in the first run was the companion series The Flying House. The Christian Broadcasting Network is producing a new Superbook series and has released 3 seasons. CBN is distributing the first season for free on their Superbook Kid's Website.
Superbook season 1 opening
Plot
The first series (Anime Oyako Gekijo) began at the home of a young boy named Christopher Peeper (Sho Azuka in Japanese) who discovers the Bible "Superbook" (Time/Space Travel Book) that speaks and sends him, his friend Joy (Azusa Yamato), and his clockwork toy robot Gizmo (Zenmaijikake) back in time to the early events of the Old Testament. Gizmo can walk and talk, but only for the duration of the adventure (and he still needs to be wound up regularly).
In the first episode, Chris and Joy were cleaning the attic for Chris's father (a somewhat eccentric college professor) when they noticed an old book glowing. The children tried to open the book, but were unable to open it, no matter how hard they pulled. The book promptly opened on its own, shining a blinding light around Chris's bedroom, and started to speak before whisking the children and Gizmo back in time to the Garden of Eden to experience the story of Adam and Eve.
In Superbook II (Pasokon Travel Tanteidan), which took place two years after the first series, the book fell onto a computer keyboard, giving anybody the ability to see into the past from Christopher's home via the monitor. Ruffles, Chris' dog, managed to get lost in time, prompting Gizmo and Chris' brother (rewritten as his cousin in the English dub) Uriah (or "Uri" for short; Yuu in the original Japanese) to search for her. Chris and Joy kept watch and control of the computer from the present. The older children also had a hard time trying to keep what happened a secret from Chris's parents. Gizmo appeared as a functioning robot in the present day rather than as a toy in the second series, but still needed to be wound up on a regular basis. Gizmo also had a built in computer keyboard and a monitor in his chest in order for Gizmo and Uri to stay in contact with Chris and Joy in the present day as well as transporting to other places in time or returning to the present.
The first series of Superbook featured stories chiefly from the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament), although a few episodes dealt with the life and ministry of Jesus Christ and the final episode was about the conversion of Paul of Tarsus. The episodes in the first series are chiefly one-shot stories, with no overarching "plot" aside from Chris and Joy learning life lessons from their travels in the Superbook. However, some condensation or editing of stories was necessary in order to fit them into half-hour episodes and make them suitable for young viewers. Also, some additional edits were necessary for the English versions to make the episodes conform to American broadcast standards.
The episodes in Season Two focused solely on Old Testament stories. Season Two covered some stories featured in Season One (for example, the stories of Abraham, Joseph and King David) in more detail, while also covering some stories not included in the first series (i.e. the fall of Sodom and Gomorrah). In Season Two, the overarching plot concern was Uri and Gizmo's quest to find the missing Ruffles. Likewise, The Flying House, which originally aired in Japan between the two Superbook series, was a more in-depth look at the life of Jesus and other events from the Christian Scriptures (New Testament). Additionally, unlike season 1 (and by extension the aforementioned Flying House series), interaction between the modern day characters and the Biblical characters in season 2 is minimal; each episode is mostly a straightforward adaptation of the Biblical stories shown, occurring while Uri and Gizmo are searching for Ruffles.
Main characters
The main cast of the original series includes:
New series
Bible characters
Series 1 (1981–82)
NOTE: The official English dub episode title is listed first, followed by a translation of the Japanese title, Japanese titles in Romaji, and, if necessary, a note about the characters and/or events portrayed in the episode.
Superbook Explorer (2016)
In 2016, Superbook began releasing DVDs which contained two previously released episodes per DVD. There are also special features on each DVD, such as how to draw a character in the Superbook artwork style, music videos, and/or informational videos explaining where the events of the stories may have taken place or how they relate to Jesus Christ.
VHS/DVD releases
Superbook Series I and Series II were released on various VHS volumes by Tyndale Entertainment. The entire series was available over 26 VHS Volumes. Superbook was released for the first time on DVD late 2005 to early 2006. The three DVD volumes features 4 episodes each from Series I.
Episode 6 of the new 3D animated Superbook series was the first to be released on DVD in 2009. Episode 1 of the new Superbook series was released in November 2010 on DVD.. New Superbook episodes are released as part of CBN's Superbook DVD Club.