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= Superbook =
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Introduction
======================================================================
'Superbook', also known as , is an anime television series from the
early 1980s, initially produced at 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.
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 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 5 seasons. CBN is distributing the first, second and
third seasons for free on their Superbook Kid's Website.
Original
==========
The first series ('Anime Oyako Gekijo') began at the home of a young
boy named Christopher "Chris" Peepers (Sho Asuka in Japanese) who
discovers the ancient bible named Superbook (Time/Space Travel Book)
that book can speaks and sends him, his friend Joyeux "Joy" Quantum
(Azusa Yamato), and his clockwork toy figure namely Gizmo the Crusader
Robot (Zenmaijikake) back in time to the early events of the Old
Testament. Somehow, Gizmo transforms the toy into a real-life robot
that can walk and talk for the duration of the adventure, although 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, his poodle, has managed to get lost in
time, which prompted Gizmo and Christopher's little brother (rewritten
as his cousin in the English dub) named Uriah "Uri" Peepers (Yuu Asuka
in 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 prevent what happened a secret from Chris's parents. In
this series, Gizmo appeared as a fully fledged functioning robot in
the present day rather than as a toy in the second series but still
needed to be wound up regularly. Gizmo also has a built-in computer
keyboard and a monitor in his chest 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 unique 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 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), the 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.
Reboot
========
Set in the 23rd century AD, a boy named Chris, who always has
problems, travels with his friends Joy and Gizmo who travel with
Superbook to the Biblical times from the Old Testament and New
Testament.
Original series
=================
The main cast of the original series includes:
- Christopher "Chris" Quantum (Sho Asuka) - The main hero of the
series the son of Professor Quantum and the owner of Gizmo, Chris is a
lazy type of boy who doesn't like school and goes to sometimes
ridiculous extremes to get out of doing housework or homework.
- Joy Pepper (Azusa Yamato) - Christopher's next door neighbor and
best friend.
- Uriah "Uri" Peeper (Yuu Asuka) - Chris's cousin, the new owner of
Gizmo, and the son of Fred's younger brother inventor Kenneth "Ken"
Peepers.
- Professor Frederick "Fred" Peeper (Professor Asuka) - Christopher's
father. An eccentric and absent-minded scientist.
- Gizmo the Crusading Robot (Zenmaijikake) - The name of two
characters depending on the season. In Season one, he is an advanced
toy figure belonging to Chris that can become a real life robot. Then
in season two, Gizmo became a real life sized robot built by Uri's
father.
- Ruffles (Kikyomu) - Chris and Uri's small Yorkshire Terrier poodle.
- Superbook - An ancient Bible that can talk and has the powers to
send Chris, Joy, and Gizmo back to the Old Testament era.
New series
============
The main cast of the reboot series includes:
- Christopher "Chris" Quantum (voiced by Samuel Vincent) - an awesome
skateboarder, video gamer, and lead guitarist in a garage band. He
uncovers the secrets of Superbook and discovers through a mysterious
portal to the past.
- Joyeux "Joy" Pepper (voiced by Shannon Chan-Kent) - the next-door
neighbor and classmate of Chris Quantum. She is outgoing, smart,
athletic and usually a bit more adventurous than Chris.
- Gizmo (voiced by Cathy Weseluck) - created by Professor Quantum to
protect both Chris and Joy, but they end up protecting him instead. He
has the latest upgrades which makes him incredibly useful on the
adventures through time.
- Superbook (voiced by Colin Murdock) - the device that takes Chris,
Joy, and Gizmo through a portal to the biblical times where the
children encounter stories from the Old and New Testaments.
- Professor Crispin Quantum (voiced by Jan Rabson) - a brilliant
scientist and inventor. He, almost always is seen wearing a lab coat.
Father of Chris and inventor of the robot, Gizmo.
- Phoebe Quantum (voiced by Nicole Oliver) - she is the mother of
Chris who reads voraciously and enjoys a good comedy film.
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.
{{Episode table
|background = #5998F1
|overall = 1
|series = 1
|title = 15
|aux1 = 10
|aux1T = Scripture reference(s)
|director = 14
|writer = 12
|airdate = 5
|episodes =
}}
Series 2 (1983)
=================
{{Episode table
|background = #0D6176
|overall = 1
|series = 1
|title = 15
|aux1 = 10
|aux1T = Scripture reference(s)
|director = 14
|writer = 12
|airdate = 5
|episodes =
}}
Series 1 (2011–13)
====================
{{Episode
table|background=#042459|overall=1|series=1|title=28|aux1=20|aux1T=Scripture
reference(s)|director=27|writer=27|airdate=20|episodes=
}}
Series 2 (2013–14)
====================
{{Episode
table|background=#871414|overall=1|series=1|title=28|aux1=20|aux1T=Scripture
reference(s)|director=27|writer=27|airdate=20|episodes=
}}
Series 3 (2014–17)
====================
{{Episode
table|background=#FFD700|overall=1|series=1|title=28|aux1=20|aux1T=Scripture
reference(s)|director=27|writer=27|airdate=20|episodes=
}}
Series 4 (2017–19)
====================
{{Episode
table|background=#006400|overall=1|series=1|title=28|aux1=20|aux1T=Scripture
reference(s)|director=27|writer=27|airdate=20|episodes=
}}
Series 5 (2019–present)
=========================
{{Episode
table|background=#4B0082|overall=1|series=1|title=28|aux1=20|aux1T=Scripture
Reference(s)|director=27|writer=27|airdate=20|episodes=
}}
Explorer (DVD release)
========================
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
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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 of CBN's
Superbook DVD Club.
See also
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- Other Christian-themed Japanese animated series:
- * 'In the Beginning: The Bible Stories'
- * 'The Flying House'
- Christian-themed Western animated series:
- * 'The Greatest Adventure: Stories from the Bible'
External links
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- [http://www.cbn.com/kids/superbook The Original Superbook Anime
Official Website]
License
=========
All content on Gopherpedia comes from Wikipedia, and is licensed under CC-BY-SA
License URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Original Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superbook
.