Sabrina: The Animated Series

Sabrina: The Animated Series
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Format	Animated series, Fantasy-comedy, Adventure, Science fiction, Horror fiction
Created by	Savage Steve Holland
Starring	Emily Hart; Nick Bakay; Melissa Joan Hart; Bill Switzer; Lalainia Lindbjerg ; Jason Michas ; David Sobolov; Chantal Strand; Cree Summer; Jay Brazeau
Opening theme	"She'll Bewitch Ya" by B*Witched
Country of origin	United States; Canada
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	65 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time	30 Minutes
Production company(s)	Archie Comics; Savage Studios; Hartbreak Films; DIC Entertainment; Buena Vista International
Distributor	Buena Vista Television (2000–2001); Tribune Entertainment (2004–2006) ; DHX Media
Broadcast
Original channel	ABC
Audio format	Dolby Surround
Original run	September 6, 1999 – February 27, 2000
Chronology
Followed by	Sabrina: Friends Forever (2002)

Sabrina: The Animated Series (title shown as Sabrina: The Animated Series in opening credits) is an American animated television series based on the Archie Comics character Sabrina.^[1] It was produced by Savage Studios Ltd. and Hartbreak Films in association with DIC Entertainment, which was owned by Disney at the time. The cartoon series is a spin-off of the popular live action series that ran on ABC (also owned by Disney). Later, a movie, Sabrina: Friends Forever, and a spin-off series, Sabrina's Secret Life, were produced by DiC, this time without the ownership of Disney.

Premise[edit | edit source]

Most episodes centered on the typical problems of middle school, along with those that stemmed from Sabrina's inexperience with or misuse of various magic, Witchcraft, and extremely powerful and complex spells. Sabrina and best friend Chloe would often use magic (often from the "Spooky Jar";a cookie jar containing a genie-like being;in the family's kitchen) for all sorts of perceived emergencies, ranging from trying to fit into skinny new clothes to turning Sabrina's guy friend Harvey into a superhero. By the end of each episode, her innate magical abilities would unintentionally backfire. Sabrina would learn that using magic usually is not the solution to her day-to-day problems.

Production[edit | edit source]

The series debuted in 1999. The Archie Comics star had already graced the Saturday morning airwaves in the 1970s (courtesy of Filmation), but the popularity of the live-action Sabrina, the Teenage Witch sitcom in the 1990s formed part of the basis for this spin-off series. Unlike previous versions, Sabrina in this series was depicted as a 12-year-old attending middle school. As in the original comic series, Sabrina lives with her two aunts, Hilda and Zelda Spellman, and Salem Saberhagen, Sabrina's loud-mouthed cat, all of whom advise Sabrina on the use of magic (thereby contradicting the live-action show's premise of not knowing about magic prior to her sixteenth birthday; thus this series is essentially a "retelling" of the story, similar in concept to The New Archies, a previous Archie Comics-based DiC production).

Savage Steve Holland (whose previous credits include producing Eek! The Cat) was the executive producer of Sabrina, the Animated Series. As such, the series reflected some of the irreverent style of humor seen on Eek! The Cat. Celebrity voice cameos in this series included Mr. T, Long John Baldry, and "Weird Al" Yankovic.

Melissa Joan Hart, who starred as Sabrina in the live-action sitcom, acted as producer of this series, but her younger sister Emily Hart (who played the recurring character Amanda on the sitcom) voiced Sabrina. Melissa instead voiced Sabrina's two aunts, Hilda and Zelda. Salem is voiced by Nick Bakay, who also voiced Salem in the live-action series. The theme song is sung by B*Witched.

The series ran on UPN and in syndication (on Disney's One Too weekday afternoon block) and on ABC (on Disney's One Saturday Morning block) for one season with 65 episodes produced. In October 2002, a made-for-television movie based on the series was produced for cable channel Nickelodeon. This was soon followed by a follow-up animated series, Sabrina's Secret Life. The original series at that time began airing on cable channels KidsCo, Disney Channel and Toon Disney, but recently has reverted once again to airing in syndication. During the 2006-2007 television season, the series returned as part of CBS's new KOL Secret Slumber Party on CBS and was briefly part of the KEWLopolis cartoon lineup. On September 19, 2009, the series returned to CBS as part of the Cookie Jar TV cartoon lineup. Reruns of the series were previously aired on the "This Is for Kids" block on the TV channel This until 2013.

In Germany, Sabrina's Secret Life is simply a third season of Sabrina, the Animated Series, both under the title Simsalabim Sabrina.^[2]^[3]

The show was dubbed into Welsh and aired on Welsh language channel S4C. The show is also featured on Kids Co in English and Turkish.

DVD releases[edit | edit source]

On August 28, 2001, Trimark Home Video, Lions Gate Films Home Entertainment and DIC Home Entertainment released "Sabrina's World", a DVD that contained 4 episodes of the series.

In 2007, NCircle Entertainment released two DVDs of the series, "Witch in Training" and "A Witchmas Carol".

On October 17, 2006, Shout! Factory released The Very Best of Sabrina: the Animated Series on DVD in Region 1. This 2-disc set features fourteen episodes from the series. This release has been discontinued and is out of print as Shout! Factory no longer has the distribution rights to the series.

On January 3, 2011, it was announced that Mill Creek Entertainment had acquired the rights to the series, under license from Cookie Jar Entertainment. They subsequently released Sabrina the Animated Series - Volume 1 (which contains the first 32 episodes of the series) and Sabrina the Animated Series - A Touch of Magic (a 10 episode best-of collection) on DVD in Region 1 on February 15, 2011.^[4]

In the Philippines, Viva Video and Cookie Jar Entertainment released Sabrina the Animated Series - Volume 1 (which contains the first 32 episodes of the series) and Sabrina the Animated Series - A Touch of Magic (a 10 episode best-of collection) on DVD for the Philippine market. Sabrina the Animated Series DVD collection episodes include: "Field Trippin'", "Picture Perfect", "Shrink To Fit", "The Importance of Being Norma", "This Is Your Nine Lives", "Witch Switch", "Boogie Shoes", "Boy Meets Bike" and "The Most Dangerous Witch".

DVD name	Ep#	Release date
Sabrina The Animated Series: Volume 1	32	February 15, 2011
Sabrina The Animated Series: Volume 2	33	2014

Video games[edit | edit source]

On August 17, 2000, Simon & Schuster Interactive's Knowledge Adventure and Havas Interactive officially announced the video game version of Sabrina The Animated Series: Zapped! for the Game Boy Color system. It was released on November 22, 2000,^[5] and followed by Sabrina The Animated Series: Magical Adventure for the Microsoft Windows and Macintosh computer systems, released in October 2000.^[6]

On September 4, 2001, it was announced that Simon & Schuster Interactive had acquired the rights to the series, under license from Archie Comics based on the video game license. They subsequently released Sabrina The Animated Series: Spooked! (which contains the first levels for Game Boy Color platform). It was released on November 6, 2001.^[7]

Game title	Platform	Developer	Publisher	Release date
Sabrina The Animated Series: Zapped!	Game Boy Color	WayForward Technologies	Knowledge Adventure (Havas Interactive), Simon & Schuster Interactive	November 22, 2000
Sabrina The Animated Series: Magical Adventure	Microsoft Windows, Macintosh	Funnybone Interactive	Knowledge Adventure (Havas Interactive), Simon & Schuster Interactive	October 2000 and December 2000
Sabrina The Animated Series: Spooked	Game Boy Color	WayForward Technologies	Simon & Schuster Interactive	November 6, 2001
Sabrina The Teenage Witch: Triple Pack	Microsoft Windows, Hybrid PC, Macintosh	Simon & Schuster Interactive	Simon & Schuster Interactive	February 27, 2004

Merchandise[edit | edit source]

An 11 inch Sabrina fashion doll was released by the company Bambola.^[8] Several other small plastic toys, including a few figurines and a Polly Pocket-esque Sabrina doll were sold in stores while the series was in production.

Comic book[edit | edit source]

While Sabrina, the Animated Series was airing, Archie Comics printed a comic spin-off for the show. The first issue was dated January 2000 (meaning it was on-sale in late 1999), and it lasted for 37 issues.
In order to tie the plot in with their Sabrina series, it was explained in the first issue that Repulsa the Goblin Gueen had sent Sabrina back in time to relive her pre-teen years, so that she would be out of the way while Repulsa attempted to conquer Enchantra's realm. In issue 38, the Repulsa plot was resolved, and the comic book returned to chronicling the teenage Sabrina in the next issue.

Characters[edit | edit source]

Sabrina Spellman

Sabrina is a half witch–half mortal that won't become magically empowered until she's sixteen, but she is able to borrow spells from her aunts Hilda and Zelda using a magical "Spooky Jar", which she often does. However, she usually finds that her meddling turns situations from bad to worse. Her friend Chloe is aware of Sabrina's magic but Harvey Kinkle, another friend and her romantic interest, isn't. She is secretly in love with Harvey and wants one day to marry him. When she casts a spell the magic produced is pink and yellow. She is voiced by Emily Hart.

Hilda Spellman and Zelda Spellman

While Hilda suggests they bend the rules a little and use magic to get ahead, Zelda is determined to say no right up until the moment she gives up. Hilda is more carefree and reckless than her cautious sister Zelda, and, although they do butt heads sometimes, they are still sisters. In this series and Sabrina's Secret Life, Hilda and Zelda both have the appearance of teenagers, as this was the punishment they received from Enchantra for "abusing magic" in the past. In the animated series, Zelda wears a red blouse and blue bell bottom pants in addition to a pair of blue glasses, and has long red hair. Whenever she casts a spell, the magic produced is always blue and yellow. Hilda wears a purple minidress and has olive skin, with brown hair that is shorter than Zelda's. When she casts a spell the magic produced is purple and yellow. They are both voiced by Melissa Joan Hart.

Salem Saberhagen

Salem knows the right buttons to push to talk Sabrina into just about anything, and he does it guiltlessly—until he's caught. Salem was once a powerful witch, but he was locked into a cat-form because he was constantly trying to take over the world. However, he makes up for his predicament with magical trinkets that help Sabrina in some situations. He is voiced by Nick Bakay, who also voiced Salem in the 1996 Sabrina, the Teenage Witch TV series.

Uncle Quigley

Uncle Quigley is an original character created for the animated series. He is Sabrina's maternal great-uncle, and the household's adult guardian. Because Uncle Quigley doesn't have any magic powers, one understands that Sabrina's mother is a mortal. He is voiced by Jay Brazeau.

Chloe Flan

Chloe is Sabrina's best friend. She's the only mortal besides Uncle Quigley who knows Sabrina's secret. She is voiced by Cree Summer.

Harvey Kinkle

Harvey has a cute and sweet personality. While he only admits to Sabrina that she is his "best pal," he likes her very much. However, Harvey is unaware Sabrina is a witch although often sees the results of the magic himself. He is voiced by Bill Switzer.

Gemini "Gem" Stone

Gemini is snobby, pampered and very prissy. Gem lives down the street and sees Sabrina as her main competition for Harvey's attention (whom Gem is interested in as well), though Harvey likes Sabrina more. Stone is this series' version of Libby Chessler from the live action series. She is voiced by Chantal Strand.

Spookie Jar

Spookie Jar is a Genie (or possibly a demon of some kind) who resides in a purple cookie jar in Sabrina's kitchen. Whenever Sabrina needs a special spell, she can get one from the Spookie Jar, but they rarely turn out the way she expects. Spookie Jar speaks entirely in rhymes. He is voiced by David Sobolov.

Perry "Pi" McDonald

Pi is Harvey's best friend. He is very smart and quite unusual in his own special way. His eyes are never seen because his pork pie hat obscures them. He has been described by Sabrina as "totally out of it and really smart at the same time." According to the episode "Upside Down Town", it is implied that he is of Chinese descent. He is voiced by Chantal Strand.

Tim the Witch Smeller

Tim is a witch hunter who appears in "Most Dangerous Witch", "Enchanted Vacation", and "Documagicary". He was previously bullied by witches as a child due to his lack of magical powers, except his immortality, even though his mother was a witch. For this reason, he viewed witches as evil and so he collects them as trophies for revenge along with his sidekick aardvark named Elton. Tim wears a hat with a witch pot on in and a ban sign over the pot. Both Tim and Elton are voiced by Bob Bergen.

Slugloafe the School Bully

Slugloafe is the fat bully who calls Harvey Kinkle by his last name. His real name is Boris. There have been times where he compliments Harvey. He is voiced by Jason Michas.

Enchantra

Enchantra is the queen of all witches and head of the Witches' Council. She resembles somewhat of a dominatrix with a tight-fitting red catsuit with a flowing cape and black, over-the-knee boots. She speaks in a thick British accent and has long black hair, tan skin and green eyes. When she casts spells, the magic produced is red and purple.

Gem's parents

Gem's parents are the richest people in town. They first appeared in “Witch Switch”; when Sabrina wishes herself to be rich they almost sent Sabrina to Cambridge when they found out she got a C in her report, but later changed their mind after Sabrina unwished herself as being rich. They also appeared in “Stone Broke” when they lost their money and moved into Sabrina's house until their dog struck oil.