September 17, 1983 - December 3, 1983
Rubik, the Amazing Cube is a 1983 half-hour 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 to December 10, 1983 and continued in reruns until September 1, 1984. The Rubik half hour was broadcast in reruns as a standalone series on ABC from May 4 to August 31, 1985.
The program features a magic Rubik's Cube named Rubik who can fly through the air and has other special powers. Rubik can only come alive when he is in a solved state. The voice of Rubik, Ron Palillo, told TV Guide in 1983 that for the role, he spoke very slowly and then technicians sped up the tapes and raised the pitch. Palillo said Rubik's giggle was very different from the trademark laugh of Horshack, his character on the TV series Welcome Back, Kotter, and that it was pretty "for an inanimate object".
Storyline[]
Rubik falls out of the stagecoach of an evil magician, who later becomes the main villain of the series. Rubik helps Carlos, Lisa, and Reynaldo Rodriguez in foiling the magician’s attempts to recover him. Once, Rubik was recovered by a detective who is a relative of the magician, but then decides the children should keep Rubik, fearing that the magician would use him for evil and selfish purposes.
Outside of the evil magician, episodes usually deal with more normal adversaries, such as when Reynaldo runs afoul of a bully who thwarts his efforts to gain a potential girlfriend, while at the same time the bully makes himself appear decent to the girl. Rubik works in secret to expose the bully’s true brutal personality in front of the girl.
For dramatic purposes, Rubik often gets easily fully scrambled (such as by being dropped or grabbed by the family dog, and sometimes scrambles himself) and usually solved quickly by the Rodriguez children, although in stressful circumstances it takes them longer. When scrambled, Rubik can only be heard making low-key gibberish and can sometimes be heard saying, "Help."
In keeping with the Hispanic flavor of the show, the theme song was sung by Puerto Rican boy band Menudo. Featured in the song were Johnny Lozada, Ricky Melendez, Charlie Masso, Ray Reyes and Roy Rossello.
TV Show Intro[]
Sound Effects Used[]
This 80s cartoon show uses Hanna-Barbera (heavily), Cartoon Trax Volume 1, Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends (Jay Ward), Sony Pictures, The Premiere Edition Volume 9, and The Edge Edition Volume 1 sound effects.
- Elektra Records, Mean Cat/Hollywoodedge, Angry Cat YowlingI CRT2031101/Hollywoodedge, Cat Howl Gnarly Meows PE916602/Valentino Mean Cat (First heard in "Rubik and the Buried Treasure".)
- Freesound, R09-79-Fall on Gravel.wav/Sound Ideas, FALL, BODY - BODY FALL ON FLOOR, HUMAN 01
- H-B CRASH, CARTOON - HEAVY METAL CAR CRASH WITH WOOD BREAK, AUTO
- H-B DRAG, CARTOON - CHAIN DRAG
- H-B FALL, CARTOON - SHORT FALLING THUD
- H-B RUSTLE, CLOTH - HEAVY CLOTH RUSTLE
- H-B SLIDE, CARTOON - ELECTRONIC SLIDE DOWN
- H-B SPLAT, CARTOON - PAINT FIGHT GLOP 11
- H-B SWITCH, LAMP - WALL LIGHT SWITCH CLICK
- Hollywoodedge, Boink Bork Flatulent PE941007/Cartoon Raspberries TE021503/H-B SPIT, CARTOON - FUNNY ZORK SPIT/Sound Ideas, BORK, CARTOON - LOUD ZORK
- Hollywoodedge, Single Classic Wolf CRT012501/Sound Ideas, COYOTE - LONG HOWL, ANIMAL
- R-B EXPLOSION - CANNON FIRING
- Sound Ideas, AUTO, SKID - AUTO APPROACH AND STOP WITH SQUEAL, TIRE
- Sound Ideas, BITE, CARTOON - BIG CHOMP/BIG CRUNCH
- Sound Ideas, BITE, CARTOON - BONE BITE
- Sound Ideas, BOING, CARTOON - HEAVY DOING
- Sound Ideas, BUBBLE, CARTOON - THICK GLOPPY BUBBLE/SCI FI - HERCULOIDS: GLEEP MOVE, SHORT
- Sound Ideas, CRASH, WOOD - LARGE WOOD CRUNCH 01/02
- Sound Ideas, CRICKET - TWO CRICKETS CHIRPING, ANIMAL, INSECT
- Sound Ideas, DOOR, WOOD - SKIP'S HANDLE OPEN
- Sound Ideas, ELECTRONIC - MOOG BYS
- Sound Ideas, FALL, BODY - HEAVY BODY FALL, HUMAN
- Sound Ideas, FIRE - ROARING BLAZE WITH CRACKLE
- Sound Ideas, HIT, CARTOON - BIG HEAD HIT
- Sound Ideas, HIT, CARTOON - SMASH AGAINST WALL
- Sound Ideas, HIT, CARTOON - SWING AND BIG HIT 01
- Sound Ideas, MAGIC - BABOO MAGIC 05
- Sound Ideas, MAGIC - GLISTEN
- Sound Ideas, Mouth Hit 01 - Scratchy, watery blort sound/Sound Ideas, SQUISH, CARTOON - SEVERAL SQUDGES
- Sound Ideas, POP, CARTOON - PAPER BAG BURST
- Sound Ideas, RAT - RAT SQUEAKS, ANIMAL, RODENT
- Sound Ideas, RICOCHET - CARTOON RICCO 01/ZIP, CARTOON - RICCO ZIP OUT 01
- Sound Ideas, RICOCHET - EXHAUST TUBE RICCO
- Sound Ideas, RICOCHET - TUBE ARRIVE 02/SCI FI - TUBE ARRIVE 02
- Sound Ideas, RICOCHET - TUBE ARRIVE 03/SCI FI - TUBE ARRIVE 04
- Sound Ideas, RICOCHET - WHOOF TUBE RICCO/Sound Ideas, SWOOSH, CARTOON - BIG SWOOSH 01
- Sound Ideas, ROCKSLIDE - HEAVY ROCKSLIDE
- Sound Ideas, SCI FI - QUICK ZAP
- Sound Ideas, SCI FI - TUBE ARRIVE 06
- Sound Ideas, SKI, CARTOON - SKIING STEADY
- Sound Ideas, SKID, CARTOON - HIGH BROKEN SKID, LONG/MEDIUM/SHORT
- Sound Ideas, SMASH, POTTERY - POTTERY CRASH 02
- Sound Ideas, SPLAT, CARTOON - PAINT FIGHT GLOP 05/SQUIRT, CARTOON - PAINT FIGHT SQUIRT 02
- Sound Ideas, SPLAT, CARTOON - PIE IN FACE SPLAT/Sound Ideas, SQUISH, CARTOON - SOFT SQUISH
- Sound Ideas, STRETCH, ROPE - STRETCHING ROPE CREAK, LONG/MEDIUM 01/MEDIUM 02/MEDIUM 03/SHORT 01/SHORT 02
- Sound Ideas, SWISH, CARTOON - FAST TWIRLING SWISH, LONG/MEDIUM/SHORT 01/SHORT 02
- Sound Ideas, SWOOSH, CARTOON - FAST AIR BY 01/02
- Sound Ideas, SWOOSH, CARTOON - LONG AIR BY/SCI FI - SPACEY SWOOSH BY, LONG
- Sound Ideas, THUD, CARTOON - DULL THUDS, MEDIUM SLOW, LONG, RUN
- Sound Ideas, ZIP, CARTOON - VOCAL SWISH ZIP OUT (First heard in "Packin' Rubik".)