Sport Billy was a 1979 animated television cartoon made by Filmation Associates, initially for broadcast in Germany. 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. [1] It was the last first-run series produced by Filmation Associates to air on NBC. Sport Billy was originally a European comic character and had already had presence in Europe and some parts of Latin America. As a European character, his main sport was soccer, and this was reflected in the intro sequence of the Filmation program. The series consisted of 26 episodes split into two seasons. It was also shown in the UK, Greece, Spain, Yugoslavia, Turkey and some other countries.
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Synopsis
The story revolves around a young boy named Sport Billy who is from the planet Olympus (a twin of our Earth which is on the other side of the Sun) which is populated by athletic god-like beings. Billy himself has a magic size-changing gym bag 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, Snipe. Vanda's mission is to destroy all sports in the galaxy since fairness disgusts her. Billy is assisted by two faithful companions, an Earth girl named Lilly (?) and a talking dog named Willy. The trio travel around in a time traveling spaceship, which resembles a giant wind-up clock, complete with a ringing bell, and mounted on two rocket engines. Each week the trio travel through time to save a different Earth sport from Queen Vanda's grasp. Sport Billy was voiced by Lane Scheimer, son of producer Lou Scheimer. Lilly and Queen Vanda was voiced by Joyce Bulifant and Willy was voiced by Frank Welker. (?) Lilly is from Earth? But she is on Olympus when Billy is chosen as champion, and is then chosen to work with him. Willy is her dog. Maybe you are thinking of Beth, a girl originally from Earth who competed on Olympus, and schemed with Vanda to frame Lilly for cheating. She later felt remorse for what she did, and teamed up with Billy, Lilly, and Willy to defeat Vanda. When the kids returned to Olympus, Beth told the truth about what happened. Lilly was reinstated as the winner of the games, and Beth was put in the custody of President Sportacus and Queen Panduca (rulers of Olympus) to learn the proper way to win at sports.
Episode List
Season 1
- Joust in Time
- Trouble in Tokyo
- Mexican Holiday
- Return to Olympus
- Chinese Puzzle
- Teamwork
- Bad Weather Blues
- A Voice in the Wilderness
- Wheel of Fortune
- Hyde and Seek
- Power of the Omnisac
- A Race in Space
- Trial by Fire
- The Great Texas Hole in One
- Arabian Knights and Days
- Mixed Doubles
Season 2
- Viking for a Day
- Monster from the Loch
- Mystery of the Russian Cave
- Rah! Rah! Billy!
- Peril in Peru
- Athenian Adventure
- Pure Luck
- Taj Mahal Mystery
- Australian Adventure
- A Tale of Two Billys
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 the series aired. These spots also taught the value of fair play and sportsmanship, but without the plot of the series. [2]
References
- ^ Lenburg, Jeff, Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons, Second Edition, 1999.
- ^ Michael Sporn Animation filmography http://www.michaelspornanimation.com/filmography.html
