Sunday, December 5, 2010

Teenage Toons: Sabrina, The Teenage Witch (1971)

After sharing a half-hour with her made-for-TV cousins, the Groovie Goolies, Sabrina was granted her own solo series in 1971, while the Goolies were given one of their own. Here's the open:



As was the case when she was on The Archie Show, Sabrina had to conceal her witchcraft from her friends, but, unfortunately, Reggie Mantle was determined to expose her secret, no matter what the cost, usually in the form of his own public embarrassment. Just as unfortunate, though, was the fact that Sabrina felt the sting of cancellation after one season on her own. Filmation would replace her the next season with the iconic Fat Albert & the Cosby Kids.

More than 25 years later, after she'd been revived first in a live-action sitcom starring Melissa Joan Hart, Sabrina was granted a new animated series, but this time, it was a prequel to the live-action show, in that Sabrina (voiced by Emily Hart, Melissa's sister) was now a pre-teen. A second series, Sabrina's Secret Life, was added. Both series were produced by DIC, now part of Cookie Jar Entertainment. We'll cover those later toons down the road.

While I didn't read the Archie comics all that much back in those days, I might have been one of the few boys that preferred Sabrina over Betty AND Veronica (although all three were voiced by the same actress, Jane Webb). Go figure. And there haven't been too many platinum blonde cartoon heroines since.......

Rating: B+.

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