The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin (1985) TV Movie Review

 Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing pretty well. So last night was the monthly VHS Club Watch Party that Katie, Nat, and I do and we watched a double feature of mid-80s non-theatrical films. The first was the made for TV movie, The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin, which aired on the ABC Weekend Special on November 30th and December 7th 1985, then got released on VHS in 1986, and the second was the 1986 direct-to-video movie based on the My Pet Monster toyline. So today I'm going to review The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin and then tomorrow I'll come back and review My Pet Monster. Let's get into it.

The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin is the first VHS tape my parents ever rented for me when I was a little kid. I was 3 years old when they first rented it for me in 1990. I watched it endlessly. The first time we rented it they had gotten it from West Coast Video, and then everytime after that it was from Rogers Video. Eventually, Rogers discontinued the tape, and we ended up buying it and I watched it numerous times after that.

This was originally meant to be the pilot episode for a full live action/animatronic TV series, and it aired in two parts on ABC in the U.S. I don't actually know what channel it aired on here in Canada, if it even aired here in Canada. It may have only been direct-to-video here, I don't know. Regardless, I wasn't born yet when the special aired on ABC, so all of my memories of it come from the VHS.

The reason this pilot never went to series is because the animatronics would've been too expensive for a weekly or daily series, and the network didn't want to spend that much money. In the '80s ABC wasn't owned by Disney yet, and Disney didn't have any involvement with AlchemyII's work on the show (unlike with Welcome to Pooh Corner only a couple of years earlier). Basically the special cost $1.5 million dollars, which was a much higher cost than most TV specials on ABC at the time. Which is why for the The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin TV show that aired in 1987, they went with an animated series in first run syndication.

The voice cast for this special is pretty much everybody who voiced the various characters in the original Teddy Ruxpin book and tape stories that were produced to go with the toy. Phil Baron voiced Teddy, Will Ryan voiced Grubby, Tweeg, Prince Arin, Wooly, and Louie the Grunge (the Wizard's cameraman), Tony Pope voiced Gimmick, Katie Leigh voiced Princess Aruzia, and Russi Taylor voiced Leota.

The special is an adaptation of the first two book and tape stories, The Airship and The Missing Princess. Tweeg and L.B. weren't in the original book and tape stories, most likely because the Child Safety PSA at the end of The Missing Princess took up enough time that there wasn't time to include the two characters in the story, as a result they were removed from The Airship. At least that's the prevaling theory in the Teddy Ruxpin fandom, as it's never been talked about why Tweeg and L.B. weren't included in the first two book and tape stories even though they were part of the original story that Teddy Ruxpin creator, Ken Forsse, wrote for the book and tapes.

I love this special. It's not only nostalgic for me, but it actually holds up pretty well for something that's over 40 years old. The animatronic suits and model work are really good. For the time obviously. But it's all practical effects. Which is really cool.

Overall this is a very good special. Both Katie and Nat enjoyed it when we watched it last night, and of course, I love it because it's so comforting. You might appreciate it more if you have some history with Teddy Ruxpin, be it through the animated series or the original toy in the '80s, but I think it's enjoyable on its own.

That's gonna be it for me for today, but I'll be back tomorrow with my review of My Pet Monster. Until then have a great evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care.