Rupert is an animated children's television series based on the Mary Tourtel character Rupert Bear, which aired from 7 September 1991 to 19 June 1997 with 65 half-hour episodes produced.[1] The series is produced by Nelvana, in co-production with Ellipse Programme for the first three seasons, in association with YTV Canada, Inc. (seasons 1–3 and 5), and ITV franchisees TVS Television (season 1) and Scottish Television (seasons 2–5).

Synopsis

Rupert is a very intelligent and witty bear, and has many friends from every corner of the world. Although he lives in a small village called Nutwood, he enjoys traveling around the world, discovering new cultures, living great adventures, unraveling mysteries and unmasking villains. The visual style of the cartoon has many European and Nordic elements, with many castles, citadels and particular styles of dress, as well as myths like elves and the Loch Ness Monster. The landscapes of the Rupert Bear books, which inspired the series, were based on the regions of Snowdonia and Vale of Clwyd in the northern part of Wales.

Characters

Rupert's family

• Rupert Bear is a considerate, smart, resourceful, brave, trusty, good-spirited bear who is extremely popular with all the residents in Nutwood. On occasion, he breaks the fourth wall in addressing his observations and making comments to the viewer.

• Mr. Bear is Rupert's father. He is much more clumsy and forgetful compared to Rupert. He often smokes a pipe. It is revealed in the episode "Firebird" that both Mr. Bear and Podgy's father are part of the Nutwood Fire Brigade.

• Mrs. Bear is Rupert's mother. Like her son, she is wise and often offers advice to Rupert who later uses it during his adventures.

Recurring characters

• Bill Badger is Rupert's best friend, who, unlike Rupert, often presents a lot of flaws, such as cowardice, impatience, clumsiness, a quick temper, and a horrible singing voice. He has a baby brother named Toby, who is fond of Bill's singing voice.

• Podgy Pig is a jolly, yet greedy and not very bright pig with a large appetite. He is very friendly to others and appears not to see that his friends sometimes find him annoying. His appetite at times can lead him and his friends into trouble, but Rupert can look past this to go out of his way to help Podgy.

• Pong Ping is a Pekingese from China who owns an elevator that can travel underground all the way to China. He has a wealth of knowledge of his culture including dragons and various magical objects. He's also good at math.

• Tiger Lily is Rupert's female and Chinese friend. The only human student in school and the member of one of few human families in Nutwood. She and her family have a lot of knowledge on magical and mystical objects.

• Algy Pug is Rupert's friend, a pug who often overestimates his abilities and takes a lot of pride in himself. Despite his flaws, he is shown to be a good and helpful friend for Rupert and others.

• Edward Trunk is another friend of Rupert. An elephant, very kind, sensitive and strong. He is often seen helping his father who works in plumbing.

• Gregory Guinea Pig is a very kind guinea pig and another friend of Rupert. Sometimes he can be nervous and scared, but he meets the challenges head on when his friends need help.

• Ottoline Otter is Rupert's friend who is an otter of a Scottish descent who loves Shakespeare and lives in an old castle that belonged to her ancestors. The castle has many secret entrances hidden all over. Ottoline has vast knowledge of each entrances' location and will prefer to use them instead of the stairs.

• Freddy and Ferdy Fox are two mischievous twin foxes who spread mischief around the village of Nutwood.

• Constable Growler is a dog and local policeman who rides a bicycle. He constantly says he needs to do "everything by the book, you know" and is always turned to by Rupert and his friends whenever they need help catching a criminal.

• The Professor is a very friendly and eccentric human scientist who resides in an old castle tower in Nutwood, who invents many incredible devices during the series. Rupert often helps out with his experiments. Once the Professor starts an experiment, he never rests. He has the catchphrase, "Think of the possibilities, my boy(s)!" whenever he is explaining his experiments and all the benefits that can come from it to Rupert and his friends.

• The Sage of Um is a jolly wizard who comes from the island of Um and flies in an upside-down umbrella. He is a friend of Tiger Lily's father; the Conjurer.

• Odmedod is a talking friendly scarecrow that lives in Farmer Turbit's farm and a friend of Rupert.

• Reika is a Swiss human girl who lives in Lapland looking after the reindeer of Santa Claus and a friend of Rupert and Pong Ping.

Villains

• Billy Blizzard is an ambitious villain, who with the help of a magic whistle, plans to freeze the snow villagers of the North Pole as well as its ruler, King Frost and become the leader of the place.

• Sir Humphrey Pumphrey is a greedy, ruthless explorer who tries to find or plunder riches for his own selfish desires.