''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 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 Ronald Gabriel Palillo (April 2, 1949 – August 14, 2012) was an American actor and teacher. He was best known for his role as the endearingly dim-witted character Arnold Horshack on the ABC sitcom ''Welcome Back, Kotter'' (1975–1979). Ear ...

, told ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corpora ...

'' 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 ''Welcome Back, Kotter'' is an American sitcom starring Gabe Kaplan as a high-school teacher in charge of a racially and ethnically diverse remedial education class called the "Sweathogs." Recorded in front of a live studio audience, the seri ...

'', and that it was pretty "for an inanimate object".

Premise

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.Super Saturday: ‘Rubik The Amazing Cube’ (1983)
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Cast

as Rubik * Michael Bell as Reynaldo Rodriguez * Jennifer Fajardo as Lisa Rodriguez * Michael Saucedo as Carlos Rodriguez * Angela Moya as Marla Additional voices: Jack DeLeon, Alan Dinehart, Laurie Faso,

Takayo Fischer Takayo Fischer (née Tsubouchi; born November 25, 1932) is an American stage, film and television actress, as well as voice actor, voice-over actress. Personal life Fischer was born in Hardwick, California, the youngest of four daughters of ''Iss ...

, Bob Holt,

Tress MacNeille Teressa Claire MacNeille (née Payne; born June 20, 1951) is an American voice actress, whose credits include voicing Dot Warner on the animated television series '' Animaniacs'', Babs Bunny on ''Tiny Toon Adventures'', Chip and Gadget Hackwrenc ...

, Tysun McMullan,

Neil Ross Neil David Ross is a British-American voice actor and announcer. Noted for his Trans-Atlantic accent, he has provided voices in many American cartoons, most notably ''Voltron'', '' G.I. Joe'', and ''Transformers'', as well as video games, incl ...

, John Stephenson,

Janet Waldo Janet Waldo (born Jeanette Marie Waldo; February 4, 1919 – June 12, 2016) was an American radio and voice actress. In animation, she voiced Judy Jetson in various Hanna-Barbera media, Nancy in ''Shazzan'', Penelope Pitstop, Princess from '' B ...

Alan Young Alan Young (born Angus Young; November 19, 1919 – May 19, 2016) was a British, Canadian and American actor, comedian, radio host and television host, whom ''TV Guide'' called "the Charlie Chaplin of television". His notable roles includ ...

Episodes

References

External links

*
Episode index
at the

Big Cartoon DataBase The Big Cartoon DataBase (or BCDB for short) is an online database of information about animated cartoons, Feature film, animated feature films, Animated television series, animated television shows, and cartoon Short film, shorts. The BCDB proj ...

{{Rubik's Cube 1983 American television series debuts 1983 American television series endings 1980s American animated television series American animated television spin-offs American children's animated fantasy television series American Broadcasting Company original programming English-language television shows Fictional cubes Hispanic and Latino American television Rubik's Cube Television shows based on toys Television series by Ruby-Spears