Superbook


Superbook, also known as Animated Parent and Child Theatre, is an anime television series from the early 1980s, initially produced at Tatsunoko Productions in Japan in conjunction with the Christian Broadcasting Network in the United States and more recently solely produced by CBN for global distribution and broadcast.
The series chronicled the events of the Bible's Old and New Testaments in its 52-episode run. The first 26 episodes aired from October 1, 1981 to March 25, 1982. The series returned as Superbook II with 26 episodes to air from April 4, 1983 to September 26, 1983. Between both series in the first run was the companion series The Flying House. The Christian Broadcasting Network is producing a new Superbook series and has released 4 seasons. CBN is distributing the first and second seasons for free on their Superbook Kid's Website.

Plot

Original

The first series began at the home of a young boy named Christopher "Chris" Peepers who discovers the ancient bible named Superbook that book can speaks and sends him, his friend Joyeux "Joy" Quantum, and his clockwork toy figure namely Gizmo the Crusader Robot back in time to the early events of the Old Testament. Somehow, Gizmo transforms the toy into a real-life robot that can walk and talk for the duration of the adventure, although he still needs to be wound up regularly.
In the first episode, Chris and Joy were cleaning the attic for Chris's father, a somewhat eccentric college professor, when they noticed an old book glowing. The children tried to open the book, but were unable to open it, no matter how hard they pulled. The book promptly opened on its own, shining a blinding light around Chris's bedroom, and started to speak before whisking the children and Gizmo back in time to the Garden of Eden to experience the story of Adam and Eve.
In Superbook II, which took place two years after the first series, the book fell onto a computer keyboard, giving anybody the ability to see into the past from Christopher's home via the monitor. Ruffles, his poodle, has managed to get lost in time, which prompted Gizmo and Christopher's little brother named Uriah "Uri" Peepers to search for her. Chris and Joy kept watch and control of the computer from the present. The older children also had a hard time trying to prevent what happened a secret from Chris's parents. In this series, Gizmo appeared as a fully fledged functioning robot in the present day rather than as a toy in the second series but still needed to be wound up regularly. Gizmo also has a built-in computer keyboard and a monitor in his chest for Gizmo and Uri to stay in contact with Chris and Joy in the present day as well as transporting to other places in time or returning to the present.
The first series of Superbook featured stories chiefly from the Hebrew Scriptures, although a few episodes dealt with the life and ministry of Jesus Christ and the final episode was about the conversion of Paul of Tarsus. The episodes in the first series are chiefly unique stories, with no overarching "plot" aside from Chris and Joy learning life lessons from their travels in the Superbook. However, some condensation or editing of stories was necessary to fit them into half-hour episodes and make them suitable for young viewers. Also, some additional edits were necessary for the English versions to make the episodes conform to American broadcast standards.
The episodes in Season Two focused solely on Old Testament stories. Season Two covered some stories featured in Season One in more detail, while also covering some stories not included in the first series. In Season Two, the overarching plot concern was Uri and Gizmo's quest to find the missing Ruffles. Likewise The Flying House, which originally aired in Japan between the two Superbook series, was a more in-depth look at the life of Jesus and other events from the Christian Scriptures. Additionally, unlike season 1, the interaction between the modern day characters and the Biblical characters in season 2 is minimal; each episode is mostly a straightforward adaptation of the Biblical stories shown, occurring while Uri and Gizmo are searching for Ruffles.

Reboot

Set in the 23rd century AD, a boy named Chris, who always has problems, travels with his friends Joy and Gizmo who travel with Superbook to the Biblical times from the Old Testament and New Testament.

Characters

Main

Original series

The main cast of the original series includes:
The main cast of the reboot series includes:

Original series

Series 1 (1981–82)

NOTE: The official English dub episode title is listed first, followed by a translation of the Japanese title, Japanese titles in Romaji, and, if necessary, a note about the characters and/or events portrayed in the episode.

Series 2 (1983)

Reboot series

Series 1 (2011–13)

Series 2 (2013–14)

Series 3 (2014–17)

Series 4 (2017–19)

Series 5 (2019–present)

Explorer (DVD release)

In 2016, Superbook began releasing DVDs which contained two previously released episodes per DVD. There are also special features on each DVD, such as how to draw a character in the Superbook artwork style, music videos, and/or informational videos explaining where the events of the stories may have taken place or how they relate to Jesus Christ.

VHS/DVD releases

Superbook Series I and Series II were released on various VHS volumes by Tyndale Entertainment. The entire series was available over 26 VHS Volumes. Superbook was released for the first time on DVD late 2005 to early 2006. The three DVD volumes features 4 episodes each from Series I.
Episode 6 of the new 3D animated Superbook series was the first to be released on DVD in 2009. Episode 1 of the new Superbook series was released in November 2010 on DVD. New Superbook episodes are of CBN's Superbook DVD Club.