The Telebugs

The Telebugs is a British animated children's television series featuring three robots.

The Telebugs
Genre	Animation Adventure Si-fi
Created by	John M. Mills Elphin Lloyd-Jones
Voices of	Ron Moody Suzy Westerby
Music by	Andy Murray
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	3
No. of episodes	86
Production
Executive producer	Anna Home
Running time	5 minutes
Production companies	Telemagination Telebug Enterprises[1]
Original release
Network	ITV
Release	6 January 1986 (1986-01-06) – 15 December 1987 (1987-12-15)

Overview

The robots' names are C.H.I.P. (Coordinated Hexadecimal Information Processor), S.A.M.A.N.T.H.A. (Solar Activated Micro Automated Non-inTerference Hearing Apparatus) and B.U.G. (Binary Unmanned Gamma-camera) – who were accompanied by a flying video pack called M.I.C. (Mobile Independent Camera). They were invented by Professor Brainstrain (who is also known as Pwofessor Bwainstwain, owing to his unfortunate speech impediment) to stop enemies such as Baron Bullybyte, Magna, Angel Brain, Z.U.D.O (Zero-failure Universal Data Optimizer) Bug and Arcadia, whilst working as reporters for a TV executive named Mr McStarch.^[2]

A total of 3 seasons and 86 episodes were produced by Telebug Enterprises, subsequently renamed Telemagination. This was a subsidiary company of ITV regional franchise holder Television South. It was broadcast on Children's ITV in the United Kingdom from 1986 to 1987.

It was the very first television series made and produced by Telemagination (the company later went onto make several other animated series for children such as The Animals of Farthing Wood, Noah's Island and The Cramp Twins).

It also aired on TV2 in New Zealand from 24 July 1987 to 7 March 1990, on ABC TV in Australia from 6 July 1988 to 13 December 1991, on ABS-CBN in the Philippines, on RTB in Brunei, on TV1 in Malaysia, on Italia 1 in Italy, on Saudi 2 in Saudi Arabia and on M-Net in South Africa.

The series was also noted for its closing theme song. An extended version of the opening theme had been used at the end of season 1. However, in season 2 the short song "I Have a Heart", written by American singer, pianist and songwriter Mort Shuman (who has lived in both the UK and France), sung by Suzy Westerby (as Samantha), and played out over a closing credit sequence featuring a still of Chip, Samantha and Bug, with Mic's face briefly appearing at the closeout, was used as the closing theme. This version was the best-known theme. An extended version of "I Have A Heart", sung by American disco singer George McCrae and played out over a sequence showing Chip, Samantha and Bug orbiting the Earth and performing pirouettes, was used for the end of the original transmissions of the third, and final, season. However, as this version was almost three minutes long, it was considered too lengthy for such a short cartoon, and was replaced with the same extended version of the opening theme used at the end of season 1 for all future repeats of season 3.

The series also aired on GBC TV in Gibraltar, where it regularly served as a filler during children's programming in the 6:30 – 7:30pm slot during the mid to late 1980s.

The series was also broadcast on cable and satellite television on The Children's Channel.

In the 1990s the show was sold to HIT Entertainment but this time, the name was changed to The Gigglebytes. The series with the name change was also broadcast in Singapore on Prime 12 as part of their lineup of children's programming Kidz Blitz.

At least one full-size working model of Samantha was made to publicise the show, making appearances in Children's ITV advertising and continuity,^[3] and on the Saturday morning show No. 73^[4] in 1986 and 1987. The model could move its arms and head, and roll along the floor. Its TV head contained a cathode-ray tube monitor capable of displaying facial expressions and other graphics.

Both photographic and film footage of the prop is very rare and hard to come by, with the exception of three YouTube clips that both feature footage of its CITV appearance with host Matthew Kelly, and some episodes from series 7 of No.73. While the same prop was featured in both shows, the No. 73 appearances featured a different voice actress with electronic distortion, and would in the final episodes, wear an apron around its torso. The recent upload of the episodes and the inclusion of the prop, has sparked some intrigue from a small number of fans of both the show and Telebugs itself, with inquiries as to the state and whereabouts of the prop; especially by collectors of memorabilia.

Voice cast

All the male characters were voiced by Ron Moody (except for Bug) and the female characters (also including Bug) were voiced by London-based actress Suzy Westerby. The model of Samantha was voiced by Kate Copstick for appearances on No. 73.

Transmission guide

Series 1

UK Broadcast Date	Title
06.01.1986	Angel Brain
07.01.1986	Apple Hi
08.01.1986	Fair Play
09.01.1986	Jupiter Moon
10.01.1986	Telebugs in Danger
13.01.1986	Zudo Bug
14.01.1986	Signal Seizure
15.01.1986	Submarine Snack
16.01.1986	Oil Strike
17.01.1986	Digger Dumped
20.01.1986	Hijack Hacker
21.01.1986	Zap Code
22.01.1986	Bank Byte
23.01.1986	City Stopper
24.01.1986	The Telebugs Strike Back
27.01.1986	Power Pirate
28.01.1986	Robocars
29.01.1986	Magnetic Madness
30.01.1986	Flood
31.01.1986	Flight Plan
03.02.1986	Return of Zudo
04.02.1986	TV Terror
05.02.1986	Complex Confusion
06.02.1986	Enter the Professor
07.02.1986	Lethal Lift Off
10.02.1986	Professor in Danger

Series 2

UK Broadcast Date	Title
10.11.1986	Star Venture
11.11.1986	Parsec Pirates
12.11.1986	Deep Space Decoy
13.11.1986	Stardon De–Programme
14.11.1986	Angel Overload
17.11.1986	The Binods
18.11.1986	Scrambling Ray
19.11.1986	Cave Knaves
20.11.1986	Scrambled Samantha
21.11.1986	Binod Rebound
24.11.1986	Space Age Snooker
25.11.1986	Culture Crazy
26.11.1986	Arcadia Goes West
27.11.1986	Panel Panic
28.11.1986	Lifo Makes Friends
01.12.1986	Cosmic Castaway
02.12.1986	Lebab Goes Ape
03.12.1986	Lebab Rocks the Moon
04.12.1986	Rescue
05.12.1986	Death Station Zudo
08.12.1986	Shadow of the Past
09.12.1986	Castle Cyphernal
10.12.1986	Pit of Peril
11.12.1986	The Rose of Infinity
12.12.1986	Lifo to the Rescue
15.12.1986	The Gate of Swords
16.12.1986	The Battle of the Air
17.12.1986	Ordeal by Fire
18.12.1986	The Lake and the Key
19.12.1986	The Shrinking Cage
05.01.1987	Time Shift
06.01.1987	Roman Doom
07.01.1987	The Two Caesars
08.01.1987	Telebugs in Rome
09.01.1987	All Hail Bug
12.01.1987	Bait for the Badz
13.01.1987	Digit Digger
14.01.1987	Peanut Icicles
15.01.1987	Brain Lock
16.01.1987	Flame Out

Series 3

UK Broadcast Date	Title
17.11.1987	Pyramids Pyrotechnics
18.11.1987	Volcano Adventure
19.11.1987	Magic Megaliths
20.11.1987	Temple of the Sun
23.11.1987	Inter-terrain Maze
24.11.1987	Holographic Holiday
25.11.1987	Monster Mash
26.11.1987	Castle Creepers
27.11.1987	Frankenheim's Monsters
30.11.1987	Laser Blasers
01.12.1987	The Palace of Science
02.12.1987	Colossus
03.12.1987	Zombie Profs
04.12.1987	Robot Rampage
07.12.1987	The Sphere
08.12.1987	Telesonic Rock
09.12.1987	Digger Decoy
10.12.1987	The Tea Party
11.12.1987	Disarray
15.12.1987	Mulch to the Rescue

Crew and Credits

Series 1 (1986)

• Voices: Ron Moody Suzy Westerby
• Music: Andy Murray
• Scripts: Gwyneth Jones Bernie Kaye
• Animation: Mike Pocock Tony Guy Dave Unwin Alan green Ray Kelly Ramon Modiano Gary McCarver Alan Simpson Janet Nunn Joanne Gooding Gary Blatchford Margot Allen
• Assistants: Claire Bramwell Nicola Mander Helen Kincaid
• Storyboard and Layout: Dave Elvin Peter See
• Backgrounds: Russell Pierman Kevin Smith
• Trace and Paint: Aubery Hammond Frankie Convertry A.M Films Hierographics Ann Kotch Andrew Ryder
• Rostrum: Can Productions Filmflex Animation Services
• Film Editors: Alan Waller Jim Hubbard John Delfgou
• Dubbing Mixer: Danny Curtis
• Voice Recording: Brian Cresse
• Production Manager: Dennis Gardiner
• Production Co-Ordinator: Shellie Smith
• Production Accountant: Patricia Harvey
• Executive Producer: Anna Home
• Produced and Directed by: John M. Mills and Elphin Lloyd-Jones
• A Telebug Enterprises Production
• © Copyright Reserved Telebug Enterprises LTD. 1984

References

1. "ITV SOUTH - TVS Induction Video (1982)". YouTube.
2. "Toonhound: Telebugs (1985-1987)".
3. "ITV Central continuity, 31st August 1986". YouTube. Retrieved 25 March 2024.
4. "No. 73, Series 7 Episode 6". YouTube. Retrieved 25 March 2024.

External links

• The Telebugs at IMDb