Sabrina, the Teenage Witch: The Complete Animated Series
BY Ryan LaMarca / 2008-06-18
Like most cartoons from the 1970s, "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" cartoons have been repackaged and repackaged into a multitude of different formats. If I can, I'll try to explain it as best as I can and as best as I understand. Sabrina made her first animated appearance in 1969 with segments on Filmation's "The Archie Comedy Hour." This was later followed by a new package show entitled "Sabrina and the Groovie Goolies" in 1970, where "Sabrina" repeats were attached to a new show called "The Groovie Goolies" where Sabrina would appear alongside classic movie monster made over to be hip for the '70s. Finally, in 1971, Sabrina made the leap to her own half-hour show, the aptly titled "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" which repackaged reruns from the previous shows with new Sabrina adventures. Later, in 1977, Filmation unveiled "The New Archie and Sabrina Hour," which was later split into "The Bang-Shang Lalapalooza Show" and "Sabrina, Super Witch," then later known as "The Archie and Sabrina Surprise Package." And that, I believe is the complete history of "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" during her time with Filmation of America.
Although Melissa Joan Hart defined the character in the 1990s, most people probably don't realize just how old Sabrina, the Teenage Witch really is. The character was first created back in 1962 for an issue of Archie Comics' "Archie's Mad House" as what was meant to be a one-time appearance. However, due to her popularity, she began appearing in "Archie's TV Laugh-Out" for several issues, before eventually spinning off into her own comic book series. The animated series by Filmation features Sabrina and her time as a teenager in the town of Riverdale. She lives with her two aunts, Hilda, the stereotypical mean witch, and Zelda, the more kind hearted witch, and her cat, Salem, who also possesses magical powers. Sabrina's boyfriend Harvey often annoys her aunts and is unaware of Sabrina's supernatural abilities. Along the way, Sabrina goes to hang out with her friends, most of which are the cast of "The Archie Show," including Archie, Betty, Veronica, Jughead, and Reggie, often with some magical dilemma occurring to jeopardize Sabrina's secret that she's really a teenage witch.
"Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" has its own set of problems right from the get go, but they're problems that afflict all cartoons produced by Filmation. Now, I'm not trying to criticize them. They did remarkably well for the amount of money they had to produce these shows and they do look good in the context of the time. Most people often associate Hanna-Barbera with taking shortcuts in the animation business, and while that is true, most people neglect to mention Filmation. I personally feel that the Filmation animation is much, much worse simply for the fact that they utilized a process that I believe Hanna-Barbera never used: stock footage. And I have a problem with using stock footage, mostly because it is very noticeable and Filmation is notorious for this. In "Sabina," you can see the stock best during many of the dance scenes. Those are the worst cases.
Aside from Sabrina herself and maybe Hilda and Zelda, the voices in this show are atrocious. I'm sorry, but hearing some of these voices was almost enough to make me cry. The worst offenders of the whole bunch are none other than the Archies. Never before have I heard such whiny and screeching voices. Archie, himself, is especially bad and has the exact same voice as the Gumby character, another voice I have a major problem with. This is another reason that most Filmation cartoons are inferior to Hanna-Barbera cartoons. Hanna-Barbera always had the advantage of having some wonderful and renowned actors providing the voices for their characters, and although the legendary Mel Blanc worked on this series, he only provides the sounds for Salem, the cat.
However, even though I've just trashed the Archies, they make the episodes they're in significantly more enjoyable. Speaking of the Archies, I must have heard the song "Sugar, Sugar" so many times throughout the course of the series, I almost began to laugh every time I heard it. However, they do improve the cartoons by throwing some diversity into the mix. To be honest, Sabrina's friends are really annoying. Harvey, her boyfriend, is always up to something boring and has no personality; Spencer is just a fat oaf who hangs around and does nothing, although his dogs, Hot Dog, Junior and Chili Dog do provide some humor; and others like Ophelia are just as uninteresting, as opposed to a character like Reggie who is constantly suspicious of Sabrina about the possibility of her being a witch. Better episodes are ones that have more to do with Hilda and Zelda and things get even better when their superior Miss Della shows up or even when Sabrina's Cousin Ambrose arrives to mess things up. The family aspect works much better because it reminds me so much of "Bewitched" and although it doesn't copycat it too much, it obviously tries to bring some of the elements that made that show so great to their own series.
"Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" also benefits from a pretty groovy theme song, (I think I've been watching the show too much. "Groovy"?) although it's not up to Hanna-Barbera caliber. Sorry to keep comparing everything in the series to Hanna-Barbera, but Filmation was virtually their only competition in this time period and it really does make a point about the quality of the two studios. Now, the back of the box states that they're are thirty-one episodes featured on this set. What they really mean is thirty-one half hours (twenty minute show) with sixty-two ten minute shorts. The DVD menus only list the first episode featured in the half-hour. After the first ten-minute cartoon, Sabrina will often break the Fourth Wall and talk to the audience and announce that she's going out with Harvey or something similar like that. The two cartoons don't necessarily go together in any way, but that's the way they're packaged.
Speaking of packaging, the DVD for this complete series set comes in an interesting format. A slipcase covers the inside cardboard, however, the slipcase does not come shrink-wrapped. However, I must warn you right now. Be very, very careful taking the discs out of the case. They are not inserted as most other DVDs are and need to be removed using a release clip found on the side and then lifted out very carefully. To prevent any possible damage to the discs, I actually transferred them into a different case because I really don't like this packaging. Just a word of warning that this was not the best way to package this set.
Unlike most of the previous Filmation DVD releases, "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" does not come with a host of special features. We do get the first episode of "The Archie and Sabrina Surprise Package" as a bonus, complete with the original opening and closing sequences. This, unlike the "Sabrina" cartoons is a full twenty-minute show and combines aspects of both "The Archie Show" and "Sabrina" more evenly, although Sabrina gets the short end of the stick in this episode. An art gallery is also included and showcases many of the characters and the backgrounds, as well as stills from the show. Overall, not that bad, but still we could have gotten a little bit more.
Although it certainly isn't one of the greatest or most memorable cartoons from the 1970s nor one of Filmation's best, "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" is still decent enough. The first couple of episodes do not do the show justice and I was about to dismiss it after a few, but as the later episodes start to come on, the stories improved and there's actually quite a few laughs to be found within the series. Filmation enthusiasts as well as Archie fans will want to see this show in its entirety, but those who are unsure of their opinion of the show should probably rent it first and see how you like it. I certainly didn't like it at first, but began to appreciate it after watching more and more episodes, so maybe take it slowly and try to understand the context of the time period.
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