Sabrina: The Animated Series
Sabrina: The Animated Series is an animated children's television series based on the Archie Comics character Sabrina the Teenage Witch. It was produced by Savage Studios Ltd. and Hartbreak Films in association with DIC Productions, L.P., which was owned by Disney at the time.
The show is a spin-off of the 1996–2003 live-action series Sabrina the Teenage Witch.
The series ran on ABC and UPN. Following the series, a movie, and a spin-off series, Sabrina's Secret Life, were produced by DiC, this time without Disney, as they had already sold off DIC by this point.
Premise
Unlike previous incarnations, Sabrina Spellman in this series is depicted as a 12-year-old attending middle school. As in the original comic series, Sabrina lives with her paternal witch aunts, Hilda and Zelda Spellman, and her loud-mouthed black cat Salem Saberhagen, all of whom advise Sabrina on the use of several magics.Most episodes center on the typical issues of middle school, along with those that emanated from Sabrina's inexperience with or misuse of several magic, witchcraft, and extremely powerful and complex spells. Sabrina and her best friend Chloe would often use magic for all types of perceived emergencies, ranging from trying to fit into skinny new clothes to turning Sabrina's crush Harvey into a superhero. By the end of each episode, her innate magical abilities would unintentionally backfire and Sabrina would learn that using magic usually is not the solution to her everyday issues.
Characters
Main
- Sabrina Spellman: Sabrina is a half witch–half mortal that won't become magically empowered until she's 16, but she is able to borrow spells from her aunts Hilda and Zelda using a magical "Spooky Jar", which she often does. The series follows her into her preteen years. However, she usually finds that her meddling turns situations from bad to worse. Her friend Chloe is aware of Sabrina's magic but Harvey Kinkle, another friend and her romantic interest, isn't. She is secretly in love with Harvey and wants one day to marry him. She wears a white-and-pink striped tank top that exposes her midriff, a green moon-shaped earring paired with a yellow star-shaped earring, pink skirt, pink hairclips in her bangs, with white-and-pink sneakers. When she casts a spell the magic produced is pink and yellow. She is voiced by Emily Hart; Melissa Joan Hart's sister who played Sabrina's cousin Amanda in many episodes of the 1996 Sabrina the Teenage Witch television series.
- Hilda Spellman and Zelda Spellman: While Hilda suggests they bend the rules sometime and use magic to get ahead, Zelda is determined to say no right up until the moment she gives up. Hilda is more carefree and reckless than her cautious sister Zelda, and, although they do butt heads sometimes, they are still sisters. In this series and Sabrina's Secret Life, Hilda and Zelda both have the appearance of teenagers, as this was the punishment they received from Enchantra for "abusing magic" in the past. In the animated series, Zelda wears a red blouse and blue bellbottoms in addition to a pair of blue glasses, and has long strawberry blonde hair. Whenever she casts a spell, the magic produced is always blue and yellow. Hilda wears a purple minidress and has tan skin, with brown hair that is shorter than Zelda's. When she casts a spell the magic produced is purple and yellow. They are both voiced by Melissa Joan Hart, known for playing Sabrina in the Showtime film adaptation and the ABC series.
- Salem Saberhagen: Salem knows the right buttons to push to talk Sabrina into just about anything, and he does it guiltlessly—until he's caught. Salem was once a powerful wizard, but he was locked into a cat-form because he was constantly trying to take over the world. However, he makes up for his predicament with magical charms that help Sabrina in some situations. He is voiced by Nick Bakay, who reprises his role from the 1996 Sabrina, the Teenage Witch TV series.
- Uncle Quigley: Uncle Quigley is an original character created for the animated series. He is Sabrina's maternal great-uncle, and the household's adult guardian. Because Uncle Quigley doesn't have any magic powers, one understands that Sabrina's mother is a mortal. He is voiced by Jay Brazeau.
- Chloe Flan: Chloe is Sabrina's best friend of African-American descent. She's the only mortal besides Uncle Quigley who knows Sabrina's secret. She is voiced by Cree Summer.
- Harvey Kinkle: Harvey has a cute and sweet personality. While he only admits to Sabrina that she is his "best pal," he likes her very much. However, Harvey is unaware Sabrina is a witch although often sees the results of the magic himself. He is voiced by Bill Switzer.
- Gemini "Gem" Stone: Gemini is snobby, pampered and very spoiled mean girl. Gem lives down the street and sees Sabrina as her main competitor for Harvey's attention, though Harvey likes Sabrina more. She is similar to Libby Chesler in the sitcom. She is voiced by Chantal Strand.
Supporting
- Spookie Jar: Spookie Jar is a genie who resides in a purple cookie jar in Sabrina's kitchen. Whenever Sabrina needs a special spell, she can get one from the Spookie Jar, but they rarely turn out the way she expects. Spookie Jar speaks entirely in rhymes. He is voiced by David Sobolov.
- Perry "Pi" McDonald: Pi is Harvey's best friend and Sabrina and Chloe's friend too. He is very smart and quite unusual in his own special way. His eyes are never seen because his pork pie hat obscures them. He has been described by Sabrina as "totally out of it and really smart at the same time." According to the episode "Upside Down Town", it is implied that he is of Chinese descent. He is voiced by Chantal Strand.
- Slugloafe the School Bully: Slugloafe is the fat school bully who calls the people he is mean to by their last names. He is a bigger bully than Gem Stone. His real name is Horace. There have been times where he compliments Harvey. He is voiced by Jason Michas.
- Bernard: Bernard is a small, bald, nerdy boy with glasses who is friends with Sabrina, Pi, Chloe and Harvey. He is often bullied by Slugloafe and easily bossed around by Gem. He is voiced by Chantal Strand.
- Tim the Witch Smeller: Tim is a witch hunter who appears in "Most Dangerous Witch", "Documagicary", and "Enchanted Vacation". He was previously bullied by witches as a child due to his lack of magical powers, except his immortality, even though his mother was a witch. For this reason, he viewed witches as evil and so he collects them as trophies for revenge along with his sidekick aardvark named Elton. Tim wears a hat with a witch cauldron marked with a ban sign on it. Both Tim and Elton are voiced by Bob Bergen.
- Enchantra: Enchantra is the queen of all witches and head of the Witches' Council. She resembles somewhat of a dominatrix with a tight-fitting red catsuit with a flowing cape and black, over-the-knee boots. She speaks in a thick British accent and has long black hair, tan skin and green eyes. When she casts spells, the magic produced is red and purple. She was voiced by Kathleen Barr, who reprised the role in the later series.
- Gem's parents: Gem's parents are the richest people in town. They first appeared in "Witch Switch"; when Sabrina wishes herself to be rich they almost sent Sabrina to Cambridge when they found out she got a C in her report, but later changed their mind after Sabrina unwished herself as being rich. They also appeared in "Stone Broke" when they lost their money and had Gem move into Sabrina's house until their dog struck oil.
- Edward Spellman: Sabrina's long-lost father who is a very strong warlock and Zelda and Hilda's younger brother. Some years after he and his mortal wife, Diana, mutually separated, he ended up falling for another human named Futura, whom he intended to marry until a jealous Sabrina tried to break them up.
- Diana Spellman: Sabrina's human mother who is an archeologist and works at a dig site in Egypt. She is heard in the episode "Picture Perfect". Due to a ban on witch-human relationships, Sabrina cannot look her mother directly in the eyes or her mother will be turned into a ball of wax.
Production
The series was developed by Savage Steve Holland and Kat Likkel, and Holland served as showrunner and executive producer of the series. As such, the series reflected some of the irreverent style of humor seen in Eek! The Cat. Celebrity voice cameos in this series included Mr. T, Long John Baldry, and "Weird Al" Yankovic.
Melissa Joan Hart, who starred as Sabrina in the live-action sitcom, served as producer of this series, but her younger sister Emily Hart voiced Sabrina. Melissa instead voiced Sabrina's two aunts, Hilda and Zelda, originally played by Beth Broderick and Caroline Rhea. Nick Bakay reprises his role as Salem from both the film and live-action series. The theme song is sung by B*Witched.
Episodes
Broadcast
United States
The series first ran in syndication on UPN and ABC for one season, with 65 episodes produced. The series remained on both blocks until 2002.The series reran on both Disney Channel from September 3, 2002 to September 2, 2004 and Toon Disney from September 3, 2002 to September 5, 2004.
Beginning in 2004, the series aired on the Syndicated DIC Kids Network E/I block, joining the sequel series Sabrina's Secret Life.
During the 2006–2007 television season, the series returned as part of CBS' new KOL Secret Slumber Party on CBS and was briefly part of the KEWLopolis cartoon lineup. On September 19, 2009, the series returned to CBS as part of the Cookie Jar TV cartoon lineup.
Reruns of the series were aired on the "This Is for Kids" block on the TV channel This from Fall 2012 to October 2013.
As of 2017, reruns of the series started airing on the Starz channel, Starz Kids & Family, and the series is also available to stream on Starz's streaming service.
The series is also available to stream on Pluto TV's After School Cartoons channel.
The show will be available to stream on NBCUniversal's Peacock streaming service on July 15, 2020.
International
In Canada, reruns of the series were aired on Teletoon from late 1999 to mid-2005.Beginning in 2004, many broadcasters who already aired the series began to air it as part of a package with Sabrina's Secret Life titled "Totally Sabrina". The package was pre-sold to TF1 in France, RTÉ in Ireland, Mediaset in Italy, ORF in Austria, Alter Channel in Greece, FORTA in Spain, SBT in Brazil and Teletoon in Canada, Super RTL in Germany, Noga Communications in Israel and Saran in Turkey, in addition to Disney Channel and Toon Disney networks in the United Kingdom, Asia, Taiwan, Australia, France, Latin America, Brazil, the Middle East, and Spain.
Home media
On August 28, 2001, Lions Gate Home Entertainment and Trimark Home Video released 2 VHS releases titled "Sabrina in Love" and "Salem's World", each containing 2 episodes. a DVD release titled "Sabrina's World" was released on the same day, and contained the same episodes from both VHS tapes.In 2004, Sterling Entertainment released 3 VHS's/DVD's titled "Witch in Training", "Bat Attack!" and "A Witchmas Carol", each containing 3 episodes. The DVDs were re-released by NCircle Entertainment in 2007.
On October 17, 2006, Shout! Factory released The Very Best of Sabrina: the Animated Series on DVD in Region 1. This 2-disc set features fourteen episodes from the series. This release has been discontinued and is out of print as Shout! Factory no longer has the distribution rights to DIC properties.
On January 3, 2011, it was announced that Mill Creek Entertainment had acquired the rights to the series, under license from Cookie Jar Entertainment. They subsequently released Sabrina the Animated Series – Volume 1 and Sabrina the Animated Series – A Touch of Magic on DVD in Region 1 on February 15, 2011. These releases have been discontinued and are now out of print.
In the Philippines, Viva Video and Cookie Jar Entertainment released a few DVD sets in the countries.
In the United Kingdom, budget distributor Prism Leisure and Fremantle Home Entertainment released "Sabrina in Love" and "Salem's World" on DVD which had the same 2 episodes as the US VHS releases respectively, but including an additional episode. An exclusive UK DVD titled "Witchy Girls" was also released in the same year, also containing 3 episodes.
VHS/DVD name | Episodes | Distributor | Release date |
Sabrina's World | You Said a Mouse-Ful A Tail of Two Kitties Key to my Heart What Becomes of the Broken Hearted? | Lions Gate Home Entertainment Trimark Home Video | August 28, 2001 |
Sabrina in Love | Key to my Heart What Becomes of the Broken Hearted? | Lions Gate Home Entertainment Trimark Home Video | August 28, 2001 |
Salem's World | You Said a Mouse-Ful A Tail of Two Kitties | Lions Gate Home Entertainment Trimark Home Video | August 28, 2001 |
Witch in Training | Shrink to Fit Strange New World The Importance of Being Norma Anywhere but Here | Sterling Entertainment NCircle Entertainment | May 25, 2004 March 6, 2007 |
Bat Attack! | Nothin' Says Lovin' Like Somethin' From a Coven Witchery Science Theatre The Bat Pack Field of Screams | Sterling Entertainment NCircle Entertainment | August 31, 2004 August 21, 2007 |
A Witchmas Carol | Witchmas Carole Board and Sorcery Has Anybody Seen my Quigley? The Grandparent Trap | Sterling Entertainment NCircle Entertainment | August 31, 2004 October 23, 2007 |
The Very Best of Sabrina: The Animated Series | 14 various episodes | Shout! Factory | October 17, 2006 |
Sabrina: The Animated Series – A Touch of Magic! | 10 various episodes | Mill Creek Entertainment | February 15, 2011 |
Sabrina: The Animated Series – Volume 1 | First 32 episodes of the series | Mill Creek Entertainment | February 15, 2011 |
Reception
rated the series a three out of five stars and said: "Cute, but not quite as magical as the original."Merchandise
Viacom Consumer Products and DIC Entertainment co-released merchandise based on the series.An 11-inch Sabrina fashion doll was released by the company Bambola. Several other small plastic toys, including a few figurines and a Polly Pocket-esque Sabrina doll were sold in stores while the series was in production.
Video games
On August 17, 2000, Simon & Schuster Interactive's Knowledge Adventure and Havas Interactive officially announced the video game version of Sabrina The Animated Series: Zapped! for the Game Boy Color system. It was released on November 22, 2000, and followed by Sabrina The Animated Series: Magical Adventure for the Microsoft Windows and Macintosh computer systems, released in October 2000.On September 4, 2001, it was announced that Simon & Schuster Interactive had acquired the rights to the series, under license from Archie Comics based on the video game license. They subsequently released Sabrina The Animated Series: Spooked!. It was released on November 6, 2001.
Game title | Platform | Developer | Publisher | Release date |
Sabrina: The Animated Series: Zapped! | Game Boy Color | WayForward Technologies | Knowledge Adventure, Simon & Schuster Interactive | November 22, 2000 |
Sabrina: The Animated Series: Magical Adventure | Microsoft Windows, Macintosh | Funnybone Interactive | Knowledge Adventure, Simon & Schuster Interactive | October 2000 and December 2000 |
Sabrina: The Animated Series: Spooked | Game Boy Color | WayForward Technologies | Simon & Schuster Interactive | November 6, 2001 |
Sabrina: The Teenage Witch: Triple Pack | Microsoft Windows, Hybrid PC, Macintosh | Simon & Schuster Interactive | Simon & Schuster Interactive | February 27, 2004 |