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Ultimate Book of Spells

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Ultimate Book of Spells
Title card
Also known asUBOS
GenreAnimated children's television series
Developed bySean Catherine Derek
Directed byChuck Patton
Voices ofMichael Dobson
Ron Halder
Cathy Weseluck
Janyse Jaud
Jim Byrnes
Patricia Drake
Saffron Henderson
Kirby Morrow
Pauline Newstone
Nicole Oliver
Kathleen Barr
Theme music composerWill Anderson
Jim West
Country of originGermany
Original languagesEnglish
German
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes26
Production
Executive producersAllen Bohbot
Nadia Nardonnet
Stephanie Graziano
Running time20 mins
Production companyBKN International
Original release
NetworkYTV (Canada)
Release12 September 2001 (2001-09-12) –
7 April 2002 (2002-04-07)

Ultimate Book of Spells is a 2001–02 German children's animated television series produced by BKN International.[1] It ran for 26 episodes.

Inspired by the popular Harry Potter book and movie series, the show presents a trio of "wizards-in-training" at an enchanted private school run by Miss Crystalgazer. Cassy is a junior witch, Gus is a half-elf/half-human junior wizard, and Verne is a promising "mortie", i.e. a non-magical human. With the guidance of the talking Ultimate Book of Spells (aka UBOS), the three have to battle the evil wizard Zarlak, who's trying to steal all of the world's spells.[2]

Characters

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Main characters

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  • Cassandra "Cassy" (voiced by Janyse Jaud) - the leader of the trio, junior witch and the main protagonist of the series. She wants to become a sorceress, a class considered superior to witches. It is revealed that Cassy is the great-granddaughter of the wizard who defeated and banished Zarlak - a wizard that is now disguised as UBOS.
  • Gus (voiced by Andrew Francis)- he is half-elf and half-wizard. He is quite confident and sometimes acts childishly. Initially, he looks down on Verne; due to his "mortie" status, but Verne manages to redeem himself by saving Gus's life.
  • Verne (voiced by Cathy Weseluck) - he is a mortal wizard who has magical powers and can naturally mend electronic devices. Because of his mortal status, he is called a "mortie". At some points, he is quite cowardly and is surprised by almost anything that involves magic. He is quite skilled in techno magic which is good for putting ordinary electronics or mechanical devices together to make useful gadgets. It is revealed that Verne is a descendent of Merlin and they share same surname Ambrocious.
  • UBOS (voiced by Ron Halder): An elderly looking book that has the power to teleport the three to the centre of the world where they must stop Zarlak. He tends to be quite grumpy (mostly when Cassy stuffs him in her backpack) and hits the three on the head when he's scolding them. It is revealed throughout the series that he is Cassy's great-grandfather. UBOS is also the title character of the series.
  • Erbert (voiced by Michael Dobson) - he is a prince who was cursed by Zarlack to look like a toy frog and confined at the magic school the Vonderland. He is the friend of the trio and UBOS. He stays with Gus and Verne in their room. Although he refuses at first he is seen travelling with them to defeat Zarlack in some episodes.
  • Zarlak (voiced by Paul Dobson) - an evil wizard and the main antagonist of the series; who seeks world domination. He desires to get his hands on UBOS; so that he will have enough power to not only escape his prison, but to destroy and rule the world.
  • Rowce and Snerrot (voice by Don Brown and Colin Murdock) - Zarlack's henchmen whom he often loses patience with. They have the power to combine to become a two-headed dragon, but like most henchmen, are rather dimwitted.

Other characters

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  • Ilsa - a 12-foot-tall (3.7 m) giant girl whose father is a big man (literally) in Vonderland. She was roommates with Cassy for a short while. Due to her size, Ilsa had trouble fitting in.
  • Lucretia and Borgia (both voiced by Cathy Weseluck) - the evil fraternal twins who try to make trouble for Cassy, Gus and Verne. Their father used to serve Zarlak, but defected before Zarlak's defeat, thus; avoiding punishment for his crimes.
  • Crystalgazer (voiced by Patricia Drake) - the headmistress of Vonderland. She can transform into a cat at will. She speaks with a German accent
  • Saysme - another teacher of Vonderland; he is a young man with a top hat and teaches age regression magic.
  • Beagleboyce - the librarian of Vonderland.
  • Mayday - a ghost in charge of scoot-zoomer driving tests.
  • Scrimpy - an imp who calls out to the trio for help when Zarlack attacks his village.
  • Flaherty - a leprechaun who was forced into helping Lucretia cheat, by tinkering with Cassie's scoot-zoomer while racing, before he was freed.
  • Wingo and Jingo - the two mischievous gremlins who were cast into a cuckoo clock for 100 years after losing a battle with Vonderland's builders. They are allowed to come out once a century to play while the whole school is put under a sleeping spell.
  • Snap the Dragon (voiced by Michael Dobson) - a dragon.

Other voices

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Crew

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Episodes

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Ep. # Broadcast Date Title Written by Description
1 12 September 2001 Three Is A Charm (Pilot) Sean Catherine Derek A mortie named Verne arrives at a magic school. He meets Gus, a half-elf second year junior wizard and Cassy, a third year junior witch. He also meets the evil twins, Lucretia and Borgia, and the headmistress Miss Crystalgazer. The talking book UBOS takes the three friends to the center of the Earth, where an evil wizard Zarlak is stealing magic from the outside world.
2 19 September 2001 Man or Mortie Sean Catherine Derek Cassy, Gus and Verne need to come up with an antidote to stop winged beings from crashing into turrets of the castle.
3 26 September 2001 He Who Laughs Last Sean Roche The trio have to stop Zarlak's plan to take joy from the surface world.
4 3 October 2001 Rootopia of All Evil Jack &
Carole Mendelsohn 		Zarlak plans to steal all the flowers (and the happiness) for himself.
5 10 October 2001 Time and Again Dennis Haley
Marcy Brown 		The class goes back in time to Zarlak's trial, and Gus inadvertently takes a crystal that Cassy's great-grandfather needed for his battle with Zarlak.
6 17 October 2001 Fire with Fire Bob Forward Gus discovers that the elves are losing their powers, because a huge dragon has stolen the "Elfin Stone".
7 24 October 2001 The New Librarian Douglas Gayeton Professor Beagleboyce becomes the new librarian, and absorbs the contents of all of the library's books.
8 31 October 2001 Shadow Land Sean Roche Verne has to fight a shadow creature, who's taken Cassy and Gus' shadows.
9 7 November 2001 Once in a Blue Moon Sean Roche Zarlak kidnaps the Charmlings, little elf-like people who can grant any wish.
10 14 November 2001 The Bind That Ties Glenn Leopold Zarlak has captured all the bookbinder gnomes, which makes all the books unglued and devastates UBOS.
11 21 November 2001 Coat of Arms Christy Marx
Randy Littlejohn 		Cassy finds out that her great-grandaunt Cassandra VII teamed up with Zarlak many years ago.
12 28 November 2001 Out of Shape Glenn Leopold Zarlak sends his dragon to steal the magic book, but kidnaps Verne and Gus instead. Cassy has to save the day, but she's having a hard time using her shape-changing powers.
13 5 December 2001 The Rift Don Gillies Scavenger imps use a portal to steal objects from the surface world, and two of the friends are in the hands of Zarlak.
14 9 January 2002 What a Cut-Up! Julia Lewald The three friends fight Zarlak, who has turned everything dull.
15 16 January 2002 Multiple Mayhem Sean Catherine Derek Cassy creates a duplicate of herself to get to all her classes, but the duplicate starts acting out in unpredictable ways.
16 23 January 2002 The Tear of Moolana Stevie Stern Gus and Cassy compete with Zarlack to obtain the Tear of Moolana, a gem that offers infinite power.
17 30 January 2002 Magical Logical Michael Edens Everything is losing its logic - video games, computers, wands and even Ubos - and the trio has to find a way to bring it back.
18 10 February 2002 Veil of Illusion Glenn Leopold The "Veil of Illusion" disappears from the school, which is now visible to morties. The trio has to retrieve the veil from a great wizard.
19 17 February 2002 Dark Image Bob Forward A magical artifact turns Verne into a dark wizard, and Cassy a dark sorceress. Gus has to stop them from destroying the earth and each other.
20 24 February 2002 Sleeping Beauty School Sean Roche Creatures from a land behind the grandfather clock came to Vonderland and cast a sleeping spell on everyone except the trio.
21 3 March 2002 Eclipsed B.W. Glass At the famous Festivus Solarus (the festival where all the witches and wizards at Vonderland get together to celebrate the time when the Moon eclipses the Sun), the Moon is frozen in front of the Sun and the temperature drops below zero.
22 10 March 2002 Big Girls Don't Cry Nathan Long Cassy's new roommate, a giant named Ilsa, is manipulated by Lucretia and gets kidnapped by Zarlak.
23 17 March 2002 Lucky Gus Don Gillies Gus' sudden luck and popularity make Cassy and Verne jealous - just as Zarlak planned.
24 24 March 2002 Magic Quest Bob Forward Sitting in Merlin's magic chair, Cassy and Vern start to transform into new creatures. Verne has to find the ingredients for a spell to turn them back.
25 31 March 2002 The Lure Sean Catherine Derek
Lori Librarian 		When Gus fails his midterms, he goes on the high seas - and gets everyone in trouble.
26 7 April 2002 Solo Sorceress Dennis Haley
Marcy Brown
Sean Catherine Derek 		Cassy sees Lucretia cheat during their scooter race contest, but nobody believes her.

In the U.S. DVD release of this series,[3] "Solo Sorceress" is not the final episode and occurs significantly earlier in the play order.

Production

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On 19 April 2001, BKN pre-sold the series to CBBC in the United Kingdom.[4]

On 20 June 2002, Toon Disney purchased the North American broadcast rights for the series.[5]

In 2021, the show started airing on London Live in the United Kingdom.

Home Media

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United Kingdom

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In the United Kingdom, Universal Pictures Video released two VHS volumes. The first - "Three is a Charm", was released in 2002, and the second: "Solo Sorceress" was released on 21 April 2003. A double-pack containing both tapes was also released.

"Three is a Charm" was later released on DVD by Universal on 10 May 2004.

United States

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A VHS tape containing two episodes titled "The Mystic Gem" was released at an unknown date.

Budget distributor Digiview Entertainment released three DVDs each containing four episodes in 2007, titled "Three's a Charm", "Fire with Fire" and "Out of Shape".

Mill Creek Entertainment released a two-disc boxset containing all 26 episodes on 5 January 2010.

Cancelled Video Game

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On 7 October 2001, TDK Mediactive announced they would produce a video game based on the series in 2002, although nothing was confirmed afterwards.[6]

References

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  1. ^ Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 668. ISBN 978-1538103739.
  2. ^ Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 878–879. ISBN 978-1476665993.
  3. ^ "U.B.O.S. - the Ultimate Book of Spells - the Complete Series, All 26 Episodes (Boxset) on DVD Movie".
  4. ^ "CBBC picks up BKN toon | News | C21Media".
  5. ^ "Eight new shows for Toon Disney | News | C21Media".
  6. ^ "BKN and TDK ink video game deal | News | C21Media".
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