Ultimate Book of Spells

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Ultimate Book of Spells
Ultimate Book of Spells title.jpg
Title card
Also known asU.B.O.S.
Genre Animated children's television series
Developed by Sean Catherine Derek
Directed by Chuck Patton
Voices of Michael 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 originCanada
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes26
Production
Executive producersAllen Bohbot
Nadia Nardonnet
Stephanie Graziano
Running time20 minutes
Production company BKN International
Original release
Network YTV (Canada)
Release12 September 2001 (2001-09-12) 
7 April 2002 (2002-04-07)

Ultimate Book of Spells is a Canadian children's animated television series produced by BKN International. [1] It first premiered on YTV Channel for kids in Canada. 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]

Contents

Characters

Main characters

Supporting Characters

Other voices

Crew

Episodes

Ep. #Broadcast DateTitleWritten byDescription
112 September 2001Three Is A CharmSean Catherine DerekA mortie named Verne arrives at a magic school. He meets Gus, a half-elf second-year junior wizard and Cassandra, a third-year junior witch who aspires to become a full-fledged supreme sorceress. He also meets the evil twins, Lucretia and Borgia, and the headmistress Miss Crystalgazer. The talking all-powerful spellbook-of-spellbooks U.B.O.S. takes the three friends to the center of the Earth, where an evil supreme wizard Zarlak is stealing magic from the outside world. U.B.O.S. tells the trio that are the prophesied "Power of Three," the only ones magically strong enough to beat Zarlak and defeat him should his release come to pass.
219 September 2001Man or MortieSean Catherine DerekCassandra, Gus and Verne need to come up with an antidote to stop winged beings from crashing into turrets of the castle.
326 September 2001He Who Laughs LastSean RocheThe trio have to stop Zarlak's plan to take joy from the surface world by abducting fairies. How Verne came to be at Vonderland School is revealed.
43 October 2001Rootopia of All Evil Jack &
Carole Mendelsohn
Zarlak plans to steal all the flowers (and the happiness) for himself. As volunteer gardener, Cassy is determined to help the flowers grow, even missing a race between the Twins. Zarlak takes her and the remaining Forget-Me-Not to his underground domain and seemingly hypnotizes Cassy into helping him. Verne and Gus need to work together to reclaim the happiness of the world and the flowers before everything comes up Zarlak.
510 October 2001Time and AgainDennis Haley
Marcy Brown
The class goes back in time to Zarlak's trial, and Gus inadvertently takes a red crystal that Cassy's great-grandfather Gez needed for his final battle with Zarlak in 1776. This small act creates a dystopia in the present timeline.
617 October 2001Fire with Fire Bob Forward Gus discovers that the elves are losing their magical powers because a huge dragon has stolen the Elfin Stone, which Zarlak intends to use to destroy the Power of Three once and for all.
724 October 2001The New Librarian Douglas Gayeton Professor Beagleboyce becomes the new librarian, and absorbs the contents of all of the library's books, making Verne suspicious. It's revealed that Zarlak is using the old wizard to gain all of the knowledge the books pages contain.
831 October 2001Shadow LandSean RocheVerne has to fight a shadow creature who has taken Cassy and Gus' shadows for Zarlak. Without them, Cassy and Gus' light side take over, making them goofy and playful. Once in Shadow Land, Verne uses his mortie smarts to distract Zarlak and return Cassy and Gus' shadows to them.
97 November 2001Once in a Blue MoonSean RocheZarlak kidnaps the Charmlings, little elf-like people who can grant any wish. He is looking for the ancient Ring of the Blue Moon, which shall make his release a reality. Cassy needs to do well on her test to level up in order to get into Advanced Sorcery class. With the Ring in his possession, Zarlak finally breaks free and wrecks havoc and chaos onto the surface. The Power of Three go the rescue the Charmlings in their home realm, and try to get Cassy's school project back from Zarlak. Cassy wishes the Ring to be in her hands and they return to Vonderland, but U.B.O.S. has a bad feeling.
1014 November 2001The Bind That Ties Glenn Leopold Zarlak has captured all the bookbinder gnomes, which makes all the books unglued and devastates U.B.O.S. In his delirium, he hints to Verne that he is Gez himself to remain hidden from both the magical world and Zarlak. Verne promises to not tell Cassy of U.B.O.S.' direct connection to her maternal great-grandfather.
1121 November 2001Coat of Arms Christy Marx
Randy Littlejohn
Cassy finds out that her maternal great-grandaunt Cassandra VII had teamed up with Zarlak many years ago. U.B.O.S. takes back in time to learn what had really happened, but end up being captured by Zarlak. In the end, it is revealed that Cassandra VII was merely deceiving Zarlak that she was one of his minions.
1228 November 2001Out of ShapeGlenn Leopoldtransform]] into the Ultimate Book of Spells to deceive Zarlak. Cassy has to save the day, but she's having a hard time using her own newly developed shapeshifting powers.
135 December 2001The RiftDon GilliesScavenger imps use a portal to steal objects from the surface world, and two of their friends are in the hands of Zarlak.
149 January 2002What a Cut-Up!Julia LewaldThe Power of Three fight Zarlak again who has turned everything dull, from knives, to utensils, to the world itself.
1516 January 2002Multiple MayhemSean Catherine DerekCassy creates a duplicate of herself to get to all her classes, but the duplicate starts acting out in unpredictable ways.
1623 January 2002The Tear of MoolanaStevie SternGus and Cassy compete with Zarlack to obtain the Tear of Moolana, a teardrop-shaped gemstone that offers infinite magical power. It's up to Verne to snap his best friends out of it before Zarlak becomes the most powerful of supreme wizards.
1730 January 2002Magical LogicalMichael EdensEverything is losing its logic - Video games, computers, wands and even U.B.O.S. - and the trio has to find a way to bring it back.
1810 February 2002Veil of IllusionGlenn LeopoldThe "Veil of Illusion" disappears from the magic school, which is now visible to morties. The trio has to retrieve the Veil from a great wizard who is quite the collector of rare and powerful artifacts.
1917 February 2002Dark ImageBob ForwardA 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, but Zarlak takes full advantage of the situation.
2024 February 2002Sleeping Beauty SchoolSean RocheCreatures from a land behind the grandfather clock came to Vonderland and cast a sleeping spell on everyone except the trio.
213 March 2002EclipsedB.W. GlassAt the famous Festivus Solarus (the festival where all 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.
2210 March 2002Big Girls Don't Cry Nathan Long Cassy's new roommate, a giant named Ilsa, is manipulated by Lucretia and gets kidnapped by Zarlak to trade for U.B.O.S.
2317 March 2002Lucky GusDon GilliesGus' sudden good luck and popularity make Cassy and Verne quite jealous - just as Zarlak planned! A battle ensues with Zarlak finally getting his hands on U.B.O.S., but is stopped by Verne and Cassy as the luck spell on Gus is lifted. Fortunately, Gus is able to make his own luck and save the day.
2424 March 2002Magic QuestBob ForwardSitting in Merlin's magic chair, Cassandra and Verne start to transform into new creatures. Verne has to find the ingredients for a spell to turn them back. Encountering the spirit of Merlin himself, the resemblance between him and Verne is apparent, which implies that Verne had inherited his increasingly powerful magical abilities from his maternal relatives. Another twist is that Merlin had also trained Supreme Wizard Gez, who he considered his best pupil.
2531 March 2002The LureSean Catherine Derek
Lori Librarian
When Gus fails his midterms, he goes on the high seas and gets everyone in big trouble.
267 April 2002Solo SorceressDennis Haley
Marcy Brown
Sean Catherine Derek
Cassy sees Lucretia cheat during their scooter race contest, but nobody believes her. Determined to prove it, Cassandra accidentally causes an incident that requires U.B.O.S.'s aid.

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

Production

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

United Kingdom

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

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

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

  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".