Rubik, the Amazing Cube

Rubik, the Amazing Cube is a Saturday morning cartoon that aired from September 10, 1983 to September 1, 1984 in the United States, produced by Ruby-Spears Productions. The program, broadcast as part of The Pac-Man/Rubik, the Amazing Cube Hour block on ABC, featured a magic Rubik’s Cube named Rubik who could fly through the air and had other special powers. Rubik could only come alive when the colored squares on his sides had been matched up.

Synopsis
Rubik had fallen out of the stagecoach of an evil magician, who became the main villain of the series. Rubik helped 3 siblings—Carlos, Lisa, and Reynaldo Rodriguez—in foiling the magician’s attempts to recover Rubik. Once, Rubik was recovered by a detective who was a relative of the magician, but then decided the children should keep Rubik as the magician would use him for evil and selfish purposes.

Outside of the evil magician, episodes usually dealt with more normal adversaries, such as when the eldest son had run afoul of a bully who had thwarted his efforts to gain a potential girlfriend, while at the same time the bully was making himself appear decent to the girl. Rubik worked in secret to expose the bully’s true brutal personality in front of the girl.

For dramatic purposes, the cube was easily fully scrambled (such as by being dropped or grabbed by the family dog) and usually solved quickly by the Rodriguez children, although in stressful circumstances it took them longer.

Episodes

 * 1) "Pilot"
 * 2) "Back Packin' Rubik" — 1983-09-17
 * 3) "Rubik and the Buried Treasure" — 1983-10-01
 * 4) "Rubik and the Lucky Helmet" — 1983-10-08
 * 5) "Rubik and the Mysterious Man" — 1983-10-15
 * 6) "Rubik and the Pooch Nappers" — 1983-10-22
 * 7) "Rubik and the Science Fair" — 1983-10-29
 * 8) "Rubik the Realtor"
 * 9) "Rubik in Wonderland" — 1983-11-05
 * 10) "Honolulu Rubik" — 1983-11-12
 * 11) "Rubik's First Christmas" — 1983-11-19
 * 12) "Rubik's Run"
 * 13) "Richy Rubik"
 * 14) "Rubik Reduxy"
 * 15) "Rubik at Rest"
 * 16) "Saturday Night Rubik" — 1983-11-26
 * 17) "Super Power Lisa" — 1983-12-03
 * 18) "Time Travelin' Rubik" — 1983-12-10

Theme music
In keeping with the Hispanic flavor of the show, the theme song was done by Puerto Rican boy band Menudo.

Cast

 * Michael Bell – Reynaldo
 * Angela Moya – Marla
 * Ron Palillo – Rubik
 * Jennifer Fajardo – Lisa
 * Michael Saucedo – Carlos

Additional voices were provided by Jack DeLeon, Alan Dinehart, Laurie Faso, Takayo Fischer, Bob Holt, Tress MacNeille, Tysun McMullan, Neil Ross, John Stephenson, Janet Waldo, and Alan Young.

Reception
In 2014, listing it among twelve 1980s cartoons that did not deserve remembrance, io9 characterized the series as "terrible" even beyond the preposterous premise of a Rubik's Cube gaining magic powers and growing a "creepy blue baby head" when solved.