Sport Billy

Sport Billy is an American animated television series produced by Filmation Associates, initially for broadcast in Germany and Cannes, France. The series was a single 26-episode saga that premiered in Germany and other parts of Europe from 1980 to 1981. In 1982, Filmation carried the show over to the United States for syndication, and as a summer replacement in NBC's Saturday morning children's programming. It was the last first-run series produced by Filmation Associates to air on NBC.

Overview
Sport Billy was originally a European comic character created by Rolf Deyhle in 1977, and already had a presence in Europe and parts of Latin America. The comics were written and drawn by Walter Neugebauer, Gisela Künstner and Kurt Italiaander, and followed the sporting adventures of Billy, his friends Susy and Dickie (who was later dropped from the comics), and his dog Hannibal. Sport Billy Productions, owners of the Sport Billy franchise, licensed the property to the American studio Filmation so it could create a cartoon based on the character. As a European character, Sport Billy's main sport was football, and this was reflected in the introductory sequence of the Filmation program. Susy and Hannibal were renamed "Lilly" and "Willy". 

Sport Billy was adopted by FIFA as the Fair Play Mascot for FIFA World Cups, and a trophy of the character was presented to the most sporting team at each World Cup including the 1978 Tournament. The character was internationally used as a mascot in many sporting youth programs, for the purpose of promoting sportsmanship and fair play.

The series consisted of 26 episodes. It was also shown in the United Kingdom, France, Gibraltar, Italy, Yugoslavia, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Greece, Cyprus, Spain, Turkey, Peru, Mexico, Portugal, Romania, Czechoslovakia and other countries. Sport Billy was voiced by Lane Scheimer, the son of producer Lou Scheimer, who voiced the Olympian Computer. Sport Lilly, Queen Vanda and Pandusa were voiced by Joyce Bulifant, and Willy, Sportikus XI, Sipe and Poco were voiced by Frank Welker. In addition to its broadcast in Germany, the series was also shown as a feature film on Showtime and HBO in 1980, written by Reubin Guberman, produced by William L. Cooper Jr. and Wolfgang Stein, and directed by Peter Fernandez. All the voices in the film were redubbed by Fernandez, Corinne Orr and Lionel Wilson to fit in the new script for linking the episodes together. The film was released split in parts as "episodes" on VHS in the UK.

Synopsis
The story revolves around a young boy named Sport Billy, who is from the planet Olympus (a twin of Earth on the opposite side of the Sun), which is populated by athletic god-like beings, ruled by the benevolent President Sportikus XI and his wife, Pandusa. Billy himself has a magic size-changing gym bag, the Omni-Sack, which produces various tools as he needs them. He travels to Earth on a mission to promote teamwork and sportsmanship. Described by the show's theme song as a "hero from another planet", Billy battles the evil Queen Vanda and her gnome-like henchman, Sipe. Vanda's mission is to destroy all sports in the galaxy since fairness disgusts her.

Billy is assisted by two faithful companions, his girlfriend named Lilly and her talking dog named Willy. The trio travels around in a time traveling spaceship named the Timeship, which is mounted on two rocket engines and resembles a giant wind-up clock, complete with a ringing bell. In each episode the trio travels through time in order to save a different Earth sport from Vanda's grasp.

Voice Cast

 * Lane Scheimer as Sport Billy
 * Joyce Bulifant as Sport Lilly, Queen Vanda, Pandusa, additional voices
 * Frank Welker as Willy, Sipe, Poco, Sportikus XI, additional voices
 * Lou Scheimer (uncredited) as Olympian Computer, additional voices
 * Corinne Orr (uncredited) as Sport Billy, Sport Lilly, Queen Vanda, Pandusa, additional voices (film)
 * Lionel Wilson (uncredited) as Willy, Sipe, Sportikus XI, Olympian Computer, additional voices (film)
 * Peter Fernandez (uncredited) as Narrator, additional voices (film)

Crew

 * Developed by Arthur Nadel
 * Writers: Paul Aratow, Paul Dini, Dan DiStefano, Barry Gaines, Jack Hanrahan, Martha Humphreys, Coslough Johnson, Ted Pedersen, Tom Ruegger

Public service announcements
In addition to this series, there were also ten 30-second public service announcements produced by Michael Sporn Animation for syndicated TV during the general period when the series aired. These spots also taught the value of fair play and sportsmanship, but without the plot of the series.