Wowser (TV series)

Wowser, known in Japan as Bigger and Better: Dommel & Ron (どんどんドメルとロン), is an anime based on the Belgian comic strip Cubitus. It is the first TV anime to be produced by anime studio J.C. Staff. Telescreen Japan co-animated the series alongside J.C. Staff. It consisted of 52 two-part episodes the running time of 25 minutes in total, and it originally aired from 5 April 1988 to 27 March 1989. The show aired in the USA on The Family Channel in 1989.

Plot
Wowser is a large, white dog who has a big appetite and lives with his owner Professor Dinghy, a genius inventor. They live next door to Beatrice, an old lady with an apron; Linda Lovely and her brother Bob; and Ratso Catso, a black-and-white cat who often ruins Wowser's day or sabotages Dinghy's inventions.

Characters

 * Wowser (ドメル) is the main character. A large, white dog, he has a good-natured personality but a humongous appetite who often tries to have a good day, only to get annoyed by Ratso or Beatrice. He often tests out Dinghy's inventions. Japanese voice actor: Naoki Tatsuta. English voice actor: Jeff Winkless.
 * Professor Dinghy (ロン) is Wowser's owner who has a big white moustache and wears a pink sweater. He is a genius inventor, although his eccentric creations usually backfire on him due to people using the wrong way or Ratso interfering with them. He mostly likes to use Wowser to check his inventions. Japanese voice actor: Kaneta Kimotsuki. English voice actor: Simon Prescott.
 * Ratso Catso (ブラッキー) is an annoying black-and-white neighbourhood cat who appears to be Wowser's rival or his friend for some reason, and often pretends to be nice and sabotages the Professor's inventions. Japanese voice actress: Rika Matsumoto. English voice actor: Robert Axelrod.
 * Linda Lovely (チェリー) is a teenager who seems to take quite a fancy interest towards Wowser. Wowser and Dinghy also seem to have a crush on her. Japanese voice actress: Mīna Tominaga. English voice actress: Wendee Swan.
 * Bob Lovely (ボブ) is Linda's young little brother. Japanese voice actress: Tarako. English voice actress: Barbara Goodson, Wendee Swan (episode 11).
 * Beatrice (ベアトリクス) is a rather plump, tall, bossy, middle-aged woman who is often very rude to Wowser. She also seems to have a secret crush on Dinghy. Japanese voice actress: Kazuko Sugiyama. English voice actress: Melanie MacQueen.
 * Officer Whistle (ポリス) is a policeman who keeps a whistle in his mouth which is used to tell people off when there is trouble about. Japanese voice actor: Kōichi Yamadera.

Foreign versions
The English-language version was produced by Saban Entertainment. Retitled Wowser, the series aired in 1989 on The Family Channel. The dub changed the names of the characters and replaced the original music. A promotional pilot trailer was made by Saban to sell the series, with Doug Lee as the narrator, Jeff Winkless as Wowser and Ratso Catso, Robert V. Barron as Professor Dinghy, and Iona Morris as Beatrice. Some scenes were removed or edited due to their violent or sexual nature:
 * One scene in "Hippo Dance Party" was removed, where Dinghy beats Wowser on the head.
 * Another scene in "Slap Happy Birthday" was removed, where a chicken attacks Beatrice, causing her to crash and rip and ruin her dress.
 * In "Self-Cleaning Machine", an entire scene is censored where Dinghy's vacuum backfires, and Linda's clothes fly out the window and land in parts of town. A bra lands on a male statue's chest, to which he covers himself.

In the United Kingdom, Wowser aired on ITV and later on Channel 4 in the early and mid-1990s. Two videos of the series were released in two volumes by Stylus Video. In the USA, in 1990 and 1991, Wowser was released on video in four volumes in episodes with running times of 30 minutes and 60 minutes. In Canada, it aired on YTV between 1990 and 1993. In Malaysia, it aired on TV3 between 1991 and 1994.

Elsewhere, the series was dubbed in Arabic in Jordan, and released throughout the Arab world; this version was named Ka'abool (Arabic: كعبول). In 1990, the series was dubbed in French as Cubitus; it was featured on the programme Avant l'école on TF1, and aired on Super Écran in Quebec. In Spain, it was dubbed into Basque and Catalan, re-titled Dommel Artzain Txakurra ("Dommel the Shepherd Dog") and Dommel respectively. It was also dubbed into Dutch as Dommel, airing on BRT, VARA and Kindernet from 1989 to 2003. The latter channel relaunched as Nickelodeon Kindernet on Comedy Central, and the series aired from May 2011 until 31 October 2013. Since 2015, it has aired on Pebble TV. The Italian version of Wowser was titled Teodoro e L'Nnvenzione Che Non Va ("Theodore and the Wrong Invention"). In China, the series was re-titled IQ 零蛋多毛狗 ("IQ Zero Egg Hairy Dog").

Japanese version

 * Opening song:
 * "Fly Away - Yume no Hikouki"
 * Lyricist: Arisu Satou / Composer: Takanori Arisawa / Arrangement: Seichi Kyouda / Singer: Mitsuko Horie / Production: Nippon Columbia


 * Ending song:
 * "GO! GO! My Friend"
 * Lyricist: Arisu Satou / Composer: Takanori Arisawa / Arrangement: Seichi Kyouda / Singer: Mitsuko Horie / Production: Nippon Columbia

English version

 * Opening song:
 * "Wow-Wow Wowser"
 * Composers: Haim Saban and Shuki Levy / Arrangement: Michael Tavera and Bob Mithoff / Production: Saban Entertainment


 * Ending song:
 * "Wow-Wow Wowser (Instrumental)"
 * Composers: Haim Saban and Shuki Levy / Arrangement: Michael Tavera and Bob Mithoff / Production: Saban Entertainment