Rubik the Amazing Cube, produced by Ruby-Spears Enterprises, first aired on Saturday September 10th, 1983 on ABC television. Back in those days the Saturday morning cartoon line-ups on network television were as eagerly awaited as the new seasons of reality shows today - at least by kids. Every fall in the 80s a nifty new crop of video game and toy-driven shows turned up. (Thanks, Ronald Reagan, for media dergulation.) I loved all that stuff, especially when the Pac-Man cartoon came out in 1982. I was obsessed with Pac Man. I have no idea why. There was nothing really interesting or emotionally compelling about a yellow ball that eats things. But I loved it.

So, in 1983, on the tail end of the cube fad, ABC released a cartoon about a Rubik's Cube. Of course for a Rubik's Cube to be a lot of fun, it has to be alive. So he was a magical Rubik's Cube named - of all things - Rubik. And back then, cute aliens and smurfs were pretty popular, so Rubik is some kind of cross between a Rubik's Cube, a smurf, and some sort of elf or maybe Yoda (with similarly unusual grammar).

This was back when you hardly knew anything about what shows were coming out until right before. The first time I saw Rubik was on the ABC Saturday mornng preview special, hosted that year by Dick Clark, one night (Tuesday, Wednesday... Something like that) mere days before Rubik first aired. I was instantly endeared to the magic Rubik's Cube. Now, granted, I was 10, but to this day I still love Rubik.

The next Saturday morning I was glued to the TV, watching the entire ABC Saturday lineup, (I'm sure ABC was totally stoked!) waiting, waiting, waiting. And I wasn't disappointed. I watched faithfully every week, all 13 episodes of Rubik the Amazing Cube, which ran round and round for a year. The next fall, Rubik was gone. But whenever I've thought of Saturday mornings from then until now - getting up at the crack of dawn and eating about seven bowls of cereal before 10 AM - I thought of Rubik the Amazing Cube. It stuck out as an all-time favorite along with the Ewoks/Droids Adventure Hour, Bugs Bunny and The Littles.

I don't think anyone is sure about where Rubik originally came from. His age and origin are never discussed, though there are some episodes which set up possible future plots where Rubik's mystery might be solved. Just one more season might have shed a little more light on the whole thing.

But anyway, Rubik is discovered by three kids - Carlos, Reynaldo and Lisa Rodriguez - one night when the chest in which he is imprisoned is jarred from the back of a ramshackle Gypsy wagon and broken apart in the road, revealing its precious cargo. The kids happen by and notice the multicolored cube, unsolved. Carlos seems to have some uncanny gift for Rubik's Cube solving (His solve in the show's title sequence is an unofficial world recrod at about 2 seconds!), so he solves the cube, freeing Rubik from yet another prison - his own cube. Since Carlos has set Rubik free, naturally Rubik is his cube, sworn to do whatever Carlos asks of him. Conversely, Rubik is the self-appointed guardian of all three of the Rodriguez children, very protective and constantly concerned with their safety.

Fortunately Carlos and his siblings are pretty good kids and rarely ask Rubik to do more than helping with chores and solving crimes - you know, normal kid stuff. But being children, they are also given to ask Rubik for things that are against his better judgement. Sometimes Rubik even offers his powers at times when they are better left untapped, causing minor humorous household disasters. At any rate, Rubik's powers are rather genie-like, everything from telekenesis to shape-shifting.

There is a definite element of Scooby Doo in Rubik the Amazing Cube, since almost every episode deals with the children and Rubik discovering and foiling some crime, robbery, injustice, or general misdeed. Most of the bad guys worked in pairs and were always men - "bad men" as Rubik so simply called them. There was also often some sort of ghost legend or curse, of which the bad guys were wary. Rubik would usually use his powers to make them think the curse was real. So, in addition to being caught it the act, they would also get scared out of their minds in the process.

The catch here was that Rubik had to be kept secret. My guess is that people whould take advantage of Rubik if they all knew about his powers, or else they would send him to a lab to be studied by guys in white coats, so he was usually hiding in Carlos's pocket (Ever try to put a Rubik's Cube in your pocket?). Even the kids' parents didn't know about Rubik. But their dog Sparky did. I think Sparky was a little jealous of Rubik, since all he did was bark at Rubik and try to bury him whenever he had a chance.

The other catch was that Rubik became pretty much helpless if even the slightest bit misaligned, and, despite his nearly unlimited magical powers, Rubik was amazingly easy to knock off balance. I think a good stiff wind could scramble his colors. It was never said outright, but it's pretty clear that a good startle was often what caused Rubik to spontaneously scramble. And with his god-like powers Rubik needed some sort of glaring weakness so there could at least be a hint of peril, apart from the possiblity of Mom and Dad discovering him. (They think Rubik is just Carlos's favorite toy.) Speaking of which, Rubik can - in time of dire need - scramble himself in order to hide. He can also hide inside his cube while it's solved, though he rarely chooses to do so. So there was always that point in each story where - just at the wrong time - Rubik would get knocked "outta whack," as Lisa once so eloquently put it. And things all depended on Carlos's ability to solve him quickly, usually while in a life-threatening situation like going over a waterfall or during a confrontation with dangerous thugs.

The most interesting thing about Rubik the Amazing Cube is not Rubik's powers, but rather the characters and their relationships. Even with his powers, Rubik made a lot of mistakes and learned a lot of what not to do. I suppose normal fallibility was, as with the rest of us, his greatest weakness. Most of the plots have some kind of lesson ending with the moral that friendship, loyalty, and honesty are of highest priority and that you don't need magic to fix your problems or accomplish what you are capable of without it. The good guys were good; the bad guys were bad; and the good guys always won. The endings were very happy with general jubilance, warm feelings and laughter all around.

OK, I know this is all written - very subjectively - about a show I loved as a kid and still love, looking back as an adult. And, though my take here is irreverent to a point, I still very much believe that Rubik was worthwhile. I can look past limited animation, toy marketing, unabashed cuteness, and whacky plots to see characters and ideals which are full of heart. Sure, Rubik was meant for people ages 10 and under, and I still think he's great! Simply put, Rubik the Amazing Cube is a fun 80s cartoon about an odd little cube person that had finally found friends when he'd only ever been made a slave in his past, and he was just happy to have a chance to be good and help. There's no need to get any more philosophical about Rubik than that.