Sabrina: The Animated Series
Sabrina: The Animated Series is an American animated children's television series based on the Archie Comics character Sabrina the Teenage Witch. It was produced by Savage Studios Ltd. and Hartbreak Films in association with DIC Productions, L.P., which was owned by Disney at the time. The show is also a spin-off of the 1996–2003 live-action series "Sabrina the Teenage Witch." The series ran on ABC (also owned by Disney) and UPN. Following the series, a film, "" (2002) and a sequel series, "Sabrina's Secret Life" (2003–2004), were produced by DIC, this time without  Disney, as they had already sold off DIC by this point. Premise. Unlike previous incarnations, Sabrina Spellman in this series is depicted as a 12-year-old attending middle school. As in the original comic series, Sabrina lives with her paternal witch aunts, Hilda and Zelda Spellman and her loud-mouthed black cat Salem Saberhagen, all of whom advise Sabrina on the use of several magics. Most episodes center on the typical issues of middle school, along with those that emanated from Sabrina's inexperience with or misuse of several magic, witchcraft and extremely powerful and complex spells. Sabrina and  her best friend Chloe would often use magic (often from the "Spooky Jar"; a cookie jar containing a genie-like being in the family's kitchen) for all types of perceived emergencies, ranging from trying to fit into skinny new clothes to turning Sabrina's crush Harvey into a superhero. By the end of each episode, her innate magical abilities would unintentionally backfire and Sabrina would learn that using magic usually is not the solution to her everyday issues. Production. Sabrina had previously appeared in an animated format on "The Archie Show" (animated by Filmation), but the popularity of the  live-action "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" sitcom formed part of the basis for this spin-off series. The series was developed by Savage Steve Holland and Kat Likkel and Holland served as showrunner and executive producer of the series. As such, the series reflected some of the irreverent style of humor seen in "Eek! The Cat." Celebrity voice cameos in this series included Mr. T, Long John Baldry and "Weird Al" Yankovic. Melissa Joan Hart, who starred as Sabrina in the live-action sitcom, served as producer of this series, but her younger sister, Emily Hart (who played the recurring  character Amanda on the sitcom), voiced Sabrina. Melissa instead voiced Sabrina's two aunts, Hilda and Zelda, originally played on the live-action series by Beth Broderick and Caroline Rhea, respectively. Nick Bakay reprises his role as Salem from both the film and live-action series. The theme music is performed by the Irish girl group B*Witched. Broadcast. United States. The series first ran in syndication on UPN (on "Disney's One Too" weekday morning-afternoon and Sunday block) and ABC (on "Disney's One Saturday Morning" block) for one season, with 65 episodes produced. The series remained on both  blocks until 2002, when the series moved to both Disney Channel from September 3, 2002 to September 2, 2004, and Toon Disney from September 3, 2002 to September 5, 2004. The series was one of the launch programmes broadcast on the Syndicated DIC Kids Network E/I block, later being joined by the spinoff series "Sabrina's Secret Life." During the 2006-07 television season, the series returned as part of CBS' new "KOL Secret Slumber Party on CBS" and was briefly part of the "KEWLopolis" cartoon lineup. On September 19, 2009, the series returned to CBS, this time as  part of the network's "Cookie Jar TV" cartoon lineup, until 2010, being replaced with "Sabrina's Secret Life". Reruns of the series were aired on the "This Is for Kids" block on the TV channel This from fall 2012 to October 2013. From 2017 to 2020, reruns of the series started airing on the Starz channel, Starz Kids & Family and the series is also available to stream on Starz's streaming service. As of 2021, the series is also available to stream on Pluto TV's After School Cartoons channel. International. In Canada, the series aired on Teletoon from  late-1999 to mid-2005. The series also aired on many Disney Channel networks internationally. Beginning in 2004, many broadcasters who already aired the series began to air it as part of a package with "Sabrina's Secret Life" titled "Totally Sabrina." The package was pre-sold to TF1 in France, RTÉ in Ireland, Mediaset in Italy, ORF in Austria, Alter Channel in Greece, FORTA in Spain, SBT in Brazil, Teletoon in Canada, Super RTL in Germany, Noga Communications in Israel and Saran in Turkey, in addition to Disney Channel and Toon Disney networks in the United Kingdom, Asia, Taiwan, Australia, France , Latin America, Brazil, the Middle East and Spain. Home media. International. In the Philippines, Viva Video and Cookie Jar Entertainment released a few DVD sets in the countries. In the United Kingdom, budget distributor Prism Leisure and Fremantle Home Entertainment released "Sabrina in Love" and "Salem's World" on DVD which had the same 2 episodes as the US VHS releases respectively, but including an additional episode. An exclusive UK DVD titled "Witchy Girls" was also released in the same year, also containing 3 episodes. Reception. Common Sense Media gave the series a three out of five stars and said , "Parents need to know that this tween cartoon -- a spin-off of the live-action sitcom Sabrina, the Teenage Witch -- features similar lighthearted witch humor. Storylines focus on the trials and tribulations of being a tween: friendships, school assignments, and dealing with increasing responsibility. Many of the characters set positive examples of what it means to be a good friend." Merchandise. Viacom Consumer Products and DIC Entertainment co-released merchandise based on the series. An 11-inch Sabrina fashion doll was released by the company Bambola. Several other small plastic toys, including a few figurines and a Polly Pocket-esque  Sabrina doll were sold in stores while the series was in production. Video games. On August 17, 2000, Simon & Schuster Interactive's Knowledge Adventure and Havas Interactive officially announced the video game "Sabrina The Animated Series: Magical Adventure" for the Microsoft Windows and Macintosh computer systems. It was released in October 2000, and followed by "Sabrina The Animated Series: Zapped!" for the Game Boy Color system, released on November 22, 2000, On September 4, 2001, it was announced that Simon & Schuster Interactive had acquired the rights to the series, under license from Archie Comics based on the video game license . They subsequently released "Sabrina The Animated Series: Spooked!" (which contains the first levels for Game Boy Color platform). It was released on November 6, 2001. Comic book. While "Sabrina: The Animated Series" was airing, Archie Comics printed a comic spin-off for the show. The first issue was dated January 2000 (meaning it was on-sale in late 1999), and it lasted for 37 issues. In order to tie the plot in with their "Sabrina" series, it was stated in the first issue that Repulsa the Goblin Gueen had sent Sabrina back in time to relive her pre-teen years , so that she would be out of the way while Repulsa attempted to conquer Enchantra's realm. In issue 38, the Repulsa plot was resolved, and the comic book returned to chronicling the teenage Sabrina in the next issue.