Mission Magic



""Do you believe you believe in magic?

'Cause I believe I believe that I do.

Yes, I can see I believe that it's magic.

If your mission is magic, your love will shine through!""

Mission: Magic! is a Fantasy Animated Series from Filmation that ran from 1973 to 1975 on ABC. Like the better known The Magic School Bus, it featured a magical teacher, Miss Tickle, who would take her "Adventurers' Club" group of six multi-ethnic students (consisting of the blonde Carol, the African American male Franklin, the Asian female Kim, the fat, sardonic Harvey, the Cloudcuckoolander Socks, and the Malaproper Vinnie) through a portal in a magical blackboard, which she would open by bringing to life the statuette of her cat, Tut-tut, with the chant:

"O Tut-Tut, cat of ancient lore,

'Tis time to draw the magic door."

Very often Miss Tickle and her adventurers would be summoned to the other side of the blackboard by Rick Springfield and his owl Ptolemy for some special mission -- often to spoil the schemes of some magical offender committing a series of themed crimes in "the real world," such as Dr. Astro, stealing treasures representing the Zodiac, or the light-wielding Madam Marquee and Baron Borealis, who steal power-stations.

Tropes Employed In Mission: Magic!:

 * Aesop: Every episode would feature some moral lesson (e.g. "Modran" was about the evils of cheating).
 * Ancient Egypt: Not only do Ptolemy and Tut-tut have Ancient Egyptian names, but one episode, "Nephren," featured an ancient Egyptian sorceress-queen matching magic with Miss Tickle.
 * Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Madam Mammoth in "Giant Steppes."
 * Broken Aesop: In "Nephren," Miss Tickle fixes some of the damage time has dealt to the ancient City of Antiquities -- but when Queen Nephren restores it to pristine condition, Miss Tickle declares that it is wrong for her to restore it completely, because "we should never tamper with the records of history." What?
 * Catch Phrase: Tut-tut, Cat of Ancient Lore...
 * Celebrity Voice Actor/Ink Suit Actor: Rick Springfield.
 * Chick Magnet: Rick.
 * Cool Teacher: Miss Tickle.
 * Deranged Animation: The bizarre opening animation, which was extremely reminiscent of Yellow Submarine.
 * Disney Acid Sequence: In each episode, Rick sings a song, accompanied by Deranged Animation.
 * Evil Sorcerer: Quite a few of the villains -- e.g. Dr. Astro, Dr. Daguerrotype, Captain Coda.
 * Averted with Modran, who has no real powers.
 * Five-Token Band: In accordance with Filmation's commitment to socially progressive ideals, the Adventurers' Club carefully contained two and a half token minorities: Franklin, a black male, and Kim, an Asian female.
 * ~Hey, It's That Voice!~: Not merely Rick Springfield. Many of the voices were done, unpaid, by producer Lou Scheimer's children, as a cost-saving measure.
 * Incredible Shrinking Man: Miss Tickle in "Giant Steppes."
 * Inexplicably Awesome: Miss Tickle's far out powers are just taken as a given.
 * Limited Wardrobe: Miss Tickle's groovy bell-bottomed pants-suit and Rick's white outfit with emblazoned "r."
 * Magical Girl: Miss Tickle
 * Magitek: The magical gramophone on which Rick would call to Miss Tickle from the magical side of the blackboard, Miss Tickle's magical shoulder-bag and fountain pen. Several villains also had magical machines, e.g. Captain Coda with his Music Eliminator.
 * Malaproper: Vinnie
 * Monumental Theft: Dr. Daguerrotype uses his Spooky Photographs to steal the world's famous monuments.
 * The Munchausen: Principal Samuels
 * Music Video: Every episode featured a song written and performed by Rick Springfield.
 * Our Genies Are Different: One appears in the episode "Modran."
 * The Owl-Knowing One: Ptolemy, Rick's magical owl
 * Right-Hand-Cat: Miss Tickle's cat, Tut-tut
 * Screw the Electric Bill!: Baron Borealis, Count Celestra, and Madam Marquee are three rivals in "The Land of Lights," who continually vie to create the brightest light display, in order to become that land's ruler.
 * Stock Footage: This is Filmation we are talking about here.
 * Surrounded by Idiots: Every villain seemed to have at least one moronic sidekick.
 * Talking Animal: Averted. As usual on Filmation series, none of the animals could talk.
 * Theme Naming: As, for instance, Modran's bumbling Mooks, Bell, Book, and Candle, and Captain Coda's Sharp and Flat.
 * Twofer Token Minority: Kim, an Oriental girl
 * Time Travel: Into the past in "Nephren" and into The Future in "2600 A.D."
 * Underwater City: In "Something Fishy"
 * Vain Sorceress: Nephren
 * Verbal Tic: Miss Tickle has a tendency to sing her words.
 * What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made on Drugs?