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<FONT color=#ffffff size=2>Wellp, that's Rubik. Within the context of the show, Rubik is only brought to life when his rows of color are matched up, and the big gimmick was that very few people in the cartoon knew how to solve the puzzle. The friendly creature is either soft-spoken or retarded depending on your point of view, presenting his sentences at a rate of two words per hour. It'd be less grating if he didn't sound like he was talking to you from underwater, but I guess we were supposed to be impressed enough at a toy that can grow a head and arms. The speech capabilities were just a bonus.<BR><BR>Of course, giving Rubik sentience wouldn't provide enough action possibilities on its own, so the creature was also given magical powers. They seem to change from episode to episode rather conveniently, but the guy's basically a heroic genie lamp. Sadly, the show runs out of creativity here, filling the gaps with prototypical human characters who are either A) young and friendly, B) old and mean and dressed like pirates, or C) clueless parents who are only seen cooking dinner, eating dinner, or talking about when dinner is going to take place. Rubik didn't come to life in the most exciting setting, but at least he had a few pals...<BR><BR></FONT>
<CENTER><FONT color=#ffffff size=2><IMG src="http://www.x-entertainment.com/articles/0798/3.jpg"></FONT></CENTER><BR>Carlos is the lucky boy who discovered the enchanted Rubik's Cube, completing the puzzle and bringing his new friend to life. You know what's really amazing? The 80s were a pretty 'white decade' when it came to cartoon heroes, and when someone finally got the balls to bring in a little ethnicity, they did it with the RUBIK'S CUBE cartoon. Hard to tell if it's a step forward or backward, but make no mistake, Carlos' nationality was in name alone. Everyone on this show follows the very specific pattern of past cartoons, where the simple rule is that all humans must be two-dimensional boring clods who serve as subversive narrators while the stranger looking characters let their personalities shine. The show was all about Rubik -- these kids were just there to speed things along.<BR><BR>
<CENTER><IMG src="http://www.x-entertainment.com/articles/0798/4.jpg"></CENTER><BR>Carlos' siblings rounded out the group. Renaldo is the wise older brother, complete with Wise Older Brother Undefined Sports Jersey. Lisa was the befuddled younger sister, complete with the Befuddled Younger Sister Pigtails. Renaldo isn't really the star of the show, but he'll seem like it to you. Michael Bell, who supplied his voice, is better known for a horde of popular toon characters he brought life to: Duke from <I>G.I. Joe</I>, a ton of <I>Transformers</I>, Allstar from <I>The Snorks</I>, and even several <I>Smurfs</I>. He's not on the same plateau as Chris Latta or Frank Welker, but I sincerely doubt there's even a single person reading this who wouldn't recognize his voice within seconds. In a show as offbeat as <I>The Amazing Cube</I>, the familiarity is welcome.<BR><BR>The episodes were pretty much what you'd expect. The kids invariably end up having to fight criminals or save Rubik from criminals, leading to time-killing ten-minute chase scenes before Rubik remembers all of his magical powers to end the shows on a high note. It sort of had a Scooby Doo vibe to it, but Carlos was no Shaggy and Rubik didn't get any cooler when someone fed him treats. <I>Rubik, The Amazing Cube</I> was more 'adventure' than 'comedy,' which would've been fine had the adventures been at all interesting. Course, there's been plenty of plotless empty shows that made it big, but our little alien box monster just didn't have enough penciled-in charisma to launch a new legacy.<BR><BR>On the search for a positive, I'll say that the program <I>did</I> display some positive morals. Positive morals rarely garner interest from the six-year-old crowd, but at least Rubik wasn't going to be blamed for any kids murdering each other with hammers or wooden planks. At worst, the only bad thing a child could take from the show was the idea that shaking a Rubik's Cube puzzle over their head would enable them to jump off roofs without falling. And really, if a kid's that stupid, Rubik wouldn't even need his top drawer lawyers for the case.<BR><BR>
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<CENTER><FONT color=#ffffff size=2>In the world of cartoons, the image above can only mean one of two things. Either Rubik's delighting in the aroma of some far off cheese pizza, <I>or</I> he's performing some kind of supernatural spell. In this case, the latter. In an episode I've seen recently, Rubik managed to use his powers for all of the following in one 22-minute block: making kids and their dog fly, mixing cement, turning aforementioned cement into 'cement shoes' to trap one of the villains, flying a boat across the city skyline, <B>unwrapping pieces of candy</B>, walking through walls, dissapearing/reappearing, <B>unwrapping more pieces of candy</B>, and if I'm not mistaken, there's at least two instances where Rubik uses his magic to put 70% of the audience to sleep while the remaining 30% settle on chewing pen caps to pass the time. It wasn't a very 'exciting' show, but then again, Rubik's Cube wasn't really an 'exciting' toy.<BR><BR>Though it was pretty exciting to rip off and reapply all of the cube's stickers so I could pretend I knew how to complete the puzzle. Eh, that was more 'amusing' than 'exciting.' Rubik's really sucking the life out of me tonight...<BR><BR></FONT>
<CENTER><FONT color=#ffffff size=2><IMG src="http://www.x-entertainment.com/articles/0798/6.jpg"></FONT></CENTER><BR>The show's villains were straight from the pages of <I>Plain Bad Guys: How To Draw Villains People Have Already Seen Ten Trillion Times On Other Cartoons</I>. Running the gamut from 'mad scientist' to 'looting pirate,' most of the show's foils looked like an animated Vincent Price with tacked on Fu Manchus to note their evilosity. Rubik confirms that 'evilosity' is a word, so stop thinking whatever it is you're thinking.<BR><BR>It's up to Rubik and the kids to take down the criminal du jour, typically moving the show away from its usual settings to more adventure-ridden caves, islands and abandoned warehouses. Sometimes the villains are after money, sometimes they just want to beat up the kids. A few of the episodes sway from this derivative, but these were the common plots. The show raised tensions by giving Rubik one notable weakness: he'll often lose his color coordinated pattern when stunned, rendering him faceless and helpless...<BR><BR>
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