Review of Seabert

Seabert (1984–1988)
10/10
Beloved, Early Childhood Classic.
27 August 2015
The other reviewers of this can count me in on remembering it. And I remember this somewhat well. For the longest, I've had vague memories of seeing it when I was little and very young. But for the life of me, I could never remember the title at all. For years, I've been trying to think of what the title of the cartoon could be. I tried googling something like "cartoon with white seal" and I didn't get this as the result in the search but rather Chuck Jones's The White Seal", which isn't what I thought it was. It wasn't the same thing I was looking for and shouldn't be confused with this, but I checked that out on Youtube and enjoyed it anyway. Back to this, so it's not just me, I'm not the only one who has been recounting this show. I'm not crazy because I imagined it at all, after all. I remember seeing copies of episodes of this show on VHS at the video rental store not very far from my area where it used to be before that was replaced by a Blockbuster. Just last night, I finally found out and was reminded of the title only because after a separate Google search, I came across a site called Wing Nut Toons, and if I hadn't found what I was looking for there, I probably still would wrack my brain trying to seek what was so hard to find. I also learned two facts about this show that I didn't know at the time: That it also aired on HBO and is a foreign import, a French-Belgian co-production, both of which I was unaware of at the time. Since HBO was among the premium channels at the time, I would've been able to hear the audio, but not see the visual because it would've been a scrambled picture instead, so the only other option for me to see this unscrambled was on VHS. Upon rediscovering this, I had to type a review on it.

I saw the English dubbed intro of this for the first time in years on Youtube last night. Although it's been years since I've seen any episodes and I may not have even seen the whole series when I was much younger, I remember enjoying it. I have yet to see any episodes again as an adult, even though it's been a long time since I seen it, despite that, I'm still willing to state that I think I'd still enjoy this now just as much as I did way back then. I'll even go as far as to say that not only is it a beloved, early childhood classic, but among my favorites from the '80s as well. I don't recall the plots/story-lines of the individual episodes, but I know very well about the premise revolving around the eponymous seal or sea lion pup who gets rescued by a couple of kids after becoming orphaned due to the selfish acts of hunters and poachers. Then, the three try to prevent the activities of hunting and poaching done to other animals. I remember the boy, Tommy, but not so much the Inuit girl, Aura. I thought Tommy was accompanied by a slightly older sister or female friend, or either of those may have had been featured in at least one episode then. Whichever episode that is, I've got to see that one again, since that's the only one I vaguely remember well. This animated show was so difficult for me to come across again, I presumed it must've been a very obscure cartoon. And it hasn't aired in the States since the last episode, with or without repeats for a while. To anyone who hasn't seen it, I'd still recommend this for the message it sends about animal endangerment and protecting the wildlife. I'm willing to believe that it still holds up today, more so than Captain Planet and the Planeteers, and I'll take this over that any day.
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