Teddy Ruxpin
Teddy Ruxpin is an animatronic teddy bear invented by Ken Forsse, Larry Larsen and John Davies. He was first produced in 1985 by toy manufacturer Worlds of Wonder. Teddy would move his mouth and eyes as he read stories via a standard audio tape deck built into his back. There was also a companion toy named Grubby which connected to Teddy via a cable; this allowed the two some (minimal) interaction. As well, there were several other non-animatronic companion toys and characters such as the bird-like Fobs, a hand puppet with a sock-like, extendable neck.
Even with the strength of its line of toys, Worlds Of Wonder's rocket-like rise gave way to a rock-like fall. In an attempt to stem the tide, WOW issued Non-Investment Grade Bonds, commonly known as junk bonds in an effort to buoy itself. Although there is some contention as to if this would ever have helped, the attempt was made moot by the 1987 stock market crash. Worlds Of Wonder eventually filed for bankruptcy in 1988 and went though a series of layoffs. They folded not long thereafter and the remaining assets were liquidated.
Playskool then produced the Teddy Ruxpin line of toys for the next few years till 1996 using the redesign that had been implemented by Worlds Of Wonder. This Teddy Ruxpin was smaller, and used special cartridges instead of cassette tapes. Unfortunately for many the cartridge system proved to be easily damaged, often by younger siblings.
In 1998, Yes! Entertainment brought Teddy Ruxpin back for a third time. The size was the same as the Playskool version and they switched back to using the more standard cassete tape. This venture was short-lived, however, as Yes! Entertainment's management and financial troubles ultimately resulted in AlchemyII withdrawing the licensing for Teddy.
In 2005 Backpack Toys announced a fourth version of Teddy Ruxpin, which would replace the audio tapes with digital cartridges. The launch was delayed, and the company hopes to have units available September of 2006. [1]
How Teddy Ruxpin talks
Teddy Ruxpin cassettes contain both the audio that Teddy Ruxpin will play, along with an encoding of how his mouth and eyes will move during playback, so that his lips (and Grubby's, when connected) move in sync with the appropriate dialogue.
A normal (non-Teddy) cassette tape is designed for stereo playback with two distinct tracks on each side for the left and right speakers. In contrast, a Teddy Ruxpin cassette uses the two tracks differently: left track to contain the audio, and the right track to encode the movements. A special hole in the top of the cassette tells the teddy bear that the right track contains movement data - this hole is similar to a standard cassette's write protection notch, but closer to the center. Normal stereo tape decks use this notch to detect that a high bias cassette has been inserted. Without the notch, the player assumes that a normal cassette is being played, and avoids interpreting the right track as movements (which would clearly cause the bear to malfunction).
Teddy Ruxpin movement data is encoded as a series of rapid pulse groups known as Pulse-position modulation. The data track contains continuous groups of nine pulses separated by silence. The nine pulses are not evenly spaced - in fact quite the opposite - the amount of time that elapses between each individual pulse determines the following characteristics (each of which is assigned to one of the "time slots" between two of the pulses): position of Teddy's eyes, upper jaw, lower jaw, and (if Grubby is attached), the position of Grubby's eyes, upper jaw and lower jaw.
One of the slots is also assigned as a switch to route the audio through Grubby instead of Teddy, and is activated during Grubby's parts of the dialogue. If Grubby is not attached, then the audio just plays through Teddy.
1987-1988
Teddy Ruxpin leaves his homeland in Rillonia with his friend Grubby in search of adventure. They meet up with an inventor named Newton Gimmick who accompanies them on their quest for the Treasure of Grundo. What the trio unexpectedly find are six crystals with different meanings and powers. These crystals, however, also can enable the Monsters and Villains Organization (MAVO) to have absolute power over the land, and their leader, Quellor, wants to make sure that an Illiop never possesses the crystals. Elsewhere, a less pronounced threat also routinely besieges the trio, the wannabe villain Jack W. Tweeg, a greedy troll/grunge who has his eyes on joining MAVO. The sixty five episode series unfolds gradually as the Trio meet interesting and often friendly creatures while visiting intriguing lands.
References
- "Teddy Ruxpin goes digital". CNN. Retrieved June 16.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - "The UNofficial Teddy Ruxpin Frequently Asked Questions website". TRFAQ. Retrieved August 1.
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