Barely Remembered: Rubik's Cube Cartoon

Originally posted February, 2017

This is sort of a “But why?” show from the early 80s that I suppose I can sort of understand. Back then, especially, it seemed like cartoon producers would try to make shows out of anything and everything popular. A good many of them worked, and I've covered a few of them myself, most recently Dungeons and Dragons and Pole Position. Others were not such smart moves.

One of those others was the Saturday morning show based on the Rubik's Cube. For those who may not be in the know, the Rubik's Cube was a puzzle in the form of a cube with a different color on each of its six sides. The cube could be rotated on several axes, thereby randomizing the colors with the object being to get the colors back to just one on each side. It's something I never personally mastered, but there are tons of videos on YouTube about people who can solve many in quick succession.

These things were popular enough in the late 70s and early 80s that a TV show was made where a Rubik's Cube was the main character. The only thing I'm pretty sure of in regards to the origin of the character is that it involved aliens somehow. I don't recall if the Cube itself was the alien or if aliens found one and brought it to life somehow. Either way, the Cube was alive and running around with a group of kids in hopes of learning about the human things us Earth people did.

Beyond that, the only detail I remember about a specific episode is one joke involving nails. The gang was going after a bank robber or some sort of criminal. The Cube eventually managed to stop the baddie by pinning his clothes to a tree or a building or something with a cloud of nails and then declaring that he had “nailed” the crook when it worked.

I don't recall having watched this show very often. Just enough to know it existed and remember that one joke. I suspect it was a rare thing for anyone to watch this one, as I get the sense it didn't last more than one season, nor do I remember it being around in reruns very long either. Then again, with what the producers had to work with, I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did.

If this sounds like this might be your sort of show, it might worth checking out. Otherwise, I suspect you won't be missing much.