...and we looked forward to the many adventures we would have.

Overview

“The Airship” is a story from the World of Teddy Ruxpin Adventure Series and is a re-imagining of the 1985 story "The Airship”. It was included with the BackPack Toys and Wicked Cool Toys Teddy Ruxpin talking toys. Originally released in 2006, this story marks the first time any of the original Adventure Series stories had been altered in any way since their debut on the original Worlds of Wonder Teddy Ruxpin.

The story is the first in what would become known as the "Treasure Series" in the Backpack Toys Teddy Ruxpin Adventure Series. This series expanded on the original incarnations of their stories (most notably "The Airship" and "The Missing Princess") to include elements of the 1985 “The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin” ABC Live Action Special. Using soundbites from that production, the 2006 edition broadens the narrative regarding the heroes' search for the Treasure of Grundo and Tweeg’s efforts to thwart them.

To accommodate the additional content, other elements were eliminated from the story, such as the heroes’ encounter with Leota the Woodsprite, which was moved to the next entry, “Captured by Mublups”.

Like every entry in the BackPack Toys series, two books were issued for “The Airship”: one picture book and one containing the entire text of the story. The picture book is noted for not only using some of the original art of the 1985 edition, but also updated many of its character models to conform more closely to their later renditions, such as Grubby’s appearance becoming more rounded and less angular and bug-like. Meanwhile, several pages of brand new art were created to accompany the expanded narrative, most notably the quest for the Treasure of Grundo and the scenes in Tweeg’s Tower.

The BackPack Toys Treasure Series continues with "Captured by Mudblups," "Wooly and the Wizard," "The Missing Princess," and "The Treasure."

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Summary

Teddy Ruxpin and his friend Grubby the Octopede have traveled from their homeland of Rillonia to the wondrous Land of Grundo in search of the fabled Treasure of Grundo. They are quickly waylaid by a horde of Bounders and rescued by kind inventor Newton Gimmick. Gimmick agrees to assist them in their quest, but the evil Tweeg enlists his henchman L.B. to switch the treasure map for a fake one. Newton Gimmick introduces his latest invention: an Airship which can fly them right up to the treasure’s supposed location, but the team quickly discover there are a few kinks to work out. They finally get the Airship airborne, unaware that they are following a fake map in the wrong direction.

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Synopsis

Teddy begins by singing “Come Dream With Me Tonight” (Introduction).

Teddy introduces himself and asks if he and the listener can be friends. He also promises to introduce the listener to many of his other friends. He encourages the listener to listen to a certain sound, and a jingle plays, indicating that the listener should turn to Page 1 of their book. Each time the sound jingles again, the listener should turn to the next page.

Next, Teddy introduces Grubby. Grubby greets the listener, and the two sing about their friendship (“My Friend”).

Teddy explains that he and Grubby had always wanted to go in search of adventure, and that they had found an old treasure map to the fabled Treasure of Grundo along with a medallion. The two leave their homeland of Rillonia and set out on their quest (“Come Dream With Me Tonight” (Excerpt)).

As they make their way into Grundo, Grubby begins to complain that his feet are sore. Considering Grubby has eight legs to Teddy’s two, Teddy agrees to stop and rest, and they make camp. Over the campfire, Grubby prepares his specialty: roasted root. He invites Teddy to try one, which Teddy does. He manages to avoid hurting Grubby’s feelings when asked what he thinks of them, and Grubby asks if Teddy misses home at all. Teddy admits he misses it a little, and Grubby reminds him that Teddy is the first Illiop to leave Rillonia in a long time, as they haven’t been adventurous by nature for many generations. Teddy reiterates his desire to journey to Grundo and discover whether this map really leads to a treasure.

The next morning, Grubby’s feet are well rested and the two continue on their journey. They reach a deep ravine with high cliffs on either side and see a sign that says, “Beware of Bounders”. Not knowing what to make of it, they trudge forward. Soon, they are pursued by short, red creatures with stubby legs and reptilian tails. Their bodies are dominated by enormous jaws with rows of sharp teeth! Teddy and Grubby hurry to escape the Bounders and end up running into Newton Gimmick, who is out on a walk to collect firewood. As the Bounders approach, Gimmick lodges a stick of wood upright in each gaping mouth. Nullified, the Bounders bounce away.

Teddy and Grubby thank Gimmick for saving them and properly introduce themselves. Gimmick recognizes Teddy as an Illiop, and Teddy explains that they are on a journey to find the Treasure of Grundo. Gimmick suggests that one of his latest inventions may be of some help, and invites them back to his house to see it.

Meanwhile, one of the Bounders returns to a tall tower across the Valley from Gimmick’s House. In it lives Jack W. Tweeg: a villainous half-troll, half-Grunge. Tweeg pulls the wood out of L.B. the Bounder’s mouth. L.B. tries to inform Tweeg of what he’s seen, but Tweeg is too preoccupied with trying to make gold out of buttermilk. He’s attempted this before, but has only ever been able to produce buttermilk doughnuts. L.B. finally manages to tell Tweeg that there are two new visitors at Gimmick’s house and Tweeg becomes paranoid that Gimmick is recruiting help to steal Tweeg’s gold formula.

Tweeg gazes through his spyglass to see Teddy and Grubby sitting on Gimmick’s front porch. He sends L.B. down to eavesdrop on them while Tweeg himself fires a shot at them from his cannon.

The sound of the cannonfire alarms Teddy and Grubby, but Gimmick is completely nonplussed, assuring them that Tweeg is “the world’s worst shot”. The cannonball falls harmlessly short of the mark.

Reassured, Teddy and Grubby proceed to show Gimmick the treasure map and medallion. Gimmick investigates the medallion, which appears to be only part of a whole and made of gold and crystal. The inscription on the medallion reads, “The...Spirit...Treasure...Ledge.” Gimmick deduces from the map that the treasure is apparently hidden in the Hard-to-Find City, which lies at the top of the Treacherous Mountains, known to be impossible to climb. Fortunately, Gimmick has a solution to this and leads around back of the house where he unveils his invention: an Airship.

Originally constructed as a boat until Gimmick realized he did not live close to any body of water (as Grubby points out), Gimmick has instead attached a large airbag to the underside of the ship and added a stove to the deck. By filling the airbag with hot air, the ship would rise off the ground, allowing them to fly right up to the Treacherous Mountains. Teddy and Grubby invite Gimmick to share in the treasure should they find it, and the three make ready to depart on their quest.

As Gimmick heads back to the house for supplies, L.B. confronts him, open-mouthed. Instinctively, Gimmick lodges the treasure map in L.B.’s mouth, and the Bounder makes his way back to Tweeg. Overjoyed at the chance to beat Gimmick to the treasure, Tweeg decides to make a fake version of the map with every location marked incorrectly. After loading up his wagon with supplies, he instructs L.B. to take the phony map back to Gimmick’s house.

As Gimmick and the crew prepare to lift off, Teddy begins to wonder where the treasure map is. Gimmick assumes he’s left the map back in the house. Meanwhile, L.B. has left the false map in plain sight. Gimmick finds it and brings it aboard the Airship.

As the group prepares for their first ascent, Grubby begins to remark that something doesn’t seem quite right. Gimmick assures him everything is working as designed. As the hot air begins to fill the airbag, the ship begins to lift off the ground. But Grubby quickly realizes something is wrong, and suddenly the entire ship topples over upside down, crashing to the ground.

As they excavate themselves from the crash site, the three realize that as the airbag inflated, it pushed the ship aside so it could rise to the air. The airbag should be pulling the ship up, not pushing it. They redesign the Airship to dangle from ropes wrapped around the airbag, and that seems to do the trick.

The Airship takes off and the group are finally on their way to discovering the Treasure of Grundo (“Come Dream With Me Tonight” (Excerpt)).

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Songs

• "Come Dream With Me Tonight" (Introduction)
• "My Friend"
• "Come Dream With Me Tonight" (Excerpt)

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Trivia

• While drawing upon elements from the original version of “The Airship”, this version closely resembles the narrative as told in the “The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin” ABC Live Action Special.
• This story marks the first time in almost a decade that Phil Baron would record new material as the voice of Teddy Ruxpin, having last recorded new material for the Yes! Entertainment version of the talking toy in 1998.
• New art was drawn to accommodate the expanded story. Artist Maggie Parr would create several pages of new work. Additionally, work was done to allow the characters to conform to their more “rounded” iterations as seen in the later Adventure Series books. Of the almost 20 pieces of art used in the book, only about half a dozen can be considered “original” works from the 1985 version of “The Airship”.
• While the Airship makes its first successful ascent in this story, it would not be successfully navigable until the intervention of Leota the Woodsprite. While this was included in the original version of “The Airship”, that thread was instead moved to the beginning of the sequel story, “Captured by Mudblups”.
• While the original version of “The Airship” included the song “Come and Discover”, this version instead ends with an excerpt from “Come Dream With Me Tonight”. “Come and Discover” would be moved to the end of the story arc in “The Treasure”.
• The original version of the cartridge for this story simply featured Teddy’s likeness as depicted on the cover of the accompanying book. Later versions of the cartridge would include a banner below Teddy’s picture denoting that the cartridge also contained a preview of the four sequel entries to this story arc, collectively known as “Treasure Series 1 and 2”.
• The MP3 cartridges created for BackPack Toys Teddy Ruxpin mean that the listener could use Teddy’s control to skip to the next “story” or track. Aside from “The Airship”, each cartridge contained two stories. In place of a second story, the second track on “The Airship” instead featured a preview of the sequel stories that cover the entire “Treasure of Grundo” story arc, collectively known as “Treasure Series 1 and 2”.

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