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| Sabrina, The Animated Series (1999)Sabrina: The Animated Series is the name of an American animated television series based on the Archie Comics character Sabrina, the Teenage Witch produced by DiC Entertainment, which was owned by Disney at the time. Additionally, a continuation-spinoff series, Sabrina's Secret Life, was produced, this time without the ownership of Disney. The series debuted in 1999. The Archie Comics star had already graced the Saturday morning airwaves in the 1970s, but the popularity of the live-action Sabrina, the Teenage Witch sitcom in the 1990s formed part of the basis for this spinoff series. The series ran on UPN and in syndication (on Disney's One Too weekday afternoon block) and on ABC (on Disney's One Saturday Morning block) for one season with 65 episodes produced. In October 2002, a made-for-television movie based on the series was produced for cable channel Nickelodeon. This was soon followed by a follow-up animated series, Sabrina's Secret Life. The original series at that time began airing on cable channels Disney Channel and Toon Disney, but recently has reverted once again to airing in syndication. The series returned to Saturday mornings in the Fall of 2006 on CBS as part of its new KOL Secret Slumber Party on CBS. Unlike previous versions, Sabrina in this series was depicted as a 12-year-old attending middle school. As in the original comic series, Sabrina lives with her two aunts, Hilda and Zelda Spellman, and Salem Saberhagen, Sabrina's sarcastic cat (voiced by Nick Bakay, the voice of Salem in the live-action Sabrina the Teenage Witch sitcom), all of whom advise Sabrina on the use of her powers (thereby contradicting the live-action show's premise of not having those powers prior to her sixteenth birthday). In this series, the two aunts little resemble their comic counterparts in appearance (Hilda becomes a brunette, while Zelda's hair is turned reddish-blonde in color). They appear to be young (thanks to having been de-aged as part of an undefined punishment by the Witch's Council), but in the episode "Witchery Science Theatre", Zelda claims to be over 65 years old, and proves it with a scroll from an Egyptian Pharaoh. In the episode "Working Witches", they claim to have been hired by the king of Troy to "help interior decorate his fortress" by bringing in the Trojan Horse, followed later in the episode by remarking that "we have 300 years under our belt, but our bodies are 16." An original character created for this series is Uncle Quigley, Sabrina's maternal great-uncle and the household's adult guardian. Sabrina's best friends in this series were Chloe Flan (voiced by Cree Summer) and Harvey Kinkle. Chloe, an African-American girl, is the only "mortal" (the name that witches give to ordinary humans) besides Quigley that knows that Sabrina is a witch. Harvey, meanwhile, is the boy that Sabrina has a crush on. Together, the three friends lived in the fictional town of Greendale, and would engage in numerous adventures. Most episodes centered around the typical problems of middle school, along with those that stemmed from Sabrina's inexperience with or misuse of witchcraft. Sabrina and best friend Chloe would often use magic (often from the "Spooky Jar"—a cookie jar containing a genie-like being—in the family's kitchen) for all sorts of perceived emergencies, ranging from trying to fit into skinny new clothes to making Sabrina's boyfriend Harvey into a superhero. By the end of each episode, the magic would backfire. Sabrina would learn that using magic usually wasn't the solution to her day-to-day problems. Sabrina's chief rival in the series is Gem Stone (voiced by Chantal Strand), a wealthy snob and Sabrina's classmate. Melissa Joan Hart, title star of the live-action sitcom, acted as producer of this series, but her younger sister, Emily Hart, voiced Sabrina. Melissa instead voiced Sabrina's two aunts, Hilda and Zelda. Savage Steve Holland (whose previous credits include producing Eek! The Cat) was the executive producer of Sabrina: The Animated Series. As such, the series reflected some of the irreverent style of humor seen on Eek! The Cat. Celebrity voice cameos in this series included Mr. T and "Weird Al" Yankovic.
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