- Original Series Bible - Gummi Civilization Map -
- Q&A With Jymn Magon -

Q&A With Jymn Magon

Where there plans to ever bring the Great Gummies back or have the gummies travel to New Gumbrea?

We toyed with the our Gummies going to the "new world." But actually their plan was to bring the Gummies back to their homeland. (see "Light Makes Right") But of course, reuniting our 7 Gummies with everyone and making everything turn out right would have been the end of the series. So......

How long was Gummi Bears in production before the episode aired?

From conception to finished episode, it's about a 6 month process. Knowing how mired Disney is nowadays, it's probably longer.

What do you think of fan fictions? Have you read through any? Would you ever honor us with one?

It's nice that fans care enough to keep the concept churning. Yes, I've read some. (Usually a bit too serious for my tastes. But then if everyone could write a brilliant comedy toon episode, I'd be out of a job, yes-no?) No, I'm afraid the job feeding my family is too important to me. Writing fiction for "shits'n'giggles" is not economically feasible. As it is, I usually work from 9a-1a every day of the week. So show me where the fan fiction fits in?

Why did the gummiberry juice affect Cavin twice in the fist episode?

The fist episode??? Like "Fists of Fury"??? (sorry). Actually, the rule is this. G Juice works on humans for a very short amount of time. And it won't work again for another day. If I remember correctly, Cavin drinks the stuff on 2 separate days, right?

I suppose one of the biggest kicks was hiring my idols "Rocky & Bullwinkle." June and Bill were great. For a brilliant comic genius like Bill Scott to be supportive of my feeble cartoon beginnings was very encouraging. He was always supportive, and I knew if I could make Bill Scott laugh with a script, I'd done an amazing thing.

Zummi, Grammi, Gruffi, Tummi, Sunni, Cubbi - how to being that names?

We basically wanted names that sounded funny with "Gummi." Cubbi was originally "Bubble Gummi" and Zummi was "The Grape Gummi" but we wanted to get away from any references to candy.

As you know each of characters in Disney's animation has face person who voiced of tha characters? Are the faces of Gummis is the same like face of actors?

No, the Gummi characters were already designed before we hired the actors.

How are the Gummis related?

The Gummies (note spelling) are actually not related at all. At least we never intended them to be. Of course, being descendants of the Gummi Glen Gummies, they are probably related in some distant way. It's funny, though, that viewers naturally figured that Cubbi & Sunni & Tummi were siblings, that Gruffi & Grammi were their parents, and that Zummi was the grandfather. Not true, but it doesn't really matter.

Why did Zummi switch voices?

Switch? As far as I recall, Paul Winchell always did Zummi's voice. At one point during the Pooh series, Paul did leave, however, and Jim Cummings took over the role. Perhaps that happend on Gummi Bears as well, but I was not involved with the series in the last later seasons.

How come in some episodes Cubbi's fur is a really light pink, and other times it's darker?

I don't rightly know. This would have been the producer's call. (Or maybe they ran out of pink paint in Japan!) In truth, there might have been a studio change that would cause this.

Where was Gusto before he was on the island?

Really good question. I don't know! We figured he was out sailing and became trapped on the island. But where was he sailing from? Somewhere different than Gummi Glen, obviously. We always hinted that there were other Gummi communities scattered around the country. (Chummi Gummi came from one, remember?) But I don't remember ever pinning down what warren Gusto & Artie came from.

Was Zummi based on Doc from the seven dwarves? They both seem to botch up thier words in the same way.

I don't think that was a conscious choice, but you're correct. They're both easily flustered characters.

How come there were never any female ogres on the show?

Actually, I think there were in an episode or two, no? They were probably just as ugly as their male counterparts.

How come the Gummis would go out in public in Old Shang Wu, but always hid in Dunwyn?

Again, I was not involved with the later episodes. It's something we would never have allowed in the first two seasons.

What happened to Calla's Mom? I always asumed she was dead.

Um... She ran off with Max's mom and Huey, Dewie & Louie's mom. I guess it's theage-old famous question, "What happens to all those Disney parental figures?!" // To answer your question, Calla's mom is probably dead, though we never really addressed the issue.

Where were Cavin's parents?

See above. :) (Actually, a lot of boy were sent to distant castles to become squires, which means Cavin's parents could be off living on a distant farm somewhere else in the kingdom.)

How come in the first season the gummies (hehe, spelled it right this time)...

Except for the capital "G"... Heeheehee.

...looked different from the later seasons? Were the animators switched for some reason? Did someone decide that they looked cuter with a softer appearance?

I've answered this type of question before. Yes, things get changed over the course of a series. Sometimes intentionally, sometimes by accident. Frankly, I don't have the answer, because I left the series after the 1st two seasons.

How did Zummi's hat stand up on his head like that with out hanging or falling off?

Disney magic.

How come Toady and the other ogres kept switching voices?

Toady's voice changed only once that I know of. That was when Bill Scott died after the 1st season. Corey Burton then took over for the rest of the run. The ogres, however, were always a toss-up. Gad and Zook were almost always done by Will Ryan, however, we all had a turn at playing ogres. Art Vitello and I did voices several times, and our studio manager Tom Ruzicka even played an ogre once!

How come in some episodes when the juice was made exact amount of berries were mentioned, and in other episodes amounts of handfuls would be mentioned?

Obviously the different story editors never talked to each other.

How old are the gummies supposed to be? I know that Grammi and Zummi were playmates as kids from the episode in which they were shrunk, so they have to be the same age (I figured middle aged). Is Gruffi about the same age as them or a little younger?

Again, I am not up on my Gummi lore, but I'll make some wild guesses. Cubbi was supposed to be about 7, Sunni about 12, Tummi about 20, Gruffi about 35-40, Grammi and Zummi in their 60's. (Don't quote me, cuz I could be way off.)

Why did the words for the lamp lighting spell change? I think the earlier words were Lumight cumindummo numow or something like that and later it was shortened to Lumight numow I think.

It's simply "Ummi" talk. I suppose any variation on the origianl spell is workable if spoken in Ummi talk. So light becomes "lummight", candle is "cumman-dummle" and now is "nummow."

Gruffi let Gusto and Chummi into Gummi Glen with out any problems stating all gummies are welcome. But when Grammi let Carny in he threw a fit. Obviously, he was a no good imp or something but how was he to know that? Gummi intuition?

I'm afraid I don't know the character of Carny. Was he a Gummi? If so, Gruffi should have welcomed him with open arms. But who knows. I can't speak for the later writers.

If a tree fell on a gummi in the woods and noone was around, would the gummi make a noise?

Eeeeep!

Do you believe that Disney will ever do anything original with the Gummies ever again?

I suppose if Disney could figure out how to make more bucks off of them........

Did Gummies speak English natively, or was there some Gummi language other than Zummi's spumell spumeak?

Zummi's "ummi" talk seems to be a special language used only by Gummi wizards.

Since Zummi sometimes wrote about important events in the Great Book of Gummies, does that mean that each Great Book is unique and different?

Yes. As described in the show bible, the Great Book is sort of an Encyclopedia, How-to book, Recipe book, History book, and diary. So all the Great Books are similar in Gummi lore, but each is different in their personal histories.

Do Gummi Bears have any sort of religion beyond preserving the traditions of the ancients?

C'mon now. You know full well the kind of screaming hate mail Disney would get from "concerned parents" if we started talking about religion on the air. Let's just assume that the Bears worship something and leave it at that.

Is Toadies family all short or just him and his cousin?

Toadie is just a runt. His whole family is probably normal sized.

Are you still working on those fables for Disney?

Yes, I'm rewriting "The County Mouse & the City Mouse" right now, as well as doing several more Dumbo Tales.

Here's a question for you... is there anything about the series you think is 'unfinished?' Ideas that never got carried through, that kind of stuff?

I'm sure there were episodes we wanted to do (or were killed by NBC), but I can't recall them now. If I could do a movie, it would be about the Gummies reunited with the Great Gummies overseas.

Can Gummies do any kind of magic without a medallion?

If I remember our bible correctly, no... Zummi can't do magic w/o the medallion. That's what Cavin originally gave to the Gummies.