In 1979, the children’s program Odisea Burbujas debuted on Canal de las Estrellas; it had strange characters and an educational mission. Who would have imagined that it would be one of the most successful programs on Mexican television?
Silvia Roche, the creative mind of Odyssey Bubbles
Silvia Roche was born in 1940 to a German father and a Mexican mother. She studied educational psychology and began her professional career almost by chance: she wrote her children’s stories about her, because she did not want to read them the classic tales, which she considered cruel. Thus, she began publishing children’s books in the 1970s.
Already with the author’s recognition, she was invited to produce her stories on XEW Radio and the managers proposed that she create more children’s content.
a fantastic idea
Roche had a clear intention of creating a program that would bring children closer, in a fun way, to the wonders of life: art, literature and science.
To create Odyssey Bubbles, he was inspired by his childhood imaginary friends: a toad, a lizard, a mouse and a bumblebee. Her father, a scientist in Germany, was the inspiration to create the professor memelovsky.
The antagonist, always necessary in a story, was the ecolocoan almost prophetic character: the number one enemy of ecology, created long before there was talk of global warming.
In this way, in 1979 the first episode of Bubbles was broadcast on the radio, with such success, that a few months later the television program would premiere on channel 2, every Sunday at 10:00 a.m. From that day on, the children would wait impatiently for Sunday morning to arrive.
The entire team included the program director, Enrique Segoviano; the creator of the musical theme Juan García Esquivel; and different actors who played Green Legs, the Ecoloco, Cuddly Mouse, to the photographer Mafafa Musguito; to the reporter Zigzag Pistachio (understood and noted!); and to the teacher memelovsky.
At the same time, the program created an unforgettable universe: machines to travel in time and space; and the introduction of characters of all kinds, from Pythagoras to Count Dracula.
Educational television has probably never been so successful; stimulating the imagination and fostering values such as teamwork, curiosity and the importance of caring for our planet.
Due to its resounding success, the bubblefever: all kinds of products with the characters went on sale: dolls, clothes, sweets, records and cassettes.
The Twilight of Odyssey Bubbles
However, after several years of working long hours, the crew, including the actors who wore the characters’ boots for long hours; they reached tremendous exhaustion, ending the program in 1984.
Odisea Burbujas was dedicated to making live presentations and later in 2003, the sequel was produced on television. But it seems that the production was unaffordable, which marked the end of the bubbles.
Ah, what times those! Surely those eighties children who enjoyed Odyssey Bubbles still remember Sunday mornings with great emotion, when he began a series of fantastic adventures in time, space and the world of imagination… We took off!