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Sport Billy is an animated television series produced in 1980 by Filmation in the United States, based on a German comic book created by Rolf Deyhle in 1977, whose eponymous hero is a boy who promotes sportsmanship. A single 26-episode season was produced, first broadcast in Germany and other parts of Europe from 1980 to 1981. In 1982, Filmation carried the show over to the United States for syndication,Lenburg, Jeff, Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons, Second Edition, 1999. and as a summer replacement for The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends in NBC's Saturday morning children's programming.
Billy is assisted by two faithful companions, his girlfriend named Sport Lilly and her talking dog named Willy. The trio travels around in a time traveling spacecraft named the Timeship, which is mounted on two rocket engines and resembles a giant wind-up clock, complete with a ringing bell. In each episode the trio travels through time in order to save a different Earth sport from Vanda's grasp.
The series consisted of 26 episodes. It was marketed at MIPTV Media Market in Cannes in April 1980, and first broadcast in September by ARD in West Germany. In the original English version, Sport Billy was voiced by Lane Scheimer, the son of producer Lou Scheimer, who voiced the Olympian Computer. Sport Lilly, Queen Vanda and Pandusa were voiced by Joyce Bulifant, and Willy, Sportikus XI, Sipe and Poco were voiced by Frank Welker. The series was scheduled for broadcast on NBC in the United States in the fall of 1980, but the US Olympics boycott almost bankrupted NBC, whose payment for the broadcasting rights was predicated on high domestic interest. The series was shelved for two years until after the 1982 FIFA World Cup, when it aired as a summer replacement for The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends in NBC's Saturday morning children's programming. It was the last first-run series produced by Filmation to air on NBC. The series was also shown in the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Gibraltar, Italy, Yugoslavia, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Greece, Cyprus, Spain, Turkey, Peru, Mexico, Portugal, Romania, Czechoslovakia and other countries. In contrast to its success elsewhere, the series did lower numbers in U.S. syndication than Rocky and Bullwinkle, The Jetsons and Jonny Quest, but more than The Space Kidettes, The Roman Holidays and Samson & Goliath.
Parts of the early episodes were recut into a television film shown on HBO in 1980 and RTÉ2 in 1986. It was written by Reubin Guberman, produced by William L. Cooper Jr. and Wolfgang Stein, and directed by Peter Fernandez. All the voices in the film were redubbed by Fernandez, Corinne Orr and Lionel Wilson to fit in the new script for linking the episodes together. The film was released split in parts as "episodes" on VHS in the UK.
In December 1982, Sport-Billy returned on their second visit to Peru and again visited the radio stations. This time, the songs were slightly more oriented toward youth, such as "100 kilos de barro" and "Medley a Triny Lopez". Sport-Billy performed again at the Estádio Nacional to modest success. They also performed on Segunda Teletón on Panamericana Televisión. According to Íncola, "That night of the presentation at the Estádio Nacional I was very sick, with a fever, but I got over it and went out to perform, and with the love of the public I was cured."
It was not until 1983 that Sport-Billy launched in Peru, with its second album on records and cassettes promoted by Panamericana Televisión. At that time in Argentina, amidst bitter discussions between the parents of the children and the record company, they released a shared album with the Spanish group Sus Amigos/Viva's (made up of former members of Parchis) entitled Vamos a la Playa. This album, although never released in the country, was promoted by Sport-Billy's fan club on different stations hoping for a return of the group. Shortly after the release of that album came Superagentes y titanes, an Argentine catch-up film in which Sport-Billy participated with two songs from their second album and two unreleased songs. The film was released in neighborhood theaters in Lima such as the now-defunct Cines México and Cines Bolívar. After this, the group broke up and Tonodisc ceased operations.
Since the group's last visit to Peru, Sport-Billy's fan club grew over time and became the radio station Sol Frecuencia Primera. In December 2008, the station's director and founder, journalist Sandro Parodi Cerna, interviewed Íncola (now a mother of three children) via telephone in Episode 43 of the journalist program Extremos, to the surprise of the former singer. Íncola recorded a song by the group Sin Bandera, "Que Me Alcance la Vida", although she stated that she no longer dedicates herself professionally to singing. This brought about a "nostalgic rebirth" of Sport-Billy on social networks in Latin America, with Íncola and Ragonesse receiving hundreds of admirers on Facebook.
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