The Popples was a 30-minute cartoon based on a series of toys created by Those Characters from Cleveland, a subsidary of American Greeting. The original show aired from 1985-1987. These fuzzy, magical creatures could pull anything out of the pouches on their backs from a hammer to an elephant. They also flipped into their pouches to become balls of fur to bounce around or hide. The name “Popples” came from the popping sound they made when they sprang back out of a ball to normal.
The Popples only revealed themselves to two children, Bonnie and Billy, whose attic they lived in, and later to their neighbors who wound up living with the Baby and Punk Rocker Popples. At the beginning, all the Popples names started with “P”, including the original 9 Popples, Punk Rocker Popples, and the Pufflings. However, the Baby Popples and the Sports Popples do not have names that begin with “P”. Popples repeat the “p” sound for words beginning in “P”. For instance, Party will say, “P-p-popples love to p-p-party!”
The basic plot of every episode was that the Popples follow Bonnie and Billy somewhere against the children’s’ wishes, make a HUGE mess right when an adult walks away, and they must clean up their mess before the adult returns. Many times, the Popples will ask the audience to lend them a hand too.
One of the amazing things about the Popples is that there are no evil villians in the show and it still held an audience.
Popples Theme Song
Original Opening
Opening Version 2
Includes the Pufflings, Rock Star Popples, and Bibsy & Cribsy
Theme Song Lyrics
Popples
Pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-popples
The Popples, they’ll make you smile
Popples
Pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-popples
Popples livin’ just for fun
Laughter…and good times too when the popples pop up for you
They pop up just for you
Popples Voice Actors
| Party | Louise Vallance |
| Pancake | Sharon Noble |
| Penny | Jeannie Elias |
| Prize | Louise Vallance |
| Puzzle | Maurice LaMarche |
| Puffball | Louise Vallance |
| Punkster | Danny Mann |
| Putter | Danny Mann |
| Potato Chip | Donna Christie |
| Bonnie/Billy | Valrie Bromfield |
“Meet the Popples” Live Action TV Special
Shelley Duvall’s TV Special “Meet the Popples” was completely live action with real actors and the Popples were portrayed by puppets. You can find the TV Special on the Popples VHS tape called “Popples Volume 12: Funhouse Folly and Other Stories”.
Saban’s Popples on Netflix
A new reboot of the animated cartoon by Saban called Popples was introduced from 2015-2016. 3 seasons were developed for Netflix. The adorable Best Popple Pals love helping their friends and neighbors, but every time they do it seems to backfire in hilarious ways. The show is a complete reboot with new characters: Bubbles, Sunny, Lulu, Izzy, and Yikes. The show continues to be available on Netflix and Discovery Family but no new seasons are in production, as of July 2019.
In 2018, the rights to The Popples were sold to Hasbro.