The Return of Bunjee (partially lost ABC animated special; 1985)

Title card.

Status: Partially Lost

The Return of Bunjee is a two-part animated ABC Weekend Special from the eighth season of the anthology series with parts 1 and 2 airing on April 6th and 13th, 1985, respectively. It is the sequel to The Bunjee Venture (or The Amazing Bunjee Venture as it is alternatively titled), which is based on the book of the same title by Stan McMurtry. Unlike its predecessor and most other ABC Weekend Specials, this one isn't based on a story or book and is completely original. Both ABC Weekend Specials featuring the Bunjee character were written by Malcolm Marmorstein and co-produced by Hanna-Barbera's foreign subsidiary studio, Hanna-Barbera Australia, and Southern Star Entertainment. Co-producers were Doug Patterson, the late William Hanna, and the late Joseph Barbera.

Frank Welker, Nancy Cartwright, Robbie Lee, and Linda Gary reprise their voice roles from the first special.

Premise

Setting out to find a mother for the Bunjee babies, Bunjee, Karen, and Andy use the time machine once again. But in this venture, they're sent to Medieval Times. Then, they must go through the obstacle of facing off against a malevolent sorceress and a three-headed dragon before they can return home and to the kids' time. They eventually find a mother who also becomes Bunjee's mate named Bunjana.

Availability

While The Bunjee Venture had a domestic video release, The Return of the Bunjee did not. The movie did receive a release on VHS in Italy titled Il Ritorno di Bunjee, but it's incredibly rare and has not been digitally archived to date.

On July 3rd, 2020, the YouTube channel thisisvhshell uploaded a compilation trailer from a Polish tape, which includes some footage of the special.

Other than descriptors of the story, the video's cover, and a few pieces of screenshots and footage, no other media of this special has been found prior to the 26th of December in 2022 when Internet Archive user greyscale42 uploaded the full animated special on the Internet Archive and also uploaded it on YouTube in their YouTube channel, Obscure Media Archive. They stated that their grandmother had recorded the special back when it aired on VHS and had found said recorded VHS years later in their closet. They would later digitize said VHS and upload them to the internet, minus the outro credits.

Gallery

The Italian VHS release.

Screenshots

Footage

The Return of Bunjee (missing credits).

External Links