Zummi Gummi is a character from Disney's television series Adventures of the Gummi Bears.
Background[]
Personality[]
Zummi is an aged Gummi Bear who is initially the Gummi Glen "Keeper of Gummi Wisdom".
Early in the series, he gains a Gummi Bear Medallion, which he uses to perform spells from the Great Book of Gummi, making him the group's magician.
Zummi tends to be forgetful and has a tendency towards spoonerisms when he is stressed, both of which affect his magical abilities. He is also known to suffer from a fear of heights.
Appearances[]
Role in the series[]
At the beginning of the show, Zummi is part of a small caretaker colony who lives at the ancestral home of the Gummi Bears, Gummi Glen. Though the colony once was fairly large, it has since dwindled, along with the Gummi's knowledge of their past. After an encounter with a boy named Cavin, Zummi gains a Gummi Medallion. The medallion not only allows Zummi to open "The Great Book of Gummi", which contains all the knowledge of the Gummi Bears, but allows Zummi to perform magic as well. Alongside the other Gummies, Zummi works to protect the nearby kingdom of Dunwyn from the villainous Duke Igthorn.
Despite being addle-minded from time to time, Zummi is a passionate caretaker of the Gummies of Gummi Glen, their kind's history, and the Great Book of Gummi, within which he chronicles their new adventures. Upon meeting Cavin for the first time, Zummi sees that Cavin could be trusted to guard their secret. Zummi would write down spells on paper from the book to take with him on outings, which would sometimes get them in trouble (when Zummi makes the weeds in one of the rooms of Gummi Glen grow instead of disappear, shrinks a barrel that he, Cubbi, and Gruffi are trapped in, and makes Princess Calla's voice higher instead of lower when she poses as Duke Igthorn in the episode "A Gummi by Any Other Name", but turns it around and makes Igthorn's voice higher as well, to even the playing field at Sunni's behest).
He considers Gruffi to be his best friend, which is returned despite Gruffi's pride. When the visiting Wizard Dom Gordo of Gent from another dimension is causing havoc outside of Gummi Glen, in the episode "Duel of the Wizards", looking for the magic key that Duke Igthorn stole and hid from him in order to blackmail him into helping the Duke conquer Dunwyn Castle, Zummi finds the key in the room that he and Gruffi are pruning. At first, Zummi offers his help to the wizard, but things descend into a duel of the two magicians. With Gruffi's help, they drive Igthorn off, and help Dom Gordo get back to his realm after Igthorn breaks their agreement. Zummi gives Dom his key back, which he had tried to tell him in the first place.
Zummi is regularly afraid of heights in the beginning, a problem he slowly appears to get over, in order to save Gruffi and Grammi after a thief steals the Great Book of Gummi in the episode "For Whom the Spell Holds".
Other appearances[]
Disney Parks[]
During the time of The Disney Afternoon, Zummi and the other Gummi Bears made frequent appearances at the Disney Parks. One attraction Zummi was a primary part of was Mickey's Magical TV Show at Mickey's Starland in Walt Disney World. He and Gruffi would appear in the show as Zummi would perform magic. By the fourth quarter of 1990 when The Disney Afternoon premiered, he became a solo character. Then he was removed from the show when Darkwing Duck was added in 1991. Since the end of the run of The Disney Afternoon, Zummi and the other Gummi Bears have not made any appearances at any Disney Park for many years. Like the other Gummi Bears, Zummi has become a retired character.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- During the developmental process, the character was briefly named "The Grape Gummi", a likely play of words on both "Great" and his color scheme.
- Zummi has the same voice like Tigger, and some other characters Paul Winchell voiced.
