The Glo Friends

Glo Friends are small glow-in-the-dark toys in the shape of insects and other small creatures (including the original Glo Worm) that were made by Hasbro's Playskool division in the mid 1980s (Glo Worm was introduced in 1982). Books were also made by Ladybird to accompany each Glo Friend. There was also a TV show based on the Glo Friends toy-line, originally aired in 1986 as a segment of My Little Pony 'n Friends, that only lasted one season (26 segments were made in total). My Little Pony aired the first 15 minutes, and the second half rotated among MoonDreamers, Potato Head Kids, and Glo Friends. The show was made by Marvel Productions and Sunbow Productions.

Plot

It featured the Glo Friends as a community of small insects that live in a magical place located in the middle of the forest called Glo Land, where they build their homes and they stock the Moondrops in the Glo Pond, the substance that makes them able to glow in the dark and live.

The main villain in the TV series was Starnose, the leader of a group of Moligans (a group of mole-like creatures) that were banished from their kingdom (called Moleslavia) by King Mole for their crimes of unlawful digging, fighting, robbing, looting, cheating, and spitting. Since that moment, the Moligans look for gold and fortune, living in underground tunnels. According to the Glo Friends books (such as the Ladybird ones, see above), they are short-sighted, and because of that, they want to use the Glo Friends as slaves and lanterns to find the gold of their mines in order to get a lot of gold to buy out Moleslavia.

Characters

Glo Friends

• Baby Glo Worm (voiced by Nancy Cartwright) - She is the youngest member of the Glo Friends´community. She is seen spending most of her time along Glo Grannybug (see below). She is quite curious and often giggles. In the debut episode of the Glo Friends TV show Baby Glo Worm goes Bye-Bye, she escaped from her bed while the other Glo Friends were trying to sing a lullaby to make her sleep, and consequently got lost in the Moligans´ Tunnels, putting the other Glo Friends into trouble when they set off to find her.
• Garden Ant - He spends his time taking care of his plants and flowers. He cultivates vegetables for the Glo Friend community, and has a vast knowledge about them.. He can't tolerate seeing the Moligans eating the roots of a tree, as seen in the episodes Forest Brigade (in which he protects his personal tree) and even in Easy Money Ptn 2, when a Moleslavian villager is selling "Root dogs" (like Hot Dogs with roots instead of sausages). He is a regular character in the TV series. His house is a sort of pumpkin located in Glo Land.
  • Bunny Rabbit: Garden Ant's Best Friend.
• Glo Bashfulbug - As her name indicates, Glo Bashfulbug is a female Glo Friend that doesn't know what to say in certain moments. Sometimes, she shows an attraction for Glo Worm, one of the bravest and smartest Glo Friends. In more than one moment, she said to Glo Worm that being brave is hard. She is a regular character in the TV series.
• Glo Bedbug - She is the laziest of the Glo Friends. The only things she usually wants to do is eating, singing, and sleeping. Sometimes, she plays.
• Glo Bonnie Beetle - She is another female Glo Friend. According her description, she is very sweet. She doesn't appear in the TV series.
• Glo Bookbug -
• Glo Bopbug - He is an eight-legged Glo Friend that wears a top hat and shoes, and uses a cane. He is a regular character in the TV series. He likes to dance. In the Spanish dub of the show, he was called "Abuelete", literally translated as "Granddaddy"
• Glo Butterfly - She carries a magic wand. She believes that she can do magic tricks, although she actually can't. In the episode Make no mistake, it's magic, the other Glo Friends said that it is better not to tell her that her "magic tricks" are just coincidences, in order to keep her happy.
• Glo Bug (voiced by Charlie Adler) - He is sometimes considered the bravest of the Glo Friends. He is not afraid of danger. For example, in the first part of The Quest, he can't tolerate that Rook and the Red Ant army are destroying the forest and for that reason, without wasting time thinking, he dares to run into Rook and face him. For some reason, in the TV series and in his Playskool-Hasbro figure, his hat is pink, while in other media, such as the Ladybird books, his hat has multicoloured strips.
• Glo Cappy (voiced by Russi Taylor) - He loves going to explore the forests riding on Country Mouse and acts as a reporter of Glo Land. He informs the others about the dangers or anything worth to mention. He and his friend wear a blue cap.
  • Country Mouse: Glo Cappy's best friend.
• Glo Clutterbug - He is a clumsy insect that usually messes up the situation, and puts the other Glo Friends into trouble. He often falls into traps.
• Glo Cricket -
• Glo Doodlebug - He loves art. He often gets frustrated when he feels that his artworks or his painting style are not appreciated. In the episode The Masterpiece, he decides to leave Glo Land in order to go to a cave (accompanied by Snugbug) that he uses as a personal studio. He is a regular character in the TV series.
• Glo Firefly has a name that has double-meaning: his job is being a fireman, and he is a firefly. He doesn't appear in the TV series.
• Glo Flutterbug - His figure was only available through mail order as Glo Prayerbug. He doesn't appear in the TV series.
• Glo Grannybug - She is the wisest and oldest Glo Friend. She lives in the biggest treehouse of Glo Land. She often tells stories to the other Glo Friends and she is often seen taking care of Baby Glo Worm. She also loves celebrating parties with homemade food at the Full Moon Days, in which Moondrops falls to the Earth, as seen for examples in the episode Beware the Tales of Gold.
• Glo Hopper - He is a green-bodied grasshopper who is usually seen riding on Glo Turtle. He tends to jump high under several circumstances, including surprise, happiness, etc.
  • Glo Turtle: Glo Hopper's best friend.
• Glo Horsefly -
• Glo Nuttybug -
• Glo Prayerbug - She is a blue mantis-shaped Glo Friend that, as her name indicates, prays when something goes wrong. She appeared very few times in the TV show (only in the 10-part adventure The Quest and in The Glo Friends save Christmas special) and she had only very few lines. Her toy figure was only available in the US and Canada by mail order.
• Glo Scuttlebug (voiced by Mona Marshall) - He is a skypilot that rides on Dragonflyer. He is a regular character in the TV series.
  • Dragonflyer: Glo Shuttlebug's best friend that acts as a plane.
• Glo Skunkbug - He is a stinking Glo Friend with purple nose (Most of the other Glo Friends have a red nose). He is a very close friend of Glo Clutterbug.
• Glo Sluggerbug (voiced by Frank Welker) - He wears a baseball cap and always carry a stick. He is very brave and in several moments he and his frog friend have excellent ideas when fighting against their enemies. He is a regular character in the TV series. The only moment in which he was seen playing a baseball match with the other Glo Friends was in the episode Bean Ball.
  • Bullyfrog (voiced by Frank Welker): Glo Sluggerbug's best friend.
• Glo Snail (voiced by Don Messick) -
• Glo Sniffles Snail - He has a constant cold. He doesn't appear in the TV series.
• Glo Snugbug - She is a pink caterpillar-shaped Glo Friend. She is not a regular character in the TV series. She only appeared during the 10-part episode The Quest and The Masterpiece, in which she seemed to show feelings for Glo Doodlebug. She tends to hug all his friends.
• Glo Spider -
• Glo Tootlebug -
• Glo Waterbug - Glo Waterbug is a sailor insect. He guards the Glo Moondrops Pond with Dipper Duck.
  • Dipper Ducky (voiced by Charlie Adler) - Glo Waterbug's best friend. He guards Glo Moondrops Pond with Dipper Duck.
• Glo Worm (voiced by Pat Fraley) - He is the original Glo Friend, and is the unofficial leader of the Glo Friends in the TV series. He is quite brave and smart. He wears purple pyjamas, although the original Glo Worm toy portrays him as wearing green pyjamas. This was a source of some controversy.

Moligans

• Starnose (voiced by Roger C. Carmel) - Starnose is the leader of the Moligans that were banished from Moleslavia. He is physically tough and it is mentioned that he is able to scare anyone who tries to ignore his orders. In the Spanish dub of the Glo Friends TV Show, he was called "Narizotas", literally translated as "Big Nose".
• Nails (voiced by Susan Silo) - Nails is a selfish and egocentrical Moligan lady that only worries about her physical appearance or anything in her own benefit. She likes valuable and shining body complements (such as rings, necklaces, earrings, bracelets, etc.) and she doesn't tolerate that anyone calls her an "ugly witch" (or similar attributions). She seems to have an attraction to Starnose, and can often be seen clinging to him, but that may just be her trying to get close to the main power of the group.
• Old Moldy (voiced by Roger C. Carmel) - As his name indicates, Old Moldy is the oldest Moligan in the group. He needs to use a cane due to his old age. Since he was young, his main dream was to melt a piece of gold to turn it in a huge river of gold. In the episode Caverns of Mystery, his old mine was seen.
• Excavator (voiced by Charlie Adler) - Excavator is the second oldest Moligan in the group. He is a scientist that usually remains in his personal laboratory doing chemical experiments or inventing new mining artifacts such as the Bi-Pedal Turbo Tunneler (seen in two episodes of the TV show). In the Spanish dub of the TV series he was called "Inventor".
• Brasher (voiced by Hal Rayle) - Brasher is a tall and intellectual Moligan. It is said that he has the best ideas about how to get the gold and the Glo Friends, but Starnose hears and takes them as they were of his own to consider himself as the "main brain of the Moligans".
• Smasher (voiced by Charlie Adler) - Smasher is Brasher's brother, and unlike him, he is (or acts as) stupid and dumb. Physically, he is tall and tough. He feels the need of "smashing" at least one Glo Friend (during the 10-part episode The Quest, he is seen several times trying to damage the Glo Friends in order to force them to work for the Moligans).
• Scoop (voiced by Nancy Cartwright) - Scoop is the youngest Moligan. She is also the only nice Moligan, often secretly sabotaging Starnose's plots, and is friends with the Glo Friends, but fears to leave the Moligans. She wears tight clothing and has a tall auburn hairdo and a braided ponytail.
• Tumbler - Tumbler is the shortest Moligan. He is also lazy, doing as little digging as possible, and is very gullible, often taking throwaway comments at face value.

Other villains

• Rook (voiced by Hal Rayle) - Rook is a crow who used to work for Lord Driver of the Red Ant Army. After Driver left, the Moligans enlisted Rook as a spy and lookout. He has little love for his employers, once even dishing out the dirt on them to the Glo Friends newspaper.
• The Red Ant Army - They are a group of insects in a desert valley and Rook's former employers. They are led by Lord Driver (voiced by Frank Welker). They only appeared in "The Quest" in which they captured the Moligans and Glo Friends. It was because of them that the Moligans learned of the Glo Friends and their illumination abilities. Due to a breakout of the Moligans and the Glo Friends, Lord Driver and the Red Ant Army took flight when their kingdom ended up having a cave-in.
• Blanche – The Wicked Witch of the North Pole. Dressed in purple fur, she appears on the Christmas special along with her weasel-mink live furry scarf and had an icicle wand. She trapped Santa and his DearDeers (reindeer) in an ice cage in a plot to stop Christmas.

Episodes

1. Baby Glo Worm Goes Bye-Bye -
2. Beware Tales of Gold That Lead To Thorny Trails -
3. Caverns of Mystery -
4. Easy Money Pt. 1 - The Moligans find an alchemy book by Molelin the Magician which tells them of a formula that can turn anything to gold. Upon capturing some Glo Friends and Glo Wees, the Moligans make a successful gold formula.
5. Easy Money Pt. 2 - When the Moligans buy out Moleslavia, the Glo Friends and Glo Wees must save their captives and free Moleslavia from the Moligans.
6. Forest Brigade -
7. Front Page -
8. The Glo Friends Meet the Glo Wees Pt. 1 -
9. The Glo Friends Meet the Glo Wees Pt. 2 -
10. The Glo Friends Meet the Glo Wees Pt. 3 -
11. The Glo Friends Meet the Glo Wees Pt. 4 -
12. Make No Mistake, It's Magic -
13. The Masterpiece -
14. The Quest Pt. 1 - This episode shows how the Glo Friends had their first encounter with the Moligans.
15. The Quest Pt. 2 -
16. The Quest Pt. 3 -
17. The Quest Pt. 4 -
18. The Quest Pt. 5 -
19. The Quest Pt. 6 -
20. The Quest Pt. 7 -
21. The Quest Pt. 8 -
22. The Quest Pt. 9 -
23. The Quest Pt. 10 -
24. Two of a Kind -
25. Wizard of Rock -

Special

The Glo Friends had a special called "The Glo Friends Save Christmas." In this special, The Glo Friends have to save Santa Claus and his Reindeer when Blanche the Wicked Witch of the North Pole traps him. With the help of a moose that had been rejected from becoming one of Santa's reindeer, the Glo Friends save Santa Clause and defeat Blanche.

Cast

• Charlie Adler - Excavator, Glo Bug, Dipper Duck, Smasher
• Joey Camen -
• Roger C. Carmel - Starnose, Old Moldy
• Nancy Cartwright - Scoop, Baby Glo Worm
• Townsend Coleman -
• Pat Fraley - Glo Worm
• Katie Leigh -
• Mona Marshall - Glo Scuttlebug
• Don Messick - Glo Snail
• Michael Mish -
• Lorenzo Music - Moose (in "Glo Friend Save Christmas")
• Hal Rayle - Rook, Brasher, Nutcap
• Will Ryan -
• Susan Silo - Nails
• Russi Taylor - Glo Cappy
• Frank Welker - Glo Sluggerbug, Bully Frog, Lord Driver

Crew

• Alan Dinehart - Voice Director
• Stu Rosen] - Voice Director ("The Glo Friends Save Christmas" only)

Alternate titles

• Spanish dub, in Spain: Los Gusyluz.
• Bulgarian dub: Светулковците (Svetulkovtzite)
• French dub: Les Luxioles
• German dub: Die Glimmerlinge
• Greek dub: Φωτεινούληδες (Fotinoulides)
• Dutch dub: Twinkel Pinkel
• Italian dub: Mille luci nel bosco / Gli amici dei sogni
• Polish version (English dub, Polish lector): Świetliki
• Swedish dub: Lyskompisarna och deras vänner

External links

• The Glo Friends at IMDb
• Glo Friends TV show