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What is it?
Cartoon TV-series

When was it made?
Late 70s - mid-80s

When did I see it?
Mid-80s

Where did I see it?
Middle-east

Language?
English (almost certain English was original language, i.e. not a dub)

What did it look like?
Reminiscent of Pink Panther cartoon of the same era, and very slightly like Hanna-Barbera - but I'm almost certain it was not Hanna-Barbera.

Country of origin?
Uncertain, but if I had to guess, it would be England or the United States.

Plot/Details
The protagonists were a boy and girl (older tweens or teenagers) who rode in a hot-air balloon.

With uncertainty, I think they may have been brother and sister, and, with uncertainty again, I think they may have spoken with English accents.

They were constantly chased by a short wizard - I remember this being the primary driving premise to the series - who seemed to want the kids' hot-air balloon.

Memory says the wizard had a dark red/brown mustache.

The last episode I saw (not necessarily the last episode of the show) possibly ended on a cliffhanger with the wizard getting his hands on the kids' hot-air baloon.

What I've tried
I've tried to put in my due diligence (spread across several years!) by googling various permutations of "English", "kids", "hot air balloon", and "wizard" but that's been to no avail. I'm hoping these scant clues might be enough for someone out there to help identify the series.

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5
  • Did you see it in America?
    – Stormblessed
    Commented Jun 20, 2019 at 23:34
  • 1
    These might help you to improve your question; How to ask a good story-ID question? and How to ask a good (anime) Story-ID question?
    – Valorum
    Commented Jun 20, 2019 at 23:38
  • @Stormblessed - no, I saw it in the middle-east when my family and I were stationed there in my childhood years. The majority (all but entirety) of our television was the same as what aired in Britain and America, though, including content that would have been imported for their airwaves (e.g. anime dubbed with English, etc.)
    – StoneThrow
    Commented Jun 20, 2019 at 23:56
  • The age of the protagonists in en.wikipedia.org/wiki/… doesn't quite match.
    – FuzzyBoots
    Commented Jun 21, 2019 at 2:10
  • @FuzzyBoots - thanks, but no, that wasn't it.
    – StoneThrow
    Commented Jun 21, 2019 at 21:35

1 Answer 1

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9

It's called Here Comes the Grump.

I saw it once very young and when it popped back into my memory I had the same issue as you, it's incredibly difficult to find if you don't remember the name. Makes you feel like you dreamed it. Anyway, I'm certain this is what you were looking for. (Same animators as Pink Panther, boy & girl main characters, evil wizard, hot air balloon, etc.)

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1
  • 1
    OMG!!!! Yes: this is it!!! I can't believe I have an answer to this! Thank you! Thank you! You've put a HUGE smile on my face for probably the next couple days! No way I would have remembered that title. Apparently there's a CG reboot in the works, so the first couple of pictures in my search for "Here Comes the Grump" were for the reboot, and I thought this might not be it, but luckily pics and references to the original came up, and sure enough this is what I so struggled to remember. Thank you again!!!
    – StoneThrow
    Commented Sep 7, 2019 at 18:40

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