Rover (Season 1)

The first season of animated comedy-drama Rover was originally premiered on MegaManila Television and National Television from December 30, 1979, to March 2, 1980, consisting of 10 episodes.

This would be the first and only appearance of recurring character, Jonathan.

Overview
The show introduced all three of the main characters, Rover, Max and Lavender and two secondary characters, Jonathan and Sebastian.

The show started with a cold open where it goes back to when Rover and Max graduated in elementary school. After the ceremony, Max told Rover that this will probably be the last time he will see him as he is moving to Manila. They both said their goodbyes before Max, his sister Lavender and his parents depart school.

During Season 1, Rover is known for his skills of playing several instruments such as piano, bass, guitars, ukuleles and more. However he was criticized for being awkward. Rover tries to make a career by writing songs, with Max supporting him about it, as he can make money off of what he is doing. Max helped him with some instruments, while Lavender helped him for the melody. Jonathan however laughed at what they were doing, calling it "useless". In the final two episodes of the season, Max and Lavender confident enough to start a concert for Rover. Rover was very anxious about being onstage. The first half of his concert was very successful, but halfway through, he started to feel tired and is losing his confidence onstage which made some people leave the concert. Sebastian, a journalist and critic gave a mixed review about the concert, which made him feel depressed by it. Jonathan taunted them again, calling them idiots. He remarked that it would be his first and last concert.

Main

 * Roberto Gracias as Rover, an introverted and socially awkward singer and multi-instrumentalist. He is a red fox.
 * Mark Robinson as Max (full name Maxwell), a sympathetic and friendly songwriter. He is a grey wolf.
 * June Mills as Lavender, an eccentric and energetic perfect-pitched singer. She is a Siberian husky.

Recurring

 * James Richard Williams as Jonathan, Lavender's toxic cousin. He is a Labrador Retriever.
 * Sam Gerald as Sebastian, a student journalist who makes feature articles for their school campus paper. He is a German Shepherd.

Production
Production for the first season started on September 1977, when Remy de Los Santos' brothers, Marcos and Garcia de Los Santos, wrote the script for him for his storyboard. He completed the storyboards for the first season on February 1978. Remy and Marcos de Los Santos were the animation director for the show. Each Rover episode was animated using traditional animation, and took a month for each episode. The animation for the show was finished on December 1978.

The music for the show was only borrowed from some artists (most are from Kalapana and the Carpenters) and the De Wolfe Music library.

Episodes
See also: List of Rover episodes