Superbug (film series)

Superbug, or Dudu (pronounced [doh-doh]), is a West German film series released between 1971 and 1978, and based on Disney's 1968 Herbie franchise. Superbug appeared to be an attempt by director and main actor Rudolf Zehetgruber to bring the "Herbie" concept to Germany, where the Volkswagen Beetle originated, while giving it the flair of James Bond's vehicles. The main character is named Jimmy Bondi. In the first film, which is mainly set in Africa, Bondi inherits a 1950s or 1960's VW Beetle, which he names "Dudu", the Swahili word for insect or beetle.

The films were dubbed into English and shown on various American UHF TV channels in the 1980s and 1990s. They have since been released on VHS and DVD.

The model for Superbug was Herbie from the 1968 Disney movie franchise. The main difference between the two vehicles is that "Herbie" is portrayed as a magical car, while in most of the "Superbug" movies, Superbug is a computerized vehicle with some elements of artificial intelligence.

Superbug is portrayed as having countless gadgets and skills. The technological aspects of Superbug increase as the film series progresses. In the first film, Superbug Goes Wild, Superbug is still far from being a self-aware high-tech vehicle. In some scenes, it has animated eyes and can speak and cry.

Director Rudolf Zehetgruber was also the main actor. However, the films do not use his own voice, but rather dubbed the voices of actors Fred Maire or Klaus Kindler.

The Superbug series was relatively low-budget. However, some well-known German and international actors took part, including Walter Giller, Heinz Reincke, and Joachim Fuchsberger, Kurt Jaggberg, and Walter Roderer.

In September 2006, all five "Superbug" films were released by Kinowelt on a five-set DVD "Dudu Edition".

...
Wikipedia