Jane Webb does a beautiful job as the voice of the protagonist Sabrina here, who is written ALMOST PERFECTLY, which is quite surprising for a Saturday morning cartoon. They pulled off the feat of making her magical/otherworldly but also very relatable and down-to-earth at the same time. The Melissa Joan Hart version of the character became utterly insufferable from the 4th season of the live-action sitcom onwards, and THIS SATURDAY MORNING CARTOON version of the character could have taught her a number of things about REAL MORAL FIBRE and maturity (because yes, the Melissa Joan Hart version become increasingly immature and immoral as time went on).
Jane Webb also BRILLIANTLY VOICES almost EVERY SINGLE FEMALE character on this show - a feat which is practically unequalled. The lady was an absolute genius, and I can't believe she is practically forgotten today. The rest of the voice cast is also brilliant - with a special shout-out to John Erwin, who would go on to become famous as He-Man/Prince Adam. Here he is Reggie Mantle, portrayed as an utterly three-dimensional human character, despite all the ludicrous and zany antics he gets entangled in, because John Erwin is so amazing. Despite the arrogance and condescension that characterize Reggie, you can't help but love him here!
I think it was a stroke of genius not to have a recurring, standard villain/rival for Sabrina in the form of a "mean cheerleader" or some other female nemesis - but rather, Reggie was depicted in the DEEPLY COMPLEX manner of a FRENEMY. This is something a lot of children would have done well to learn from.......how someone could be a friend on the one hand, or at least be a part of your friends group/social circle, while still sometimes being out to "expose" you if they believe you have a secret. It wasn't BLACK OR WHITE on this show, and that was brilliant.
Another reviewer said the series was witless and lacked imagination, but I must disagree. The moral ambiguities and endless grey shades of magic/witchcraft are openly displayed here - with some characters like Aunt Hilda and Miss Della the Head Witch going out of their way to HURT people with magic sometimes, and yet those characters are not presented as EVIL or as VILLAINS........rather, the motif of witchcraft and all its implications are used here to teach children that some people, even some adults who are in positions of familial responsibility and great authority (people that you're expected to look up to) can use their powers for less-than-noble aims. Again, there are almost never any clear-cut villains on the show, and so children are presented with a much more TRUE-TO-LIFE (ironically, despite all the magic and wackiness) depiction of moral complexities than the straightforward, simplistic and much more ubiquitous "good vs evil" formula that Disney cartoons had long since established.
Not all the episodes and stories are created equal of course, and some are quite hard to watch because some of them are more overtly infantile (like a number of the Groovy Ghoulies episodes), while the "high school" episodes can also be hit or miss depending on the degree of juvenility the writers decide to employ, but taken as a whole, this is a UNIQUE and VERY MEMORABLE series. They do a terrific job of setting up a very specific world - a mood - a MISE-EN-SCENE if you will - which honestly transcends the standard Saturday morning cartoon formula. This is all the more impressive considering the Sabrina show was an off-shoot of the already existing Archies series.
Sometimes you feel like you are watching a cartoon version of the 1963 BYE BYE BIRDIE film musical with Ann-Margaret - and I mean that in a VERY POSITIVE WAY - while on some occasions, they manage to evoke the entertainingly creepy/spooky ambience of the B-list horror and thriller films from the 1960s and early 1970s that have become cult classics. And there are PLENTY of legitimately witty, laugh-out-loud funny moments that transcend age.
You cannot watch this with any degree of cynicism, and like I said some of the episodes are real doozies, but I am very very glad I own the collection on DVD to pop into my player and watch whenever I need to get a nostalgic cartoon kick (nostalgic in the sense that it evokes a distinct bygone time period SO PERFECTLY that I feel like I own a little time capsule). It ISN'T just a generic Saturday morning cartoon, although some of the Groovy Ghoulies episodes do weigh it down in that direction, and if you don't want to get the DVD you can watch this for free on YouTube as well. I just like having the DVD set because I like owning a tangible, hard copy that is its own collector's item. :)
