Pinguis an animated children's television series originally produced inSwitzerland.It was co-created byOtmar Gutmannand Erika Brueggemann.[1]It centres on the titular anthropomorphicemperor penguinand his family, who live in theSouth Pole.The series aired onSF DRSfor four series from 7 March 1990 to 9 April 2000, and was produced by the Swiss animation studio Pingu Filmstudio; with Swiss toy company Editoy AG, and later on, Pingu BV handling IP ownership of the series.
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| Original language | Grammelot |
| No.of series | 6 |
| No.of episodes | 156 (+1 special)(list of episodes) |
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| Release | 7 March 1990– present |
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The series has been popular outside of Switzerland, particularly in the United Kingdom and Japan, in part due to its lack of a real spoken language. Nearly all dialogue is in an inventedgrammelot"penguin language" referred to as 'Penguinese' or 'Pinguish',[2]consisting of babbling, muttering, and the titular character's characteristic sporadic honking sound, which can be popularly recognized as "Noot noot!" or other variants,[3]accompanied by turning his beak into a megaphone-like shape.[4]In the first four series, all the characters were performed by Italian voice actorCarlo Bonomi,using a language of sounds he had already developed and used earlier forOsvaldo Cavandoli'sLa Linea.
After British children's companyHIT Entertainmentpurchased Pingu from Pingu BV in 2001, they produced a revival run of two additional series in theUnited Kingdomthrough their in-house studioHot Animation,which aired onCBeebiesfrom 1August 2003 to 3March 2006. It was nominated for aBAFTA award[5]in 2005. The characters were jointly voiced byDavid Santand Marcello Magni.[4]A computer-animated revival series produced in Japan, entitledPingu in the City,ran for two seasons onNHKfrom 7October 2017 until 30March 2019. A third revival series, being animated in stop-motion like the original, is currently under development atMattel TelevisionandAardman Animations.[6][7]
The IP rights to Pingu are currently held by an entity owned by HIT/Mattel named Joker, Inc., which is usually called through its trade name "The Pygos Group" on copyright and trademark notices related to thePinguproperty.
Storyline
edit| Season | Episodes | Originally released | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | |||||||||||
| Original series | ||||||||||||
| Test animations | 3 | 1980 | 26 May 1986 | |||||||||
| 1 | 26 | 7 March 1990 | 27 October 1990 | |||||||||
| 2 | 26 | 3 November 1991 | 20 December 1994 | |||||||||
| 3 | 26 | 17 June 1995 | 5 September 1996 | |||||||||
| 4 | 26 | 5 January 1998 | 9 April 2000 | |||||||||
| First revival series | ||||||||||||
| 5 | 26 | 1 August 2003 | 6 February 2004 | |||||||||
| 6 | 26 | 3 January 2005 | 3 March 2006 | |||||||||
| Second revival series | ||||||||||||
| 7 | 26 | 2025[7] | TBA | |||||||||
The program is set inAntarcticaand focuses around penguin families living and working inigloos.The main character, Pingu, belongs to one such family. He frequently goes on adventures with his little sister, Pinga, and often gets into mischief with his best friend Robby and his love interest, Pingi.
Production history
editIn 1984, Erika Brueggemann was working atSchweizer Fernsehen(the German-speaking division ofSRG SSR) when she was introduced to animatorOtmar Gutmann.Gutmann pitched aclay animationshow starringsea lionswho crawled around in a funny way. Erika Brueggemann liked the idea of a clay cartoon character, but she preferred the clay penguins that Gutmann had made. She suggested that the main character should walk upright like a human and asked, "Why not a penguin?"[8]
Brueggemann's colleague, Guido Steiger, agreed with her idea. Gutmann was not immediately convinced, since he had already created many sea lion characters out ofplasticine,but he eventually pushed forward with the penguin idea too. According to Erika Brueggemann, she gave "countless demonstrations on my part about how 'my' penguin had to move and act".[8]From this framework, Brueggemann, Gutmann and their team created a seven-minute pilot, "Pingu: Eine Geschichte Für Kinder Im Vorschulalter", which was finished in 1986.
The pilot was screened at the 1987Berlin Film Festival,where it won the Kleiner Baer award.[9]Its positive reception persuaded the director of Schweizer Fernsehen,Ulrich Kündig,to commission an entire series ofPingucartoons.
The series began production in 1988 and started airing onSF DRSfrom 1990–2000, originally consisting of 104 five-minute episodes andone special 25-minute episode.The original stories were written by Brueggemann and Guido Steiger,[8]and some of the later stories were written bySilvio Mazzola.These episodes were animated atTrickfilmstudioinRussikon,Switzerland.[10]In the styling of voices, aretroscriptwas chosen, and all voices were performed by Italian voice actorCarlo Bonomiwithout a script, using a language of noises he had already developed and used forOsvaldo Cavandoli'sLa Linea.[11][12][13][14]This feature enabled people of diverse linguistic backgrounds to follow the story.[13][14]
In 1993,David Hasselhoffreleased a single titled "Pingu Dance", arapsong (in Switzerland only) based on thePingushorts and featuring samples of Penguinese. A portion of the song is used as the theme toPinguin the third and fourth series, as well as the re-dubs of the first two series. It was also heard in the re-dubbed version of the episode "Pingu Looks After the Egg" (retitled "Pingu Helps with Incubating" ), replacing the "Woodpeckers from Space"song from the original version.
A special 25-minute episode,Pingu at the Wedding Party,was also produced in 1997, and introduced a family of green penguins.[15]
HIT Entertainment buyout
editOn 29October 2001,HIT Entertainmentbought the rights to the series, including the original 104 episodes and the wedding special, for £15.9 million.[16]HIT later revived the show and produced a further 52 episodes from 2003–2006. These episodes were animated through stop motion like the original, but used resin casts of the original clay puppets, which had deteriorated by this time.[17]
The HIT Entertainment episodes were made by a completely new team atHOT Animation,but co-creator Erika Brueggemann still traveled to the company's headquarters in the United Kingdom to check on production. At the time, she said, "Last year a production company from England bought everything... I traveled to Manchester last summer and met their highly motivated team who worked with great commitment, humor and responsibility towards children. I think Pingu is in good hands now."[8]
Contrary to some sources, there was never any CGI used in these later episodes. When HIT Entertainment bought the rights,Carlo Bonomiwas replaced with new voice actors Marcello Magni andDavid Sant.[18][4]Magni and Sant, Italian and Spanish actors based in London, both had mime and clowning backgrounds and were already aware of the clown languagegrammelot,on which the penguin language was based.[4]
In February 2012,Mattelacquired Pingu through its purchase of HIT Entertainment which was rebranded toMattel Televisionshortly after.[19]
Japanese popularity andPingu in the City
editFrom its debut in the country in 1992,Pingubecame well known in Japan. According to writer Silvio Mazzola in 1996,Pinguwas most popular with high-school girls, with over 90% of Japanese girls aged 13–17 knowing about it.[20]In 2020, an exhibition event commemorating the 40th anniversary of the original "Hugo" animation was held in Tokyo.[21]Pingucurrently airs as part of NHK's children's programNyanchu's World,and also onCartoon Network Japan.Various merchandise exclusive to the country has been created, including tie-in toys withKFCandMister Donut,as well as various video games.
A Japanese-produced reboot of the series, titledPingu in the City,[22]was announced in 2017. It premiered onNHK-Eon 7October 2017. Unlike its previous series, it iscomputer-animated,and features Pingu and his family moving to a big city. Each episode involves Pingu attempting to help out anyone there with their jobs, although he usually messes it up. The series was produced byPolygon Picturesin the same style of the original stop motion series throughcomputer animation.[23]It was directed by Naomi Iwata and written by both Kimiko Ueno and Shigenori Tanabe, with music done by Ken Arai.[24]It features voices byRyota Iwasakiand Fumiya Tanaka, in a similar style to Carlo Bonomi, David Sant, and Marcello Magni.
2025 revival
editOn 21October 2024, it was announced that a remake of the series was being co-developed byAardman AnimationsandMattel Television.[25][26]
Reception
editPinguhas received mostly positive reviews.Common Sense Mediagave it 4 out of 5 stars, stating: "Parents need to know that this claymation series is funny, endearing, and entertaining. Although [it] is appropriate for all ages, the plots might be difficult for the youngest viewers to follow".[27]According to a 2008Slatearticle, the series is "an international sensation", but still remains obscure among American audiences.[28]
Notes
edit- ^Formerly known as Trickfilmstudio Otmar Gutmann for series 1–2.
References
edit- ^abPinguseason 5 end credits.Archivedfrom the original on 12 December 2021.
Originated by: Otmar Gutmann and Erika Brueggemann
- ^Stevens, Dana (1 February 2008)."The March of the Pingu".Slate.Retrieved22 May2017.
- ^"Pingu Fact #5 (viewable in webpage source code)".Archived fromthe originalon 2 February 2007.
- ^abcdDickson, Andrew; Beaumont-Thomas, Ben (11 January 2016)."How we made Pingu".The Guardian.Retrieved27 June2018.
- ^"2005 Children's Pre-School Animation".awards.bafta.org.Retrieved13 August2022.
- ^"Aardman and Mattel to co-develop Pingu animated TV series".app-aardman-cms-prod.azurewebsites.net.Retrieved25 October2024.
- ^ab"Mattel and Aardman bring back Pingu".Retrieved11 November2024.
- ^abcd"Erika Brüggemann, langjährige Redaktorin im Kinder- und Jugendprogramm, über" Pingu ""(PDF)(in German). April 2004.
- ^"Obituary: Otmar Gutmann".Independent.co.uk.20 October 1993.
- ^"Frequently Asked Questions about Pingu".Archived fromthe originalon 10 March 2008.Retrieved21 July2007.
- ^"The Man Who Voiced Pingu Looks COMPLETELY Different to How We Imagined - Entertainment - Heart Radio".Archived fromthe originalon 2 February 2017.Retrieved31 December2016.
- ^"The man who voiced Pingu is NOT what we expected".Her.ie.14 September 2016.
- ^abWahlgren, Yens (2 February 2021).The Universal Translator.The History Press.ISBN978-0-7509-9592-4.
- ^abThorne, Tony."Pingu's Lingo, or How to Get By in Penguinese".
- ^"Pingu Family at the Wedding Party".ABC Television.
- ^"Pingu sold for £16m".Business.BBC News. 29 October 2001.Retrieved21 July2007.
- ^HIT Entertainment PLC (14 October 2002)."HIT Entertainment PLC Announces Record Year End 2002 Results".prnewswire.com.
- ^"Pingu gets new voice".Irish Examiner.17 August 2003.
- ^Adler, Tim (24 October 2011)."Mattel Buys A $680M Ticket For Thomas The Tank Engine With HIT Entertainment Deal".Deadline.Retrieved21 October2024.
- ^"Frequently Asked Questions about Pingu".Archived fromthe originalon 10 August 2020.
- ^"Nhật bổn sơ công khai の quý trọng な tư liêu や đương thời のクレイ nhân hình も triển kỳ! ピングーの mị lực が cật まった “ピングー triển” tường tế quyết định! 2020 niên 8 nguyệt 12 nhật ( thủy )～8 nguyệt 24 nhật ( nguyệt ) ".24 June 2020.
- ^ピングー in ザ・シティ,Pingū in za Shiti
- ^"ピングー: Tân tác テレビアニメは sơ のオールCg ポリゴン・ピクチュアズ chế tác".4 September 2017.
- ^"Polygon Pictures Makes New Anime for Swiss Character Pingu".Anime News Network.Retrieved7 October2017.
- ^Ford, Lily (21 October 2024)."Mattel and 'Chicken Run' Studio Aardman Team Up on Stop-Motion, Animated 'Pingu' Series".The Hollywood Reporter.Retrieved12 December2024.
- ^"Wallace and Gromit makers to create new Pingu series".BBC Newsround.22 October 2024.Retrieved12 December2024.
- ^"Pingu – TV Review".19 May 2006.Retrieved22 May2017.
- ^Stevens, Dana (February 2008)."When will America embrace Pingu?".Slate.
