Pingu is a Swiss Switzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation (Confœderatio Helvetica in Latin, hence its ISO country codes CH and CHE), is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe[note 4] where it is bordered by Germany to the north, France to the west, Italy to stop-motion Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence. Clay figures are often used in stop motion for their ease of claymated Clay animation is one of many forms of stop motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable" — made of a malleable substance, usually Plasticine clay television series A television program or television show is a segment of content broadcast on television. It may be a one-off broadcast or part of a periodically recurring television series created by Otmar Gutmann. The series was produced by The Pygos Group and BBC Two, and it was after the original puppet version of Fraggle Rock. The show is about a family of anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human characteristics to non-human animal or non-living things, phenomena, material states and objects or abstract concepts. Examples include animals and plants and forces of nature such as winds, rain or the sun depicted as creatures with human motivations, and/or the abilities to reason and converse. The penguins Penguins are a group of aquatic, flightless birds living almost exclusively in the southern hemisphere, especially in Antarctica. Highly adapted for life in the water, penguins have countershaded dark and white plumage, and their wings have become flippers. Most penguins feed on krill, fish, squid, and other forms of sealife caught while swimming at the South Pole The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is one of the two points where the Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on the surface of the Earth and lies on the opposite side of the Earth from the North Pole. Situated on the continent of Antarctica, it is the site of. The main character is the family's son and title character, Pingu.

The show ran originally for four seasons from 1986 to 1998 on RTSI, after the end of season 4, the series is replaced with Mr. Men. However, HiT Entertainment's request for more episodes convinced Pygos to bring back the show in 2004, with 2 more seasons. When the show's final episode aired, they stopped making Pingu due to low advertising, and was cancelled yet again in the beginning of 2006.

Background

The program is set in Antarctica Antarctica (pronounced /ænˈtɑrktɪkə/ ) is Earth's southernmost continent, underlying the South Pole. It is situated in the Antarctic region of the southern hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean. At 14.0 million km2 (5.4 million sq mi), it is the fifth-largest continent in area after, where the penguin families and businesses live and work in igloos An igloo or snowhouse is a type of shelter built out of snow, originally built by the Inuit. Iglu is the Inuit word for a house or home built out of any material, and is not restricted exclusively to snowhouses, but includes traditional tents, sod houses, homes constructed of driftwood and modern buildings. Outside of Inuit society, however, ". The main characters are a family of penguins, whose son's name is Pingu. Pingu goes on adventures with his little sister Pinga.

One reason for Pingu's international success is the absence of human languages. All dialogue is in a honking "penguin language",^[1] and was initially performed without script by Carlo Bonomi (in a similar way to La Linea, which was also dubbed by Bonomi). This allows people of distinct linguistic backgrounds to still be able to follow the story.

History

A total of 157 five-minute episodes were originally made, from 1986 to 1998, 2004 to 2005. The episodes were written by Silvio Mazzola, and directed and animated by Otmar Gutmann using clay animation Clay animation is one of many forms of stop motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable" — made of a malleable substance, usually Plasticine clay, at BBC Two BBC Two is the second major terrestrial television channel of the BBC, aimed at a wide range of subject matter and interests, and specialising in intelligent yet popular programme genres. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio networks, it is commercial-free and yet remains a comparatively well funded public service network, regularly in Miami Miami is a major city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida. Miami is the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida. It is the principal city and the center of the South Florida metropolitan area, which had a 2008 population of 5,414,712; ranking 7th largest in the U.S.. The Miami Urbanized Area (as, Florida With an area of 65,758 square miles , it is ranked 22nd in size among the 50 U.S. states. Florida has the most coastline in the Contiguous United States encompassing approximately 1,200 miles. The state has four large urban areas, a number of smaller industrial cities, and many small towns.^[2]

In 1989, David Hasselhoff released (in Switzerland only) the single "Pingu Dance",^[3] a rap Hip hop is a musical genre which developed as part of hip hop culture, and is defined by key stylistic elements such as rapping, DJing, sampling, scratching and beatboxing. Hip hop began in the South Bronx of New York City in the 1970s. The term rap is often used synonymously with hip hop, but hip hop denotes the practices of an entire subculture song based on the Pingu shorts and featuring samples of Penguinese. A portion of this song is used as the theme to Pingu in international airings.

A special 20-minute episode ("Pingu at the Wedding Party") was also produced, in 1997, which introduced a family of green penguins.

In 2001, HiT Entertainment HiT Entertainment is a British-American entertainment distribution company established in 1989, and originally the international distribution arm of Jim Henson Productions called Henson International Television. However, following the death of Jim Henson in 1990, the business was sold to several members of the company's management, led by Peter bought the UK The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland[note 7] is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of the island of Ireland, and many small islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK with a land rights to the series (including the original 105 episodes) for £15.9 million^[4] and remade all classic episodes in 2002. The original title card of the show was replaced with a claymated inspiration of the intro, and the music is half of the Pingu Dance single. Carlo Bonomi reprises his roles, and these versions are the only versions broadcasting today. Later, HiT decided to bring back the show and then produced a further 53 episodes, created at Hot Animation Studios in 2004. When Bonomi's non-English language became a problem, he was replaced with new voice actors Marcello Magni and David Sant. Magni and Sant, Italian and Spanish actors based in London, both have a mime and clowning background and were already aware of the clown language of "Grammelot Grammelot is a term for a style of language in satirical theatre, a gibberish with macaronic and onomatopoeic elements, used in association with pantomime and mimicry" on which the penguin language was based. In 2005, after the last episode aired, Pingu finally ended its 19-year run on television.

Pingu first aired in the United States on Cartoon Network's Sunday morning omnibus program Small World, which featured various cartoon shorts produced internationally, from 1996 until that show's discontinuation in 2001. The show would return to America in 2005, when episodes began to air on PBS Kids Sprout. On April 11, 2010, HiT Entertainment removed Pingu from the Sprout schedule due to low ratings. There are no current plans for another station to run the episodes.

Pingu has also been a mainstay of the children's programming blocks on TVOntario since the mid-1990s.

In 2006, Pingu was featured in a music video for Eskimo Disco's first single, 7-11. Also in 2006, pop icon Madonna Madonna is an American recording artist, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, and raised in Rochester Hills, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977, for a career in modern dance. After performing as a member of the pop groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album, Madonna, in 1983 on Sire Records told Swedish talk-show host Kristian Luuk that she considered Pingu (and TV in general) to be a bad influence on children.^[5]

In India, Pingu was aired by Doordarshan Doordarshan is the public television broadcaster of India and a division of Prasar Bharati, a public service broadcaster nominated by the Government of India. It is one of the largest broadcasting organizations in the world in terms of the infrastructure of studios and transmitters. Recently, it has also started Digital Terrestrial Transmitters in the late '80s & early 90's. Since 2000, it is aired by Hugama TV and Animax.

In Japan, Pingu currently airs as part of NHK's children's program Nyanchu's World, and is also featured in Japanese KFC KFC Corporation , founded and also known as Kentucky Fried Chicken, is a chain of fast food restaurants based in Louisville, Kentucky in the United States. KFC has been a brand and operating segment, termed a concept of Yum! Brands since 1997 when that company was spun off from PepsiCo as Tricon Global Restaurants Inc restaurants as part of their Kids' Meal.

In the UK, Pingu was featured in the 'Children In Need BBC Children in Need is an annual British charity appeal organised by the BBC. Since 1980 it has raised over £500 million 2009' video by Peter Kay Peter John Kay is an English comedian, writer, producer, director and actor. His work includes That Peter Kay Thing (2000), Phoenix Nights (2001), Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere (2004), Britain's Got the Pop Factor... (2008) and other independent productions which contained many other popular characters. This was shown on live television across the UK and then sold on a CD and DVD.

A Japan-only game made for the Nintendo DS The Nintendo DS is a handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in 2004 in Canada, the United States, and Japan. The console features a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP, with two LCD screens inside—with the bottom one being a touchscreen. The Nintendo DS also features a built-in microphone known as Pingu no Waku Waku Carnival (Translated: Pingu's Wonderful Carnival) was made by Square Enix Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd. TYO: 9684 is a Japanese video game and publishing company best known for its console role-playing game franchises, which include the Final Fantasy series, the Dragon Quest series, and the action-RPG Kingdom Hearts series and released in November 2008. This game is a series of mini games starring Pingu and friends, including a mini game where Pingu's mother and father bake a heart shaped cake with the gameplay style resemblant to that of Cooking Mama and a mini game where Pingu uses a vacuum to clean around his house.^[6]

In Canada, the show aired between programs during lunchtime hours on YTV YTV is a Canadian English language cable television specialty channel aimed at youth, available nationwide through cable and satellite television. Presently it is wholly-owned by Corus Entertainment. "YTV" is thought to mean "Youth Television", however the channel's website denies this from 2004 until 2006. It can still be seen on television in that country since APTN airs "The Pingu Show" as part of its morning children's programming block "APTN Kids" and the show is available in English English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into South-East Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria. Following the economic, political, military, scientific, cultural, and colonial influence of Great Britain and the United Kingdom from the 18th century, and of and French language French is a Romance language spoken as a first language by about 136 million people worldwide. Around 190 million people speak French as a second language, and an additional 200 million speak it as an acquired foreign language. French speaking communities are present in 57 countries and territories. Most native speakers of the language live in versions. Some of the controversial episodes have aired uncut in that country such as "Pingu Quarrels with his Mum" and "Pingu's Lavatory Story", (which was broadcasted on YTV).

Episode lists

• Alphabetic list of Pingu episode titles (includes alternative titles)
• Lists of Pingu episodes with synopses - series 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • Pingu at the Wedding Party

Notes

• Derivation of episode titles

No official episode title appears on screen, so the lists were initially created from the titles used on various official DVD releases. The main episode titles for Series 1 to 4 were taken from the official Japanese DVD releases, and the alternative titles from the official European DVD releases. Episode titles for Series 5 and 6 were taken from the European DVD releases.

Changes have subsequently been made to these titles to bring them more into line with English usage and practice (e.g. to correct spelling and grammar) and to relate them to the titles used on UK DVDs produced by HIT Entertainment. Alternative titles have also been appropriately added, amended, etc. Title data has also been supplemented with information from other sources, such as the titles used by the BBC for television broadcasts and on video tapes.

• BBC broadcasts

In the UK, the BBC appears never to have broadcast any of the normal 5-minute episodes from the latter half of series 3 (3.14 – 3.26) or from series 4 (4.1 – 4.26).^[7] However, all the episodes from the latter half of series 3 (3.14 - 3.26) have been featured on BBC produced videos. Of the episodes that have been broadcast, all have been broadcast since 4 September 2006 inclusive.

Since 2007, as well as episodes on a stand-alone basis the BBC have been showing The Pingu Show ("Pingu welcomes viewers to his secret whale-shaped funhouse for a show packed with brand new sketches, two classic episodes, and the chance to learn more about the amazing world of penguins in Penguin Facts").^[8]

Censorship

A few episodes of the show were removed from rotation or edited due to perceived offensive material. One episode was Pingu's Lavatory Story, which contained graphic depictions of uncensored urination Urination, also known as micturition, voiding, peeing, and more rarely, emiction, is the process of disposing of urine from the urinary bladder through the urethra to the outside of the body. In healthy humans the process of urination is under voluntary control. In infants, elderly individuals and those with neurological injury, urination may and alcoholic references. Pygos was unable to censor the urine, leading to the banning of the episode in 1990, the year it first aired. Another episode was Pingu's Dream, which contained a bearded seal The Bearded Seal , also called the Square Flipper Seal, is a medium-sized pinniped that is found in and near to the Arctic Ocean. It gets its generic name from two Greek words (eri and gnathos) that refer to its heavy jaw. The other part of its Linnaean name means bearded and refers to its most characteristic feature, the conspicuous and very with a frightening design and voice trying to capture Pingu. This episode was the first to be banned in ALL countries, .^{[citation needed]} A few other episodes were removed or had scenes cut due to other reasons.

Commercial VHS and DVD releases

Characters

These are some of the characters appearing in Pingu.

• Pingu J. Penguin is the title character of the series. His age was five, and later seven and eight. His catchphrase is "NUG NUG!!!" if he makes a megaphone shaped like beak sound to indicate anger, happiness, frustration or to get attention, even though at the end of the series 5-6 episodes he says it at the end thus probably indicating his happiness. Pingu can also change himself into many shapes as well, such as a ball, or increase his length.

• Pinga S. Penguin is Pingu's baby sister.^[9][10] She first appeared in the episode Pinga is Born. In all of the series 1 and early 2 episodes she appears to be about eighteen months old. In the series 3-4 episodes she is three years old, and in the 5-6 episodes she is four years old.

• Mama and Papa are Pingu's parents. Father is a postman, who smokes a pipe (He has quit in later episodes). He has a Snowcat A snowcat is an enclosed-cab, truck sized, fully tracked vehicle designed to move on snow. Snowcats are often referred to as 'trail groomers' because of their use for grooming ski trails or snowmobile trails. Most snowcats, such as the ones produced by Bombardier or Aktiv in the past, have two sets of tracks, fitted with a Christie suspension or a to deliver the mail. Mother spends most of her time at home in the igloo. Mother and Father share a lot of the work in the home (e.g. knitting, cooking and ironing). Mother sometimes gets help from Pingu & Pinga, but in the episode Pingu Refuses to Help, the kids decide not to help her until in the end of the episode. Their real names are unknown.

• Grandfather is Pingu and Pinga's grandfather and Father's father. His age is about ninety years old. He's an expert accordionist Danish : Accordeon. Danish (standard-bass), Hungarian & Icelandic: Harmonika. French: Accordéon. German: Akkordeon. Italian: Fisarmonica. Norwegian: Trekkspill. Polish: Akordeon, harmonia. Russian: Bajan. Swedish: Dragspel, and, as proven in "Pingu and the Braces", a former professional weight lifter from 1938. He first appeared in Pingu Has Music Lessons From His Grandfather.

• Grandmother is Pingu and Pinga's grandmother and Father's mother. She is about 63 years old. She only appeared in Season 3, and 4, and one episode in season 6. She wears a rag over her head, and she goes over to help bruce, the poor old man that appeared in "Pingu and the Organ Grinder" and "Pingu the Chef".

• Robby The Seal (called Seymour the baby seal in the audiobooks Spoken audio was available in school and public libraries and to a lesser extent in music shops. It was not until the 1980s that there began a concerted effort to attract book retailers. As publishers entered the field of spoken-word publishing, the transition to book retailers carrying audiobooks became commonplace on bookshelves rather than in) is Pingu's best friend. His name is a pun; 'Robbe' is German for 'Seal'. In the first four episodes, he is appeared in mixed blue and gray but in the last two he is light gray in color. He first appeared in Pingu Goes Fishing, in which Pingu and Robby fight but become friends at the end of the episode.

• Pingo is a friend of Pingu. He has a long beak, essentially flat at the bottom but slightly rounded on the top; also his head is wider and taller. He is a bit of a daredevil, and often persuades Pingu to do wild and silly things.

• Ping is a friend of Pingu.

• Pongi is a friend of Pingu who wears glasses in Seasons 5 & 6. He first appeared in Pingu Plays Ice Hockey.

• Punki (or "Professor Threehorn" in "Pingu Annual" book series) is also another one of Pingu's friends. He first appeared in Pingu Helps To Deliver The Mail. He has a tuft on his head and wears striped trousers. He only appeared in a few cartoons.

• Bajoo is also one of Pingu's friends. He is revealed by HiT Entertainment as a 'strange newcomer to the Antarctic in the appearance of an abominable snowman!' He is actually an abominable snowman who recently appeared on the last Pingu episode Pingu and the Abominable Snowman. He also appeared in the music video and in "The New Pingu Show", which is a broadcasting device and not an episode by itself.

• The Schoolmaster is Pingu's teacher. He lives in a nearby school and rings the bell when it is time for school to begin or end. He first appeared in Pingu at School, and he only appeared on episodes involving Pingu at school, however he appears as a minor character in some episodes.

• Pingi is Pingu's love interest and Pinga's friend. She has thick, white eyelashes and a somewhat mushed beak. She first appeared in Pingu's Admirer. Pinga is sometimes jealous of Pingu because he pays more attention to Pingi than to her.

References

1. ^ "Pingu's Lingo, or How to Get By in Penguinese, by Tony Thorne". http://www.kcl.ac.uk/content/1/c6/03/08/18/Pingu's%20Lingo,%20or%20How%20to%20Get%20By%20in%20Penguinese.doc. Retrieved 2008-08-18. (.doc)
2. ^ "Frequently Asked Questions about Pingu". http://www.geocities.com/EnchantedForest/5681/pinguFAQ.html. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
3. ^ www.david-hasselhoff.com |
4. ^ "Pingu sold for £16m". Business (BBC News BBC News is the department of the BBC responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online news coverage. The service maintains 44 foreign news bureaux and has). 2001-10-29. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1626014.stm. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
5. ^ http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20061219/ai_n17080941 (Reference from article by Ed Caesar, in the London Independent, 19 Dec 2006. Retrieved via findarticles.com on 10 Feb 2008.)
6. ^ http://www.square-enix.co.jp/pingu/ (Pure Dreams [Pingu])
7. ^ "BBC - CBeebies Programmes - Pingu - Episodes". http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mh02. Retrieved 2009-01-22.
8. ^ "BBC - CBeebies Programmes - The Pingu Show - Episodes". http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b008943q/episodes. Retrieved 2009-01-22.
9. ^ "Meet the Characters". The Linguaphone Group; The Pygos Group. http://www.pingusenglish.com/meetthecharacters/. Retrieved 2009-10-12.
10. ^ "Episode Guide > Season 1, Episode 2: Pinga is Born". CBS Interactive. http://www.tv.com/pingu/pinga-is-born/episode/396653/recap.html?tag=episode_recap;recap. Retrieved 2009-10-12.

External links

• Official website
• Toonopedia article
• Pingu at the Internet Movie Database The Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, actors, television shows, production crew personnel, video games, and most recently, fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. IMDb launched on October 17, 1990, and in 1998 was acquired by Amazon.com
• Pingu at the Open Directory Project The Open Directory Project , also known as Dmoz (from directory.mozilla.org, its original domain name), is a multilingual open content directory of World Wide Web links. It is owned by Netscape, but it is constructed and maintained by a community of volunteer editors

Categories: 1986 television series debuts | 1998 television series endings | 2004 television series debuts | 2005 television series endings | Animated television series | Fictional penguins | BBC children's television programmes | Swiss television series | Clay animation television series and films | Stop-motion animated television series | Television series by HIT Entertainment | Fictional flightless birds

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