Pingu

***Pingu*** is a claymation children's television series created by Otmar Gutmann and produced from 1990 to 2000 for Swiss television by The Pygos Group (formerly Trickfilmstudio and Pingu Filmstudio), and from 2002 to 2006 for British television by HIT Entertainment and Hot Animation. It centers on a family of anthropomorphic penguins who live at the South Pole, and the main character is the family's son and title character, Pingu.

The series originally ran for four series (each *series* is made up of multiple *seasons*) from 7 March 1990 to 9 April 2000 on SF DRS and was then renewed for two more series from 1 August 2003 to 3 March 2006 on BBC Two. *Pingu* was also nominated for a BAFTA award. The Pingu pilot episode first aired on Swiss television in 1986 and was later shown at the 37th Berlin International Film Festival.

*Pingu* was very popular, due to its lack of a real spoken language: nearly all dialogue is in an invented grammelot "penguin language" referred to as 'Penguinese', consisting of babbling, muttering, and the titular character's characteristic sporadic loud honking noise, which can be popularly recognized as "Noot noot!" or other variants, stated to be "Noo, Noo!" by the defunct Pingu website's trivia page, accompanied by turning his beak into a megaphone-like shape. Within the first 4 series, all the characters were performed by Italian voice actor Carlo Bonomi, using a language of noises that he had already developed and used for the earlier Osvaldo Cavandoli's *La Linea*. In series 5 and 6, the Pingu cast was jointly voiced by David Sant and Marcello Magni.

A Japanese reboot of the series, titled *Pingu in the City*, began airing on NHK-E on 7 October 2017.

## Storyline

The programme is set in Antarctica and centres around penguin families living and working in igloos. 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 the Seal.

## Characters

### Main

* Pingu is the main character of the series, a typically playful, sometimes naughty, curious little boy penguin. His name comes from the German word for penguin, '**Pinguin'**. He is strong-willed and mostly well-behaved, but prone to making mischief and throwing occasional tantrums.
* Pinga is Pingu's younger sister. She resembles an emperor penguin chick, as do other infant/toddler penguins throughout the show. She is happy and playful, like all toddlers, but also very sensitive and clever, and is often a target for Pingu's practical jokes.
* Mother and Father are Pingu and Pinga's parents; their actual names are not revealed. Father is a postman who uses a non-smoking pipe in the early episodes, but quits later. He is a short-tempered but loving penguin, and has a motorised sledge (snowmobile) to deliver the mail, sometimes with help from Pingu. Mother is a caring, loving and hardworking housewife who spends most of her time cooking and cleaning. She sometimes gets help from Pingu and Pinga, and she always gives them a cuddle when they have learned a lesson.
* Grandfather is Pingu and Pinga's paternal grandfather, who first appeared in the episode "Music Lessons". He is an expert accordionist, as he demonstrates to Pingu in that episode, and is also a former professional weight lifter.
* Grandpa is Pingu and Pinga's maternal grandfather who appeared in "Grandpa is Ill" and "Pingu Cannot Lose", in the latter of which he is shown to be good at bowling.
* Aunts are Mother's sisters and Pingu and Pinga's three maternal aunts. In "Pingu Goes Away", Pingu goes to stay with one of his aunts. In "Pingu the Babysitter", he cares for another aunt's twin chicks whilst she and Mother go out, then in "Pingu Makes a Mistake", he cares for his other aunt's egg that is due to hatch.
* The Twins are Pingu and Pinga's cousins, who appear in "Pingu the Babysitter" where they are cared for by Pingu when their mother (Pingu's aunt) goes out with Mother.

### Recurring

* Robby the seal is Pingu's best friend. His name resembles the German word for seal, '**Robbe'**. First appearing in the episode "Pingu Goes Fishing", he is friendly and playful, yet cheeky in a lot of ways. He is bluish-grey in the first four seasons.
* Pingo is a somewhat foolhardy penguin. He has a long beak that is essentially flat at the bottom but slightly rounded on the top, and a head that is wider and taller. He often persuades Pingu to do wild and silly things with him.
* Pingg is Pingu's other penguin friend. He also has a long beak, but a shorter head than Pingo.
* Pongi is a penguin who wears glasses and has a short round beak. He first appeared in the episode "Ice Hockey".
* Pengy is a penguin very similar to Adélie penguins, and first appears in "Pingu and the School Excursion". In the episode "School Time", Pingu resembles Pengy, he made a cameo in "Pingu at the fairground".
* Pingj is a green penguin who appears in *Pingu at the Wedding Party*; he speaks with an accent that seems to be typical of his race.
* Punki is a penguin who first appeared in the episode "Pingu Delivers The Mail". He has a tuft on his head and wears striped trousers. Punki only appears in a handful of episodes.
* Bajoo is Pingu's other non-penguin friend. HIT Entertainment reveals him as a "strange newcomer" to the Antarctic in the appearance of an abominable snowman. He debuted in 2005, and appeared in the final episode, "Pingu & the Abominable Snowman". He also appeared in the 7–11 music video and "The Pingu Show".
* Pingi is Pingu's love interest and Pinga's best friend/sister in law. She has thick, white eyelashes and a somewhat mushed beak. She first appeared in the episode "Pingu's Admirer".

### Supporting

* The Schoolmaster (Mr. Peng-Chips) 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 appears in the episode "School Time".
* The Doctor is the neighborhood's doctor. He lives in a nearby igloo clinic and frequently treats Pingu's injuries, as well as aid in the birth of Pinga.
* Mr. Peng-Hoven is a poor penguin. He lives in a tattered igloo and gladly accepts Pingu's gifts. He first appears in "Pingu and the Barrel Organ".
* The Giant Walrus is a mysterious German character who appeared in the episode "Pingu's Dream". As Pingu sleeps, he dreams his bed comes to life and takes him on a ride, unaware that the giant non-tusked walrus is stalking him. He eventually shows up and confronts him before trapping him in an igloo. He lets him out and uses him as a stretch toy while laughing maniacally. The walrus then eats Pingu's mattress, allowing Pingu to escape. Pingu then falls down a slope and wakes up in the real world, where his mother consoles him after his nightmare.

## Production history

The original production from 1988–2000 and 2003–2006 created 156 five-minute episodes and one special 25-minute episode. The episodes were written by Silvio Mazzola and were directed and animated by Otmar Gutmann using clay animation, at Trickfilmstudio in Russikon, Switzerland. In the style of voices a retroscript was chosen, and all voices were performed by Italian voice actor Carlo Bonomi without a script, using a language of noises that he had already developed and used for Osvaldo Cavandoli's *La Linea*. This feature enables people of different linguistic backgrounds to be able to follow the story.

In 1993, David Hasselhoff released a single titled "Pingu Dance", a rap song (in Switzerland only) 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, and was also heard in the re-dubbed version of the "Pingu Looks After the Egg (retitled Pingu Helps with Incubating)" episode, replacing the "Woodpeckers from Space" song from the original version.

A special twenty-five-minute episode, *Pingu at the Wedding Party*, was also produced in 1997, and introduced a family of green penguins.

In October 2001, HIT Entertainment bought the rights to the series, including the original 104 episodes and the wedding special, for £15.9 million. HIT later revived the show, and produced a further 52 episodes created at Hot Animation Studios in 2003 through 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). CBeebies airs only the original version of *Pingu* with the original cartoon title card (series 1 and 2) from the 52 episodes, and shows the first 13 episodes of series 3 with the claymation inspiration intro. JimJam contains all of the show's 156 episodes and Pingu at the Wedding Party, but it contains the re-dubbed versions of series 1–2 and contains the original version of Pingu at the Wedding Party, without the titles and credits.

Contrary to some sources, there was never any CGI used in these later episodes. When HIT Entertainment bought the rights, Carlo Bonomi 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" on which the penguin language was based.

In 2006, after the last episode aired, *Pingu* finally ended its 16-year run on TV.

*Pingu* aired on Nickelodeon in the UK for a period of time in the late 1990s.

The first time Pingu was mentioned in the US was on a documentary called Pingu - A Cartoon Character who conquers the world where a detective tries to figure out why Pingu is so popular, at the time Pingu was shown at the Paley Center. Then the series began airing in the United States on a morning omnibus program titled *Small World*, as part of Cartoon Network's Sunday morning lineup. The program featured various animated shorts produced internationally, and ran from 1996 until the show's discontinuation in 2001. The series did not air in the US from 2002 until 2005, when reruns of the series returned to the country on PBS Kids Sprout, but was removed sometime in 2010. As of today, the first five seasons of Pingu are available for streaming on Amazon Prime Instant Video while seasons five and six are available on Sling TV.

In 2006, Pingu was featured in a music video for Eskimo Disco's first single, "7–11". The music video was also released via CD, on 18 December 2006.

In India, *Pingu* was aired by Doordarshan in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Since 2000, it is aired by *Hungama TV* and *Animax*.

In Kenya, *Pingu* was screened on KBC.

In South Africa, the original series of *Pingu* began airing on SABC2 and the 2003 series later went onto air on e.tv as part of their children's strand *Craz-e!*.

In Nigeria, *Pingu* was being shown on NTA.

In Australia, episodes of *Pingu* originally aired as a segment on the children's programme, *The Book Place* on the Seven Network from 1991 to 1996 and later aired on ABC Television as a stand-alone programme in 1998.

In Germany, episodes of *Pingu* were aired from 10 November 1990 on *ZDF*, and later on *KI.KA*.[*citation needed*]

*Pingu* was broadcast in the U.A.E. on their English-speaking television network Dubai 33.

*Pingu* was shown on television for the very first time in Singapore and first aired on Kids Central from 2003 to 2006 and then on Okto from 2012 to 2014.

*Pingu* aired in New Zealand on TV3 from 1997 to 2006, and on Four beginning in 2011.

*Pingu* was also aired in Malaysia on TV3, as a part of the morning television program.

*Pingu* also aired in the Philippines on TV5 (now The 5 Network) in 2008 to 2009.

In Canada, *Pingu* airs on TVOKids, CBC Kids, Knowledge Network, Toon-A-Vision and YTV. Pingu has been a mainstay of the children's programming blocks on TVOntario since the mid-1990s. It can still be seen on TV 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 and French language versions. Some of the controversial episodes, such as "Pingu Quarrels With His Mother" (also known as "Pingu Argues With His Mother") and "Little Accidents" (also known as "Pingu's Lavatory Story"), have aired uncut on APTN Kids. In British Columbia, Pingu is aired during commercial breaks on Knowledge Network.

In the United Kingdom, Pingu was featured in the *Children In Need 2009* video by Peter Kay, which contained many other popular characters. This was shown on live television across the United Kingdom, and then sold on both CD and DVD.

A game, released in Japan, made for the Nintendo DS, *Pingu no Waku Waku Carnival* ("Pingu's Wonderful Carnival") was made by Square Enix and released in November 2008. This game is a series of mini games starring *Pingu* and his friends, including one in which Pingu's mother and father bake a heart-shaped cake, with the gameplay style resemblant to that of Cooking Mama. Another game for the Nintendo DS is *Fun Fun Pingu*. Little is known about the storyboard, though.

Other video games based on the series are *Pingu's 'Barrel of Fun!* for the PC in 1997 and *Pingu and Friends* in 1999, (both of which were released exclusively in the UK by BBC Multimedia) *Pingu: Sekai de Ichiban Genki na Penguin* for the Game Boy in Japan in 1993, and *Fun Fun Pingu* for the PlayStation also in Japan in 1999.

In August 2017, reruns of the fifth and sixth seasons of Pingu started airing in the Milkshake! programming block of the British television channel 5Star.

### Japan

In Japan, Pingu currently airs as part of NHK's children's program *Nyanchu's World*, and also on Cartoon Network Japan. Toys in the likeness of *Pingu* characters also featured in Japanese KFC restaurants as part of their Kids' Meal.

In September 2017, a reboot of the series, titled *Pingu in the City* (Japanese: ピングー in ザ・シティ, Hepburn: *Pingū in za Shiti*) was announced, and began airing on NHK-E in Japan on 7 October 2017. Unlike its previous series, it is computer-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 by Polygon Pictures in the same style of the original stop-motion series through computer animation. It was directed by Naomi Iwata and written by both Kimiko Ueno and Shigenori Tanabe, with music done by Ken Arai. It features voices by Ryota Iwasaki and Fumiya Tanaka, in a similar style to David Sant and Marcello Magni.