Fem Myror är Fler Än Fyra Elefanter (Show)

***Five ants are more than four elephants*** is a Educational Sketch-Comedy program from 1973 , 1974, 1975, 1977, 1984 and 1985 with Magnus Härenstam , Brasse Brännström and Eva Remaeus . The program entertained the children with sketches and songs, where teaching about, among other things, letters , numbers and position indications always took place. It was broadcast for the first time on SVT2 (Formerly TV2) starting on 19 November 1973  , in the spring of 1974 , and in the winter-spring of 1975, and in 1984 When it was Renewed for a Third Season, The Show Ended on June 9th 1985

The program has been rebroadcast a large number of times and is released on VHS and DVD as well as as PC games by Pan Vision . The first PC game won this year's children's game and this year's Swedish game at the Computer Games Gala 2000.  In 1977 , the program was Sveriges Television's Christmas calendar .  The series last time Having Reruns was in 2012-2013 on SVT Barn.

## About

In addition to entertaining the children's audience, the program had an educational purpose and wanted to arouse interest in letters and numbers. Each section had a letter and a number as its theme. Magnus , Brasse and Eva had consistent roles: a pedant, a careless person and a proper person. In several of the later parts of the series, the animated parts had Monica Zetterlund and Tomas Löfdahl as narrator voices. In Most Episodes, The Show has Vera, Ellen and Cecila Cartoons Narrated by Monica Zetterlund and Illustrated by Kjell Ivan Andersson, Bengt Linné and Lasse Haglund produced the series. Bengt Ernryd wrote the music, and Magnus Härenstam and Brasse Brännström wrote the lyrics and did the Voices of the Big (Magnus) and Little (Brasse) Elephants in the Letter Animations. The animations were designed by Owe Gustafson and stood for its sound Jan Brandhildh and Lennart Jörevall .

The programs consisted of a series of revue-like sketches and song numbers with some fixed elements. An example is Brasse's "Lattjo-lajban box", where he presents four animals, one of which is to be removed. Magnus and Eva guessed, but always got it wrong from Brasse's "cleverness point of view"; the intention was to teach children that one thing can have several properties. There were also cartoons , including with elephants dragging out the letters that are relevant.

Knysten and Fräs were two puppet figures who were in only in the First 15 Episodes of the First Season, Sandro Key-Åberg had written the talk for the puppets and the voices were voiced by John Harryson as Knysten and Helena Brodin as Fräs. Puppeteers were Dennis Smith and Annty Landherr .

The program is now a so-called cult classic. In 2006, the program was named "best Swedish children's program of all time" in the program *Folktoppen* with over 50% of the votes.

## About the Christmas Calender

Five ants are more than four elephants was the Christmas calendar in Swedish Television 1977 . Each gap in the calendar corresponded to one letter in the alphabet, but it did not go in alphabetical order, but the first letter in the calendar was H.  The elements about each letter were taken from the original series and after the element they had added a part, where Magnus , Brasse and Eva opened today's hatch. In order to keep up with all the letters in the alphabet, the calendar had 28 sections (one for each letter) and began as early as November 27, which was also the first Advent. There was a version with openable doors. There is also information about a version where the doors were instead stickers that were attached to the calendar. It was stickers and not gaps, and it was part of the Second Season

The entire Advent calendar can be watched on SVT Play.

## Starring

* Magnus Härenstam - Magnus and Big Elephant
* Brasse Brännström - Brasse and Little Elephant
* Eva Remaeus - Eva and Little Elephant (A-Ö Elephant Song only)
* Tomas Löfdahl - Number Animations Narrator
* Monica Zetterlund - Number Animations and Cartoon Segments Narrator, Vera, Ellen and Cecila

## Reception

The model for *Five ants is more than four elephants* was the American program *Sesame Street* , which also worked with pedagogy. It turned out in TV2's own preliminary evaluations of "Five ants" that the learning effect in the children was limited. They therefore focused more on arousing interest and less on teaching. The playful and ignorant Brasse also often outwits Eva and Magnus, which was intended to show that imagination and curiosity are sometimes more important than knowledge.

During the early 1970s, many Swedish children's programs had a strong educational goal. Often the purpose was to teach the children that there are others who are not as well off as themselves.  "Five ants", on the other hand, had many elements with glamorous costumes and pee and poop humor. It was therefore criticized for being glittering, uneducational and having a too pale political vein by the standards of the times.

It is a common belief that "Five Ants" was very successful in its educational ambition. However, how the watching children were affected and whether they learned anything has never been scientifically investigated.

## Home Media Releases

When the series was published on VHS in 1983, the best sketches had been cut into eight parts. Each part was then about an hour long.

in 1990 Kanal 10 Re-released the first 8 Volumes, and Combined the Volumes into 3 Releases in 1997

in 1997 Independent Video Release Mest om Siffror and it was the only time an Animation Came after the Intro and Combining the Numbers Segments with Different Animation Styles

In 2000, three VHS editions of Independent Video were distributed that were previously Released by Kanal 10.  This is the version that is also released on DVD.  The DVDs contain 17 newly cut sections with a total playing time of approximately 9 hours.

The three parts released on DVD are the first three discs in a 4 disc box. The fourth disc contains the door openings from the Christmas calendar and also some sketches.  The box has been released three times - in 2008, 2013 and 2014.

## CD Releases

* Five ants are more than four elephants (1975)
* More ants and elephants (1977)

## Source

https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fem\_myror\_%C3%A4r\_fler\_%C3%A4n\_fyra\_elefanter (English Translated With Some Edits)