Who doesn’t know this cute and charming clay penguin, Pingu? Do you remember the cute and fun stories with pretty animal puppets and sets? It’s a British-Swiss stop-motion animated show for children. This show became popular for all ages during the 90’s even though it was for kids show. Pingu’s family consists of Pingu’s father, mother, Pingu’s little sister named Pinga, and the main character; Pingu. He has an aunt who is Pingu’s mothers sister. His aunt has twin-babies. Every character playfully moves their bodies and make a lot of noises in the show. Especially, the penguins’ cute walking sounds are very unforgettable!
This animation was created by a German television producer, animator, and director; Otmar Gutmann(1937-1993). He produced the show during 1986 to 2000 by a Swiss animation studio named Tricksilmstudio. The studio made four series in the total, and each series has 21-26 episodes. Each episode takes about 5min to watch. Please see the list of Pingu series from here. The UK companies, Hit Entertainment and Hot Animation bought Tricksilmstudio after Otmar’s death. These studios produced the fifth and sixth series of Pingu.
For this article, I will introduce my three favorite episodes. One of the memorable episodes is Pinga Is Born (1986) from episode 4, season 1. You will be a witness of the rare scene; Pinga’s birth. There was a few nervous moment when Pinga is hatching the egg. Pingu actually felt left out from family because everyone is giving attentions for the egg. Oh, poor Pingu! I also would like to mention the remarkable character, a gray seal, named Robby. Robby’s first appeared is Pingu Goes Fishing (1986) from episode 5, season 1. It’s very comedic story. Robby steals the bite while Pingu is fishing. Pingu gets a huge shock when he finally finds out Robby was stealing the bite. Please pay attention Pingu’s face expression. It’s hilarious! Finally, I’d like to introduce Pingu the Babysitter (1993) from episode 17, season 2. In this episode, Pingu’s aunt asked him to take care of her twin babies while his aunt and his mother go out. The twins are actually causing many troubles during he was babysitting. Please check these videos from below links. You will love them.
All stories are very cute and comedic, but do you notice they don’t speak any dialogues in the stories? I’m sure you enjoyed watching each episode even though the characters didn’t speak any dialogues. The viewers get idea of their conversations from the characters’ body gestures, face expressions, and noises (Perhaps it’s a Pingu’s language). I believe that’s why Pingu became popular internationally because everyone can enjoy it without understanding specific language.
Pinga is Born (1986)- https://youtu.be/P5o3gz20fhw
Pingu Goes Fishing (1986) – https://youtu.be/7kQEfrRsheQ
Pingu the Babysitter (1993) – https://youtu.be/fDTNdqtInJA
