Overview
The one minute long animation begins with Goodnight Kiwi and the Cat in the master control room. Kiwi shuts down the screens, and starts an audio cassette playing an instrumental arrangement of the traditional Māori lullaby, Hine e Hine. Kiwi walks through the studio while Cat jumps and pulls faces into a camera. Kiwi turns out the lights, puts a milk bottle on the porch and locks the door, while the cat heads upstairs to the studio roof. The Kiwi follows and rides an elevator (presumably just after it had been used by the cat) to the top of a transmission mast. At the top, Kiwi covers himself in blankets (in which the cat was already curled up) and goes to sleep in a satellite dish with the Cat sitting on his stomach. The short closes with the words: "Goodnight from TELEVISION NEW ZEALAND." There was a slight variation of the ending, with the TVNZ channel ident and the announcer fading down the volume to announce "and it's goodnight from Channel...." (this being directly followed by the channel number e.g. "and it's goodnight from Channel 2").
When the cartoon debuted in 1975, the Kiwi had been a director. The cartoon began with the Kiwi yawning in the director's chair. Kiwi wakes up the cat, and the two race each other down a series of cameras and other broadcasting equipment. The Kiwi then goes outside, cuts the power and turns on the lights from inside. Then the Kiwi put the milk bottle and the cat outside, but without it knowing the cat goes inside again while Kiwi is waving to the audience. It is unknown whether it is the end or not.
An alternate version of the Goodnight Kiwi clip was used by South Pacific Television somewhere between 1976 and 1980 and saw the Goodnight Kiwi and his companion living in a television camera. At the end of the clip, the kiwi would close the side flaps on the camera and then the South Pacific Television logo would appear as the music faded out.
During transmission breakdowns, a still picture of the Goodnight Kiwi was often used, in poses including one of sweeping the floor and accidentally pulling out a power cord.
The characters and music are regarded as part of New Zealand broadcasting culture.
Read more about this topic: Goodnight Kiwi