Pingu - History

History

A total of 157 five-minute episodes were originally made, from 1986 to 2000, and then again from 2004 to 2005. The episodes were written by Silvio Mazzola and were directed and animated by Otmar Gutmann using clay animation, at Trickfilmstudio in Russikon, Switzerland.

In 1993, David Hasselhoff released (in Switzerland only) the single "Pingu Dance", a rap 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, and was also heard in the new version of the "Pingu Looks After the Egg" episode and replaced the "Woodpeckers From Space" song from the original version. The original theme remains in some international airings, including on BBC's Cbeebies and Nick Jr

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

In 2001, HiT Entertainment bought the United Kingdom rights to the series, including the original 105 episodes, for £15.9 million and updated all the classic episodes in 2002 with new music and voice tracks (though some original dialogue clips and the sound effects were mostly the same.) The original cartoon title card of the show was replaced with a claymated inspiration of the intro, which was initially used on new episodes around 1995, 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 produced a further 53 episodes, created at Hot Animation Studios in 2004, continuing in stop motion but using resin casts of the original clay puppets which had deteriorated by this time. Cbeebies and Nick Jr airs only the original version of Pingu with the original cartoon title card (series 1 and 2) from 53 episodes, and shows 13 episodes from series 3 with the claymated inspiration intro. Contrary to some sources, there was never any CGI used in these later episodes. 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" on which the penguin language was based. In 2006, after the last episode aired, Pingu finally ended its 20-year run on TV. Currently, CBeebies and Nick Jr airs the original versions of the episodes from seasons 1-3 and the HiT Entertainment versions from seasons 4-6.

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 the show's discontinuation in 2001. The show returned 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.

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 told Swedish talk show host Kristian Luuk that she considered Pingu, and television in general, to be a bad influence on children.

In India, Pingu was aired by Doordarshan in the late 1980s and early 1990s. 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 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 the UK, 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 UK, and then sold on both CD and DVD.

A Japan-only game 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 developed in the UK by BBC Multimedia, and were then released in USA in 1999 and 2001, being distributed by Infogrames), Pingu for the Game Boy in Japan in 1994, and Fun Fun Pingu for the PlayStation also in Japan in 1999.

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

In Canada, the show aired between programs during lunchtime hours on YTV from 2004 until 2006. 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 Mom" and "Little Accidents", have aired uncut on APTN Kids.