Pingu

All my kids like Pingu, from the 7-year-old down to the 2-year-old, and I have to admit to watching it when the kids aren't even home. It's humorous and innocent, the characters are endearing, and the fact that the characters don't speak any language -- the dialogue is in "Penguinese" -- means that they convey their stories wholly with action, vocal inflection and body language. This is extremely intriguing.

Pingu is refreshingly unlike all the mainstream toddlers' programs out there, which are either excruciatingly heartwarming, unbearably didactic or just plain inane. It's a bit hard to find; at this point we're only able to get it from Time Warner On Demand cable. There are some DVDs available too. But if you have young kids, do check it out. The whole family will enjoy it.

It appears that this animated kids' show from Switzerland came along the year I was born, but I first saw it many years later, when I was around eight years old. Eventually, I got hooked, watching it every day after school! In Canada, the station to see it on was TVO. I have so many memories of watching kids' shows on that station for a good chunk of the 1990s, but "Pingu" was probably my favourite of them all, at least for a while, despite the fact that most of the other programmes I saw had much longer episodes!

The show took place at the South Pole, with anthropomorphic penguins living in igloos, and speaking gibberish, possibly using bits of different languages occasionally. The main character was Pingu, a young mischievous penguin who lived in an igloo with his parents, and eventually, his younger sister. Pingu was very cheeky and often poorly behaved, which could often get him into trouble. He experienced various kinds of problems, sometimes at home, and sometimes in other places. At home, he often got in trouble with his parents, and didn't always get along with his sister. Outside, he sometimes met other adults, and also found himself on adventures with peers.

I recently re-watched some episodes of "Pingu" and found that I didn't really enjoy it that much anymore, which didn't surprise me. However, I can't forget how much I loved it when I was a kid! Without a doubt, the show was very entertaining for many younger kids, with its excellent animation, characters, humour, and probably even the gibberish dialogue! Did it have any educational value? Well, definitely not as much as some kids' shows, and kids definitely couldn't learn anything from the words, but there may have been some mild lessons to be learned from Pingu's experiences, often about getting along with others. Despite the gibberish dialogue, viewers could always tell what was happening and understand the emotions of the characters. With all these qualities, I'm sure "Pingu" is still entertaining for many kids today, regardless of what language(s) they speak!

Netflix has its share of undiscovered foreign offerings (YouTube also knows a thing or two about dark corners), but "Pingu" is worth the dice roll. I love the dialogue (even though I have no idea how they come up with that wonderful gibberish language) and the claymation has its own physically comedic charm. I'm a cynical adult and I can watch this with my kid any time of the day, which is not something I'd say often about children's TV. There's surprising entertainment value in hearing a clay penguin squeal, "Noot Noot!". Thirty years old, and it's still fresh.

I love this stuff.

8/10

Who doesn't like watching clay penguins running around talking random gibberish for 5 minutes? Even though the show is only 5 minutes an episode and half of the time you don't understand a thing that is coming out of the mouths of these funny little creatures it gets the message through to you, the message that not everything need to make sense to be brilliant. There is pretty much no plot but has the characters of the show and every episode creates some whacky scenario for Pingu. Scenarios vary from fishing (which is where he meets Robbie the seal), the dreaming about a very disturbing walrus that made me cry as a child. Pingu is lots of fun to watch especially if you aren't looking for something intelligent to watch. The older I still love this show.

Pingu is a *very* refreshing break from the (many, many, many!) more mundane children's shows currently on the air. Pingu himself is an irreverent, irrepressible little fellow who relentlessly does his own thing (and often takes the heat from his parents for it). In fact, Pingu is so confident and independent that American audiences might have a hard time swallowing it.

In addition to shrugging off parental objections to his activities, Pingu sometimes quarrels with his friends (I'm talking about rolling-around-in-the-snow, knock-down/drag-outs here), and is not afraid of a bit of "biological" humor.

These things are, however, a part of the charm. If you are looking for good, edgy children's programming, Pingu is the way to go.

Hey, everyone make nice by the end of the episode! Go on...check it out!