Brummkreisel

The concept is simple- if indeed there was any concept. A powerful yet benevolent wizard plays games, reads stories, shows cartoons and sometimes goes on adventures. In fact, this show, while not zany to the max, makes 'Animaniacs' look scripted. And sometimes, that's the beauty of it. Achim (Joachim Kaps sporting bright red dungarees and Patrick Swayze-esque hair) interacts with the audience of children with the above activities and sometimes giving them aside glances whenever his little friend Kunibert says something he thinks is asinine. Kunibert is a sort of small magical creature who is Achim's comedic foil. He's bossy, impatient, egotistical, and Achim has endless amounts of patience with him. In return, Kunibert loves Achim and depends on him, despite his argumentative nature. Once in a while Achim would playfully tease Kunibert and isn't above a little practical joke, and sometimes Kunibert would mess with Achim in return, such as in the episode about the weather. If you don't know German this show is good for teaching you stuff like directions and days of the week. The show is mostly educational but sometimes Achim and Kunibert go on little adventures, like traveling through time or enacting the story of 'The Frog Prince' (their relationship veers into bromance territory here). Sometimes it's like a kindergarten session, sometimes it's more like a standup routine. Often, it's both. Joachim Kaps is a blast to watch. I first knew of him as a voice actor. He's got a distinctive voice. If you watch German cartoons or cartoons in German, you might know him as Fred from 'Bibi and Tina', Jacob from 'Wunschpunsch' or the new voice of Squidward in the German dub of 'SpongeBob'. As it turns out, he made a perfect kids' show host. Not quite a complete goofball like Pee-Wee Herman, but a good deal more hyperactive than Mr. Rogers. He's energized, but gentle and warm. He clicks his heels together and does handstands on the chair, but most of it is him interacting with Hans-Joachim Leschnitz, who is greenscreened to make himself look smaller. The greenscreen is the reason why the background is completely black. It's simple, but effective. There are other characters in the show, too, the cat Hops and the dog Mops. Not bad as characters, but they're sock puppets, and cheap looking ones at that. They look like something out of a half-baked Eighties commercial. The bots from 'Mystery Science Theater 3000' look more advanced in comparison. That said, the addition of them picks up the pace of the show a little, and their personalities are impressively subtle. Hops is a little vain and a bit of a know-it-all, but not mean, and Mops is slow-witted but not completely dumb. Kaps and Leschnitz carry the show. They're very funny and they play off each other wonderfully. Sometimes the show drags a bit but almost always the show holds your attention (or your child's). All in all, the show is a fascinating work of art, party because- due to the greenscreen convenient black background- it's awfully minimalist. It looks low-budget and cheap but it really brings out the props and characters. Joachim Kaps fans are most likely to check this out but the rest of you this might be a curiosity.