Pingu is a Swiss-British stop motion animated children's television series originally produced in Switzerland. It was co-created by Otmar Gutmann and Erika Brueggemann. It centres on the titular anthropomorphic emperor penguin and his family, who live in the South Pole. The series aired on SF DRS for four series from 7 March 1990 to 9 April 2000, and was produced by the Swiss animation studio Pingu Filmstudio; with Swiss toy company Editoy AG, and later on, Pingu BV handling IP ownership of the series. The series has been popular outside of Switzerland, particularly in the United Kingdom and Japan, in part due to its lack of a real spoken language. Nearly all dialogue is in an invented grammelot "penguin language" referred to as 'Penguinese' or 'Pinguish', consisting of babbling, muttering, and the titular character's characteristic sporadic honking sound, which can be popularly recognized as "Noot noot!" or other variants, accompanied by turning his beak into a megaphone-like shape. In the first four series, all the characters were performed by Italian voice actor Carlo Bonomi, using a language of sounds he had already developed and used earlier for Osvaldo Cavandoli's La Linea. After English children's company HIT Entertainment purchased Pingu BV in 2001, they produced a revival run of Pingu for two additional series in the United Kingdom through their in-house studio Hot Animation, which aired on CBeebies from 1 August 2003 to 3 March 2006. It was nominated for a BAFTA award in 2005. The characters were jointly voiced by David Sant and Marcello Magni. A computer-animated spin-off series with two seasons produced in Japan for NHK, entitled Pingu in the City, aired from 7 October 2017 to 30 March 2019. A second revival series, being animated in stop-motion like the original, is currently under development at Mattel Studios and Aardman Animations. The IP rights to Pingu are currently held by an entity owned by HIT/Mattel named Joker, Inc., which is usually called through its trade name "The Pygos Group" on copyright and trademark notices related to the Pingu property.
Episodes
The program is set in Antarctica and focuses around penguin families living and working in igloos. The main character, Pingu, belongs to one such family. He frequently goes on adventures with his little sister, Pinga, and often gets into mischief with his best friend, Robby, and his love interest, Pingi.
Characters
Main Pingu is the show's main character—a typically playful, curious little penguin. His name comes from the German word for penguin, Pinguin. He is stubborn and mostly well-behaved, but prone to making mischief and throwing occasional tantrums. Pinga is Pingu's little sister. She resembles an emperor penguin chick, as do other young penguins throughout the show. She is happy and playful, but very sensitive and clever, and often a target for Pingu's pranks. Mr. and Mrs. Penguin are Pingu and Pinga's parents (their actual names are not revealed). Mr. Penguin is a postman who uses a non-smoking pipe in the early episodes but quits later. He is a short-tempered but loving penguin and has a motorised sledge to deliver the mail, sometimes with Pingu's help. Mrs. Penguin is a caring, loving, and hard-working housewife who spends most of her time cooking and cleaning. She sometimes gets help from Pingu and Pinga, and always gives them a cuddle when they have learned a lesson. Grandfather is Pingu and Pinga's paternal grandfather, who first appeared in the episode "Music Lessons". He is an expert accordionist, as he demonstrates to Pingu in that episode, and also a former professional weight lifter.
Recurring Robby is a seal who is Pingu's best friend. His name comes from the German word for seal, Robbe. First appearing in the episode "Pingu Goes Fishing", he is friendly and playful, yet cheeky in many ways. He is bluish grey in the first four series, and light grey in the last two. Pingo is a somewhat foolhardy penguin. He has a long beak that is essentially flat at the bottom but slightly rounded on the top and a head that is wider and taller. He often persuades Pingu to do wild and silly things with him. He was originally a bully in the first episode, but later he became Pingg's and Pingu's friend. Pingg is Pingu's other penguin friend. He also has a long beak, but a shorter head than Pingo. Like Pingo, he was originally a bully, but later became one of Pingu's friends. Pongi is a penguin who wears glasses and has a short round beak. He first appeared in the episode "Ice Hockey". Pengy is a penguin very similar to Adélie penguins and first appears in "Pingu and the School Excursion". In the episode "School Time", Pingu resembles Pengy. Pingj is a green penguin who appears in Pingu at the Wedding Party. He speaks with an accent that seems typical of his breed. Punki is a penguin who first appeared in the episode "Pingu Delivers the Mail". He has a tuft on his head and wears striped trousers. Bajoo is Pingu's other non-penguin friend. HIT Entertainment reveals him as a strange newcomer to the Antarctic in the appearance of a yeti. He was introduced in 2005 and appeared in the last episode, "Pingu and the Abominable Snowman". He also appeared in the 7–11 music video and The Pingu Show. Pingi is Pingu's love interest and Pinga's best friend. She has thick white eyelashes and a somewhat flattened beak. She first appeared in the episode "Pingu's Admirer".
Supporting Mr. Peng-Chips is Pingu's teacher. He lives at the local school and rings the bell when it is time for school to begin or end. He first appeared in the episode "School Time". Mr. Peng-Hoven is a poor penguin who lives in a tattered igloo and frequently receives Pingu's acts of kindness. He first appeared in the episode "Pingu and the Barrel Organ". The Aunts are Mrs. Penguin's sisters and Pingu and Pinga's three maternal aunts. In "Pingu Goes Away", Pingu goes to stay with one of his aunts. In "Pingu the Babysitter", he cares for another aunt's twin chicks whilst she and Mother go out; then in "Pingu Makes a Mistake", he cares for the third aunt's egg, which is due to hatch. The Twins are Pingu and Pinga's cousins. They appear in "Pingu the Babysitter", where Pingu cared for them when their mother goes out with his mother. Grandpa is Pingu and Pinga's maternal grandfather who appeared in "Grandpa is Ill" and "Pingu Cannot Lose"; in the latter, he is shown to be good at bowling.
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