Genre: | Comedy |
Based On: | Pingu by Otmar Gutmann and Erika Brueggemann |
Director: | Naomi Iwata |
Voices: | Ryota Iwasaki Fumiya Tanaka |
Composer: | Ken Arai |
Country: | United States Japan |
Language: | English Japanese |
Num Seasons: | 2 |
Num Episodes: | 52 |
Executive Producer: | Christopher Keenan Keisuke Tsuchibashi Yukiko Yaki Hideki Moriya |
Producer: |
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Runtime: | 7 minutes |
Company: | Mattel Creations NHK Enterprises Polygon Pictures |
Network: | NHK Educational TV |
is an animated children's television series produced by Mattel Creations, NHK, NHK Enterprises, and Polygon Pictures. It is a spin-off/continuation based on the stop-motion television series Pingu by HIT Entertainment. The series first aired on NHK Educational TV in Japan from October 7, 2017 to March 30, 2019.
The series was adapted from the famous stop-motion animated series Pingu, which was created in 1986 by Otmar Gutmann and Erika Brueggemann for the SRF in Switzerland. In this series, Pingu and his family move from their home in the Antarctic to a large city, where the inhabitants are all very different. The mischievous and curious Pingu makes a big effort to help the citizens with their jobs, but his attempts to do so often result in trouble.
The series is co-produced by American company Mattel Creations (who acquired HIT Entertainment in 2011) and Japanese companies NHK, NHK Enterprises and Polygon Pictures, with animation produced by DandeLion Animation Studios in the same style as the original stop-motion series through computer-animation.[1] It was directed by Naomi Iwata and written by both Kimeno Ueno and Shigenori Tanabe, with music by Ken Arai.[2] It features voices by Ryota Iwasaki and Fumiya Tanaka, in a similar style to Carlo Bonomi, David Sant, and Marcello Magni, who voiced characters in the original series.
The series was first screened outside of Japan at the MIPJunior 2017 event at Cannes.[3] In Australia, the show premiered on June 4, 2018 on ABC Kids. In the United States, the show was first screened at the Chicago International Television Festival[4] and the 2018 Animation Block Party.[5]
A second season premiered from October 6, 2018 (which was the day before the 1st anniversary of the show) to March 30, 2019.[6]
In the United Kingdom, the show premiered on February 25, 2019 on ITVBe's preschool block LittleBe. In Brazil, the show premiered in April 2019 through the preschool channel Gloobinho.[7] On Hop! Channel in Israel, the show premiered in summer 2019.