oh I do miss being a kid again - do you know this one?
Yesterday, in conversation, a childhood cartoon came up I very much liked watching: Alfred J. Kwak, an anime television show about a little duck. A cartoon created by Herman Van Veen, a very known man in The Netherlands and Belgium. Though the animation was done in Japan. It was first aired in 1989, I was 6 at the time and watched it whenever it was on tv.
The reason why we talked about Alfred, was because the song sung at the credits is an extreamly happy song, stating in Dutch (loosely translated): "today I am so happy, I've never been so happy...".
I remarked that in the song had a verse near the end of the song, that also said he could also be unhappy; in Dutch (loosely translated): "but sometimes he's [Alfred] so sad, extremely sad, sometimes he's so sad he could die of grief..." - though the English song made a compromize and sings: "whenever he's downhearted, the feeling's never with him for very very long..." It's a milder tone, though I think, when you're really heartbroken, you do feel like you could die. Figuratively.
So I was asked (me being the one who has a history of tv addiction and general know all of uninteresting facts - ha but very usefull now, you see) how come Alfred was an orphan and raised by a mole? I answered that his mother, father and sibblings were killed in a fatal car accident and he got spared.
"Alfred J. Kwak was born as the son of Johan Sebastian and Anna Kwak. Some time after his birth, Alfred loses his parents and his brothers and sisters who died when a car hits them. Henk the mole, a good friend of the Kwak family, raises the little yellow duck. Alfred experiences a lot of adventures." (quote Wikipedia)
What a very depressing set up of a childrens' program. Though, realistic, cause crossing ducks do get... well you know... sad but true. And yet, the cartoon was never really depressing. I remember a happy Alfred. With many adventures and happy endings. Fun adventures.
It was, I guess, a very mature cartoon at the time, with political themes (e.g. Apartheid, ...), environmental issues; even kleptomania at some point - or at least I remember such an episode as a kid. But then again, magpies are known to be drawn and steal shiny objects. And Alfred's friend Pikkie was after all a magpie.
Some of the characters had fun names as well. I forgot that the lion was named Franz Ferdinant!
Another interesting fact is, that unlike other cartoons, the characters evolve and grow up over time. They learned from past mistakes or were more able to go head on in some adventures because of past experiences. I miss that sometimes in cartoons these days. Because kids aren't ignorant, you know. Sometimes cartoonists or childrens' programs like to believe they are. I've learned a lot as an aunt. Kids know more than you think or give them credit for.
The series has been broadcast all over the world and has been translated from Dutch to French, Japanese, Greek, English, Italian, Spanish, Hebrew, Arabic, Finnish, Serbian, Polish, German, Swedish, Danish, Icelandic, Chinese, and Norwegian.
# by Jean-Luc Picard - Wednesday, June 25, 2008 8:54:00 PM
Very unusual. Haven't seen that one.
# by SQT - Thursday, June 26, 2008 8:00:00 PM
I've never heard of this one.
The Japanese animation I remember, from when I was a kid, is Robotech and Voltron. I loved those.
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