Crazy Moomin loveliness to be seen…
April 26th, 2007 by FrankThanks to Green Ink for pointing me in the direction of the Moomins.
When he mentioned them in reference to my interest in animation, I thought they sounded familiar. I did a search on YouTube and found the above episode, and ineed they also looked familiar. But only in a vague fuzzy way.
And I wasn’t entirely sure that it was animation I remembered, which is entirely possibly because it seems they started life in print. Author Tove Jansson from Finland wrote Moomin books and comics , it seems, before they were turned into a series and a film.
Wherever I came across them, I think they stuck in my conscious somewhere as being just barely the right side of scary for whatever age I was.
As you can see from the above clip, they are fairly unconventional - is there anything this edgy around for kids at the moment? I’m a little out of touch, but Spongebob Squarepants is comparable I suppose… in that it’s enjoyable by adults as well as children, and tends toward the absurd - but let’s face it, Spongebob lacks a certain class that the Moomins have.
Or will people look back on Spongebob and think it’s got class when the media of the time has further increased in pace and crassness.
Anyway, enough rambling, enjoy the gentle insanity of the Moomins.
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April 26th, 2007 at 10:25 am
Ah yes, the Moomins. I recall it from my childhood, one of those freaky little cartoons that when you look back on, should really have had an awful effect on you. Snuffkin is plain scary and looks completely spaced out. Watching that episode though did invoke one thought, finally I know where the inspiration for M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Village” came from.
For a real trip down animation memory lane don’t forget to trip the light fantastic with the Clangers (http://youtube.com/watch?v=HArUmqqiL0s) and drop by on the old pervert with a telescope from Button Moon (http://youtube.com/watch?v=JX2rmNe-8GQ). Although Button Moon was more puppetry than animation. Watch out for the stars disappearing in the background as people in black costumes move about.
April 26th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
Wow… more stuff I had forgotten about! Excellent!
April 26th, 2007 at 1:44 pm
The Clangers: “What an unpleasant looking place.” Classic.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
Nice one. I’ve just had a really nice idea.
Well nice mightn’t be the best way to describe it.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
Hmm.. should we be scared?
April 26th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
Yes…possibly
April 26th, 2007 at 3:51 pm
I bought the Moomin box set on Amazon last year. There’s 100 episodes on it. I still shit my pants whenever the Groke appears.
As for button moon I loved the stars winking out when the performer walked in front of them. If you can do that and maintain the suspension of disbelief then that’s the essence of good puppetry in my opinion.
Bagpuss, Button Moon, youtube… there goes another day’s work.