Plonsters

Plonsters is a German animated children's television program produced by Anima Studio für Film & Grafik GmbH in Hamburg, Germany, and Bettina Matthaei for Egmont Imagination. Each episode is about 3 minutes and 30 seconds long and is produced using stop motion animation done with plasticine, also called claymation. The title is a portmanteau of "plasticine" and "monsters".[1][2] The characters also appeared in educational books.[3][4][5]

Plot

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The show features three little clay monsters, the Plonsters. They are Plif (the green plonster), who likes to play practical jokes, Plops (the blue plonster) who is the cranky one and Plummy (the orange plonster) who is the cheerful one. They can morph themselves into anything, and their language is some kind of gibberish.

The plot of the show is usually that Plif and Plops bully Plummy by ruining everything he does (as well as excluding him from some activities whenever possible), but he gets back at them every time, and every episode ends with the three of them playing together peacefully.

Episodes

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Season 1 (1987 to 1993)

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  1. The Cottage
  2. The Butterfly
  3. The Rocket
  4. The Wilde West
  5. The bee
  6. The Tiny red balloon
  7. The record
  8. The meeting
  9. Pudding
  10. Empathy
  11. Box of bricks
  12. Privacy
  13. The Cookies
  14. Fishing
  15. The Robot
  16. Blind
  17. The Kiosk
  18. Coin
  19. Clowns
  20. The Frogs
  21. Music
  22. Grapes
  23. The Machine
  24. The Cookies
  25. Means of Transport
  26. Bowling Ball
  27. The Sleeping Beauty
  28. The Hiccups
  29. The Wall
  30. The Sack
  31. No Fear of Large Animals
  32. Limbo
  33. The Carpet
  34. The Simulant
  35. The Pretzels
  36. First Aid
  37. The Dog
  38. The Meeting
  39. The Snowman
  40. The Pipe
  41. The Automobile
  42. The Birthday
  43. The Thistle

Season 2 (1993 to 1997)

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  1. Snow Hunt
  2. The Beautiful Garden
  3. Gone Fishin'
  4. The Lonely Island
  5. Home Sweet Home
  6. Chaos at the Museum
  7. Fata Morgana
  8. Fashion Show
  9. Checkmate
  10. The Fruit Market
  11. Going to Sleep
  12. Feeding the Ducks
  13. Safari
  14. At the Fairground
  15. Paddling
  16. Running Up That Hill
  17. Baking Cookies
  18. The Treasure Hunter
  19. At the Supermarket
  20. Camping Adventure
  21. Chaos and Untidiness
  22. The Plonsters Fire Brigade
  23. The Snake Charmers
  24. Gold Diggers
  25. Sports Weekend
  26. The Dinner Party
  27. On Thin Ice
  28. Racecar Drivers
  29. Honey Honey
  30. Chemical Experiments
  31. The Sculpture Comes Alive
  32. At the Circus
  33. At the Hospital
  34. Bewitched Scarecrow
  35. The Raspberry Bush
  36. Playground Attractions
  37. Dance with Plonsters
  38. Surfing with Plonsters
  39. Miniature Golf
  40. Arctic Adventure
  41. The Haunting Of Knight's Castle
  42. Goin to Venice
  43. Merry Plonsters-Mas
  44. Picnic At The Beach
  45. Plonsters Of The Caribbean
  46. The Pear Tree
  47. The Cuckoo Eggs
  48. How The West Was Really Won
  49. I Want To Ride My Bike
  50. In Outer Space
  51. Collecting Shells

Credits

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  • Idea and characters (creator): Bettina Matthaei
  • Animators: Isolde Bayer, Axel Nicolai
  • Model makers: Katja Calvasova, Eva Galova, Beate Bojanowska, Anke Greß, Sandra Schießl, Lene Markusen
  • Production coordinators: Torben Köster, Astrid Olthoff, Kerstin Sprenger
  • Editor: Marco Rönnau
  • Voices: Ralph Thiekötter
  • Music: Petar Vanek
  • Sound recording: STUDIO FUNK NG, Christoph Welsche, STUDIO NAMU PRAHA, Adam Memens, Jiři Jahl
  • Executive producers: Ulla Brockenhuus-Schack, Christian Lehmann
  • Director: Alexander Zapletal

International distribution

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The show aired in Australia on ABC (9 April 2001 - 31 October 2014)[6] and in Norway on TV3. It has also aired on Malaysia narrowcaster Asia Media TransNet, showing in RapidKL coaches.The show also aired in Canada on YTV between the late 1990s and the early 2000s. The shorts were also shown on Eureeka's Castle under the title Plastinots. In Brazil, the show aired on TV Cultura during the 90s on the Glub Glub program under the title Plastinots and in Portugal as Pollsters.[7] In Italy, the show aired on Rai 3 sometimes during 2000s/2010s. In Ireland, the show aired on RTÉ as an integral part of the Bosco show sometimes during 1980s/1990s. In Japan, the show aired on Fuji TV as part of Hirake! Ponkikki. In Norway, it is known as Plipp, plopp og plomma.[8] In Slovenia, the show aired on TV Slovenia under the title, Plastelinca.

Reception

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The three monsters are remembered as part of the German collective imagination.[9][10]

References

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  1. ^ Batkin, Jane (17 February 2017). Identity in Animation: A Journey into Self, Difference, Culture and the Body. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-317-53325-2.
  2. ^ Crump, William D. (18 April 2019). Happy Holidays--Animated!: A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film. McFarland. ISBN 978-1-4766-7293-9.
  3. ^ Baumann, Christa (2000). Schreiben und Lesen einfach mit den Plonsters: Kl. 3 (in German). Augustus-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-8043-4136-4.
  4. ^ Grimm, Petra; Horstmeyer, Sandra; Weiss, Jutta; Calmbach, Marc (2003). Kinderfernsehen und Wertekompetenz (in German). Franz Steiner Verlag. ISBN 978-3-515-08365-2.
  5. ^ Buch Journal (in German). Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels. 2001.
  6. ^ "Plonsters". ABC iview. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
  7. ^ Portugal, Rádio e Televisão de. "PLONSTERS - Infantis e Juvenis - RTP". www.rtp.pt. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
  8. ^ "plonsters". play.tv2.no. Retrieved 12 August 2024.
  9. ^ Brose, Franziska (9 May 2016). Gestaltung und Produktion eines Stop-Motion-Films (in German). GRIN Verlag. ISBN 978-3-668-21276-3.
  10. ^ Reinwarth, Alexandra (10 February 2012). Das Fitnessprojekt: Wie ich (fast) jeden Scheiß ausprobierte, um in Form zu kommen (in German). MVG Verlag. ISBN 978-3-86415-270-2.
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