''De Bereboot'' (The Bear Boat) was a Dutch children's

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. Puppetry is an ancient form of theatre which dates back to the 5th century BC in anci ...

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

programme in the 1970s written by

Lo Hartog van Banda Lodewijk Hartog van Banda (4 November 1916, in The Hague – 2 February 2006, in The Hague) was a Dutch comics writer.NOS (October 2, 1976 - April 29, 1977) and

AVRO Avro (an initialism of the founder's name) was a British aircraft manufacturer. Its designs include the Avro 504, used as a trainer in the First World War, the Avro Lancaster, one of the pre-eminent bombers of the Second World War, and the d ...

(October 1, 1977 - September 30, 1978).

Cast

Leading characters

*Kapitein Brom (Captain Grouch); a brown tough bear with white whiskers. *Maatje (Buddy), a young panda who has a solution for every problem. *Brilbeer (Spectacle Bear), a yellow touchy bear with grey sideburns and a white boilersuit. His catchphrase, ''"technisch gesproken"'' translates as "technically speaking!".

Supporting characters

* Neel; landlady of resident pub Het Zeemanshuis (The Sailor's Home). She's a cow in the literary sense; she fancies the captain and loves to give him cuddle names. * Kokki; the pub's Italian chef. Everytime something goes wrong he says "Santa Hoopla". * Jimmy Bril (Jimmy Specs); a pop singer. * Professor Knobbel (Dr. Knob); a mad genius whose gadgets don't work properly. * Fred de Kei (Fred Rock); a business-pig who wastes no chance to make money. He wears a black top hat and always has a cigar in his mouth. * Teun; a farmer whose eggs are transported by the bears. * Guus Hap (Gus Bite); an ostrich who eats anything within eyesight to return it as a real surprise-egg. * Alida; a seasnake who insists on being addressed as a lady. The captain always regards her wish. * Lorrelies; a mermaid who gets easily insulted by Brilbeer's refusal to eat her seafood. * Juf (Miss); a strict school-teacher. She moved to Stupid Toddler's Island (Dutch; ''Dommedreumesseneiland'') which was in serious need of education.

Plot

The three bears enter the pub and start a conversation with Neel; halfway subject switches to one of their adventures which often took place on the silliest of theme-isles such as Stupid Toddler's Island, Cake Island (Dutch: ''Taarteiland'') or Hat Island (Dutch: ''Peteiland'') . These adventures were serialised over the course two to five episodes to fit the five-minute time-slot.

Side-project

During their

days the bears also hosted the Wednesday afternoon show ''Berebios'' (Bear's Flicks) at the local cinema where Fred sold the tickets. Apart from their own adventures they also aired Dutch-dubbed cartoons (from

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ; formerly known as H-B Enterprises, Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. and H-B Production Co.), simply and commonly known as Hanna-Barbera, was an American animation studio and production company, which was acti ...

, ''

The Adventures of Tintin ''The Adventures of Tintin'' ( ) is a series of 24 comic albums created by Belgians, Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name Hergé. The series was one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century. By 2007, a c ...

'', and their

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

n peer ''

Rasmus Klump ''Rasmus Klump'' (translates to ''Rasmus Lump'' or ''Erasmus Lump'') is a Danish comic strip series for children created in 1951 by the Danish wife-and-husband team Carla and Vilhelm Hansen. The series was translated into a number of foreign lan ...

''). After ''De Bereboot'' was cancelled, the Wednesday slot changed its name into Kinderbios (Kid's Flicks) and remained for about a decade.

Merchandise and popularity resurgence

The images of Brom, Maatje and Brilbeer appeared on merchandise ranging from erasers to balloons; the latter even guesting in one of the episodes. A six -track sampler-EP was sold at a chainstore-supermarket in preparation of the full-length albums. In 1991, nine year after re-runs of the first season, ''De Bereboot'' was introduced to the new generation; this time on

TROS TROS, originally an acronym for Televisie Radio Omroep Stichting ("Television Radio Broadcasting Foundation"), was a Dutch television and radio organisation part of the Dutch public broadcasting system. This broadcasting association was partic ...

. The original theme-tune was replaced with the one used for the

-season and the episodes were slotted together as one. Later children's channel

Kindernet Kindernet (as Nickelodeon Kindernet from 2011 to 2013) is a now-defunct, Dutch-language television network that aired classic and modern children's television series from the 1980s onward. Two iterations of the network have been broadcast; the or ...

(now

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

) took over with more success; by 2000 new merchandise was available including double VHS-tapes. It was also adapted into a comic strip by Ton Beek for the magazine ''

Bobo Bobo may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Comic strips * ''Bobo'' (Belgian comics) * ''Bobo'' (Italian comics) * ''Bobo'' (Swedish comics) Fictional characters * Bobo the Bear, in ''The Muppets'' series * Professor Bobo, from ''My ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bereboot 1976 Dutch television series debuts Dutch children's television series Television series about bears Fictional ships Fictional bears Anthropomorphic bears Children's television series about talking animals Television shows adapted into comics Dutch television shows featuring puppetry 1970s Dutch television series