Momfer de Mol, Isadora Paradijsvogel, Gerrit de Postduif, Meneer de Raaf, Lowieke de Vos, Juffrouw Ooievaar & Ed Bever

''Fabeltjeskrant'' () (or ''De Fabeltjeskrant'', Dutch for "''The Fables Newspaper''") is a Dutch

children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early eveni ...

featuring

puppetry Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance that involves the manipulation of puppets – inanimate objects, often resembling some type of human or animal figure, that are animated or manipulated by a human called a puppeteer. Such a performan ...

and

stop motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames ...

. Created in 1968 by and produced by Thijs Chanowski (1st series) and Loek de Levita (2nd series), it ended in 1989 and was broadcast on the Dutch and Japanese channels NOS,

RTL 4 RTL 4 (Radio Télévision Luxembourg 4) is a Dutch free-to-cable television channel; it is the most-watched commercial station in the country, popular especially with those aged between 20 and 49. RTL 4 is a general entertainment channel with in ...

RTL 8 and NHK and on Belgian channel VRT. From 1973 to 1975 it was broadcast also in the United Kingdom, on ITV, with the title ''The Daily Fable.

Plot

Each episode is based upon

fable Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a particular mor ...

s of

Jean de La Fontaine Jean de La Fontaine (, , ; 8 July 162113 April 1695) was a French fabulist and one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century. He is known above all for his ''Fables'', which provided a model for subsequent fabulists across Eur ...

Aesop Aesop ( or ; , ; c. 620–564 BCE) was a Greek fabulist and storyteller credited with a number of fables now collectively known as ''Aesop's Fables''. Although his existence remains unclear and no writings by him survive, numerous tales cre ...

Phaedrus Phaedrus may refer to: People * Phaedrus (Athenian) (c. 444 BC – 393 BC), an Athenian aristocrat depicted in Plato's dialogues * Phaedrus (fabulist) (c. 15 BC – c. AD 50), a Roman fabulist * Phaedrus the Epicurean (138 BC – c. 70 BC), an Epic ...

and also by the series' scenographer Leen Valkenier. The main character, the owl "Meneer de Uil", introduces each episode reading a fable to other characters upon a tree. The setting is a forest inhabited by different anthropomorphic felt animals. The first episode was broadcast on 29 September 1968 on NOS.

Characters

Main characters

All character ''surnames'' are referred to their

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

. *Meneer de Uil (''Mr. Owl''), or Jacob de Uil, is an owl and the main narrator and face of the series. In British version his name was "Mr. Owl". *Juffrouw Ooievaar (''Miss Stork'' in the British version) *Lowieke de Vos (''Mr. Cunningham'' in the British version) *Crox de Raaf (or Meneer de Raaf) (''Mr. Crow'' in the British version, in Dutch he is a raven) *Bor de Wolf (''Boris the Wolf'' in the British version) *Ed Bever (''Fred Beaver'' in the British version) *Willem Bever (''Bert Beaver'' in the British version) *Zoef de Haas (''Zippy the Hare'' in the British version) *Stoffel de Schildpad (''Shelly the Tortoise'' in the British version) *Truus de Mier (''Miss Ant'' in the British version) *Gerrit de Postduif (''Gerald the Pigeon'' in the British version) *Meindert het Paard (''Milord the Horse'' in the British version) *Droes de Beer (''Harold the Bear'' in the British version) *Jodocus de Marmot (''George the Guinea Pig'' in the British version) *Isadora Paradijsvogel *Myra Hamster *Martha Hamster *Momfer de Mol *Chico Lama *Greta Bontekoe *Zaza Zebra *Woefdram

Later generation characters

These character were not part of the first three series. *Fatima de Poes, Iranian Muslima cat wearing a hijab only appeared in the theater show (2007) *Wally Windhond, (2019) DJ Dog both voice and music are done by

Armin van Buuren Armin Jozef Jacobus Daniël van Buuren ( , ; born 25 December 1976) is a Dutch DJ and record producer from Leiden, South Holland. Since 2001, he has hosted '' A State of Trance'' (ASOT), a weekly radio show, which is broadcast to nearly 40&n ...

*Peter Panda (2019)

Recurring characters from the first two series

*Tijl Schavuit and Sjefke Schelm, two dodgy characters that first starred in the 70s feature film and then became recurring characters *Piet de Pad *Oléta Vulpécula *Teun Stier *Snoespoes *Woef Hektor *Hondje Woef *Greta 2 *Borita *Harry Lepelaar *"Mister" John Maraboe *Blinkert de Bliek and his girlfriend Frija Forel *Melis Das *Pepijn de Kater *Plons de Kikvors

In other countries

The show was adapted in some other countries under the following titles: *France: ''Le petit écho de la Forêt'' (French for ''The Little Echo of the Forest'') *Hungary: ''Fabulácskahírek'' (Hungarian for ''The Fables Newspaper'') *Israel: ''Sipurimpo'' (Hebrew for ''Stories Here'') *Italy: ''La fiaba quotidiana'' (Italian for ''The daily fairy tale'') *Norway: ''Fablenes bok'' (Norwegian for ''The book of Fables'') *Sweden: ''Fablernas värld'' (Swedish for ''World of Fables'') *United Kingdom: ''The Daily Fable'' *Peru: ''Las Crónicas de Fabulandia'' (Spanish for ''Chronicles of Fableland'') *Mexico: ''Las Crónicas de Fabulandia'' (Spanish for ''Chronicles of Fableland'') *Japan: "Fachishu shinbun" (Japanese for "The animals of Fables village") *Poland: ''Leśna gazetka'' (Polish for "Forest newspaper") In Sweden, France, and the United Kingdom, the show was refilmed especially for those specific countries. The Hebrew and Italian versions were dubbings of the English adaptation.

Adaptations

Lex Overeijnder wrote and drew a short-lived newspaper comic strip based on the TV show in 1969. In 1975 Dick Vlottes created another comic strip based on the series, which was published in the TV magazine Televizier in 1975. In 1970, a film version, ''Onkruidzaaiers in Fabeltjesland'', premiered in theaters. In 2007 a musical adaptation was created by Ruud de Graaf and Hans Cornelissen.

Comeback

In November 2017, a new 3D animated series was announced. It was broadcast in 2019 on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

in the Netherlands. In 2018 a book, an exhibition and a movie were launched to celebrate the 50th anniversary.

Notes and references

External links

* * * {{IMDb title, 0294075 Dutch children's television series 1960s Dutch television series 1968 Dutch television series debuts 1989 Dutch television series endings 1960s animated television series 1970s animated television series 1980s animated television series Dutch television shows featuring puppetry Stop-motion animated television series ITV children's television shows Dutch-language television shows Animated television series about birds Television shows adapted into comics Television shows adapted into plays Television shows adapted into films 1960s preschool education television series 1970s preschool education television series 1980s preschool education television series Animated preschool education television series Forests in fiction