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". The characters also appeared in educational books.

Plot

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

Season 1 (1987–1993)

# "The Cottage"
# "The Butterfly"
# "The Rocket"
# "The Wilde West"
# "The bee"
# "The Tiny red balloon "
# "The record"
# "The meeting"
# "Pudding"
# "Empathy"
# "Box of bricks"
# "Privacy"
# "The Cookies"
# "Fishing"
# "The Robot"
# "Blind"
# "The Kiosk"
# "Coin"
# "Clowns"
# "The Frogs"
# "Music"
# "Grapes"
# "The Machine"
# "The Cookies"
# "Means of Transport"
# "Bowling Ball"
# "The Sleeping Beauty"
# "The Hiccups"
# "The Wall"
# "The Sack"
# "No Fear of Large Animals"
# "Limbo"
# "The Carpet"
# "The Simulant"
# "The Pretzels"
# "First Aid"
# "The Dog"
# "The Meeting"
# "The Snowman"
# "The Pipe"
# "The Automobile"
# "The Birthday"
# "The Thistle"

Season 2 (1993–1997)

# "Snow Hunt"
# "The Beautiful Garden"
# "Gone Fishin'"
# "The Lonely Island"
# "Home Sweet Home"
# "Chaos at the Museum"
# "Fata Morgana"
# "Fashion Show"
# "Checkmate"
# "The Fruit Market"
# "Going to Sleep"
# "Feeding the Ducks"
# "Safari"
# "At the Fairground"
# "Paddling"
# "Running Up That Hill"
# "Baking Cookies"
# "The Treasure Hunter"
# "At the Supermarket"
# "Camping Adventure"
# "Chaos and Untidiness "
# "The Plonsters Fire Brigade"
# "The Snake Charmers"
# "Gold Diggers"
# "Sports Weekend"
# "The Dinner Party"
# "On Thin Ice"
# "Racecar Drivers"
# "Honey Honey"
# "Chemical Experiments"
# "The Sculpture Comes Alive"
# "At the Circus"
# "At the Hospital"
# "Bewitched Scarecrow"
# "The Raspberry Bush"
# "Playground Attractions"
# "Dance with Plonsters"
# "Surfing with Plonsters"
# "Miniature Golf"
# "Arctic Adventure"
# "The Haunting Of Knight's Castle"
# "Goin to Venice"
# "Merry Plonsters-Mas"
# "Picnic At The Beach"
# "Plonsters Of The Caribbean"
# "The Pear Tree"
# "The Cuckoo Eggs"
# "How The West Was Really Won"
# "I Want To Ride My Bike"
# "In Outer Space"
# "Collecting Shells"

Credits

* 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

The show aired in Australia on ABC (9 April 2001 - 31 October 2014) 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.'' 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''. In Slovenia, the show aired on TV Slovenia under the title, ''Plastelinca''.

Reception

The three monsters are remembered as part of the German collective imagination.

References

External links

Bettina Matthaei
*{{IMDb title, 3557422

1987 German television series debuts
1987 animated television series debuts
1988 German television series endings
Television series about bullying
Nick Jr. original programming
Claymation television series
German children's animated television series
1980s animated television series
1980s preschool education television series
Animated preschool education television series
Animated television series about monsters
Animated television series about shapeshifting
Animated television series without speech