The magic carousel

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Television series
German title The magic carousel
Original title Le manège enchanté
Country of production France
original language French
Year (s) 1963-1967
length 5 minutes
Episodes 500
genre Puppet cartoon , children's series
idea Serge Danot
production Serge Danot
First broadcast October 6, 1964 (France) on ORTF
German-language
first broadcast		 September 3, 1966 on ZDF
occupation

Zebulon Hans-Rainer Müller
Pollux Jochen Bendel
Hugo Schneckerich Claus Brockmeyer
Castor Stefan Günther
Wilma Eva-Maria Bayerwaltes
Margot Marieke Oeffinger
Basil
Father Pivoine Norbert Gastell

The magic carousel was originally a French television series for children, which was broadcast in Germany from September 3, 1966 by ZDF, first on Sunday afternoons and later on Saturdays.

Over 500 episodes of the puppet series, each five minutes long, were produced by Serge Danot from 1963 to 1967 . The pilot never aired. The series was broadcast from October 6, 1964 to 1971 under the title Le manège enchanté in France and was an instant hit with audiences.

The series was broadcast worldwide on at least 98 television channels and translated into 28 languages.

Figures of the series

The figures have the following names in the German version:

  • Zebulon : just like in the French original, the indefinable creature is called “Zebulon”, like one of the 12 tribes of Israel , can do magic with its mustache and calls with a rolling R : “Turnikuti, Turnikuta, the zebulon is back!”. He hops on a spring instead of legs, always announces himself with a “Boing!” And sends the children to bed at the end of each episode.
  • Pollux : The white, shaggy dog ​​Pollux lives on a strict diet. The only food he consumes is sugar in cubes.
  • Wilma : this pink cow chews flowers all the time.
  • Father Pivoine : The gardener with the barrel organ is sad in the first episode because his magical carousel is gone. Zebulon brings him into the garden with the magic carousel and he is happy again.
  • Margot : a wonderful little girl who resembles Alice in Wonderland .
  • Basil : your smart friend who always wears a tracksuit
  • Castor : this rabbit grows plants in his garden.
  • Hugo Schneckerich : a small Saxon-speaking snail.

technology

The series originally served as a test for the French SECAM transmission system and became the symbol for this process. The frame rate was 24 frames per second, so 7,500 frames per episode were recorded using stop-motion technology.

Success in the UK

In Great Britain the show became known from 1965 under the title The Magic Roundabout . On the one hand, the program was very popular with children due to its colorfulness and the little stories, on the other hand, the ironic , sometimes satirical dialogues also addressed adults. The translation from French to English was done by Eric Thompson (father of actress Emma Thompson ). After being selected as the spokesperson for the series, he broke away from the French texts and invented his own dialogues to match the images.

The figures also had different names than in the French original or the German version:

  • Dougal , the dog (German: Pollux), who spoke with a strong British accent in the French original.
  • Zebedee , the magician (German: Zebulon)
  • Ermintrude , the cow (German: Wilma)
  • Mr. MacHenry , the gardener (dt .: Father Pivoine)
  • Florence , the girl (Eng .: Margot)
  • Dylan the Rabbit (Eng .: Castor)
  • Brian , the snail (German: Hugo Schneckerich)

The program conveyed a surreal and relaxed worldview typical of the 1960s .

The show always had 8 million or more viewers on British evening programs and quickly achieved cult status. The program always ended with the "Zebedee" sending the children to bed with the words Time for Bed . The show is repeated fairly regularly on British television and is still very popular.

The subtle humor can still be well understood today, an English video version of Second Sight Television has the legendary episode from 1970 ( Dougal and the blue cat ) in its program, whereby a blue cat caught everyone except Dougal on behalf of his mistress and wants to color the world blue. Dougal, who has dyed himself blue for camouflage, flies with him to the moon and quotes Neil Armstrong : "Oh, it's a small step for a dog, but a big step for dogkind".

Since the French filmmakers after the screening of the British version (the dog “Pollux” is called “Dougal” there) thought the name “Dougal” was a corruption of “ De Gaulle ”, the rumor still lingers that the show was originally one been a pure satirical show on French television and each figure on the show represents a French politician.

Another theory about this show is that each character represents a drug. This is based on the fact that the hare "Dylan" grows plants in his garden that differ greatly in appearance from carrots and are more reminiscent of hemp plants . However, both rumors cannot stand up to closer inspection.

The somewhat clumsy German translation of the same 80-minute Dougal and the blue cat episode was played in Austria on Christmas Eve 1974 and the blue cat danced with his boots and sang "Ich bin der Könich" ("I am the king") when he was enthroned. ) with a dialect that is incomprehensible to Austrians and difficult to locate.

In 1992 the BBC bought the rights to 52 more episodes. Since Eric Thompson had passed away, the texts were written and spoken by Nigel Planer .

Others

In the bedtime candy series “Gucki und seine Freunde” (1974/75), Gucki, Apollonius and others landed through a hole in a tree on a meadow - and there they met the characters of “The Magic Carousel”.

New edition

Ellipsanime, Film Action, Play Productions, M6 and Disney France have joined forces to produce a new The Magic Roundabout series using the new animation technology CGI . The new series started in the UK on Nick Jr on October 22, 2007.

Motion picture

In 2005 the computer-animated film The Magic Roundabout (also Leap! The Magic Roundabout ) was released, with the voices of Tom Baker (a former Doctor Who actor) as Zeebad , Ian McKellen as Zebedee (= Zebulon, who in the French version of Élie Semoun is spoken), Kylie Minogue speaks Florence and sings the theme song The Magic Roundabout , Robbie Williams speaks Dougal in the English version, Joanna Lumley (former " With umbrella, charm and bowler hat ") speaks Ermintrude .

In 2006 the film was released in US cinemas under the title "Doogal". Dame Judi Dench is now the narrator, Ian McKellen speaks the role of Zebedee again , Daniel Tay speaks Doogal , Whoopi Goldberg speaks Ermintrude , Kylie Minogue speaks Florence again , Jimmy Fallon speaks Dylan and Chevy Chase speaks a train. In the US, however, they didn't seem to remember the old children's series. The audience comments on the film are, according to IMDb, rather restrained. The film wasn't particularly funny.

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