The penguins from Madagascar (TV series)

Television series
German title	The penguins from Madagascar
Original title	The Penguins of Madagascar
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Year (s)	2008-2013
Production company	DreamWorks Animation
length	11 minutes
Episodes	149 in 3 seasons ( list )
genre	Comedy
idea	Tom McGrath , Eric Darnell
production	Mark McCorkle, Bob Schooley
music	Adam Berry
First broadcast	November 29, 2008 (USA) on Nickelodeon
German-language first broadcast	April 10, 2009 on Nick
synchronization

The Penguins from Madagascar is an American computer-animated television series. The offshoot of the cartoon Madagascar from 2005 is set in a universe parallel to the film. For the time being, the studio did not worry about the encounter between the penguins and the lemurs and had not considered a special classification in the continuity. She tells of the adventures of the four penguins Skipper, Kowalski, Private and Rico in the Central Park Zoo in New York City . The series ran from November 29, 2008 to December 19, 2015 in the USA and from April 10, 2009 to March 7, 2013 in the German-speaking area in the first broadcast, each on the children's channel Nickelodeon . She has received eleven Emmys and four Annie Awards (as of 2013).

Plot and characters

After the events of Madagascar 2 , the penguins Skipper, Kowalski, Private and Rico are back in New York's Central Park Zoo. They were followed from Madagascar by the lemurs Julien, Mort and Maurice, who now believe that Julien is the rightful king of the zoo. The series does not explain how the animals got back from Madagascar to New York, but the opening credits show how the penguins open a transport box containing the three lemurs. When the series was developed, this continuity question was still open. Compared to the Hollywood Reporter gave DreamWorks boss Jeffrey Katzenberg in 2008 that a third film in the Madagascar series should also provide information. However, Madagascar 3: Escape Through Europe , which hit cinemas in 2012, didn't answer the question.

The penguins

The militarily organized penguin elite troop is led by the experienced skipper, who in Denmark is considered "Public Enemy No. 1". He always keeps a cool head, makes all tactical decisions and gives the orders. Skipper is often shown with a coffee cup, the contents of which he stirs with a fish. He is supported in planning tasks by the tall Kowalski, a technocrat and highly intelligent strategist who is responsible for analyzing situations and proposing options for action. The weapons and explosives specialist in the group is the strong, mostly insane, Rico, who can choke up almost any piece of equipment if necessary. It is marked with a scar on the left cheek and communicates almost exclusively through grunting and squeaking noises. The youngest and smallest of the penguins and at the same time the newcomer to the group is the sensitive and empathetic Private. He makes up for his lack of experience by being down-to-earth and has a talent for cracking codes . In the course of the series, Private develops his own special ability: hyper-cuddling, which can make people and animals faint within seconds.

The appearance of the penguins has been changed slightly compared to the Madagascar films to make them easier to distinguish; their characters have also evolved. While the personalities of Skipper and Private were largely laid out in the films, those of Kowalski and Rico were refined for the series. " Kowalski became our science guy, our Mr. Spock - and Rico turned psychopathic " (German: "Kowalski developed into our science guy, our Mr. Spock - and Rico became psychopathic "), says producer Mark McCorkle.

The lemurs

The self-proclaimed king of the lemurs and ruler of the zoo animals is King Julien, a ring-tailed lemur who wears a crown as a sign of his kingship. For his pleasure he has a bouncy castle, throws parties and likes to dance a lot. Julien is prone to misunderstanding idioms. He is also superstitious and obeys the instructions of the supposed “air” or “sky spirits” (in the original: “sky spirits”). The self-indulgent and conceited Julien shows little respect for his entourage. The penguins usually just call it the "curly tail". His advisor Maurice, a plump finger animal , is usually skeptical of his leader's ideas, but still carries them out. In contrast, the young, clumsy Mausmaki Mort is devoted to him. Mort has a fetish for feet , especially King Julien's. This treats him with contempt.

More figures

Marlene, a female otter , was brought to the Central Park Zoo from a California aquarium. She is friends with Skipper and sometimes accompanies him on his missions. The role was based on that of the Sandy Cheeks from SpongeBob SquarePants . The two quiet chimpanzees Mason and Phil also have regular appearances . Mason can talk (with the other zoo animals) but cannot read. Phil is dumb, but an avid newspaper reader. He communicates using sign language , which is translated by Mason. Both drink coffee or tea. Apart from the penguins and the lemurs, the chimpanzees are the only animals that have been seen in Madagascar . Other zoo animals with regular appearances within the series include the aggressive red giant kangaroo Joey, the gorillas Bada and Bing, a group of chameleons, as well as the Indian elephant Burt and a rhinoceros named Roy.

The penguins also have contact with animals outside the zoo, for example with the "moon cat" Max or a group of rats that live in the sewers of New York who are enemies with the penguins . The friendly crocodile Roger, who later moves to the zoo, also lived there at the beginning of the series . The mentally slow squirrel Fred, who lives in Central Park near the zoo , also has several appearances . The penguins' archenemy is a dolphin named Dr. Strange (real Francis), who is being helped by an army of lobsters . Doris is a friendly dolphin lady, Dr. Strange sister and the crush by Kowalski. The puffin Lars is Skipper's personal rival and is responsible for the fact that he is not allowed to enter Denmark . Among other things, one of the allies of penguins and lemurs is the robot lemur (or LEM-R) Lemmy, who combines the skills of penguins and King Julien's dance steps. Lemmy's task was initially only to explore Mars for life, later he serves the penguins and lemurs to fight the vicious "space squids", the abovementioned skills are therefore very useful to him.

Only the grumpy animal keeper Alice is regularly shown by the zoo staff, and a veterinarian in individual episodes . When the penguins leave the zoo for a mission, they are sometimes confronted with Officer X, who may be. a. Hunt stray animals in the city for the New York Public Order Office. In the course of the series he developed a kind of "penguin hatred" through repeated collisions with the penguins. The news anchor Chuck Charles is also often shown, who finds out in season 3 that the penguins are a top secret elite command, but does not reveal this. The human archenemies include the rich Vesuvius twins, who torture animals. In the course of the series, however, the penguins can change their minds so that they only torment poor people. The animal-loving senior citizen Gladys, who is liked by all animals in the zoo - except for the lemurs, as Gladys regularly confuses them with cats, also has individual appearances.

Episodes

→ Main article : The penguins from Madagascar / episode list

The series consists of episodes with a length of around eleven minutes each; various special sequences reach twice the length or more. The plot of the episodes is self-contained, which means that at the end of each episode the series essentially returns to its original state. However, allusions to and mentions of previous adventures are common. Nickelodeon originally commissioned two seasons of 26 episodes each. This total number of episodes has now been exceeded.

Production and publication

The series was produced by DreamWorks Animation for Nickelodeon. The Penguins were DreamWorks Animation's first spin-off television series. Robert Schooley and Mark McCorkle, who were previously responsible for the Disney spin-off series Aladdin , Hercules and Captain Buzz Lightyear - Star Command , were hired as executive producers . They formed a new staff for the production of the series without the management staff of the Madagascar films. Exceptions are Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath , the directors and screenwriters of the films. Together they drafted the script for one of the series episodes and were available as consultants for character development. McGrath is also the original voice of Skipper in both the movies and the series.

The characters were designed in Nickelodeon's animation studios in Burbank , California . The execution of the animation was outsourced to India , some early parts to Taiwan . Although the penguins and lemurs had already appeared in the Madagascar and Madagascar 2 films , the computer models had to be redesigned from scratch. On the one hand, this was due to technical reasons, and on the other hand, the models were so complex that rendering them would have exceeded both the time and budget of series production.

synchronization

Some of the actors who voiced the characters in the Madagascar films could not be recruited for the series. With Private, Kowalski, King Julien and Maurice, four of the leading roles had to be recast. For other roles, the same voice actors can be heard in the English original as in the films. The fact that Tom McGrath, director of the Madagascar films, Skipper lends his voice, was initially only intended as a temporary solution. Choosing a speaker for King Julien was seen as the greatest challenge in the cast. Sacha Baron Cohen did this for the films, but the British comedian was not available for the series. The choice fell on Danny Jacobs , who had already replaced Baron Cohen for the video game for Madagascar 2 .

New speakers for leading roles also had to be found for the German dubbed version. In particular, the penguins, spoken by the Fantastischen Vier in the films , have received new votes. The dialogue director leads Björn Schalla , the voice of private.

Spokesperson for the most important roles

role	Original speaker	German speaker
Skipper	Tom McGrath	Michael Deffert
Private	James Patrick Stuart	Björn Schalla
Kowalski	Jeff Bennett	Oliver Field
Rico	John DiMaggio	Lutz Schnell
King Julien	Danny Jacobs	Stefan Gossler
Maurice	Kevin Michael Richardson	Helmut Krauss
Mort	Andy Richter	Gerald Schaale
Marlene	Nicole Sullivan	Tanya Kahana
Alice	Mary Scheer	Martina Treger
mason	Conrad Vernon	Lothar Blumhagen
Burt	John DiMaggio	Werner Böhnke
Officer X	Cedric Yarbrough	Karl Schulz
Moon hangover Max	Wayne Knight	Bodo Wolf
Roger	Richard child	Hans Hohlbein
Dr. Strange	Neil Patrick Harris	Robert Missler
Savio	Nestor Carbonell	Till Hagen
Vesuvius twins	Atticus Shaffer (both)	Filipe Pirl  & Marcel Mann

First broadcast

The pilot episode Gone in a Flash (title of the German dubbed version: Blitz und weg ) was shown as a preview on November 29, 2008 on the US cable channel Nickelodeon ; the official series start took place on March 28, 2009 after the Nick was awarded Kids' Choice Awards held. From this date onwards, Nickelodeon aired the series regularly, initially for two weeks on workdays, then weekly.

Nick began the first broadcast in Germany on April 10, 2009, also with a preview: six episodes were broadcast over Easter 2009 in advance. The series was shown regularly from autumn 2009.

DVDs

In the USA, since February 9, 2010, a summary of several episodes has been available on DVD under the title Operation: DVD Premiere . Happy King Julien Day! and New to the Zoo were released on August 10, 2010, I Was a Penguin Zombie on October 5, 2010.

The DVD Secret Order: Penguins , the German version of Operation: DVD Premiere , has been available in Germany since March 4, 2010 . August 19th, 2010 is King Julien Day! added.

Movie

In 2014 the independent film The Penguins from Madagascar was released.

Video games

A game called The Madagascar Penguins - Dr. Strange Returns was released on September 16, 2011 for Xbox 360 , Playstation 3 , Nintendo Wii and the Nintendo DS .

reception

The episode Launchtime (title of the German dubbed version: Willkommen auf dem Mond ), with which the series broadcast in the USA on March 28, 2009, achieved the highest ratings of a series premiere on Nickelodeon with 6.1 million viewers. In the first year, the show achieved the second highest ratings in an animation series after SpongeBob SquarePants .

Reviews

The US critics reacted mixed to the series. A critic from the Los Angeles Times was overall positive. She praised the good comedic timing and action scenes that reminded her of the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote cartoons and the gangster films of the 1940s. She particularly highlighted the performance of the speakers who took on roles voiced by stars in the Madagascar films . The rating of the San Francisco Chronicle is also positive. The work of the speakers is also praised here. In addition, the critic says that the series shows a sense of humor that is also appealing to an adult audience. On the other hand, Brian Lowry from Variety , who had already disliked Madagascar , said that although the series was “ loud, exuberant and colorful ” (German: “loud, exuberant and colorful”), he still didn't find it funny. To him, it had more like a “ merchandising bonanza ” (German: “a gold mine for sales promotion”). The CGI animations are of high quality.

Awards

Emmy Awards

From 2010 to 2013, the series was nominated for a total of 26 Emmys, of which it won eleven.

Tabular overview of awards and nominations
year	Award	For	category	result
2010	Daytime Emmy Award	The penguins from Madagascar	Outstanding Special Class Animated Program	Won together with SpongeBob SquarePants
		Nick Filippi, Bret Haaland, Lisa Schaffer	Outstanding Directing in an Animated Program	Nominated
		Adam Berry	Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction And Composition	Nominated
		Bob Schooley, Mark McCorkle, Bob Roth, Bill Motz, Brandon Sawyer, Eddie Guzelian	Outstanding Writing in Animation	Nominated
2011	Daytime Emmy Award	The penguins from Madagascar	Outstanding Children's Animated Program	Won
		Danny Jacobs	Outstanding Performer In An Animated Program	Won
		Tom McGrath		Nominated
		Nick Filippi, Christo Stamboliev, Dave Knott, Lisa Schaffer	Outstanding Directing In An Animated Program	Nominated
		Adam Berry	Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction And Composition	Won
		James Lifton, Paulette Lifton, Dominick Certo, Ian Nyeste, Matt Hall, Lawrence Reyes	Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing - Live Action and Animation	Won
		Brandon Sawyer, Bill Motz, Bob Roth	Outstanding Writing In Animation	Won
		Meredith Layne	Outstanding Casting for an Animated Series	Won
2012	Daytime Emmy Award	The penguins from Madagascar	Outstanding Children's Animated Program	Won
		Jeff Bennet as Kowalski	Outstanding Performer In An Animated Program	Nominated
		David Knott, Shaun Cashman, Christo Stamboliev	Outstanding Directing in an Animated Program	Won
		Adam Berry	Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction And Composition	Nominated
		Adam Berry, John Behnke for Off the Clock	Outstanding Original Song - Children's and Animation	Nominated
		Adam Berry, Brandon Sawyer for In the Happy Little Land of Hoboken Surprise		Won
		Bill Motz, Bob Roth, Brandon Sawyer	Outstanding Writing In Animation	Nominated
		Paulette Lifton, James Lifton, Adam Berry, Dominick Certo, Michael Petak, DJ Lynch, Matt Hall, Ian Nyeste, Aran Tanchum, Chris Gresham, Lawrence Reyes	Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing - Animation	Nominated
	Primetime Emmy Award	The result: The renewed revenge of Doctor Strange	Outstanding Animated Program	Won
2013	Daytime Emmy Award	Bob Schooley, Mark McCorkle, Bret Haaland, Nick Filipini, Ant Ward, Chris Neuhahn and Andrew Huebner	Outstanding Children's Animated Program	Nominated
		David Knott, Christo Stamboliev, Matt Engstrom, Sunil Hall and Lisa Schaffer	Outstanding Directing in an Animated Program	Nominated
		Adam Berry	Outstanding Music Direction and Composition	Nominated
		Bill Motz, Bob Roth and Brandon Sawyer	Outstanding Writing in Animation	Nominated
		Justin Brinsfield, DJ Lynch and Ian Nyeste	Outstanding Sound Mixing - Animation	Nominated

Annie Awards

The series was honored with two Annie Awards in 2010 . She won the Best Animated Television Production for Children category , and Bret Haaland won the Directing in a Television Production category for his directorial work on the episode Willkommen auf dem Mond .

BAFTA Awards

The series received the BAFTA Award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in 2009 and 2010 for the best international production for children.

Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards

In 2010 and 2011, the series was nominated for the US Nick Kids' Choice Awards , but both times had to admit defeat to SpongeBob SquarePants .

Further nominations

In 2009 the penguins were also nominated for the Artios Awards , which are given by the Casting Society of America for special achievements in casting , but could not win the award.

See also

• The Madagascar penguins on a pre-Christmas mission

Web links

Wikiquote: The penguins from Madagascar  - Quotes

• The penguins from Madagascar on the website of Nickelodeon Germany
• The Penguins of Madagascar in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• The penguins from Madagascar at fernsehserien.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Matt Goldberg: PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR Comic-Con Panel Recap: A Great DreamWorks Animated Film Might Be on the Way. In: Collider.com. July 25, 2014, accessed November 7, 2014 . 
2. ↑ Joe Strike: 'Penguins of Madagascar' Strike Back. In: Animation World Network. May 20, 2009. Retrieved June 19, 2014 . 
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Joe Strike: Penguins of Madagascar Strike Back. In: Animation World Network. May 20, 2009, accessed December 27, 2009 . 
4. ↑ Carolyn Giardina: Another 'Madagascar' sequel likely. In: Internet pages of the Hollywood Reporter . August 13, 2008, accessed December 27, 2009 . 
5. ↑ Ed Liu: PR: Nickelodeon Greenlights 26 More Episodes of “The Penguins of Madagascar”. (No longer available online.) January 9, 2009, archived from the original on August 31, 2009 ; accessed on December 27, 2009 . 
6. ^ Penguins of Madagascar Episodes. TV Guide , accessed June 28, 2010 . 
7. ↑ ^{a b} See the cast of Die Pinguine aus Madagascar with that of Madagascar and Madagascar 2 in the Internet Movie Database .
8. ↑ ^{a b} Tim Goodman: TV review: 'The Penguins of Madagascar' . In: San Francisco Chronicle . March 23, 2009, p. E – 1 (English, article online [accessed December 28, 2009]).
9. ↑ The penguins from Madagascar. In: Deutsche Synchrondatei. Retrieved December 28, 2009 . 
10. ↑ Lightning and away. Internet Movie Database , accessed June 10, 2015 . 
11. ↑ Sergio Ibarra: Nickelodeon Nabs Ratings Records With Kids' Choice, 'Penguins'. (No longer available online.) In: TVWeek. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013 ; accessed on June 28, 2010 (English). 
12. ↑ ^{a b} Viewers Flock to Nickelodeon's Most-Watched Series Premiere Ever — The Penguins of Madagascar. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Nickelodeon March 30, 2009, archived from the original January 18, 2016 ; Retrieved June 28, 2010 (press release). 
13. ↑ List of all episodes for "The Penguins of Madagascar". In: IMDb . Retrieved June 28, 2010 . 
14. ↑ Broadcast dates for The Penguins from Madagascar. In: fernsehserien.de. Retrieved July 8, 2010 . 
15. ↑ The penguins from Madagascar. (No longer available online.) Nickelodeon Germany , September 12, 2009, archived from the original on March 19, 2011 ; Retrieved June 28, 2010 (press release). 
16. ^ Ed Liu: "Penguins of Madagascar Operation: DVD Premiere" Arriving Feb 9, 2010. (No longer available online.) November 12, 2009, archived from the original on May 13, 2010 ; Retrieved June 29, 2010 . 
17. ^ Penguins of Madagascar: New to the Zoo. (No longer available online.) In: netflix. Formerly in the original ; accessed on June 29, 2010 (English).  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  
18. ↑ Penguins of Madagascar: Happy King Julien Day! (No longer available online.) In: netflix. Formerly in the original ; accessed on June 29, 2010 (English).  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  
19. ↑ Penguins of Madagascar: Happy King Julien Day! (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on November 16, 2011 ; accessed on June 29, 2010 (English). 
20. ↑ Penguins Of Madagascar: I Was A Penguin Zombie DVD. In: cduniverse.com. Retrieved January 18, 2012 . 
21. ↑ 'The Penguins from Madagascar - Secret Mission: Penguin' from March 4th on DVD. February 16, 2010, accessed July 8, 2010 . 
22. ↑ The penguins from Madagascar - secret mission: penguins. (No longer available online.) In: video.de. Archived from the original on April 4, 2013 ; Retrieved June 29, 2010 . 
23. ↑ The penguins from Madagascar - King Julien Day! (No longer available online.) In: video.de. Archived from the original on October 23, 2010 ; Retrieved June 29, 2010 . 
24. ↑ Spieletipps.de
25. ↑ Neil Patrick Harris Takes on The Penguins of Madagascar in DreamWorks Animation's Hit Comedy's First Nickelodeon Special, 'Dr. Blowhole's Revenge, 'Feb.15 at 8 pm (No longer available online.) PRNewswire, archived from the original on Jan 23, 2010 ; accessed on February 17, 2010 (English). 
26. ^ Mary McNamara: Review: 'The Penguins of Madagascar' on Nickelodeon. In: Internet pages of the Los Angeles Times . March 28, 2009, accessed December 28, 2009 . 
27. ^ Brian Lowry: The Penguins of Madagascar . In: Variety . March 27, 2009 ( online article [accessed December 28, 2009]).
28. ^ The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Announces The 37th Annual Daytime Entertainment Emmy Award Nominations. (PDF; 420 kB) (No longer available online.) The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences , May 12, 2010, archived from the original on May 1, 2012 ; accessed on May 2, 2012 . 
29. ^ The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Announces Winners For The 37th Annual Daytime Entertainment Creative Arts Emmy Awards. (PDF; 322 kB) (No longer available online.) The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences , June 25, 2010, archived from the original on July 5, 2010 ; accessed on May 2, 2012 . 
30. ^ The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Announces The 38th Annual Daytime Entertainment Emmy Award Nominations. (PDF; 525 kB) (No longer available online.) The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences , May 11, 2011, archived from the original on May 16, 2011 ; accessed on May 2, 2012 . 
31. ^ The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Announces Winners For The 38th Annual Daytime Entertainment Creative Arts Emmy Awards. (PDF; 584 kB) (No longer available online.) The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences , June 17, 2011, archived from the original on November 7, 2011 ; accessed on May 2, 2012 . 
32. ^ The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Announces The 39th Annual Daytime Entertainment Emmy Award Nominations. (PDF; 367 kB) (No longer available online.) The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences , May 9, 2012, archived from the original on May 13, 2012 ; accessed on May 21, 2012 (English). 
33. ^ The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Announces Winners For The 39th Annual Daytime Entertainment Emmy Awards. (PDF; 217 kB) (No longer available online.) The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences , June 23, 2012, archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; accessed on July 7, 2012 . 
34. ^ The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Announces Winners For The 39th Annual Daytime Entertainment Creative Arts Emmy Awards. (PDF; 217 kB) (No longer available online.) The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences , June 17, 2012, archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; accessed on July 7, 2012 . 
35. ↑ 64th Primetime Emmys Nominees and Winners. The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences , accessed November 7, 2014 . 
36. ↑ 37th Annual Annie Nominations and Awards Recipients. The International Animated Film Society , accessed November 7, 2014 . 
37. ^ Children's Awards Winners in 2009. (No longer available online.) British Academy of Film and Television Arts , November 29, 2009, archived from the original on March 10, 2012 ; accessed on February 17, 2010 (English). 
38. ^ Children's Nominations 2010. British Academy of Film and Television Arts , accessed October 10, 2011 . 
39. ↑ The Penguins of Madagascar. (No longer available online.) Nickelodeon , archived from the original on August 27, 2011 ; accessed on October 10, 2011 (English). 
40. ↑ Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards Nominee. (No longer available online.) Nickelodeon , archived from the original on February 18, 2010 ; accessed on October 10, 2011 (English). 
41. ↑ List of Artios Award nominees and prize winners 2009. Casting Society of America , accessed December 28, 2009 .