Mole (Zdeněk Miler character)

Mole

A painting of Krtek on a primary school in Wuppertal, Germany
First appearance 1956
Created by Zdeněk Miler
Voiced by Zdeněk Miler's daughters

The Mole (in the Czech original called Krtek, or, for little mole, Krteček; Slovak Krtko) is an animated character in a series of cartoons, created by Czech animator Zdeněk Miler in 1956. Since its inception, the cartoon won itself an enormous popularity in many Central European countries, as well as India, China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Iraq and Japan, due its distinct lack of dialogue.

History

Krtek was first seen in 1956 in Prague, when Miler wanted to create a children's cartoon about how flax is processed. He wanted a strong Disney influence to the cartoon by choosing an animal for the leading role, and decided to pick a mole after stumbling over a molehill during a walk. The first film called "Jak krtek ke kalhotkám přišel" ("How the mole got his trousers") was released in 1956. Production for further episodes started in 1963 and since then, around 50 episodes have been created.

The first episode of the cartoon was narrated, but Miler wanted the cartoon to be understood in every country of the world, so he decided to use his daughters as voice actors, reducing the speech to short non-figurative exclamations in order to express the mole's feelings and world perception. They also became the bottleneck of the creation process as they were the ones who got to see the whole film first, thus Miler was able to decide whether the message of the movie was able to get to children or not.

It took me a long time to realize it, but when I draw Krtek, I was drawing myself.
Zdeněk Miler

Recent Developments

Inclusion on US Space Shuttle flight

On May 16, 2011 a plush toy of Krtek was present on board the Space Shuttle Endeavour where it accompanied the U.S. astronaut Andrew Feustel, whose wife is of Czech ancestry, on the STS-134 mission.[1][2][3]

US toy market plans

In May 2012 Bloomberg announced that Apple Inc. is planning to help Krtek enter the $21 billion U.S. toy market for the first time.[4][5] Exporting the six-decade-old “Little Mole” through new media is a first step toward establishing the most popular Czech animated icon in America to spur sales of books, movies and toys. Coloring about the Mole have been very popular in young childrens.

Mascot

In January 2015 the Czech Athletics Federation announced that Krtek would be the mascot for the 2015 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Prague, and would subsequently be used to promote the Federation's Athletics for Children programme.[6]

Music

Music plays an important role in the cartoons, since the characters almost never utter more than emotional sounds, the most common of which is "Hello!" ("Ahoj" in Czech). The original series' music uses acoustic and electric musical instruments, rather than synthesized ones.

Composers:

Filmography

Short films

Episode English title Czech title Year Minutes NV DVD #*
00.How The Mole Got His TrousersJak krtek ke kalhotkám přišel195711:511
01.The Mole and the CarKrtek a autíčko196314:3019
02.The Mole and the RocketKrtek a raketa196608:40
03.The Mole and the Transistor SetKrtek a tranzistor196808:1010
04.The Mole and the Green StarKrtek a zelená hvězda196907:3010,1
05.The Mole and the Chewing GumKrtek a žvýkačka196907:2010
06.The Mole in a ZooKrtek v Zoo196906:0510
07.The Mole as a GardenerKrtek zahradníkem196906:5510,1
08.The Mole and the HedgehogKrtek a ježek197008:2510
09.The Mole and the LollipopKrtek a lízátko197008:0010,1
10.The Mole and the TVKrtek a televizor197005:3010
11.The Mole and the UmbrellaKrtek a paraplíčko197107:1010,1
12.The Mole as a PainterKrtek malířem197209:3519
13.The Mole and the MatchboxKrtek a zápalky197405:3019
14.The Mole and the MusicKrtek a muzika197405:1519
15.The Mole and the TelephoneKrtek a telefon197405:2519
16.The Mole as a ChemistKrtek chemikem197405:3019
17.The Mole and the CarpetKrtek a koberec197405:4019
18.The Mole as WatchmakerKrtek hodinářem197405:2519
19.The Mole at ChristmasKrtek o Vánocích197505:4519
20.The Mole as PhotographerKrtek fotografem197505:4519
21.The Mole and the EggKrtek a vejce197505:3519
22.The Mole and the BulldozerKrtek a buldozér197505:4319
23.The Mole in the DesertKrtek na poušti197505:5219
24.The Mole at a CarnevalKrtek a karneval197505:2519
25.The Mole and the CharcoalKrtek a uhlí199504:1033
26.The Mole and His FriendsKrtek a kamarádi199505:1833,1
27.The Mole's WeekendKrtek a víkend199505:0533
28.The Mole and the RobotKrtek a robot199505:0033,1
29.The Mole's Birthday PartyKrtek a oslava199505:0433
30.The Mole and the Little DuckKrtek a kachničky199505:0033
31.The Mole in the UndergroundKrtek a metro199705:0044
32.The Mole and the MushroomsKrtek a houby199704:2844
33.The Mole and the Little MouseKrtek a myška199705:1944
34.The Mole and the Little HareKrtek a zajíček199705:1144
35.The Mole and the MotherKrtek a maminka199705:2044
36.The Mole and the FloodKrtek a potopa199705:04
37.The Mole and the SnowmanKrtek a sněhulák199805:0944,1
38.The Mole at the BeachKrtek a dovolená199801:15
39.The Mole and the FluteKrtek a flétna199905:0550,1
40.The Mole and the SourceKrtek a pramen199905:3350
41.The Mole and the GrumblerKrtek a šťoura199905:2150
42.The Mole and the SwallowKrtek a vlaštovka200004:2550
43.The Mole and the Little FishKrtek a rybka200005:0250
44.The Mole and the Little FrogKrtek a žabka200205:2050,1

Films

English title Czech title Year Minutes NV DVD #*
The Mole in TownKrtek ve městě198228:3133
The Mole in a DreamKrtek ve snu198428:0933
The Mole and the MedicineKrtek a medicína198728:0844
The Mole as Movie StarKrtek filmová hvězda198827:4744
The Mole and the EagleKrtek a orel199228:0550
The Mole and the ClockKrtek a hodiny199428:0450

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Krtek.

References

  1. Halousek, Milan (2011-04-03). "Into Space with Mole". Czech Space Office. Retrieved 2012-06-19.
  2. "Flying to Space with the Little Mole (Do kosmu s Krtkem)". Do kosmu s Krtkem. Retrieved 2012-06-19.
  3. Rousek, Leos (2011-03-22). "Space Shuttle Stowaway Is a Commie Mole". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2012-06-19.
  4. "Apple to help Czech cartoon character Krtek enter U.S. market, Bloomberg reports". Yahoo Finance. 2012-05-16. Retrieved 2012-05-18.
  5. Ponikelska, Lenka (2012-05-16). "Apple Helps Czech Mole Enter $21 Billion U.S. Toy Market". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2012-05-18.
  6. "Thursday news briefing — Jan.8, 2015". Prague Post. 8 January 2015. Retrieved 5 March 2015.

External links

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