The Moomins (TV series)

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The Moomins (Polish: Opowiadania Muminków, German: Die Mumins) is a stop motion animated children's television series based on the Tove Jansson's Moomin series of books which was produced by Se-ma-for and Jupiter Film between 1977 and 1982 for Polish, Austrian and German television. The series was later sold to other countries including the UK. The British version was adapted by Anne Wood at FilmFair and broadcast in the UK. Series 1 was first shown on Monday 24 January 1983 at 4:15 pm and series 2 on Monday 21 January 1985 at 4.15pm on Children's ITV, and series 2 was repeated in 1986. The series was last repeated in its entirety in 1988. It was narrated by British actor Richard Murdoch.

This series was the third series to be made based on the Moomin books. Two more were subsequently made. It is one of the two best-known Moomin series (along with the Japanese-made anime version Moomin (1990)). The 1977-1982 stop-motion version has been criticised for being scary in places and rather dark in tone for the young audience at which it was aimed. It is, in contrast to the 1990s series, widely believed to be the most faithful TV adaptation of Tove Jansson's stories, and much closer to her vision. Tove herself had a great deal of involvement during the series' production and was very happy with it (as revealed in an interview with Anne Wood in Simon Sheridan's 2007 book The A to Z of Classic Children's Television). The scripts for each episode were translated from Polish into Swedish and sent to Tove and Lars Jansson, who, if they felt that anything needed to be changed, corrected the script, expanding or rewriting it; afterwards, the scripts were sent back and only then did production of the particular episode begin.

The opening titles featured a bouncy theme tune consisting of flutes and synthesizers composed by Graeme Miller and Steve Shill, and a popular still of Moomintroll holding a hat.

Video The Moomins (TV series)

Episode list

The UK adaptation consisted of 100 five-minute episodes.

Series 1 consisting of 50 episodes was first broadcast Mondays to Fridays at 4:15 pm, 24 January to 1 April 1983 on CITV. Series 2 consisting of another 50 episodes first aired Monday to Fridays at 4:15 pm, 21 January to 28 March 1985 on CITV.

Series one

1 Hobgoblin's Hat
2 Magic Clouds
3 King of California
4 The Ant Lion
5 Canaries & Raspberry Juice
6 The Indoor Jungle
7 Thingumy and Bob
8 The Trial of the Groke
9 Snufkin's Leaving
10 The Ruby
11 The Great Search
12 The Party
13 Hobgoblin Arrives At the Party
14 The Voyage
15 Attack of the Hattifatteners
16 The Barometer
17 Island Treasures
18 Return to Moominvalley
19 Special Wishes
20 Invisible Child
21 The Cure
22 Christmas
23 Winter
24 Little My Goes Skating
25 Moomintroll and Little My
26 The Lady of the Cold
27 Ancestor
28 Healthy Hemulen
29 Sorry-oo
30 Sorry-oo and the Wolves
31 The Winter Bonfire
32 Return of the Sun
33 The Great Thaw
34 The Fillyjonk
35 Catastrophe
36 Moomintroll & the Dragon
37 Moomintroll's Pet
38 Memoirs
39 The Orphan
40 Hodgkins & the Sailor
41 Edward the Booble
42 Moomintroll to the Rescue
43 The Storm
44 The King
45 Island Ghost
46 Flying Boat
47 The Muddler's Marriage
48 Love Story
49 The Volcano
50 The Island

Series two

51 The Haunted Theatre
52 Misabel's Hairdo
53 Emma the Theatre Rat
54 A Night in the Trees
55 Astonished Awakening
56 The Parkkeeper's Surprise
57 The Fillyjonk
58 Creepy Magic
59 The Naughty Woodies
60 Snufkin's Invitation
61 In Jail
62 Tea with the Hemulen's Niece
63 Dress Rehearsal
64 The Performance
65 The Confrontation
66 The Gadfly
67 The Cure
68 The Cocktail Party
69 Cedric
70 Mr. Brisk
71 The Jungle
72 The Tigers
73 The Hunters
74 The Funfair
75 The Hemulen Aunt
76 The Orphan
77 The Vampire
78 The Vampire Escapes
79 The Friendly Vampire
80 The Nice Bat
81 Mamma's Island
82 Mamma's Painting
83 The Terrible Island Storm
84 The Disappearing Moomins
85 The Little Martian
86 The Martian Goes Home
87 The Discoveries
88 The Muskrat's Prediction
89 The Journey
90 The Underground Waterfall
91 The Giant Eagle
92 The Observatory
93 The Rockfall
94 Moomintroll to the Rescue
95 The Village Shop
96 The Dance
97 The Dead Sea
98 Locust Attack
99 The Tornado
100 The Comet

The order above is the correct broadcast order, for when the episodes were first shown on UK television in 1983 (taken from the original script list). The episode order in the recent DVD boxset was changed, so that the English episodes were intended to match the German broadcast order (but they were in fact different). In the UK, the series ended with the Comet in Moominland story. Series 1 was shown in 1983 and series 2 in 1985. Series 2 was repeated in 1986. The series was also repeated in its entirety in 1988. (Confirmed by the sleeve notes from Finders Keepers Moomin soundtrack release 2016).

Maps The Moomins (TV series)

Impact and critical reaction

In 2008 the series was listed at number 25 in a list of top 50 children's TV by The Times. Excerpts from the series have been shown at film festivals in the UK and Japan.

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DVD release

A Region 2 DVD boxset was released in 2004, in both English and German editions (both versions manufactured in Austria).

Single DVD releases are also available, which contain English and German episodes. The German episodes have English subtitles and the English episodes have German subtitles.

Moomins and the Comet Chase' Set for Home Entertainment Release ...

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Films

Moomin and Midsummer Madness was released in 2008, based on a compilation of Episodes 51-65.
Moomins and the Comet Chase was released in 2010, based on a compilation of Episodes 88-100.
Moomins and the Winter Wonderland was released in 2017, based on a compilation of Episodes 23-33.

The beloved classic Moomin TV series has been renewed | Moomin ...

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References

Simon Sheridan The A to Z of Classic Children's Television (Reynolds & Hearn books, 2004, reprinted 2007) ISBN 1-903111-27-7. Contains a long chapter on the making of the TV series, a rare photo of Tove Jansson and an interview with UK series producer Anne Wood.