fuifuturum Reviews

Pingu (1980–2006)

Pingu rocks!

[10/10 · 11 October 2005]

Pingu is a *very* refreshing break from the (many, many, many!) more mundane children's shows currently on the air. Pingu himself is an irreverent, irrepressible little fellow who relentlessly does his own thing (and often takes the heat from his parents for it). In fact, Pingu is so confident and independent that American audiences might have a hard time swallowing it.

In addition to shrugging off parental objections to his activities, Pingu sometimes quarrels with his friends (I'm talking about rolling-around-in-the-snow, knock-down/drag-outs here), and is not afraid of a bit of "biological" humor.

These things are, however, a part of the charm. If you are looking for good, edgy children's programming, Pingu is the way to go.

Hey, everyone make nice by the end of the episode! Go on...check it out!

Jay Jay the Jet Plane (1998 Video)

A decent show.

[6/10 · 24 September 2005]

"Jay Jay" is pretty good food for young minds. The plots usually involve simple (and widely encountered) moral conflicts. The show is heavily musical, and the songs are upbeat and danceable.

The "think about it" vignettes at the end of the show are okay, but there only seem to be a few (7-10) of them, and so they do get repetitive. These segments are purely informational (basics about rocks, plants,etc.), so maybe the repetition in this case is not such a bad thing.

Eve Whittle is easy on the eyes (important if you are a stay-at-home, watch-too-much-children's-programming sort of dad...).