Jump to content

The Little Mole

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Krtek)

Not to be confused with Kretek.
The Little Mole
Little Mole on hay bales
First appearance1957
Created byZdeněk Miler
Voiced byZdeněk Miler's daughters
SpeciesMole

The Little Mole (Czech: Krtek, Krteček) is a series of cartoons as well as the name of their title character, created by Czech animator Zdeněk Miler between 1957 and 2002. The first short film premiered at the 1957 Venice Film Festival, where it won the award for the best directing achievement.[1]

History

[edit]

Little Mole 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, had its premiere at the Venice Film Festival in 1957, where it was awarded two Golden Lions. Production of further episodes started in 1963 and since then, around fifty 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. Miler's daughters 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.

The only episode where the mole talks is the first one.[2] In the United Kingdom, the cartoons were transmitted by BBC with English narration by Colin Jeavons.[3] Book adaptations were also published in English.[4]

Developments

[edit]
Andrew J. Feustel and Little Mole at a promotional event
Little Mole in a Prague shop
Little Mole on a Finnish VR commuter train

Space travels

[edit]

On 16 May 2011, a plush toy of Little Mole was present on board the Space Shuttle Endeavour, where it accompanied the U.S. astronaut Andrew J. Feustel, whose wife is of Czech ancestry, on the STS-134 mission.[5][6][7] It is the first animated character sent into space.[8]

Several years later, Little Mole flew into space with the Russian Soyuz spacecraft.[9]

US toy market plans

[edit]

In May 2012, Bloomberg announced that Apple Inc. planned to help Little Mole enter the $21 billion U.S. toy market for the first time.[10][11]

Mascot

[edit]

Mole was the mascot for the 2015 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Prague, and was subsequently used to promote the Federation's Athletics for Children programme.[12]

3D adaptation

[edit]

In 2016, China Central Television Animation and Little Mole a.s. (founded by Zdeněk Miler's granddaughter, Karolína Milerová) created a remake version called The Little Mole and the Panda [cs]. Two series were filmed in 2016–2017; the project was cancelled in 2019.[13][14]

Alfa Romeo Racing partnership

[edit]

On 23 May 2019, Alfa Romeo Racing, a Formula One team, announced Little Mole as the new team partner. Frédéric Vasseur, principal of the team, said that the goal of the partnership is to capture the imagination of hundreds of thousands of children and get them closer to the sport using Little Mole's big follower base all over the world. Mole's iconic figure is appearing on the sidepods of the cars for the rest of the 2019 season.[15]

Filmography

[edit]
  • In 2000, a DVD collection was published under the English title The Adventures of the Mole.[16]
  • From 2002 to 2004, a set of 60 DVDs entitled Nejlepších večerníčků (lit. 'best bedtime stories') was released, some of which included Little Mole animations. Included in the list below are the DVD numbers for films in this set.

Short films

Episode English title Czech title Year Duration NV DVD #*
01. How Mole Got His Trousers Jak krtek ke kalhotkám přišel 1957 11:51 1
02. The Mole and the Car Krtek a autíčko 1963 14:30 19
03. The Mole and the Rocket Krtek a raketa 1965 08:40
04. The Mole and the Transistor Set Krtek a tranzistor 1968 08:10 10
05. The Mole and the Green Star Krtek a zelená hvězda 1969 07:30 10,1
06. The Mole and the Chewing Gum Krtek a žvýkačka 1969 07:20 10
07. The Mole in a Zoo Krtek v zoo 1969 06:05 10
08. The Mole as a Gardener Krtek zahradníkem 1969 06:55 10,1
09. The Mole and the Hedgehog Krtek a ježek 1970 08:25 10
10. The Mole and the Lollipop Krtek a lízátko 1970 08:00 10,1
11. The Mole and the TV Krtek a televizor 1970 05:30 10
12. The Mole and the Umbrella Krtek a paraplíčko 1971 07:10 10,1
13. The Mole as a Painter Krtek malířem 1972 09:35 19
14. The Mole and the Matches Krtek a zápalky 1974 05:30 19
15. The Mole and the Music Krtek a muzika 1974 05:15 19
16. The Mole and the Telephone Krtek a telefon 1974 05:25 19
17. The Mole as a Chemist Krtek chemikem 1974 05:30 19
18. The Mole and the Carpet Krtek a koberec 1974 05:40 19
19. The Mole as Watchmaker Krtek hodinářem 1974 05:25 19
20. The Mole at Christmas Krtek o vánocích 1975 05:45 19
21. The Mole as Photographer Krtek fotografem 1975 05:45 19
22. The Mole and the Egg Krtek a vejce 1975 05:35 19
23. The Mole and the Bulldozer Krtek a buldozér 1975 05:43 19
24. The Mole in the Desert Krtek na poušti 1975 05:52 19
25. The Mole and the Carnival Krtek a karneval 1975 05:25 19
26. The Mole and the Coal Krtek a uhlí 1995 04:10 33
27. The Mole and his Friends Krtek a kamarádi 1995 05:18 33,1
28. The Mole's Weekend Krtek a víkend 1995 05:05 33
29. The Mole and the Robot Krtek a robot 1995 05:00 33,1
30. The Mole and the Celebration Krtek a oslava 1995 05:04 33
31. The Mole and the Little Ducks Krtek a kachničky 1995 05:00 33
32. The Mole and the Subway Krtek a metro 1997 05:00 44
33. The Mole and the Mushrooms Krtek a houby 1997 04:28 44
34. The Mole and the Little Hare Krtek a zajíček 1997 05:11 44
35. The Mole and the Mother Krtek a maminka 1997 05:20 44
36. The Mole and the Little Mouse / The Mole and the Flood Krtek a myška / Krtek a potopa 1997 05:19 44
37. The Mole and the Snowman Krtek a sněhulák 1998 05:09 44,1
38. The Mole and the Flute Krtek a flétna 1999 05:05 50,1
39. The Mole and the Spring Krtek a pramen 1999 05:33 50
40. The Mole and the Grumbler Krtek a šťoura 1999 05:21 50
41. The Mole and the Swallow Krtek a vlaštovka 2000 04:25 50
42. The Mole and the Little Fish Krtek a rybka 2000 05:02 50
43. The Mole and the Little Frog Krtek a žabka 2002 05:20 50,1

Feature films

Episode English title Czech title Year Duration NV DVD #*
01. The Mole in Town Krtek ve městě 1982 28:31 33
02. The Mole in a Dream Krtek ve snu 1984 28:09 33
03. The Mole and the Medicine Krtek a medicína 1987 28:08 44
04. The Mole as a Movie Star Krtek filmová hvězda 1988 27:47 44
05. The Mole and the Eagle Krtek a orel 1992 28:05 50
06. The Mole and the Clock Krtek a hodiny 1994 28:04 50

Clips

Episode English title Czech title Year Duration
01. The Mole on Vacation Krtek a dovolená 1998 01:15
02. The Mole and the Cottage Krtek a domek 1998 00:48
03. The Mole and the Cherries Krtek a třešně 1998 00:39
04. The Mole and the Snail Krtek a šnek 1998 01:03
05. The Mole and the Jewels Krtek a šperky 1998 00:56
06. The Mole and the TV Krtek a televize 1998 00:39
07. The Mole and the Little Frog Krtek a žabka 1998 00:41
08. The Mole as a Painter Krtek malířem 1998 00:37
09. The Mole and the Balloon Krtek a balónek 1998 00:49
10. The Mole and the Box Krtek a krabice 1998 00:38
11. The Mole and the Hat Krtek a klobouk 1998 00:45
12. The Mole and the Magician Krtek a kouzelník 1998 00:36
13. The Mole and the Duck Krtek a kačenka 1998 00:38

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Animator Zdeněk Miler, creator of the famous Little Mole, born 100 years ago". Radio Prague International. 19 February 2021.
  2. ^ "O krtkovi pohádka online". Pohádkář.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  3. ^ "Search". BBC Programme Index. BBC. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
  4. ^ "Little Mole and Mother". Martinus.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  5. ^ Halousek, Milan (3 April 2011). "Into Space with Mole" (in Czech). Czech Space Office. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 19 June 2012.
  6. ^ "Do kosmu s Krtkem" [Flying to Space with the Little Mole]. Do kosmu s Krtkem. Retrieved 19 June 2012.
  7. ^ Rousek, Leos (22 March 2011). "Space Shuttle Stowaway Is a Commie Mole". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 19 June 2012.
  8. ^ "Historie o Krtkovi". Souvenir Prague. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  9. ^ "Popular Czech puppet character to fly into space". Radio Prague International. 13 April 2022. Retrieved 25 February 2025.
  10. ^ "Apple to help Czech cartoon character Krtek enter U.S. market, Bloomberg reports". Yahoo! Finance. Yahoo!. 16 May 2012. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
  11. ^ Ponikelska, Lenka (16 May 2012). "Apple Helps Czech Mole Enter $21 Billion U.S. Toy Market". Bloomberg. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
  12. ^ "Thursday news briefing". Prague Post. 8 January 2015. Archived from the original on 27 January 2015. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  13. ^ "Panda and Little Mole: Série a epizody". Kinobox.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  14. ^ Nohl, Radek (25 March 2019). "Spor o Krtečka se dotkne i Tvrdíkova čínského byznysu. Pohádka s Pandou je v ohrožení". Seznam Zprávy (in Czech). Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  15. ^ "Little Mole goes from stars to cars with Alfa Romeo Racing". Sauber Group. Archived from the original on 28 May 2019. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  16. ^ "DVD The Little Mole 1 – Karel Zeman Museum Shop". Karel Zeman Museum Shop.
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Krtek.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Little_Mole&oldid=1291808742"