And I know very well that every generation things that his or her own generation is the best that ever existed.
I'm mostly a 90's kid myself- you know, the times before Cartoon Network and Disney went to hell.
But back in those days, living here in Transylvania meant that we only had one television channel that was in Hungarian (all right, maybe even two). So we had to rely on the early morning children shows to satisfy our need of Hungarian cartoons (even though most of them weren't even Hungarian)
There were a bunch we loved- and others we didn't, but watched it anyway, because it was the only thing to do. And, oh boy, how we managed to always get up early in the morning just to be able to catch them.
(I even remember once or twice throwing a tantrum when I missed an episode for some reason)
So I thought that I will show you guys our (as in 100% Hungarian) versions of toddler and children cartoons (Note that as I was saying we had a whole lot of others too - most of which were Czech, Russian or German. I will probably post something about them in the future too).
First off: Frakk, a macskák réme ( Frakk, terror of the cats)
This show is about an old couple and their family pets. Uncle Carlos (Károly bácsi) and Aunt Vilma (Vilma néni) have three animals, two cats and a dog. Aunt Vilma prefers the cats over the dog, while Uncle Carlos always take the side of Frakk. The animals - of course - will always get in fights throughout the show, and usually cause a lot of ruckus. The cartoon was pretty nice - I remember liking it, mostly because I never knew who would win in the end. There were times when the usually spoiled and lazy cats managed to convince everyone of their rights, while Frakk was punished, and vice versa.
Next one is Kukori és Kotkoda, which doesn't really have a translation into English, because both of those names are made from the Hungarian versions of the noises a chicken and a rooster make.
Now, this cartoon was basically about the differences between married couples. Kukori is a lazy rooster who always manages to get his wife, Kotkoda, angry with constantly trying to avoid working around the house. The cartoon usually ends with Kotkoda finding out what Kukori is trying to do and parting out some kind of lesson for everyone.
Now on to the third one: Pityke őrmester (Sergeant Pityke)
This cartoon was a humorous and adventurous one, for everyone who watched it. It was about a sergeant who, along with his friends and dog always try to solve everyday problems and catch the impostors, the burglars and the thieves who always try to get away with something.
The fourth one is Pom Pom meséi (Pom Pom's stories)
This cartoon is a story-within a story. It involves some kind of fluffy creature (Pom Pom) and his friend (Picur). Pom Pom meets up with Picur in every episode somewhere - most of the times on her way to school - and tells her a story that's related to what happened with her in the intro of the story. My favorite was always Gombóc Artúr (Dumpling Arthur), a fat bird who loved every kind of chocolate that ever existed. His story usually ended with him eating the chocolates that he wanted to gift someone with.
The fifth one is Mekk Elek, az ezermester (Mekk Elek, Jack-of-All-Trades)
This story was hilarious - every single episode. It was about a goat (Mekk Elek), who always tried to sell himself and his work, saying that he was good at everything, but actually not being good at anything. Every episode was about a different kind of job that he wanted to try out - and every one of them ended up with a disaster and some enraged animals trying to beat the shit out of him. The video I posted has every single episode in it, so if anyone wants to give it a try, just click on it.
The sixth one is A Nagy Ho-Ho-Ho-Horgász (The Master Fisherman)
This was my dad's favorite cartoon back then - probably because he loves fishing too. This cartoon is about a fisherman and a worm (Főkukac), who always get in some kind of trouble every time they go fishing. The cartoon has two series- one for summer, when they go fishing at a nearby lake, and one in the winter, where they use everything from fish tanks to fountains to enjoy their hobby.
The seventh is Mirr Murr, a Kandúr (Mirr Murr, the Tom-cat)
This cartoon was too cute for words (I remember that I even had a book about it). It usually started out with a mom and a kid, who was getting a bed-time story before going to sleep. The story had 3 main character: Kiscsacsi(Little Cuddy), Mirr Murr, and Oriza Triznyák, another stray cat. They all had all kinds of cute adventures together, teaching kids a whole bunch of things meanwhile. The woman who tells the story (Halász Judit) is also a singer - when I was a kid I also had some old cassettes with her songs - who mainly sang songs for children. Also, the writer of the story had a million of other amazing books and stories for kids. If you check his works out, you'll see that a lot of these cartoons were made by him.
The next one is A Kockásfülű Nyúl (The rabbit with checkered ears).
As a kid I wasn't too big of a fan of this story, and I don't really know why. It's about a cute little bunny rabbit that has special powers, and got his name from his ears that he uses to fly around the place. Every episode consisted of him helping out his friends in different situations: four children called Kriszta (a dark-haired girl), Menyus (a red-haired boy), Kistöfi (a blond toddler boy) and Mozdony (a big bully).
Mesék Mátyás Királyról (Stories about Mathias Rex) is pretty straightforward.
I used to love reading stories about the old king, and having an animated series about it was the cherry on top of the cake. The series has 13 episodes of all kinds of legends about Mathias- who was sadly hated in his old time because of the wars and the taxes, but later on became a favorite character in Hungarian Folktales as a just and fair king who usually dressed up as a poor guy to see how the people around the kingdom would treat him. His character was also a part of the Hungarian Folktales (Magyar népmesék) series:
The next one is Vizipók, csodapók (Water Spider, Miracle Spider)
This was again one of my favorites. It was about two different kinds of spiders, one of them a normal garden spider and the other a water spider. The water spider was a good-herted one who always tried to help out everyone around him - mostly the animals under water, while the garden spider always wondered how he managed to live under water. The stories usually end with the garden spider telling everyone that 'just because someone is different, he or she can be a nice person'.
We didn't miss out on the usual sci-fi stuff either.
Microbi was an awesome series that had a robot as a main character, who, along with his family flew around the universe in a rocket-ship and managed to get in all kinds of adventures. The kids (especially the youngest one, Peppe) are all cute and quite intelligent, and with the help of the robot they always manage to somehow resolve every problem.
The next one is also a cartoon about all kinds of animals. The actual title of it is Kérem a következőt (Next, please!), but everyone knows it by the name "Doctor Bubo".
Doctor Bubo is the resident owl healer in the show, who, along with his assistant, Ursula, tries to make everything better for the sick animals in the forest. The animals usually have some kind of psychological problems, from a megalomaniac flea to a hypochondriac goose, so although the show was really enjoyable by kids, it was mostly for the more mature. It makes fun of all kinds of social problems too, so for those people out there who didn't quite understand what was going on in it as kids might want to check back now. I guess you will see it in a totally different way.
We weren't lacking in dragons either! Süsü, a sárkány (Süsü, the dragon) had a pretty unique storyline.
It had a one-headed dragon as its main character who is kicked out from his home by his three-headed father, and then taken in by the humans. Süsü (a word that everyone around here uses with the meaning of 'just a little bit insane') is a pretty nice dragon. Instead of kidnapping princesses and killing knights and heroes he prefers to hunt butterflies and dream about becoming a beautiful flower. Because of this the humans get to love him, and he does everything in his power to protect their city. He also gets to know the king and his son, and later on meets the love of his life who then he tries to court the old-fashioned way.
Mazsola és Tádé was probably the cutest series that ever existed.
Mom was absolutely in love with this series, and thus we also had an old book about these amazing characters. Mazsola (Raisin) is a cute green pig, and Tádé is an even cuter guinea pig baby. Both of them are raised by Manócska (Little Elf), who not only takes care of them like they were his own, but he also gives out great lessons for the kids. Mazsola usually gets in trouble- like kids usually do- and he has to learn how to be a better person and a great older brother for Tádé. They are both really innocent, and so freaking cute, I just want to hug them every time I see them.
And for the last one in today's list, I'm going to show you guys... TV maci (TV Bear).
This short little animation was usually the cue for every kid that their bed-time is very close indeed. When we heard the short little jingle we knew that the last stories of the evening were about to start, and when the little bear finally washed up and went to bed, it meant that we were to do the same thing. It's strange how they managed to teach these basic things to us. I'm still all eyes and ears whenever I hear the same jingle coming from anywhere. I guess it's the power of suggestion, isn't it?
Anyways, guys, this is mostly it. If you can think of any other I'll be glad to hear about them!
