The Little Mole (Czech: Krtek, Krteček) is a series of cartoons as well as the name of their title character, an anthropomorphic mole, 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
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
Space travels
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
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
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
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. Two series were filmed in 2016–2017; the project was cancelled in 2019.[13][14]
Alfa Romeo Racing partnership
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
Short films
Feature films
Clips
- 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.
See also
- Czech animation
- Cinema of the Czech Republic
External links
References
- Animator Zdeněk Miler, creator of the famous Little Mole, born 100 years ago Radio Prague International, 19 February 2021^
- O krtkovi pohádka online Pohádkář.cz, retrieved 20 April 2024^
- Search BBC Programme Index, BBC, retrieved 10 September 2024^
- Little Mole and Mother Martinus.cz, retrieved 20 April 2024^
- Milan Halousek. Into Space with Mole Czech Space Office, 3 April 2011, retrieved 19 June 2012^
- Do kosmu s Krtkem Do kosmu s Krtkem, retrieved 19 June 2012^
- Leos Rousek. Space Shuttle Stowaway Is a Commie Mole The Wall Street Journal, 22 March 2011, retrieved 19 June 2012^
- Historie o Krtkovi Souvenir Prague, retrieved 20 April 2024^
- Popular Czech puppet character to fly into space Radio Prague International, 13 April 2022, retrieved 25 February 2025^
- Apple to help Czech cartoon character Krtek enter U.S. market, Bloomberg reports Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo!, 16 May 2012, retrieved 18 May 2012^
- Lenka Ponikelska. Apple Helps Czech Mole Enter $21 Billion U.S. Toy Market Bloomberg, 16 May 2012, retrieved 18 May 2012^
- Thursday news briefing Prague Post, 8 January 2015, retrieved 5 March 2015^
- Panda and Little Mole: Série a epizody Kinobox.cz, retrieved 20 April 2024^
- Radek Nohl. Spor o Krtečka se dotkne i Tvrdíkova čínského byznysu. Pohádka s Pandou je v ohrožení Seznam Zprávy, 25 March 2019, retrieved 28 May 2021^
- Little Mole goes from stars to cars with Alfa Romeo Racing Sauber Group, retrieved 28 May 2019^
- DVD The Little Mole 1 – Karel Zeman Museum Shop Karel Zeman Museum Shop^