Olsen starring in “Feed The Chicken”.

I never knew you could feed roosters like that. There is so much I don’t know. Like, I didn’t know there was a war on christmas. I don’t know, to me that sounds better than war on people. But okay. Good clean family entertainment you can trust.

I just had an overwhelming attack of nostalgia. For “Bamse på planeten”. I guess I shouldn’t try to explain, because it won’t make sense to people who aren’t Danish. And it probably won’t make sense to Danish people who aren’t old enough either. But oh man oh man. When Bamse went to that planet and he fed Forlæns and Baglæns and he baked bread in the volcano and Arthur came and oh man oh man oh man. That was seriously the best children’s TV ever. I wish I could get a hold of a tape of it or something. I miss it so much it makes me feel empty. It was so great!

Oh here’s a summary in English:

“Fjernsyn for dyr – Bamse på planeten” (1983) (mini)
This children’s miniseries tells the story of Bamse’s fairy tale like adventure on a small remote planet inhabited by the wonderful and strange characters Forlæns and Baglæns. This series was the creation of Finn Bentzen, Elith Nulle Nykjær and Poul Nesgaard (now headmaster of The National Film School of Denmark) and is by many considered to be one of the best television programmes for children ever made in Denmark. After this mini series Bamse got his own weekly tv-series entitled “Bamses billedbog” (1983) set in a completely different enviroment. The big yellow teddy bear Bamse travels to the small distant planet Joakim. Bamse is in a good mood and looks forward to meeting the inhabitants of the planet. Once he arrives he watches television with a strange double-headed animal called Forlæns and Baglæns, one head at a time. Bamse also finds out that the animal likes to drink fruit juice from a bucket. Bamse meets Arthur who is caretaker of all the planets in the sky and travels in a pear-shaped spaceship with the number 42 on it. Arthur is in a mighty hurry, but he takes it easy and tells imaginative stories and teaches Bamse how to bake bread in an oven.

Wow. I’m not sure if you can tell how utterly brilliant it was. But it was truly special. Magic for a little boy’s mind. And Bamse is still alive today. He’s doing this years christmas calendar series on the telly. With Kylling and Ælling and Aske and Luna and so on. It’s not quite the same though. Bamse. Maybe because I’ve grown up. Maybe because the show has grown up and added new characters and things. I wonder if the chimney still falls over when he slams the door?

“Mit rigtige navn det er Arthur / men det er der ingen som ved / Min mor er et glimrende kukur / min far er en gammel planet / Jeg bo’de i Malmø til jeg var 50 / men dér blev jeg aldrig helt rigtig tilfreds / Så brugte jeg lidt af min fantasi / så nu er jeg bare en dreng på 10 / Jeg har lynende travlt / men jeg ta’r den med ro / Fantasien, fantasien, fantasien er go’ / Jeg brugte lidt mere og fik job på en måne / og det var jo sjover’ end hjemme i skolen / Her passer jeg 18 planeter om dagen / for netop for mig er det lige sagen / Jeg har lynende travlt / men jeg ta’r den med ro / Fantasien, fantasien, fantasien er go'”

My knees are getting weak, I can’t believe how much I miss children’s tv. And being a child.

(In English: “My name is actually Arthur / but nobody knows that / My mother is an excellent cuckoo clock / my father is an old planet / I lived in Malmö ’til I was 50 / but I was never quite satisfied there / Then I used a little of my imagination / so now I’m just a ten-year-old boy / I’m busy as lightning / but I take it easy / Fantasy, fantasy, fantasy’s good / I used a little more and got a job on a moon / and that was more fun than in Skaane / Here I look after 18 planets a day / and for me that’s exactly the thing / I’m busy as lightning / but I take it easy / Fantasy, fantasy, fantasy’s good.”)

*falls over*

A picture of Kylling, Bamse and Ælling (Chicken, Teddy and Duckling). Unfortunately not on the planet.

This is much better than what I was going to write about. Living in the past, oh yeah.

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