Samson en Gert
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Samson en Gert is a Belgian (Flemish) children's television series. The series is produced by Studio 100, a production company owned by Gert Verhulst, Danny Verbiest and Hans Bourlon.
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[edit] The series
The series started in 1989. At that time Gert Verhulst hosted a children's programme for the BRTN channel. He asked for an animal puppet as a co-host, which became a dog called Samson (voiced by Danny Verbiest). Samson was supposed to be a temporary sidekick, but an increase in popularity meant that he and Gert were given their own show. Initially interrupted by short cartoons, and fanmail, the 20-minute episodes were later shown as one piece.
With 15 years worth of material, Samson en Gert still enjoy an enormous popularity in both Belgium and the Netherlands.
The series may be discontinued but the annual Christmas show still goes on, and there's the inevitable merchandising; CDs, comics and bedsheets. Fans in Belgium even had the luxury of eating Samson-bread.
In 2000 Plopsaland, a theme park dedicated to Samson en Gert and other Studio 100 productions (including Kabouter Plop and K3) was opened in De Panne.
Samson en Gert is set in a nameless village in Belgium. All events happen on a small number of studio-based locations, of which the latest is an outdoor set featuring a typical Belgian chip-stall (frietkraam). The series is characterized by a stream of running gags like Gert killing off conversations because the phone rings or someone's "knocking the door because the bell don't work". ("Ik moest kloppen want de bel doet het niet"); recurring subjects are 'cheaters never win' and 'honesty is the best policy'.
Gert recently lived up to his 1991 on-song promise to hand out gallons of lemonade and 100 kilos of chocolate if he'd ever had €10 million (Euros) (about 400 million Belgian francs). What better location to do so than at Plopsaland ? (At the time of the song, Belgium still had the franc as its currency, though the video appears to show Gert throwing US dollars in the air (10,000,000 BEF = about US$310,000)
A French version of Samson en Gert (Fred et Samson) has just been launched. It airs on RTL-TVI, the dominant French-language channel in Belgium.
[edit] Characters
[edit] Samson and Gert
Samson and Gert are the leading characters residing at No. 101. Gert is a down-to-earth geezer in a village largely populated by immature men still tied to their Mums' apron strings. And while they have proper jobs Gert appears to be unemployed. Some fans believe that he lives off welfare in return for offering his place to social purposes, hence the constant phone-calls and door-knocking. Samson lacks understanding of grown-up matters, making him slightly naive and a bit moralizing. He struggles to pronounce difficult words and names correctly, and even confuses languages like French with English. Danny Verbiest left in 2005; his replacement is Peter Thyssen, AKA the pig half of Big en Betsy, Samson and Gert's naughty counterparts.
[edit] Other main characters
- Albert Vermeersch (Koen Crucke) a struggling barber by day, a mediocre opera singer by night, and an overeating diva fulltime. He hates it when people (Gert) don't address him as 'Alberto (Vermicelli)', bursting out in, for example, "One; it's Albertooo. Two; you're out of cookies" ("Ten eerste is het Albertooo; ten tweede, de koekjes zijn op"). Samson refers to him as 'Mr. Spaghetti' and the Mayor as 'Vermeersch'.
Havig lost 33 kilos (and replacing his real moustache with a painted one) for his latterday appearances, Koen Crucke left in 2006 to pursue other interests.
- Octaaf De Bolle (Walter van de Velde) works at his Mum's grocery store. He has a daughter called Miranda. Octaaf is very arrogant, claiming to be specialised in whatever comes to subject. Example; "Showing off happens to be one of my specialties; my Miranda agrees, she says 'Dad, the way you show off' ... well, I show off". ("Opscheppen, dat is nu toevallig een van mijn specialiteiten. Mijn Miranda zegt dat ook altijd. Pa, zegt ze, zoals jij kan opscheppen... zo kan ik opscheppen"). When not boring the others with stuff like this he operates as vice-chairman of the local gym club. Samson refers to Octaaf as 'Mr. Raven' ('Meneer de Raaf').
Walter van de Velde left in 2001 due to other commitments.
- Jeannine De Bolle (Ann Petersen; R.I.P. 2003) is Octaaf's Mum, and very arrogant too. Whenever Octaaf does something good "he's taken after his Mum" ("Dat heeft ie van zijn moeder"), but whenever Octaaf does something wrong "he's taken after his Dad" ("Dat heeft ie van zijn vader"). Jeannine is chairwoman of the local hobby club. Samson refers to her as Mrs. Praline (a Belgian Chocolate Trufle). .
- De Burgemeester (The Mayor) (Walter de Donder) is the Mayor of the village. Rarely addrssed as Modest he spends most of his at his office building model aeroplanes. He claims to be busy minding important files but everyone is well aware of his big secret.
Speechwise the Mayor appears to be a one trick pony; his "To those present, congrats; to those absent, congrats too" ("Aan allen die gekomen zijn, proficiat; aan allen die niet gekomen zijn, ook proficiat") has taken the shape of a stadium singalong. Even five-year-olds know it off by heart. He could've taken lessons from his sea-based twin-brother Basil who dropped by for a one-off storytelling performance. Walter de Donder also plays the lead character in Studio 100 production Kabouter Plop.
- Eugène Van Leemhuyzen (Walter Baele) is the Mayor's ADHD secetary who made his first appearance in 2000. Van Leemhuyzen hates the Mayor for being a bossy boots and although feelings are mutual he couldn't see himself taking another job (he's unsuitable to do so). Samson refers to him as Meneer Van Veel Luizen (Mr. Many Lice).
[edit] Minor characters
- Joop Mengelmoes (Stef Bos) was Samson and Gert's neighbour in the early days. Samson refers to him as 'Mr. Chocolate Mousse' ('Meneer Chocomoes'). The first-ever episode sees him trying to fix Samson and Gert's doorbell to no result. Since then every visitor at No. 101 says (s)he has to knock because the bell don't work ("Ik moest kloppen want de bel doet het niet"). Dutch transplant Stef Bos went on to become a star in his own right.
- De Afgevaardigde van de Minister (The Minister's Delegate) (Hans Royaards) is the only non-local character. He regularly visits the Mayor's office to discuss important matters, and rarely wastes an opportunity to slag him off. But even Mr. Delegate has his soft spot, he's a huge K3 fan. Samson refers to him as 'the Sinister's Delegate' ("De Afgevaardigde van de Sinister") among other mispronuncations.
- Frieda Kroket (Barbara de Jonge) joined the club in 2001 when taking over the chip-stall from her off-screen uncle Fred Kroket (a Dutch snack). She has a one sided crush on Albert (who manages to get his chips for free) and plays tuba in her spare time. Her catch phrase is "patat" ("chippy"). Samson refers to Frieda as 'Miss Fritters' ('Mevrouw Frietjes'), which in this case makes it a nickname.
- Sofie (Evi Hanssen) is the Mayor's niece. Samson refers to her as Koffie (coffee spelt in Dutch).
- Miranda de Bolle (Liesbet Verstraete) is Octaaf's daughter.
[edit] Unseen - invisible - characters
The Samson en Gert-series feature a remarkable number of widely mentioned but unseen characters. Among them are Samson and Gert's respective girlfriends Bobientje and Marlène(ke). While Samson has no competition, Gert struggles to realise that Marlene strings him along by dating Jean-Louis Michel (the one difficult name that Samson pronounces correctly). Judging by recollections of the phone-calls JLM is a wealthy guy who can have every girl he wants. Gert hates him so much that he stages a 'Don't mention that wanker's name'-policy, a message that not everyone picks up on immediately. Marlene made her only on-screen appearance after she cancelled her marriage to JLM.
Other characters include Fred Kroket (Frieda's uncle and predecessor), Albert's Mum, Marie (the mayor's housekeeper) and a farmer called Teun.
