Ludwig (cartoon)

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Ludwig was a surreal 1977 British-made children's cartoon animation about a magical egg-shaped gemstone who lived in a forest. The programme was produced by father and son team, Mirek and Peter Lang. Peter went on to co-produce Pigeon Street.

The character's name came from Ludwig van Beethoven, whose music he played in the background of each episode. The series consisted of 25 five-minute episodes, in each of which something would happen to the animals of the forest and Ludwig would come to the rescue. His "body" facets would open up and out would pop arms, legs, gadgets or even a helicopter rotor blade when he needed to get somewhere fast. He was constantly watched by a human birdwatcher (voiced by Jon Glover) who had a deerstalker and large binoculars. This character was both the viewer's point-of-view and narrator, as no other character talked. At the end of every episode Ludwig played a Mozart horn concerto through the credits.

Ludwig was originally one of the cartoons featured in Captain Kangaroo, although in the UK (where the latter was relatively unknown) it was broadcast as a standalone short animation on children's TV.

13 Ludwig episodes have been released on a stand-alone VHS video. They are: