Pingu (series 1)

Contents

This is a list of episodes with synopses for Series 1 of the stop motion animated television series Pingu, which ran from 1986 to 1990.

Hello Pingu

Pingu and his parents are having a yummy lunch. But Pingu is eating disgustingly; smashing his fork so he can scoop up potatoes (possibly eggs or nuts ) and swallow them whole in his mouth like a grape. Blowing bubbles in his drink, eating fish disgustingly, and of course refusing to eat his greens. After this comical lunch, Pingu goes out to play with his red ball, but two of Pingu's "friends" Pingo and Pingg come to take it away from him (this is contrary to later episodes; they've become nicer to him). After a fight in which Pingg knocks Pingu's head and his ball is burst (Pingu fell on it when he was tripped over by the two bullies.) He gets his ball back and sadly returns home (after being chased by snowballs thrown at him off-screen by the two friends. Although only two of them hit Pingu.) His parents put a patch (plaster that was meant) on his head and his ball. Then suddenly, they rock him to sleep in a hammock that was almost about comfy for Pingu.

Pingu Delivers the Mail

Pingu is helping his dad deliver the mail. His dad lets him wear his postman's hat, and they go to the post office to pick up the mail and then deliver it to the town's various eccentric residents; including an old, kid-hating granny penguin, a tall, loud-beaked (bird style for loud-mouthed) penguin, a short, zippy and strange penguin in suspenders (this is Punki, who also slams the door right in Pingu's face as he opens it!), Pingu's friend Pingo, a sad penguin with bad news, a woman with three children, and others, before returning home again to his mum's arms.

Pingu Looks After the Egg

Pingu’s family has an egg, and while his parents do the laundry, Pingu has to sit on it. At first he is proud and happy to help, but he quickly gets bored, and gets up and starts listening to music called "Woodpeckers From Space". He does dances and other steps, but the egg suddenly sprouts a leg and starts to dance around the house. When Pingu notices this, he tries to stop things and catch the egg before his parents find out, trashing the igloo in the process. Pingu's parents, eventually noticing the commotion and finding out what's happening, rush over to help. Father catches the egg and mother turns off the record. Mother finds Pingu hiding in a cupboard beneath the record player; afraid his parents would be angry at him. They are not, however, and mother hugs him. Mother and Pingu clean up the igloo and Father sews him a hat for a great job taking care of the egg.

The New Arrival

Pingu is reading a book that he thinks is interesting, while Mother and Father are watching the egg from the preceding episode. It is apparently about to hatch, and Mother tells Father to call the doctor. The penguin doctor is called. At first Pingu expects to watch, but he is told to stay away and be quiet. He gets tired of the waiting in tension, but finally the egg cracks and Pinga is introduced; what will Pingu and his family think of her?

Pingu Goes Fishing

Pingu is going fishing; he climbs down a series of cliffs into a craggy, secluded area and finds a fishing hole. He soon catches a fish, but he is unaware that behind him, Robby the seal is emerging from another hole that the one Pingu is fishing at connects to, eating the bait, and snatching and attaching the same fish to the line each time. Pingu finds out and lures Robby away from the ice holes and closing them off with large slabs of ice. A high-speed chase ensues and Robby tries desperately to escape by forcing his way under the ice-slab. When Pingu shouts at him, Robby's right flipper briefly gets trapped, and the weeping seal seems severely hurt. Pingu is struck with remorse and sympathy, consoling Robby before his flipper is 'miraculously' healed. Recognizing the goodness in Pingu's soul, Robby returns his fishing pole and rewards his sensitivity with a much larger fish. Pingu, in return, gives Robby a piece of his bait to eat, and they become friends. Pingu then gathers up all his equipment and heads home with the fish.

Jealousy

Pingu, Pinga and mum are spending the day inside. Pingu is building towers with blocks, but to his dismay they keep falling down. Despite mother's efforts, Pinga does not want to go to bed - until mother rocks her to sleep. Pingu goes to his mum for help with his blocks, but she is too busy knitting clothing for Pinga. Pingu looks at Pinga, who notices that she is in bed. She starts to cry and is comforted and given attention by mother, who continues to apparently ignore Pingu. Pingu desperately tries to get attention by behaving like a baby, jumping up and down on the Pinga's bed, kicking a chamberpot around it, putting the chamberpot on his head and banging it with a spoon, and pretending to be a ghost, but he gives up and hides in the toy box. Mother soon puts Pinga back in bed, which Pinga still doesn't want to do. Realising that Pingu feels neglected, mother apologizes and hugs him, and he goes to sleep with Pinga.

Hide and Seek

Pingu is going out on a play-date with Robby. He finds Robby in a bunch of ice sculptures. Pingu and Robby hop on the sledge and ride it together. Pingu also has to push Robby along the way. They find an old ruined igloo and other bits of junk around it, then play a game of hide and seek in and around it, followed by a snowball fight. Pingu tricks Robby by making a bust of himself with some things he finds in the ruin he is hiding and putting it on a stick and waving it outside, so that Robby throws the snowball at that instead of him. While Robby is quizzically investigating the smashed bust, and calling for his friend, Pingu runs and hides in a barrel. He then sneaks up behind Robby and throws a snowball at the ruin Robby is investigating, getting his attention to the barrel Pingu is hiding in (Pingu hides quick enough to avoid being seen). Robby then goes into the ruin, and he looks over to see Pingu (still wearing the barrel as a precaution of sorts) taunting him, then throwing a snowball at him. A chase back towards the ruins then ensues, with Pingu coming out of the barrel due to tripping over a small block of ice. Robby then gets hurt while holding onto the rolling barrel, and Pingu vainly tries to cheer him up with some funny moves and postures, but finally manages with a hoola-hoop. Robby gets a hoola-hoop too and they play that instead.

Barrel of Fun

Robby plays around some barrels near some ruins, when he sees a barrel that is half covered with planks, like a sledge.(The music was like detective music.) Pingu comes around and he and Robby play with the sledge-barrel. They go down a long and winding hill two times, with Robby being the brakes - almost crashing into a sculpture both times. Unfortunately, when they go down a third time, they lose control, and Robby falls off and Pingu crashes into the sculpture which collapses over him, trapping him inside. Robby goes for help, and gets an emergency paramedic to lift a slab of ice from the rubble in order for Robby to slide under and get Pingu. He gets Pingu out just before the paramedic's arms give way to the weight of the slab. The paramedic then puts a patch on Pingu's head, and he, Robby, and the paramedic leave.

Pingu Plays Fish Tennis

Robby the seal jokingly attacks Pingu with snowballs. Pingu is enticed immediately to join an acrobatic game in which a large pink fish is the object of their japery. Pingu, in a bizarre moment of claustrophobic inertia, finds the fish's mouth trapped over his head and Robby, briefly abandoning his joking around, aids his relatively new friend by removing the fish from Pingu's head. They then play a tennis-style game using the fish. However, the fish is eventually caught on the rope and, after a futile attempt to retrieve the fish, Pingu retrieves it using a pair of ice-stilts placed conveniently by his igloo. Robby strips the fish of its meat and the two share it as a snack. Afterwards, they resume playing with Pingu still using his stilts.

Skiing

Pingu jumps outside and flies around like a plane, when he sees the carrot for the snowman's nose has dropped off. He puts it back on and finds it looking like a Rhino's horn when he turns the head. He then sits on a sledge and starts drumming on his belly, when he sees Pingo coming along on his new skis. Pingu, most impressed, decides to tag along with him and, not having a pair of skis of his own, uses some junk in a ruined igloo to build a make-shift pair of his own. Pingu and Pingo then go climbing one of the mountains, with Pingo nearly slipping. After having fun whizzing about down the mountain, with Pingo taunting Pingu, they start racing competitively with Pingo going first, Pingu going next, with both stopping at one point, and both of them end up breaking their skis. They put what they can back together, and then decide to go with each of them on only one ski and go home, arm-in-arm, singing instead.

Sledging

Pingu and his friends Pingo and Pingg are going tobogganing up in some high mountains. After a long climb, they reach the top, and sled their way down. Pingu's friends go down at great speed, but Pingu has trouble; his sled doesn't seem to slide and he can only go slowly. It then turns out that the skis on the bottom of Pingu's sled are rusted, and his friends give him a greased rag to polish them with. After Pingu's friends come down a second time, he shows them how clean the skis are, and does a test, which turns out successful. They try a third time, but Pingu over-polished the skis, and he goes zooming down too fast to control. His sled breaks, and he crashes into a snowman, getting stuck inside it. Pingu's friends find him, move the snowman inside, and then put it near the furnace so it melts to free Pingu. When he thaws completely, Pingo offers him the greased rag again. Pingu rejects angrily. Then they all have a good laugh about it.

Lost Baby

Pingu brings Pinga along with him to play with Pingo. When they meet up, Pingu and Pingo start playing leap-frog and Pinga really wants to join in. But Pingu, however, forbids her to play with them because she's too little. While he and Pingo are rampaging about, she sadly runs away from them. Pingu and Pingo look everywhere for her, and finally find footprints and her scarf at the edge of a deep pit. Assuming she has fallen in, Pingu and Pingo go home in tears and tells mother what happened. But Mother explains to them that she was at home all along. Pinga starts tormenting Pingu, who gets very angry and starts to hit Pinga with her scarf, but Mother stops him and tells them to make up, to no avail. While Mother and Pingo watch on, Pinga refuses to speak to Pingu, but he soon discovers that patting Pinga's hand comforts her and they both make up. Pingu then happily feeds Pinga.

Ice Hockey

Pingu, Robby and their new friend Pongi are dawdling around when they see a hockey team having a game. They decide to join in. At the first two tries they didn't get a goal, but then on the next try, they get one. The other team is a bad loser, however, and on the final try, they play aggressively to ensure they do not win, knocking them with the putt, forcing them into corners, and so on, and they win the game. They want another game, but Pingu and his friends refuse due to the team's bad sportsmanship and for injuring Robby as well. Them and the team then discard all their gear, and do figure skating instead, and the song called "Hand in Hand", performed by Koreana.

Pingu Runs Away

Pingu and his parents are enjoying a quiet dinner, but Pingu isn't happy due to him refusing to eat his disgusting dinner. Mother and Father decide to share their food. Father give Mother fish, Mother gives Father greens and Mother tries to give Pingu a brown potato, but he refuses and splatters it all over Mother. Father becomes enraged and tells him off. Pingu then rocks his chair and ends up pulling everything off the table. His parents becomes furious and Pingu ends up getting a spanking. He tries to make amends, but gets neglected instead and runs away, feeling that his parents don't love him anymore. Pingu's parents enjoy some quiet time, but they're not really enjoying it because they are worried about Pingu because of what time it is and what they have done. Meanwhile, Pingu becomes hopelessly lost. He nearly gets crushed by falling ice, and then comes face to face with three ugly, menacing monster-faces in the snowdrifts. They look like a human skull, a grumpy dwarf and a dragon. Terrified, he runs and hides in an ice cave. His parents, realizing how late it is, feel pretty bad of how they treated Pingu, so they come out and find him, with Father using his post truck to find him. Pingu notices his parents finding him and shows himself. Happy to see their son, Mother and Father both apologize to him and they take him back home. After Pingu is fed hot soup by Mother, they all go to bed together happily.

Building Igloos

Pingu is going on a camping trip of sorts with Pingo. When Pingu said goodbye to his parents, Father offers Pingu a hat. He does not want to wear it, but father insists. When he leaves he gleefully takes the hat off and puts it in the box. When they meet, they head up at the spot how they will use blocks of ice to build an igloo, however, they cannot agree on where to build one, get into a fight, and go off to build their own separate igloos. Due to them only having half the blocks each, however, they can only build hopeless half-built structures which promptly collapse after some fighting over the last remaining block (Pingu's collapses, much to Pingo's amusement, then Pingo's collapses, much to Pingu's amusement). They then make up, build a proper igloo, and start up by happily eating fish at night on a blanket inside.

Pingu and Pinga Stay Up

It is time for Pingu and Pinga to go to bed but they have other ideas. First they play with their blocks and fakely fight over them, and then mum tells Pingu to brush his teeth and he goes by shuffling with the block boxes on his feet. Pingu brushes the bathtub instead of his teeth, then knocks Pinga's potty, and mum finally manages to get them to go to the bedroom. At first they tried to leave when she wasn't looking. They keep demanding things such as a teddy, pacifier, fish, or bottles. When she stops coming to their demands (though Pinga made one), they go out to find their exasperated mother asleep. They move her into the bedroom and finally go to sleep all together.

Music Lessons

Pingu is playing with his blocks, and teaching Pinga what they are, while Mother and Father bake a cake (possibly something else). While Pingu plays with his blocks, Pinga plays her trumpet. Pingu likes this and shows Pinga his instrument, an accordion. Pingu then starts playing awful music hysterically with it, and Mother tells him to stop. Pingu sticks his tongue at her, and resumes playing music with it again (this time holding it from one side and bouncing it up and down like a yo-yo). Finally, Mother has had enough and sends Pingu outside, Pinga, who liked Pingu's playing as evidenced when she mimicked the movements of the accordian when Pingu played it), is annoyed and starts crying. Meanwhile, all around the town, people flee and lock themselves in their houses to get away from Pingu's playing, but when he finally gets to his grandfather, he finds him playing his own accordion nicely. Asking him how he does it, Grandpa gives Pingu music lessons, and he swiftly ends up playing excellently. Pingu then goes home and plays some nice, proper music for his family.

Little Accidents

Pingu and his family are eating lunch. Pinga opens her mouth for Pingu to put a piece of fish in her mouth, but Pingu ends up eating it himself, much to Pinga's annoyance. Pingu then heads off to go to a bar type shop to get a drink. Pinga follows him and wants a drink too. Pingu buys her two, but when she drinks them, she tinkles on the ground and Pingu hurriedly sends her home; she makes it to her potty just in time. Pingu then finds he needs to go to the toilet, and rushes home just in time to see his father go into the bathroom. He pushes Pinga off her potty so he can use that instead, and is sent outside, and he then in a rage plays doorbell ditch so that Dad has to rush out of the bathroom to get it and Pingu can run in and use the toilet. However, he urinates on the floor, because the toilet is too high. Father becomes enraged and tells him off to clean it up. While finished and walking away thinking of an idea, he then attempts to go to the toilet on stilts, but when Mother comes in and tells him that he can't go in the toilet with them, Pingu explains to her that he can't reach the toilet. Mother thinks of an idea and suggests they build some steps out of ice. They do so, and Pingu is finally able to go to the toilet in peace.

School Time

Pingu walks to school with his backpack, and on the way, calls for Robby. Robby slides down a slant on a snowy mountain. Pingu does the same sliding on his backpack, rather further than Robbie. Pingu slides his backpack to Robby. Robbie dons the backpack, Pingu is amused. Pingu and Robby find two rows of desks, a blackboard and an igloo. The teacher walks out of the igloo. As the teacher turns around to close the door, Robby quickly jumps into a water hole. The teacher rings the school bell. Pingo and Pingg arrive at the school. Before a lesson, Pingu tells Robbie to hide down the water hole. The teacher, Pingo, and Pingu walk over to the water hole. Pingo jumps into the water hole, much to Pingu's surprise. Pingo jumps back out. Pingo goes to the blackboard and draws a fish. Pingg jumps into the water hole. Pingg jumps back out. Pingg is sent to blackboard and draws a fish skeleton along with a tail fin and head. Pingu laughs in amusement. Pingg points to the blackboard telling him why it isn't funny. Pingu acts out Robby's actions (first trying by mimicking the noise Robby makes, then, when this fails, moves like Robby). Pingg, Pingo and the teacher do not know who he is. Pingu goes to the blackboard and draws his friend Robby. They still don't believe him, so Pingu takes a fish out of his desk and holds it over the water hole to attract Robby. Robbie jumps from the water hole and eats the fish's body leaving the skeleton, head and tail fin. The teacher, Pingo and Pingg are astonished. Pingu calls for Robby. He leaps from the water hole and Pingu introduces him. The teacher is much satisfied. Robby brings a fish out of the water while the teacher erases the chalk drawings. They pass the fish down to the teacher and plaster it onto the blackboard. Robby gets an eel and repeats the process with a flounder and a lobster. Pingg and Pingo are asked what the creatures are. Pingu tries to raise his hand in order to answer. Pingu is finally brought up to answer the question of what the lobster is. When he cannot answer it however, he is brought over to the blackboard to answer. Robby writes what it is. Pingu answers the question. The teacher pats Pingu's head happily. All this leaves a happy Pingu, teacher and cheering Robby.

Goofs: In this episode, Pingu moves away from his classmates and off screen for one part of the episode and when the camera centres back on Pingu, he turns into Pengy as part of the goof but he still sounds the same. When he rejoins his classmates, he turns back into himself.

Pingu's Ice Cave

Pingu and his parents are doing odd jobs when Pingo comes over and asks Pingu on a playdate. The two go off hysterically. They play with their ball and have fun at first, but get a bit carried away, and the ball goes off into an overhang in the ice. When they try to retrieve it, they fall through a sort of trapdoor in the ice and into an ice cave. The entrance collapses above them, and they must find another way out. After looking around in the dripping, echoing caverns, they see a slope to the surface - which happens to be on the other side of a deadly chasm. Pingu manages to cross by swinging on a rope, which comes off as he gets to the other side. He then lassoes the ropes onto a small stalagmite next to Pingo, and tells Pingo to hang onto it and shuffle across the chasm, with Pingu holding onto the rope on the other side. But Pingu begins to slip due to Pingo's weight on the rope and he nearly falls. Pingu quickly tugs on the rope, pulling Pingo back up unharmed and catches him just in time, and the two crawl out cheerfully to the surface.

Pingu's Dream

It is time for Pingu's bedtime, and he falls asleep while Mother is reading him a story. As Pingu sleeps, the igloo jumps up and down before floating away. His bed then sprouts legs and moves around. Although being rattled at first, he has lots of fun riding the bed, but he is unaware that a giant non-tusked whiskered walrus (or a leopard seal) is stalking him. The walrus/leopard seal eventually shows himself to Pingu and puts the igloo on top of him and the bed. The walrus/leopard seal takes the igloo off, squishes and stretches Pingu as if he were a plaything, and as the bed tries to escape, the walrus/leopard seal takes the mattress from it and eats it like a chocolate bar. While the walrus/leopard seal is distracted, Pingu and the bed run off in fear, but Pingu trips over a ledge and falls down a steep mountain slope. The minute he lands at the bottom, Pingu wakes up, finds out that his "snowy mountain" is actually the bed, which isn't moving, and realizes it was all a dream. Pingu then sadly tells Mother all about it as she comforts him.

Grandpa is Ill

Pingu is painting a picture while his mom is ironing clothes, but then the telephone rings and Pinga answers the phone, Pingu's mom rushes Pinga off the phone - it is Grandpa who's suffering measles. Pingu tells Pinga not to mess up his painting but Pinga throws red on it. Pingu gets really angry at Pinga and she runs away from Pingu. They go to Grandpa's house, but Pinga blocks the door so Pingu can't get out. Pingu backs up and rushes the door, but Pinga has moved away and he falls flat on the ground. They all go to Grandpa’s house and while Mother tries treatments, Pingu and Pinga run around babbling and dancing, possibly to entertain Grandpa, but end up annoying him. Mother lectures them and tells them to be quiet, but they pretend to cook something in a pot and the lid falls off. Mom tells them to stop messing about and again tells them to be quiet, but they play dress-up while Pingu is on a sled and they crash into the drawer. Pingu's mom, exasperated, makes them go outside, where Pingu finds a board and puts it above a giant wad of snow to play seesaw. Mother, exasperated again, tells them to stop. Pingu then kicks snowballs into the door and kicks one into Mother. She finally has had enough of their behavior and tells them to go home. They then use markers to make fake spots and then call Mother. She comes home, lifts the bed sheets and finds them all spotty, like the measles. When Mother rubs their heads she finds out they have used crayon and they try it on Mother. When she jumps on the bed in the ending, she breaks it (much to Pingu's surprise). They then laugh.

Pingu and Pinga at Home

Pingu’s parents are off to a concert for a change leaving Pingu and Pinga in charge of taking care of the house and promise to good, as Pingu and Pinga started to cry. As their parents leave, Pingu and Pinga perform antics such as jumping on their beds and asking Pinga to turn on a radio (as the music blares) while Pingu makes a pancake. Mother and Father had arrive at the concert. Pingu flips the pancake into the air many times, much to Pinga's delight and it ends up getting stuck to the roof. Pinga tells him to look up, Pingu does so just as the pancake falls on his head making him look like an elephant then he trumpets . Meanwhile, Mother and Father have a small talk while at the concert hall (as the Orchestra plays classical tune in piece). Then, Pingu bounces his red ball and he and Pinga play catch making a big mess in the process. At the concert, Father has fallen asleep and Mother wakes him up and they are a little bit worried about Pingu and Pinga. Afterwards, Pingu rifles through a dresser strewing a top hat at Pinga. He then puts on a women's hat and throws it at Pinga who is stuck in a blue box then Pingu pushes her as Pingu convinces Pinga (with the box she was stuck in now on her head) to come back to where he is standing then Pingu pretends to be a monster and is devouring Pinga. Meanwhile, Pingu’s parents are worried about what Pingu and Pinga might be doing as they have a look at the photo of Pingu and Pinga. Then Pinga turns on the bathtub and adds bubble bath to the bath water as Pingu jumps into the bathtub and play messily and then they tip over leaving a mess on the floor. Meanwhile, the concert is finished, and Pingu and Pinga try desperately to clean things up and Pinga shuts off the radio while Pingu shoves every single pair of clothes he has all strewn about into the dresser by jumping on the clothes. When Pingu's parents come home, Mother find out that the dresser had clothes completely shoved in. They are not amused and Mother asks if Pingu and Pinga did this. They say yes. They are afraid that they are angry at him, but they are not, and they forgive Pingu and Pinga. Mother cleans out the dresser, and they congratulate Pingu and Pinga for watching the house.

Pingu and the Barrel Organ

Pingu is spending time with a stranger who is playing a barrel organ, which makes him feel upset because of how poor he is. He is more upset when arrogant penguins just walk past refusing to give money. First, a male penguin just walks around the organ. Secondly, a female Penguin walks past the organ. Pingu tries to stop her, but she pushes him away with her belly. Pingu asks another male penguin for some money, but he gets a fish instead. Pingu gives the fish to the busker and tries the organ. Pingu asks another penguin for some money. They both look up and the penguin walks away. Seething with rage, Pingu turns the organ's handle quickly. The penguin doesn't look where he's going and falls into a fishing hole. Pingu is even more upset when he follows him home to find it an old, broken down, messy ruin. Feeling sorry for the busker, he borrows the barrel organ and goes around town playing it in front of a tailor, bakery, tavern and a fishmonger, the pleased owners of which give him free supplies. He then goes back to the busker's place and sets out for him a nice meal with the supplies, and goes outside to make some repairs to the house. The pleased busker then rewards him with a harmonica.

Pingu's Circus

Pingu, Pinga and Robby put up signs announcing a circus and lots of penguins start to go see the circus, and during the performance, Pingu plays the drum, Pinga plays the trumpet and Robby plays the accordion, Robby does roly-polies, Pinga juggles balls (which failed when Robby laughed when she dropped them, though she threw one at Robby's hat flattening it.), Pinga and Robby do a "lion-tamer's act" and Robby does dog acts. Pingu does a bunch of dances and actions during Robby's accordion performance and he lifts a big faux dumbbell, drops it (to make it look heavy) and Pinga takes it away with no effort at all. In the next performance, Pingu and Pinga jump on top of a board and Pingu lands in a bucket of blue paint which splatters all over Pingu and Robby, Pinga arrives and scolds Pingu to be more careful and jeers at him by laughing. After this, Pingu decides to spit blue paint onto Pinga, covering her in paint too. The audience laughs and then for the rest of the episode, Pingu, Pinga and Robby are clowns using their instruments again.