Kabouter Wesley
| Kabouter Wesley | |
|---|---|
| Genre |
Animation Comedy |
| Created by | Jonas Geirnaert |
| Developed by |
Jonas Geirnaert Volstok Telefunken Thijs De Cloedt, Wouter Sel, Michélé De Feudis |
| Voices of |
Jonas Geirnaert Jelle De Beule |
| Theme music composer | Klaus Wunderlich |
| Country of origin | Belgium (Flanders) |
| Original language(s) | Dutch |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 23 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | HUMO |
| Running time | 1 to 2 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | VRT |
| Original run | August 31, 2009 – present |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Man Bijt Hond |
Kabouter Wesley (English: Gnome Wesley) is a series of comics and short animated cartoons about a grumpy and violent kabouter (gnome), made by Jonas Geirnaert. Both the drawing style and the content are purposely made naive and amateuristic and the situations are surreal and violent. There is also a lot of insulting and toilet humour in the series.
History
Geirnaert invented Wesley the Gnome while creating his short animation film Flatlife (winner of the jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival) in 2004. As this film required him to be very perfectionistic and thorough, he drew Wesley the Gnome as a side project and intentionally spent no time on good graphics, interesting plotlines or other recurring characters. In 2008 the comics appeared in the magazine HUMO. After 27 episodes, Geirnaert decided to quit the series and Wesley since then only rarely appeared in the magazine.
During autumn 2009, Wesley the Gnome was granted new life through an animated short series in the programme Man Bijt Hond. Geirnaert himself does Wesley's voice (after a warming up-session aimed at roughing up his vocal cords through shouting), Jelle De Beule does all the other voices. All the animated episodes are based upon the cartoons that appeared earlier in the magazine and are animated at the Volstok Telefunken studios. However, as the television series plans 37 episodes of Man Bijt Hond, it is assumed that 10 new episodes of Wesley the Gnome will be created.
The comics and especially the animations, have become extremely popular in Belgium and the Netherlands which shows in the ratings on YouTube. As a result, Geirnaert has appeared in several media to discuss the success, in both countries.
The music used in the animations is that of Klaus Wunderlich playing the Hammond organ. The numbers used include La Felicidad from the album The Golden Sound of Hammond (aka Hammond Für Millionen),[1] Hasta La Vista, from the album Hammond Pops 10[2] and the single Tico Tico.[3] Besides of Klaus Wunderlich's music, also Coconut from The Electronic System[4] was used.
Episodes
| # | Original title (top) English title (bottom) |
Directed by | Written by | Original airdate | Prod. code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Muil slaan" "Smack face" | Jonas Geirnaert | Jonas Geirnaert | August 31, 2009 | 1 |
| Kabouter Wesley wants to fight with a mushroom and to smack his face. The mushroom, however, challenges him, saying "knock yourself out, I don't have a face anyway". The gnome who lives in the mushroom can't be smacked either because he wears glasses. | |||||
| 2 | "Egel" "Hedgehog" | Jonas Geirnaert | Jonas Geirnaert | September 7, 2009 | 2 |
| Kabouter Wesley runs into a hedgehog who is telling lame jokes. When he gives the hedgehog a beating, the hedgehog calls the police. | |||||
| 3 | "Varkenspest" "Pig plague" | Jonas Geirnaert | Jonas Geirnaert | September 14, 2009 | 3 |
| A pig, which looks like a badly drawn cat, runs into kabouter Wesley. It claims to be running away from the threat of extermination because of the pig plague. Two exterminators come looking for the pig. One of these exterminators continuously makes spelling errors in his spoken language, which the other exterminator is able to hear. | |||||
| 4 | "Tovergieter" "Magic watering can" | Jonas Geirnaert | Jonas Geirnaert | September 21, 2009 | 4 |
| Kabouter Wesley meets an enchanted watering can that sets on fire when someone says "turbo turbo". Soon it seems that the enchantment also works on others. | |||||
| 5 | "Robots" "Robots" | Jonas Geirnaert | Jonas Geirnaert | September 28, 2009 | 5 |
| Kabouter Wesley is visited by robots from the future. This 'future' more precisely being next week. Each of these robots is trying to sell him stickers for the Red Cross. | |||||
| 6 | "Lotto" "Lottery" | Jonas Geirnaert | Jonas Geirnaert | October 5, 2009 | 6 |
| Kabouter Wesley plays the lottery but loses, causing him to get angry and work out his aggression on others. Suddenly it seems that he has won, but his winning ticket has been taken by one of his victims. | |||||
| 7 | "Computer" "Computer" | Jonas Geirnaert | Jonas Geirnaert | October 12, 2009 | 7 |
| Kabouter Wesley and his computer Sloeber (poor bastard) participate in a competition for computers. As the result of a math computation, Sloeber solves a case and proves that Gnome Piet is a thief. He also shows an obscene picture of Gnome Jan. | |||||
| 8 | "Neushoorn" "Rhinoceros" | Jonas Geirnaert | Jonas Geirnaert | October 19, 2009 | 8 |
| Kabouter Wesley orders a pizza calzone, but keeps getting rhino instead. Also it emerges that these rhinos are not allowed to drink coke. | |||||
| 9 | "Vakantie" "Holiday" | Jonas Geirnaert | Jonas Geirnaert | October 26, 2009 | 9 |
| During a skiing holiday, kabouter Wesley skis into a mountain goat which later turns out to be the king of Mongolia. | |||||
| 10 | "Telefoon" "Phone" | Jonas Geirnaert | Jonas Geirnaert | November 2, 2009 | 10 |
| Because the telephone company is conducting technical maintenance, kabouter Wesley has to phone using the refrigerator. | |||||
| 11 | "Diefdolfijn" "Thief dolphin" | Jonas Geirnaert | Jonas Geirnaert | November 9, 2009 | 11 |
| While at the beach, a dolphin calls in Wesley's help with rescuing orphans who are on a sinking boat. This turns out to be a trap, however, for the dolphin to steal Wesley's purse. | |||||
| 12 | "Eend" "Duck" | Jonas Geirnaert | Jonas Geirnaert | November 16, 2009 | 12 |
| Kabouter Wesley sees a UFO landing with a duck emerging from it. He takes a picture (of the duck only) and sends it to a newspaper. | |||||
| 13 | "Brandverzekering" "Fire insurance" | Jonas Geirnaert | Jonas Geirnaert | November 23, 2009 | 13 |
| Kabouter Wesley does not want to buy fire insurance. When the salesman tells him that having insurance is mandatory by law, Wesley replies that eating one's own excrements is also mandatory by law. | |||||
| 14 | "Bulldozer" "Bulldozer" | Jonas Geirnaert | Jonas Geirnaert | November 30, 2009 | 14 |
| An impulsive person throws over kabouter Wesley's home. The responsible, who is half-gnome-half-bulldozer, tells his sad life story to explain his actions. | |||||
| 15 | "Gelijke kansen" "Equal opportunity" | Jonas Geirnaert | Jonas Geirnaert | December 7, 2009 | 15 |
| Because of equal treatment, kabouter Wesley is forced to have more women appear in his episodes. He hires a woman, but is not sure what to do with her. | |||||
| 16 | "Kleurwiezen" "Colour whist" | Jonas Geirnaert | Jonas Geirnaert | December 14, 2009 | 16 |
| Kabouter Wesley gets a phone call from his future self. His future self has met aliens who want to learn how to play colour whist, but he needs a fourth player. | |||||
| 17 | "Zonder ogen" "Eyeless" | Jonas Geirnaert | Jonas Geirnaert | January 4, 2010 | 17 |
| During reading, Wesley's lamp breaks down. | |||||
| 18 | "Wat eten we?" "What's for dinner?" | Jonas Geirnaert | Jonas Geirnaert | January 11, 2010 | 18 |
| Kabouter Wesley buys a takeaway pitta. He takes the pitta home and gives it a tour of his house. After a while, the pitta gets hungry and asks "what's for dinner?". | |||||
| 19 | "Hallo politie?" "Hello, police?" | Jonas Geirnaert | Jonas Geirnaert | January 18, 2010 | 19 |
| Two gnomes play tricks on a police officer. When kabouter Wesley goes to see him and asks for help, the policeman, who believes another prank is pulled on him, can no longer stand it and kills Wesley. | |||||
| 20 | "Gaan we muilen?" "Shall we snog?" | Jonas Geirnaert | Jonas Geirnaert | January 25, 2010 | 20 |
| Kabouter Wesley meets a small yellow bird that invites him to see a movie. Together they go watch Titanic at the cinema. | |||||
| 21 | "Sarcastische opmerkingen" "Sarcastic remarks" | Jonas Geirnaert | Jonas Geirnaert | February 1, 2010 | 21 |
| Kabouter Wesley meets a guy who seems to be making sarcastic remarks. Wesley has trouble figuring this out. | |||||
| 22 / 23 | "Reisbureau" "Travel agency" | Jonas Geirnaert | Jonas Geirnaert | February 8, 2010 / February 16, 2010 | 22 / 23 |
| Two-part story. Kabouter Wesley wants to book a trip, but hits his head against the travel agency's low-hanging sign. | |||||
| 24 | "Aardbeien" "Strawberries" | Jonas Geirnaert | Jonas Geirnaert | February 22, 2010 | 24 |
| Gnome Wesley wants to get pilot license when suddenly 2 aliens appear, telling him they want earthlings to eat. They have a slip of the tongue, however, and say "Strawberries". | |||||
| 25 | "Gênante momenten" "Awkward Moments" | Jonas Geirnaert | Jonas Geirnaert | March 1, 2010 | 25 |
| Gnome Wesley sits in a bar and says that the film Memento sucks. After that the whole story plays backwards. | |||||
| 26 | "Zee-egel" "Sea urchin" | Jonas Geirnaert | Jonas Geirnaert | March 8, 2010 | 26 |
| Gnome Wesley meets a sea urchin who asks for a lift to the sea. Gnome Wesley takes him to his car... | |||||
References
- ↑ Klaus Wunderlich - La felicidad, muziek van Kabouter Wesley
- ↑ Klaus Wunderlich - Hasta la vista, muziek van Kabouter Wesley
- ↑ Klaus Wunderlich - Tico Tico, muziek van Kabouter Wesley
- ↑ The Electronic System - Coconut
External links
- Kabouter Wesley on the website of HUMO
- Interview with Jonas Geirnaert on humortv.vara.nl