Mole (Zdeněk Miler character)

Mole
A painting of Krtek on a primary school in Wuppertal, Germany
First appearance	1956
Created by	Zdeněk Miler
Voiced by	Zdeněk Miler's daughters

The Mole (in the Czech original called Krtek, or, for little mole, Krteček; Slovak Krtko) is an animated character in a series of cartoons, created by Czech animator Zdeněk Miler in 1956. Since its inception, the cartoon won itself an enormous popularity in many Central European countries, as well as India, China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Iraq and Japan, due its distinct lack of dialogue.

History

Krtek was first seen in 1956 in Prague, when Miler wanted to create a children's cartoon about how flax is processed. He wanted a strong Disney influence to the cartoon by choosing an animal for the leading role, and decided to pick a mole after stumbling over a molehill during a walk. The first film called "Jak krtek ke kalhotkám přišel" ("How the mole got his trousers") was released in 1956. Production for further episodes started in 1963 and since then, around 50 episodes have been created.

The first episode of the cartoon was narrated, but Miler wanted the cartoon to be understood in every country of the world, so he decided to use his daughters as voice actors, reducing the speech to short non-figurative exclamations in order to express the mole's feelings and world perception. They also became the bottleneck of the creation process as they were the ones who got to see the whole film first, thus Miler was able to decide whether the message of the movie was able to get to children or not.

“	It took me a long time to realize it, but when I draw Krtek, I was drawing myself.	”
	— Zdeněk Miler

Recent Developments

Inclusion on US Space Shuttle flight

On May 16, 2011 a plush toy of Krtek was present on board the Space Shuttle Endeavour where it accompanied the U.S. astronaut Andrew Feustel, whose wife is of Czech ancestry, on the STS-134 mission.^[1]^[2]^[3]

US toy market plans

In May 2012 Bloomberg announced that Apple Inc. is planning to help Krtek enter the $21 billion U.S. toy market for the first time.^[4]^[5] Exporting the six-decade-old “Little Mole” through new media is a first step toward establishing the most popular Czech animated icon in America to spur sales of books, movies and toys.

Mascot

In January 2015 the Czech Athletics Federation announced that Krtek would be the mascot for the 2015 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Prague, and would subsequently be used to promote the Federation's Athletics for Children programme.^[6]

Music

Music plays an important role in the cartoons, since the characters almost never utter more than emotional sounds, the most common of which is "Hello!" ("Ahoj" in Czech). The original series' music uses acoustic and electric musical instruments, rather than synthesized ones.

Composers:

Miloš Vacek
Vadim Petrov (1974–1987, most episodes)

Filmography

From 2002–2004, a set of 60 DVDs entitled "Nejlepšich večerničků" (Bedtime Stories) were released, some of which included Krtek animations. Included in the list below are the DVD numbers for films in this set.

Short films

Episode	English title	Czech title	Year	Minutes	NV DVD #*
00.	How The Mole Got His Trousers	Jak krtek ke kalhotkám přišel	1957	11:51	1
01.	The Mole and the Car	Krtek a autíčko	1963	14:30	19
02.	The Mole and the Rocket	Krtek a raketa	1966	08:40
03.	The Mole and the Transistor Set	Krtek a tranzistor	1968	08:10	10
04.	The Mole and the Green Star	Krtek a zelená hvězda	1969	07:30	10,1
05.	The Mole and the Chewing Gum	Krtek a žvýkačka	1969	07:20	10
06.	The Mole in a Zoo	Krtek v Zoo	1969	06:05	10
07.	The Mole as a Gardener	Krtek zahradníkem	1969	06:55	10,1
08.	The Mole and the Hedgehog	Krtek a ježek	1970	08:25	10
09.	The Mole and the Lollipop	Krtek a lízátko	1970	08:00	10,1
10.	The Mole and the TV	Krtek a televizor	1970	05:30	10
11.	The Mole and the Umbrella	Krtek a paraplíčko	1971	07:10	10,1
12.	The Mole as a Painter	Krtek malířem	1972	09:35	19
13.	The Mole and the Matchbox	Krtek a zápalky	1974	05:30	19
14.	The Mole and the Music	Krtek a muzika	1974	05:15	19
15.	The Mole and the Telephone	Krtek a telefon	1974	05:25	19
16.	The Mole as a Chemist	Krtek chemikem	1974	05:30	19
17.	The Mole and the Carpet	Krtek a koberec	1974	05:40	19
18.	The Mole as Watchmaker	Krtek hodinářem	1974	05:25	19
19.	The Mole at Christmas	Krtek o Vánocích	1975	05:45	19
20.	The Mole as Photographer	Krtek fotografem	1975	05:45	19
21.	The Mole and the Egg	Krtek a vejce	1975	05:35	19
22.	The Mole and the Bulldozer	Krtek a buldozér	1975	05:43	19
23.	The Mole in the Desert	Krtek na poušti	1975	05:52	19
24.	The Mole at a Carneval	Krtek a karneval	1975	05:25	19
25.	The Mole and the Charcoal	Krtek a uhlí	1995	04:10	33
26.	The Mole and His Friends	Krtek a kamarádi	1995	05:18	33,1
27.	The Mole's Weekend	Krtek a víkend	1995	05:05	33
28.	The Mole and the Robot	Krtek a robot	1995	05:00	33,1
29.	The Mole's Birthday Party	Krtek a oslava	1995	05:04	33
30.	The Mole and the Little Duck	Krtek a kachničky	1995	05:00	33
31.	The Mole in the Underground	Krtek a metro	1997	05:00	44
32.	The Mole and the Mushrooms	Krtek a houby	1997	04:28	44
33.	The Mole and the Little Mouse	Krtek a myška	1997	05:19	44
34.	The Mole and the Little Hare	Krtek a zajíček	1997	05:11	44
35.	The Mole and the Mother	Krtek a maminka	1997	05:20	44
36.	The Mole and the Flood	Krtek a potopa	1997	05:04
37.	The Mole and the Snowman	Krtek a sněhulák	1998	05:09	44,1
38.	The Mole at the Beach	Krtek a dovolená	1998	01:15
39.	The Mole and the Flute	Krtek a flétna	1999	05:05	50,1
40.	The Mole and the Source	Krtek a pramen	1999	05:33	50
41.	The Mole and the Grumbler	Krtek a šťoura	1999	05:21	50
42.	The Mole and the Swallow	Krtek a vlaštovka	2000	04:25	50
43.	The Mole and the Little Fish	Krtek a rybka	2000	05:02	50
44.	The Mole and the Little Frog	Krtek a žabka	2002	05:20	50,1

Films

English title	Czech title	Year	Minutes	NV DVD #*
The Mole in Town	Krtek ve městě	1982	28:31	33
The Mole in a Dream	Krtek ve snu	1984	28:09	33
The Mole and the Medicine	Krtek a medicína	1987	28:08	44
The Mole as Movie Star	Krtek filmová hvězda	1988	27:47	44
The Mole and the Eagle	Krtek a orel	1992	28:05	50
The Mole and the Clock	Krtek a hodiny	1994	28:04	50

References

↑ Halousek, Milan (2011-04-03). "Into Space with Mole". Czech Space Office. Retrieved 2012-06-19.
↑ "Flying to Space with the Little Mole (Do kosmu s Krtkem)". Do kosmu s Krtkem. Retrieved 2012-06-19.
↑ Rousek, Leos (2011-03-22). "Space Shuttle Stowaway Is a Commie Mole". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2012-06-19.
↑ "Apple to help Czech cartoon character Krtek enter U.S. market, Bloomberg reports". Yahoo Finance. 2012-05-16. Retrieved 2012-05-18.
↑ Ponikelska, Lenka (2012-05-16). "Apple Helps Czech Mole Enter $21 Billion U.S. Toy Market". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2012-05-18.
↑ "Thursday news briefing — Jan.8, 2015". Prague Post. 8 January 2015. Retrieved 5 March 2015.

External links

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