Upin & Ipin

Upin & Ipin is a Malaysian television series of animated shorts produced by Les' Copaque Production, which features the life and adventures of the eponymous twin brothers in a fictional Malaysian kampung. Originally a side project for the blockbuster animated film Geng: The Adventure Begins, Upin & Ipin was introduced on TV9 on 13 September 2007 as a six-episode Ramadan/Eid special, to instil significance of the Islamic holy month amongst children. As of 2014, the series has reached its eighth season, including another Ramadan special season in 2008, and, season three onwards, the year-long, more general themed Upin & Ipin and Friends, the series' international debut via the Disney Junior Asia, with more concentrating on telling the lives of Upin and Ipin with their friends on the normal days.

Premise

Upin and Ipin are five-year-old Malay twins who and their elder sister Ros and grandmother Uda (whom they call Opah) in a kampung house in Kampung Durian Runtuh. They have lost their parents in their infancy. Upin and Ipin study in the village's Tadika Mesra (kindergarten), where they with a group of classmates, including the adorable and right-thinking Mei Mei, a joker and poetic Jarjit Singh, the clumsy and short-tempered Ehsan, an easygoing and sarcastic Fizi (Ehsan's cousin), and an entrepreneurial and meticulous Mail.

The headman of Kampung Durian Runtuh is Isnin bin Khamis, better known as Tok Dalang Ranggi, the Wayang Kulit champion. Tok Dalang keeps a cluster of rambutan trees for commercial purposes, and a rooster named "Rembo". Among the village's other notable residents are Muthu, owner of the village's only food stall who lives with his animal whisperer son Rajoo and pet steer Sapy; Salleh (Sally), a transgender-apparent who owns a mobile library; and Ah Tong, a strident-voiced vegetable farmer. A new character was later added in the series who is an Indonesian girl named Susanti who moved in with her family.

Characters

• Upin is the elder twin brother of Ipin by only 5 minutes. He is the more outspoken one and usually, he is the mastermind behind the cheeky antics the twins do, which often lead them into a lot of trouble. Upin can be very protective of Ipin. You can tell him apart from his twin brother by the twirl of hair on his head.
• Ipin is the younger brother of Upin and is the more cheerful one. Although seemingly quieter, he is actually smarter than Upin. Ipin is obsessed with fried chicken and has a habit of agreeing with statements by saying "betul betul betul".
• Ros is Upin and Ipin's teenage sister. She has a reputation of being fierce but actually she is a loving and gentle sister. She loves to tease her brothers when the opportunity arises.
• Opah is the grandmother Upin, Ipin and Ros. She is kind and gentle-hearted, and tends to spoil the twins. She is a fountain of worldly and religious wisdom.
• Mei Mei (Kelly) is a cute, good-mannered girl who enjoys being nice to others and studies hard in school. She is the teacher's pet, very outspoken and often acts as the voice of reason among her peers. She can be patient, but to certain degree, especially when her friends won't co-operate.
• Fizi (Donald) is Ehsan's best friend and follows him wherever he goes. Fizi does however have a habit of teasing Ehsan by calling him "Intan Payung", which annoys him every time. Fizi, though loves to tease his other friends is really often the victim of the group.
• Jarjit (Marco) is a cheerful young boy with a booming adult-like voice. He always tries to join in the games but somehow always gets left out. Aside from this, Jarjit loves to give out personally crafted riddles, and is very good in Bahasa Melayu.
• Devi (Margrethe) is Mei Mei's best friend. She is quick to smile and loves to play cooking. While Mei Mei is louder and more outgoing, Devi is soft-spoken, quite the opposite of Mei Mei.
• Susanti (Madeleine), a new addition to the group, is from Jakarta, Indonesia. Susanti is friendly and loves sports. Her happy-go-lucky attitude sits well with all of her classmates. Although she is from another country, she made friends with Upin, Ipin and the others easily.
• Dzul (Joshua) is Ijat's best friend. They are always seen together. Dzul likes to tell stories and is always very excited to share his knowledge with his friends. He constantly begins his sentences with the words "My grandmother says...".
• Ijat (Nikolai) is a friend of Upin and Ipin. He is a person of few words and prefers to use gestures and actions to communicate. He is also easily surprised and often falls out of his chair when he hears a sudden loud noise.
• Ehsan (George) is the class rep of the gang and tends to be quite bossy. He also loves to be the judge in their games and wears a little red bow tie to prove it. He loves food, and will make sure that he won't waste any. He is an only child and therefore a little spoilt which makes him quite a show-off.
• Mail (Ronald) is a business-minded, street smart boy who loves to try and sell anything he can with his "Dua seringgit" trademark deal. Compared to everyone else in the group, Mail is usually more laidback and independent. He is also very creative.
• Tok Dalang is the champion of the shadow puppet competition, hence his name, Dalang. To the neighbourhood kids, he is known as Atok. He is notorious for being a miser, but because he stays alone, he has a soft spot for the kids and will help them whenever he can.
• Ah Tong is a Chinese man who is firm and not afraid to state his honest opinion about anything. He is good friends with Muthu and Tok Dalang and the trio can always be seen chatting at Muthu's stall. He also collects recyclables around the village every now and then.
• Uncle Muthu is a funny, middle-aged Indian man well known in Kampung Durian Runtuh for his delicious cooking in his very own food stall. He also loves to sing and is a very friendly person.
• Abang Salleh is a part-time librarian for the mobile library in Kampung Durian Runtuh. He also has his own textile shop where most of the villagers go to tailor their clothing. He is quite hot tempered but nevertheless will still lend a helping hand to anyone in the village.
• Cikgu Jasmin is a schoolteacher who teaches Upin, Ipin and their friends at the village kindergarten Tadika Mesra. The kids love her as she always manages to make each lesson a happy and cheerful one. Although she is very kind, she can be firm especially when the kids misbehave.
• Cikgu Melati: After Cikgu Jasmin left Tadika Mesra to further her studies at Kuala Lumpur, Upin, Ipin and friends have a new teacher called Cikgu Melati. Cikgu Melati is upbeat and outgoing but can be very firm when the kids misbehave. She can also be a little clumsy.
• Cikgu Besar is the principal of Tadika Mesra. The kids are intimidated by her as she holds discipline in the highest regard. Despite that, she can also be cheerful, especially when special events take place in kindergarten.
• Abang Tiger (or Cikgu Tiger) is one of the teachers in Tadika Mesra. He teaches Physical Education, hence the muscular build. He can be very vain and often shows-off his strength to everyone.
• Abang Hamzah is a young bachelor who teaches religious classes to the kids of Kampung Durian Runtuh every Ramadhan. The kids like to go to his classes as he is friendly and loves to tell stories. He also has a great love for Metropop ice-cream and will buy them whenever he has the chance.

Broadcast history

Season 1 (2007)

The first season of Upin & Ipin was aired on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, 7.30 pm, in conjunction with Ramadan and Aidilfitri, which tells of the twins Upin and Ipin on their first fasting months. The first four shorts debuted early in the holy months, followed by repeats from 22 September to 11 October, finally ending with two final episodes premiering on Hari Raya itself.^[1] This series bore away the Best Animation award in the 2007 Kuala Lumpur International Film Festival.^[2]

Season 2 (2008)

The second series, under its full title Upin & Ipin: Setahun Kemudian, went on air in conjunction with Ramadan again, with 12 new episodes, the first six of which were aired and repeated on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, 7.00 pm throughout Ramadan^[3] while the other six premiered for Hari Raya from 1 till 6 of Shawal.^[4] This season was sponsored by Colgate-Palmolive Malaysia via its Colgate Kayu Sugi toothpaste.^[5]

Season 3 (2009)

Under the new full title Upin & Ipin dan Kawan-Kawan, a third season of the series premiered on TV9 on 2 February 2009,^[6] with each episode lasting up to seven minutes. As a year-long production season, it had frequent in-season breaks filled by repeats, and also experienced some schedule changes. From 14 May, the TV series received major sponsorship from TM,^[7] which placed its brand on the show to this date. In the year-end school break season, it became apparent that new episodes are strategically debuted on school holidays, with new episodes premiering on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 5.30 pm (repeats for the rest of the week) throughout the six-week holiday season. This is also the first season of Upin & Ipin for the international market, airing on Disney Junior Asia beginning 15 November 2009 with dubs in English (the official dub, as the credits and episode titles are in English as well), Mandarin and other languages.

Season 4 (2010)

Season four of Upin & Ipin dan Kawan-kawan debuted on TV9 on 15 March 2010 with the episode "Juara Kampung (Part 1)", with a brand new opening sequence and color pencil and exercise book-themed title card. The main focus on this season is as a tribute to sports, as it was developed in a year full of sport events. Season 4 was co-sponsored by TM.^[8]

Season 5 (2011)

Season 5 debuted on TV9 on 12 March 2011 with the episode "Belajar Lagi". As with previous seasons it opens with a new sequence, now based on a papercraft theme. This season airs every Saturday night at 6:30pm.

Season 6 (2012)

Season 6 aired every Sunday at 6pm on TV9.

Season 7 (2013)

Upin and Ipin will start their fun story with the Chinese New Year story as the seventh season's premier. The episodes air on Saturday evenings at 6:30pm. The first episode was scheduled to air on 2 March 2013, but due to technical problems the first episode have been pushed to 9 March 2013.

Season 8 (2014)

Season 8 started airing on 30 May 2014. The episodes air on the days when new episodes appear in three separate parts on a seven-minute slot at 5:30 pm during the school holidays.^[9] Starting from this season onwards it is produced in high-definition resolution where the HD versions of each episode in this season will appear on the DVD collection once it is released.^[9] TV9 airs the episodes in PAL format.^[9]

The character designs are also remodelled and improved to make them more lively.^[9] A new voice actress for Ros has been introduced.^[9]

Home video

• Upin & Ipin DVD and VCD volumes 1-6 were distributed in Malaysia by Music Valley.
• Volume 7 - 11 were distributed by Sony Music.
• Volume 12 and above are distributed by Music Valley.

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

Season 4

Season 5

Season 6

Season 7

Comics

Since December 2009, Upin & Ipin have been adapted into a monthly comic magazine series, aptly titled Majalah Komik Upin & Ipin to be circulated all over Malaysia, published by Nyla Sdn Bhd.^[11] Targeted at young readers, the magazine features screenshot comics of the Upin & Ipin TV series and the Geng: Pengembaraan Bermula film, voice actor and production crew profiles, and learning and activity sections.

Reception and influence

The Upin & Ipin franchise has wielded its influence in countries of the Malay archipelago, notably in Malaysia and Indonesia which share linguistic and cultural similarities. Its first season landed its first award, for Best Animation in KLIFF 2007.^[12]

While season two was on air on Ramadan 2008, it was reportedly watched by 1.5 million viewers on TV9,^[13] making it the second most-watched animated series on all of Malaysian television, right behind Doraemon (1.6 mil), yet ahead of SpongeBob SquarePants (800,000).^[14] The popularity of Upin & Ipin could have attributed to the commercial success of Malaysia's first CGI-animated feature film, Geng: The Adventure Begins (2009), which featured the twin characters Upin and Ipin, propelling it into the RM 6.31 million mark throughout its seven-week run in Malaysian cinemas as one of the highest-grossing Malay-language films in history.^[14]

As the third season reaches its conclusion in late 2009, TV9 reports that Upin & Ipin was viewed by 1.6 million, making it the second most-viewed programme on the channel, just behind the free TV premiere of Geng which was watched by 2.45 million (scoring TVR 12.8).^[15]

Indonesia has been the most obvious export market for Upin & Ipin. In 2009, MNCTV which airs the series in the republic reported a TVR of 10.5.^[16] Upin & Ipin has also been praised by the Indonesian press; for instance, Fadil Abidin for Analisa who remarked on the vastness of moral content and Islamic values, such as respect for those of different ethnic or religious backgrounds, in a communal setting consisting not only of Malays, Chinese and Indian Malaysians, but also Indonesians.^[17]

In March 2010, as the Balinese Hindu community prepare for Nyepi, images of ogoh-ogoh (demonic effigies used for the famed ngrupuk ritual on the eve of Nyepi) which largely resemble Upin & Ipin were exposed on Indonesian media. The effigy reportedly cost 4 million rupiah.^[18]

Awards

UNICEF Malaysia Team with Upin & Ipin.

• 2007 Kuala Lumpur International Filem Festival^[12]
  • Animasi Terbaik
• 2009 Shout! Awards^[19]
  • Best On-Screen Chemistry
• NEF-Awani ICT Awards 2010^[20]
  • NEF-Awani Tun Dr Mahathir Award
• The BrandLaureate Awards 2010^[21]
  • Best Brands in Animation
• Anugerah Bintang Popular Berita Harian 2012
  • The Most Popular Local Animated Character
• UNICEF Malaysia's National Ambassadors 2013 ^[22]

Sponsorship

• Colgate (toothpaste)
• Telekom Malaysia
• Wyeth
• Proton (Malaysia Only)
• Suruhanjaya Pembasmian Rasuah Malaysia
• Hong Leong Bank
• UNICEF
• Toyota (Indonesia Only)
• Dunkin' Donuts
• KFC
• McDonald's
• Mr Jussie (Indonesia Only)
• So Good (Indonesia Only)
• Lolla's Diapers (Indonesia Only)
• Upin Ipin Toothpaste (Indonesia Only)

See also

• Geng: The Adventure Begins

Notes

External links

• Upin & Ipin official website
• Official Upin & Ipin's channel on YouTube
• Upin & Ipin at the Internet Movie Database
• Upin & Ipin at Friendster
• Upin & Ipin at Facebook
• Disney Channel Asia-Upin and Ipin