Fabeltjeskrant is a Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 children's television series

Children's television series

Children's television series, are commercial television programs designed for, and marketed to children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run in the early evening, for the children that go to school...

 featuring puppetry

Puppetry

Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance which involves the manipulation of puppets. It is very ancient, and is believed to have originated 30,000 years BC. Puppetry takes many forms but they all share the process of animating inanimate performing objects...

 and stop motion

Stop motion

Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...

. Created in 1968

1968 in television

The year 1968 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1968.For the American TV schedule, see: 1968-69 American network television schedule.-Events:...

 by Leen Valkenier and produced by Thijs Chanowski (1st series) and Loek de Levita (2nd series), it ended in 1989

1989 in television

For the American TV schedule, see: 1989–90 United States network television schedule.The year 1989 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1989.-Events:-Debuts:-1950s:...

 and was broadcast on the Dutch channels NOS

Nederlandse Omroep Stichting

The Nederlandse Omroep Stichting , English: Netherlands Broadcasting Foundation, is one of the broadcasters in the Netherlands Public Broadcasting system...

, RTL 4

RTL 4

RTL 4 is a commercial television station in the Netherlands. It is the most-watched commercial station in the country, popular especially with those aged between 20 and 49. The station has three sister tv channels: RTL 5, RTL 7 and RTL 8...

 and RTL 8

RTL 8

RTL 8 is a commercial television station which launched in the Netherlands on 18 August 2007. The channel apperead by the former Tien, previously known as Talpa, which was launched in August 2005, and other assets of John de Mol's Talpa Media were amalgamated with RTL Nederland...

. From 1973 to 1975 it was broadcast also in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, on ITV

ITV

ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

, with the title The Daily Fable.

Plot

Each episode is based upon fable

Fable

A fable is a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, mythical creatures, plants, inanimate objects or forces of nature which are anthropomorphized , and that illustrates a moral lesson , which may at the end be expressed explicitly in a pithy maxim.A fable differs from...

s of Jean de La Fontaine

Jean de La Fontaine

Jean de La Fontaine was the most famous French fabulist and one of the most widely read French poets of the 17th century. He is known above all for his Fables, which provided a model for subsequent fabulists across Europe and numerous alternative versions in France, and in French regional...

, Aesop

Aesop

Aesop was a Greek writer credited with a number of popular fables. Older spellings of his name have included Esop and Isope. Although his existence remains uncertain and no writings by him survive, numerous tales credited to him were gathered across the centuries and in many languages in a...

, Phaedrus and also by the series' scenographer Leen Valkenier. The main character, the owl

Owl

Owls are a group of birds that belong to the order Strigiformes, constituting 200 bird of prey species. Most are solitary and nocturnal, with some exceptions . Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, although a few species specialize in hunting fish...

 "Meneer de Uil", introduces each episode reading a fable to other characters upon a tree. The scene is a forest inhabited by different antropomorphic paper animals and the first episode was broadcast in 29 September 1968 on NOS

Nederlandse Omroep Stichting

The Nederlandse Omroep Stichting , English: Netherlands Broadcasting Foundation, is one of the broadcasters in the Netherlands Public Broadcasting system...

.

Characters

All character surname

Surname

A surname is a name added to a given name and is part of a personal name. In many cases, a surname is a family name. Many dictionaries define "surname" as a synonym of "family name"...

s are referred to their species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

.

• Meneer de Uil (Meneer the Owl), or Jacob de Uil, is an owl
  Owl
  Owls are a group of birds that belong to the order Strigiformes, constituting 200 bird of prey species. Most are solitary and nocturnal, with some exceptions . Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, although a few species specialize in hunting fish...
  
   and the main character of the series. In British version its name is "Mr. Owl".
• Other characters: Juffrouw Ooievaar, Lowieke de Vos, Crox de Raaf (or Meneer de Raaf), Bor de Wolf, Ed Bever, Willem Bever, Zoef de Haas, Stoffel de Schildpad, Momfer de Mol, Truus de Mier, Gerrit de Postduif, Meindert het Paard, Myra Hamster, Martha Hamster, Woefdram, Isadora Paradijsvogel, Droes de Beer, Jodocus de Marmot, Chico Lama, Zaza Zebra, John Maraboe, Greta Bontekoe, Teun Stier, Oléta Vulpécula, Harry Lepelaar, Piet de Pad, Tijl Schavuit, Sjefke Schelm, Rocus de Vrije Vogel, Pepijn de Kater, Timme de Hond, Plons de Kikvors, Blinkert de Bliek, Arthur de Leeuw, Flora Nachtegaal, George de Wezel, Stokebrand de Mug, Mia de Muilezel, Maup de Muis, Marius de Bok, Irma de Krekel, Orm de Aap, Toeter de Olifant, Kirreke de Tortelduif, Koer de Tortelduif, Frija Forel, Greta 2, Hondje Woef, Wasa de Beer, Melis Das, Lamaar Snoespoes, Woef Hektor, Wip de Eekhoorn, Gies de Vlieg, Arie de Rat, Borita, Cas de Kraai and Asa de Spin.

In other countries

The show was adapted in many Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

an countries with different titles:: Le petit écho de la Forêt (French for The Little Echo of the Forest): Fabulácskahírek (Hungarian for The Fables Newspaper): Il bosco dei perché (Italian for The Wood of the Questions): Fablernas värld (Swedish for World of Fables): The Daily Fable

External links

Fabeltjeskrant official site Official video showing how an episode is made (WMV

Windows Media Video

'Windows Media Video is a video compression format for several proprietary codecs developed by Microsoft. The original video format, known as WMV, was originally designed for Internet streaming applications, as a competitor to RealVideo. The other formats, such as WMV Screen and WMV Image, cater...

format)