The Little Mole (Czech: Krtek, Krteček) is a series of cartoons as well as the name of their title character, an anthropomorphic mole, created by Czech animator Zdeněk Miler between 1957 and 2002. The first short film premiered at the 1957 Venice Film Festival, where it won the award for the best directing achievement.

History

Little Mole 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, had its premiere at the Venice Film Festival in 1957, where it was awarded two Golden Lions. Production of further episodes started in 1963 and since then, around fifty 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. Miler's daughters 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.

The only episode where the mole talks is the first one. In the United Kingdom, the cartoons were transmitted by BBC with English narration by Colin Jeavons. Book adaptations were also published in English.

Developments

Space travels On 16 May 2011, a plush toy of Little Mole was present on board the Space Shuttle Endeavour, where it accompanied the U.S. astronaut Andrew J. Feustel, whose wife is of Czech ancestry, on the STS-134 mission. It is the first animated character sent into space.

Several years later, Little Mole flew into space with the Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

US toy market plans In May 2012, Bloomberg announced that Apple Inc. planned to help Little Mole enter the $21 billion U.S. toy market for the first time.

Mascot Mole was the mascot for the 2015 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Prague, and was subsequently used to promote the Federation's Athletics for Children programme.

3D adaptation In 2016, China Central Television Animation and Little Mole a.s. (founded by Zdeněk Miler's granddaughter, Karolína Milerová) created a remake version called . Two series were filmed in 2016–2017; the project was cancelled in 2019.

Alfa Romeo Racing partnership On 23 May 2019, Alfa Romeo Racing, a Formula One team, announced Little Mole as the new team partner. Frédéric Vasseur, principal of the team, said that the goal of the partnership is to capture the imagination of hundreds of thousands of children and get them closer to the sport using Little Mole's big follower base all over the world. Mole's iconic figure is appearing on the sidepods of the cars for the rest of the 2019 season.

Filmography In 2000, a DVD collection was published under the English title The Adventures of the Mole. From 2002 to 2004, a set of 60 DVDs entitled Nejlepších večerníčků () was released, some of which included Little Mole animations. Included in the list below are the DVD numbers for films in this set.

Short films Episode English title Czech title Year Duration NV DVD #*01.How Mole Got His TrousersJak krtek ke kalhotkám přišel195711:51102.The Mole and the CarKrtek a autíčko196314:301903.The Mole and the RocketKrtek a raketa196508:4004.The Mole and the Transistor SetKrtek a tranzistor196808:101005.The Mole and the Green StarKrtek a zelená hvězda196907:3010,106.The Mole and the Chewing GumKrtek a žvýkačka196907:201007.The Mole in a ZooKrtek v zoo196906:051008.The Mole as a GardenerKrtek zahradníkem196906:5510,109.The Mole and the HedgehogKrtek a ježek197008:251010.The Mole and the LollipopKrtek a lízátko197008:0010,111.The Mole and the TVKrtek a televizor197005:301012.The Mole and the UmbrellaKrtek a paraplíčko197107:1010,113.The Mole as a PainterKrtek malířem197209:351914.The Mole and the MatchesKrtek a zápalky197405:301915.The Mole and the MusicKrtek a muzika197405:151916.The Mole and the TelephoneKrtek a telefon197405:251917.The Mole as a ChemistKrtek chemikem197405:301918.The Mole and the CarpetKrtek a koberec197405:401919.The Mole as WatchmakerKrtek hodinářem197405:251920.The Mole at ChristmasKrtek o vánocích197505:451921.The Mole as PhotographerKrtek fotografem197505:451922.The Mole and the EggKrtek a vejce197505:351923.The Mole and the BulldozerKrtek a buldozér197505:431924.The Mole in the DesertKrtek na poušti197505:521925.The Mole and the CarnivalKrtek a karneval197505:251926.The Mole and the CoalKrtek a uhlí199504:103327.The Mole and his FriendsKrtek a kamarádi199505:1833,128.The Mole's WeekendKrtek a víkend199505:053329.The Mole and the RobotKrtek a robot199505:0033,130.The Mole and the CelebrationKrtek a oslava199505:043331.The Mole and the Little DucksKrtek a kachničky199505:003332.The Mole and the SubwayKrtek a metro199705:004433.The Mole and the MushroomsKrtek a houby199704:284434.The Mole and the Little HareKrtek a zajíček199705:114435.The Mole and the MotherKrtek a maminka199705:204436.The Mole and the Little Mouse / The Mole and the FloodKrtek a myška / Krtek a potopa199705:194437.The Mole and the SnowmanKrtek a sněhulák199805:0944,138.The Mole and the FluteKrtek a flétna199905:0550,139.The Mole and the SpringKrtek a pramen199905:335040.The Mole and the GrumblerKrtek a šťoura199905:215041.The Mole and the SwallowKrtek a vlaštovka200004:255042.The Mole and the Little FishKrtek a rybka200005:025043.The Mole and the Little FrogKrtek a žabka200205:2050,1

Feature films Episode English title Czech title Year Duration NV DVD #*01.The Mole in TownKrtek ve městě198228:313302.The Mole in a DreamKrtek ve snu198428:093303.The Mole and the MedicineKrtek a medicína198728:084404.The Mole as a Movie StarKrtek filmová hvězda198827:474405.The Mole and the EagleKrtek a orel199228:055006.The Mole and the ClockKrtek a hodiny199428:0450

Clips Episode English title Czech title Year Duration01.The Mole on VacationKrtek a dovolená199801:1502.The Mole and the CottageKrtek a domek199800:4803.The Mole and the CherriesKrtek a třešně199800:3904.The Mole and the SnailKrtek a šnek199801:0305.The Mole and the JewelsKrtek a šperky199800:5606.The Mole and the TVKrtek a televize199800:3907.The Mole and the Little FrogKrtek a žabka199800:4108.The Mole as a PainterKrtek malířem199800:3709.The Mole and the BalloonKrtek a balónek199800:4910.The Mole and the BoxKrtek a krabice199800:3811.The Mole and the HatKrtek a klobouk199800:4512.The Mole and the MagicianKrtek a kouzelník199800:3613.The Mole and the DuckKrtek a kačenka199800:38

See also Czech animation Cinema of the Czech Republic

References

External links