Ferdy the Ant (TV series)
{{Short description|1984 German-British animated television series}}
{{Infobox television
| image =
| caption =
| genre = Adventure
| based_on = Ferda Mravenec
by Ondřej Sekora
| developer = Entertaining Cartoon Productions
| director = Jerry Hampeys
Ralph Newman
| starring =
| narrated =
| opentheme = "Ferdy is your Friend" (English dub only)
| endtheme =
| composer = Evžen Illín
Jiří Strohner
| country = United Kingdom
Germany
Taiwan
Czech Republic
Liechtenstein
| language = English
German
Czech
| num_episodes = 52
| list_episodes =
| camera =
| company = Entertaining Cartoon Productions
TV Ljubljana
| runtime = 25 minutes
| network = SWR Fernsehen (Germany)
TVL 1 (Slovenia)
| first_aired = {{start date|1984}}
| last_aired = {{end date|1985}}
| screenplay = Iva Hercíková
Liane Novotny
}}
Ferdy the Ant (also simply referred to as Ferdy and Ferda) is a 1984 German-British children's animated television series based on the Ferda Mravenec series of picture books by Czech author Ondřej Sekora.{{cite web|url=http://www.ferdy.tv/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010720022843/http://www.ferdy.tv/|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 20, 2001|title=Ferdy|author=Oscar A. Mojica|publisher=ferdy.tv|access-date=2016-01-06}} The animation was handled by Far Eastern Productions.
There are three English dubs. The original British English dub, the short-lived Harmony Gold USA dub and a German-produced 2000 dub that uses English-speaking voice actors based in Germany.
The show is primarily aimed towards children from ages 3 to 10, and has been owned by Entertaining Cartoon Productions and Licensing AG since 2000. It was also an animation by Far Eastern Animation in Taiwan.
It was also broadcast on ABC & ABC Kids in Australia. The series also appeared on Nepal Television during the early 2000s. It was one of the few animated shows including Moomins that aired on the Nepal's national television at that time.
Premise
The series revolves around a little boy-ant named Ferdy as he embarks on a variety of adventures in the insect utopia of Käfertal with his close insect friends.{{Cite web|url=http://www.fernsehserien.de/ferdy|title=Ferdy|date=14 September 2013 }}
=Episode format=
Story-arcs usually last up to seven episodes.
Main characters
- Ferdy
- Bug Butterfingers
- Cricket (Tony in the later dub)
- Arambula
- Grasshopper
- Woody (Bumble in the Harmony Gold dub)
- Gwendolyn (Referred to as Laura in later episodes)
- Bug Sniffy
- Bug Gobbler
- Oskar
Episodes
- The Daring Rescue
- The Danger from the Mill
- The Crazy Snail Trip
- The Valley of the Horses
- My Friend the Star
- On Butterfinger's Trail
- A Coach for Gwendolyn
- The Search
- False Witness
- The Camp of the Red Ants
- The Silver Grotto
- The Ghost Mill
- The Robbers
- Dangerous Excursion
- Playing With Water
- The New House
- The Cuckoo's Egg
- The Spring Festival
- The Heatwave
- The Trip to Italy
- The Ill-Fated Skiing Trip
- The Flight in a Balloon
- Butterfinger's Art School
- On a Treasure Hunt
- The Forest Fire
- Homesickness
- The Mysterious Ship
- Ferdy in the Ant Hill
- The Slavedealers
- The Raid
- The Battle
- The Wedding Feast
- Movie Stars
- The Unknown Weapon
- A Nightmare Diet
- The Honey Knight
- The Tortise
- The Dream of the Wild West
- The Visitor From Space
- The Beauty Contest
- The Circus
- Gwendolyn's Birthday
- Robin Hood
- The Ghost Driver
- The Pizzeria
- The Owl's Book
- The Toadstool
- The Waterskiing Race
- The Musical
- The Easter Egg
- The Snake
- Hocus-Pocus
Video game
A 3D episodic arcade video game based on the series was developed by Centauri Productions and released by Cenega in 2002 for the PC.{{cite web|url=http://www.centauriproduction.com/ferda.php|title=Centauri Production - Ferdy the Ant|author=Centauri Production & Karel Hejkal|publisher=centauriproduction.com|access-date=2016-01-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160220173448/http://www.centauriproduction.com/ferda.php|archive-date=2016-02-20|url-status=dead}}
Home media
In 1986, select episodes of the Harmony Gold USA English dub of the series received a small VHS release in the US. The entire series was released on DVD in the Czech Republic in 2003.
References
{{Reflist}}
Category:1984 animated television series debuts
Category:1980s British animated television series
Category:Czech animated television series
Category:German children's animated adventure television series
Category:Animated television series about insects