I’ve been stuck for inspiration in writing about cartoons recently, so I’m trying to look for something beyond what’s in my immediate existence. For example, there’s a great deal of fondness for the many animated segments made for Sesame Street. Folks have done a staggering job at documenting and preserving those segments and their animators – Sally Cruikshank, Michael Sporn, John and Faith Hubley, and countless others.
However, I don’t recall watching it much, as a kid or since. But there was another pre-school show that I got very attached to as a sprogling, one with animated segments that sadly haven’t been all that well documented. Tots TV was a British programme that ran from 1993 to 1998, where its main characters – three ragdoll puppets or Tots called Tilly, Tom and Tiny – would go off on adventures in their forest house or in the outside world.
During its early years, Tots TV featured animated segments produced by Se-ma-for: a Polish animation studio known for the Oscar-winning shorts Tango and Peter and the Wolf, along with countless TV shows such as Miś Uszatek, Przygody misia Colargola and the 1977-1982 stop-motion adaptation of The Moomins. In fact, it was their work on Moomins that eventually got them the gig on Tots TV, as producer Anne Wood had previously worked with them in adapting the series into English. (according to the 2007 book “The A-Z of Classic Children’s Television: From Alberto Frog to Zebedee”, by Simon Sheridan)
I think it’s worth trying to document these animated segments, both because it’s a small, mildly noteworthy part of Se-ma-for’s legacy and also because there hasn’t been much of an attempt to do so up until now. Part of that is due to how Se-ma-for was credited in the show itself; they would be credited by the studio name, with no reference made to any of the crew who worked on the segments featured. No directors, no animators, no modellers or camera-people, nothing. The only person who gets any credit on occasion is Rory Fellowes, as a co-ordinator (presumably someone who organized things between Se-ma-for and the show’s producer Ragdoll Productions).
What makes this harder is that Tots TV hasn’t been well documented in general, officially or otherwise. While popular enough in its time, the series only saw release through compilation video tapes and DVDs, leaving it up to the dedicated to either collect those releases or record TV airings from what’s been a good many years ago now. I’ve had to rely on a mix of entries on fan wikis to figure out where to go, so I’m not even sure if the information I have beyond what I’ve been able to see of the episodes themselves is entirely correct.
Ideally, I’d like to present a comprehensive look at the animated segments in Tots TV, but there isn’t enough readily available information for me to be able to do. It might even be a ‘me’ problem in that I don’t know where to look. So, this is my current attempt at trying to document this stuff to the best of my (potentially inadequate) ability.
For its first series, Tots TV consisted of 15-minute episodes split into two parts: the first part featured the tots going outside and seeing something that fascinated them, and the second part had them doing stuff in their house based on whatever they’d seen. In between these parts was a segmented that alternated every episode between a cartoon done by Se-ma-for and a selection of drawings done by very young children.
The cartoons were all part of the same series, referred to in the credits as “Mr Noah”. These are stop-motion shorts based on the story of Noah’s Ark from Christian mythology, featuring the misadventures of Noah, his wife and the many animals they carried aboard the ark as they travelled along a flooded world. Keeping in with the tone of the show, they’re light-hearted segments with cute, delicately animated models and a relaxing soundscape offered by the calming music and narrator.
After the first series, Tots TV changed its structure from 15-minute episodes with three segments to 7 to 8-minute episodes consisting of a single segment. The Mr Noah sequences were dropped for what became referred to as “Tiny/Tilly/Tom’s Storybook”, where one of the Tots would put together a story they’d read to the others, and this story played out as an animated short.
Where this gets interesting is that unlike Mr Noah, which were made specifically for Tots TV as far as I can tell, the Storybook shorts are re-edited versions of Se-ma-for’s previous works. For example, the first of these shorts – about a little red car – uses footage from the 1965 short Maluch (directed by Lucjan Dembiński) to tell a truncated version of the short’s first half.
To my knowledge, all the shorts are truncated to some extent, to keep the segment within a certain runtime (said shorts would be preceded by opening sections of the Tot making their story and then gathering everyone round to listen). The sound design is totally redone, with alternate backing music more in line with the main show’s sensibilities and narration or dialogue provided by the Tots if the short features any dialogue.
Interestingly, each Tot was given a specific batch of shorts for the stories they would read out. Most of Tom’s shorts came from episodes of Miś Uszatek, a long-running programme about a young bear. Tilly’s shorts were almost entirely from the Przygody skrzatów series, where a trio of small creatures explore various parts of a massive house. Tiny’s offered a mix of one-off shorts, and episodes from a show about tiny robots in a UFO.
This allowed for a greater variety in animation styles, with different types of puppets used for the various shorts and even the occasional use of 2D animation. I strongly recall a stop-motion short involving papercraft dogs and blocks that rolled around from one of the compilation tapes I watched regularly as a kid. That said, the narration performed by the Tots could sometimes get a bit grating on the ears, and the new music was often much cheerier and more saccharine than the original tone of the shorts.
These continued for most of the third series before being phased out altogether, with the rest of the show sticking solely to the Tots’ antics. Sadly, I can’t really discuss the shorts in a greater capacity than this because I have no idea where to proceed in terms of research. The show continued to only credit the shorts to Se-ma-for, without even a name of the short or a copyright date to go on. What makes it harder is that I’m not all that knowledgeable about Polish animation, nevermind Se-ma-for’s work.
I’ve done the best that I can in trying to find as much information on these shorts, going by what’s been released in compilation tapes and how to find their original versions. And for whatever it’s worth, I’ve managed to dig up a decent bit, though I may not be able to link them to easily viewable equivalents.
To really get the definitive take on this, you would need an intersection of “people who are really interested in the Tots TV animated segments” and “people who are very knowledgeable about Se-ma-for’s animation work”. I’m not in that intersection, so all I can do for now is provide a list below of the shorts featured throughout the show, their original sources as best as I’ve been able to discern, and any home video releases they appeared in.
Hopefully, I can come back to this and, with the help of others, put together something more final. Until then, I hope this will get some folks checking out shorts they might not have considered previously.
WEBSITES AND SOURCES
http://fototeka.fn.org.pl/pl.html – A Polish website featuring photographs, stills and production work of countless films, shorts and TV series. This was used to find stills of the original works re-edited for Tots TV.
https://filmpolski.pl/fp/index.php – An online film database cataloguing all manner of productions, detailing plot summaries, dates, crews and so on. Incredibly useful for getting the dates and directors right.
https://pl.wikipedia.org/ – Polish Wikipedia, which features detailed entries on the works I could find and their creators.
https://www.europeana.eu/en/blog/se-ma-for – A blog looking back on Se-ma-for’s TV productions, fairly useful in getting some names I could pull from when trying to find somewhere to start.
https://tots-tv.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Episodes – A fan wiki page that lists the episodes, as well as the order in which they aired.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tots_TV#VHS_releases – A list of the home video compilation releases, which came in very handy for finding and documenting what shorts had been released.
The A-Z of Classic Children’s Television: From Alberto Frog to Zebedee (2007), by Simon Sheridan
SERIES 1 – Mr Noah Segments
- “Episode 01: Camel”
- “Episode 03: Fox”
- “Episode 05: Hedgehog”
- “Episode 07: Woodlouse”
- “Episode 09: Dog”
- “Episode 11: Owls”
- “Episode 13: Horse”
- “Episode 15: Elephant”
- “Episode 17: Giraffe”
- “Episode 19: Lemur”
- “Episode 21: Snail”
- “Episode 23: Toad”
- “Episode 25: Peacock”
- “Episode 27: Rabbit”
- “Episode 29: Worms”
- “Episode 31: Penguin”
- “Episode 33: Goat”
- “Episode 35: Kittens”
SERIES 2
- “Episode 2: Tiny’s Storybook: Little Car”
Original short: Maluch The Little Car (1965, Dir: Lucjan Dembiński)
Available on: Funny Noises Band and other stories [VHS]
- “Episode 6: Tilly’s Storybook: Imps – Toys”
Original short: Przygody skrzatów: Skrzaty i zabawki (1982, Dir: Teresa Puchowska-Sturlis)
Available on: UNRELEASED
- “Episode 10: Tom’s Storybook: Teddy’s Party”
Original short: from the Miś Uszatek series, but which episode is currently unknown
Available on: Secret Magic Parcels and Other Stories [VHS]
- “Episode 14: Tilly’s Storybook: Imps – Cake”
Original short: Przygody skrzatów (1975, Dir: Edward Sturlis)
Available on: Hopping Day and other stories [VHS]
- “Episode 18: Tom’s Storybook: Lazy Rabbit”
Original short: Bieg z przeszkodami (1975, Dir: Dariusz Zawilski)
Available on: The Naughty Puppies and other stories [VHS], Fishes and other stories [VHS]
- “Episode 22: Tiny’s Storybook: Paper Dog”
Original short: Currently unknown
Available on: Out to Sea and Other Stories [VHS]
- “Episode 26: Tilly’s Storybook: Imps – Cushions”
Original short: from the Przygody skrzatów series, but which short is currently unknown
Available on: UNRELEASED
- “Episode 30: Tiny’s Storybook: Martians – Sunbather”
Original short: Currently unknown
Available on: UNRELEASED
- “Episode 34: Tom’s Storybook: Teddy – I Was Here First”
Original short: Presumably Nowe przygody Miś Uszatek: Byłem tu pierwszy (1980, Dir: Dariusz Zawilski & Janusz Galewicz)
Available on: UNRELEASED
- “Episode 38: Tilly’s Storybook: Imps – Kitchen”
Original short: Przygody skrzatów: Skrzaty w kuchni (1976, Dir: Edward Sturlis)
Available on: UNRELEASED
- “Episode 42: Tiny’s Storybook: Martians – Stork”
Original short: Currently unknown
Available on: UNRELEASED
- “Episode 46: Tom’s Storybook: Hide & Seek”
Original short: Nowe przygody Miś Uszatek: Kryjówka (1980, Dir: Dariusz Zawilski & Janusz Galewicz)
Available on: Flying High and other stories [VHS], Mountain Climbing and other stories [VHS]
- “Episode 50: Tilly’s Storybook: Imps – Bathroom”
Original short: Przygody skrzatów: Skrzaty w łazience (1981, Dir: Teresa Puchowska-Sturlis)
Available on: Flying High and other stories [VHS]
- “Episode 54: Tiny’s Storybook: Martians – Circus”
Original short: Currently unknown
Available on: Flying High and other stories [VHS]
- “Episode 58: Tom’s Storybook: Teddy Goes To School”
Original short: Nowe przygody Miś Uszatek: Kto wstał lewą nogą (1980, Dir: Dariusz Zawilski & Janusz Galewicz)
Available on: Fluffy Little Chicks and other stories [VHS]
SERIES 3 (All segments are stop-motion, unless otherwise mentioned)
- “Episode 2: Tiny’s Storybook: Little Car At The Races”
Original short: Maluch The Little Car (1965, Dir: Lucjan Dembiński)
Available on: UNRELEASED
- “Episode 6: Tiny’s Storybook: Martians – Snow”
Original short: Currently unknown
Available on: UNRELEASED
- “Episode 10: Tom’s Storybook: Mouse Chases” (2D)
Original short: Currently unknown
Available on: Camping and other stories [VHS]
- “Episode 14: Tilly’s Storybook: Imps – Painting”
Original short: Przygody skrzatów: Malowanki skrzatów (1983, Dir: Teresa Puchowska-Sturlis)
Available on: UNRELEASED
- “Episode 18: Tiny’s Storybook: Cry Baby”
Original short: Currently unknown
Available on: UNRELEASED
- “Episode 22: Tom’s Storybook: Hungry Mouse” (2D)
Original short: Currently unknown
Available on: Wobbly Jellies and Other Stories [VHS]
- “Episode 26: Tilly’s Storybook: Agatha & The Paints”
Original short: Currently unknown
Available on: UNRELEASED
- “Episode 28: Tiny’s Storybook: Girl in a Red Dress”
Original short: Currently unknown
Available on: Super Tiny and other stories [VHS]
- “Episode 30: Tom’s Storybook: Animal Concert”
Original short: Leśny konkurs (1989, Dir: Teresa Puchowska-Sturlis)
Available on: The Happy Hamster and other stories [VHS]
- “Episode 32: Tilly’s Storybook: Mascots”
Original short: Currently unknown
Available on: UNRELEASED
FrDougal9000 writes for hardcoregaming101.net as Apollo Chungus. When he isn’t writing about video games, he is cultivating his love of animation that’s only increased over the last few years as he’s explored the wide, weird and wonderful world of the medium.
Tiny’s Storybook: Martians: Stork is featured on the Tots TV VHS tape, The Runaway Horse and other stories.
The Runaway Horse and other stories is NOT on You Tube.
These are on You Tube
Tiny – Cry Baby Story
Tiny – Cry Baby Story
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgyr0hzW8YU
Tilly – Imps -Toys Story:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTM382W72G8&t=224s
TINY’S STORY BOOK – MARTIANS – SUNBATHER (S2) – From Bumper Special: Donkey Ride and other stories VHS
Episode 34: Tom’s Storybook: Teddy – I Was Here First” is on YouTube.