Pingu episodes series 1

This is an list of episodes with synopses for series 1 of the stop motion animated children's television series Pingu.

Series 1 (1988 - 1991)

Pingu is Introduced

: Alternative title - "Hello Pingu"

Pingu and his parents are having lunch, but Pingu is eating disgustingly; smashing his fork, swallowing potatoes(possibly eggs) whole, eating a little bit of fish, blowing bubbles in his drink, and of course refusing to eat his greens. After this comical lunch, Pingu goes out to play with his ball, but his two "friends" Pingo and Pingg come and steal it (this is contrary to later episodes, in which they are nice to him). After a brawl in which Pingu knocks his head and his ball is burst, he gets his ball back and goes inside. His parents put a patch on his head and ball, and rock him to sleep in a hammock.

Produced in 1988
The first Pingu episode. Introduces Pingu, his parents, two friends named Pingo and Pingg, and the overall gist and premise of the series.

Pingu Helps With Incubating

: Alternative titles - "Pingu Looks After the Egg", "Pingu Sits on the Egg''", "Pingu the Egg-sitter''"

Pingu’s family has an egg, and while his parents do the laundry, Pingu has to sit on it. At first he is proud and happy to help, but he quickly gets bored, and gets up and starts listening to music. The egg then sprouts a leg and starts to dance around the house, and Pingu must stop things before his parents find out, trashing the igloo in the process.

In the early version of the episode, Pingu is listening to "Woodpeckers From Space" 1 by the band VideoKids. In the current version the song is replaced with an extended version of the current Pingu intro theme.
Produced in 1988

Pinga is Born

: Alternative titles - "New Arrival", "The New Arrival''", "Pingu's Sister is Born''"

It's a peaceful day when all of a sudden the egg from the previous episode starts to hatch. The penguin midwife is called, and at first Pingu expects to and wants to help, but he is told to stay away and be quiet, and he gets tired of the waiting and tension. But finally the egg cracks and Pinga is introduced; what will Pingu and his family think of her?

Produced in 1988
Pinga introduced in this episode

Pingu Goes Fishing

: Alternative title - "Pingu Makes a Friend"

Pingu is going fishing; he climbs down a series of cliffs into a craggy, secluded area and finds an ice-fishing hole. He catches a fish, but he is unaware that a seal, Robby, behind him, is emerging from another hole that the one he is fishing connects to, eating the bait, and snatching and attaching the same fish to the line each time. Pingu finds out and the two get into a fight, but then when Robby gets hurt, Pingu is sympathetic, the two make friends, and Robby catches Pingu a huge fish to take home.

Produced in 1988
Robby introduced in this episode

Pingu Helps To Deliver Mail

: Alternative titles - "Pingu Delivers the Mail", "Pingu Helps To Deliver the Mail", "Pingu Helps Deliver the Post''", "Pingu Helps Deliver Mail''"

Pingu is helping his dad deliver the mail. His dad lets him wear his postman's hat, and they go to the post office to pick up the mail and then deliver it to the town's various eccentric residents; including an old, kid-hating granny, a tall, loud-mouthed man, a short, zippy and strange penguin in suspenders (this is Punki!), Pingu's friend Pingo, a sad penguin with bad news, a woman with three children, and others, before returning back home again to his mum's arms.

Produced in 1989

Pingu is Jealous

: Alternative title - "Jealousy"

Pingu, Pinga and mum are spending the day inside. Pingu is building towers with blocks, but they keep falling down, and he goes to his mum for help. She does not help, because she is knitting clothing for Pinga, who is fast asleep. Mum continues to give Pinga the attention, by rocking her to sleep, playing with her, congratulating on her crawling, feeding her, and so on. Pingu desperately tries to get attention by behaving like a baby, kicking a chamberpot around, and pretending to be a ghost, but he gives up and hides in the toy box. His mum then comes and hugs him, and he goes to sleep with Pinga.

A flag atop Pingu's house nearly resembles the flag of Dominican Republic except for the penguin in the center of the flag.
Produced in 1989

Pingu and the Snowball Fight

: Alternative title - "Hide and Seek"

Pingu is going out on a play-date with Robby. They find some old and ruined igloos with junk and debris scattered around, and first play a game of hide and seek, and then have a snowball fight. Pingu tricks Robby by making a bust of himself with some things he finds in the ruin he is hiding and putting it on a stick and waving it outside, so that Robby throws the snowball at that instead of him. While Robby is quizzically investigating the smashed bust, Pingu runs to safety, hiding in a barrel. Robby then gets hurt while chasing Pingu, and Pingu vainly tries to cheer him up with some funny moves and postures, but finally manages with a hoola-hoop. Robby gets a hoola-hoop too and they play that instead.

Produced in 1989

Pinga Is Left Out

: Alternative titles - "Lost Baby", "Pingu's Sister Is Left Out", "Pingu Loses the Baby''", "Pinga Gets Lost''"

Pingu and Pinga are going out to have a game with Pingo. Pingu, however, won't let Pinga do anything, and while he and Pingo are rampaging about, she runs off. Pingu and Pingo look everywhere for her, and finally find footprints and her scarf at the edge of a deep pit. Assuming she has fallen in, Pingu and Pingo go home in tears. But then it turns out that she was at home all along. They get into another fight, but quickly make up, and everyone is happy.

Produced in 1989

Pingu Plays Fish Tennis

Pingu is woken up by Robby and Robby and Pingu have a game of fish tennis.

Produced in 1989

Pingu Goes Skiing

: Alternative titles - "Skiing''", "Pingu On Makeshift Skis''"

Pingu is reading when his friend Pingo comes along on skis. Pingu decides to tag along with him, and not having a pair of skis of his own, makes himself a pair with some junk in a ruined igloo. After having fun whizzing about in some mountains, they start racing competitively, and both of them end up breaking their skis. They put what they can back together and then decide to go with each of them on only one ski and go home, arm-in-arm, singing instead.

Produced in 1989

Pingu Plays Ice Hockey

: Alternative title - "Ice Hockey"

Pingu, Robby and a friend (Pongi) are dawdling around when they see a hockey team having a game. They decide to join in. At first they lose, but then on the next game, they win. The other team is a bad loser, however, and on the next game, they play aggressively to ensure they do not win, knocking them with the putt, forcing them into corners, and so on, and they win. They want another game, but Pingu and his friends refuse due to the team's bad sportsmanship. Them and the team then discard all their gear, and do figure skating instead.

A version of this episode featured the song "Hand in Hand", used in the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
Produced in 1989

Pingu and Pinga Don't Want to go to Bed

: Alternative titles - "Pingu and Pinga Stay Up''", "Pingu's Family''"

It is time for Pingu and Pinga to go to bed but they have other ideas. First they fight over blocks, and then mum tells Pingu to brush his teeth and he goes by shuffling with the block boxes on his feet. Pingu brushes the bathtub instead of his teeth, then knocks Pinga off her potty, and mum finally manages to get them to go to the bedroom. First they try to leave when she isn't looking, and then they keep demanding things such as a teddy, fish, or bottle. When she stops coming to their demands, they go out to find their exasperated mother asleep. They move her into the bedroom and finally go to sleep all together

Produced in 1990
Dad is mysteriously absent from this episode.

Barrel of Fun

: Alternative titles - "Pingu and the Avalanche Accident''", "Pingu and the Race on the Barrel Planks''"

Robby plays around some barrels near some ruins, when he sees a barrel that is half covered with planks, like a sledge. Pingu comes around and he and Robby play with the sledge-barrel. What a barrel of fun! They even go down a long and winding hill two times, with Robby being the brakes. Unfortunately, when they go down a third time, they lose control, and Robby falls off and Pingu crashes into a sculpture which collapses over him, trapping him inside. Robby goes for help, and gets an emergency paramedic to lift a slab of ice from the rubble in order for Robby to slide under and get Pingu. He gets Pingu out just before the paramedic's arms give way to the weight of the slab. The paramedic then puts some plasters on Pingu's head, and he, Robby, and the paramedic, leave.

Produced in 1990

Pingu Runs Away

: Alternative title - "Pingu Runs Away From Home"

Pingu and his parents are enjoying a quiet dinner, but Pingu is in a foul mood. Pingu's father tells him to eat. He then splashes his greens. His parents share their food and mother tries to give him some brown potatoes but splaters it to mother. Pingu gets told off by father. He rocks his chair, and ends up pulling everything off the table. His parents are furious and Pingu ends up getting spanked. He tries to make amends, but this is rejected and Pingu runs away, feeling that his parents don't love him anymore. While his parents enjoy some nice quiet time at home, Pingu becomes hopelessly lost. He nearly gets crushed by falling ice, and then comes face to face with three ugly, menacing monster-faces in the snowdrifts. Terrified, he runs and hides in an ice cave. His parents, realizing how late it is, they felt pretty bad of how they treated Pingu, so they come out and rescue him in the post truck, take him back home, apologizes to Pingu, gave Pingu some hot soup, and go to bed together happily.

Produced in 1990
Pinga is mysteriously absent from this episode

Pingu Builds an Igloo

: Alternative title - "Building Igloos"

Pingu is going on a camping trip of sorts with Pingo. When they meet up at the spot where they will use blocks of ice to build an igloo, however, they cannot agree on how to build one, get into a fight, and go off to build their own separate igloos. Due to them only having half the blocks each, however, they can only build hopeless half-built structures which promptly fall down (after some fighting over the last remaining block). They then make up, build a proper igloo, and finish up by happily eating fish at night on a blanket inside.

Produced in 1990

Pingu Has Music Lessons From His Grandfather

: Alternative titles - "Music Lessons''", "Pingu Takes Music Lessons From His Grandfather''"

Pingu is playing awful music hysterically on his accordion, and his parents have had enough. Much to the protest of Pinga, who liked it, he is sent out to play somewhere else. All around the town, people flee and lock themselves in their houses to get away from his playing, but when he finally gets to his grandfather, he finds him playing his own accordion nicely. Asking him how he does it, Grandpa gives Pingu music lessons, and he swiftly ends up playing excellently. Pingu then goes home and plays some nice, proper music for his family.

Produced in 1990

Pingu in the Ice Cave

: Alternative title - "Pingu's Ice Cave"

Pingu and his parents are doing odd jobs when Pingo comes over and asks Pingu on a playdate. The two go off hysterically. They play with their ball and have fun at first, but get a bit carried away, and the ball goes off into an overhang in the ice. When they try to retrieve it, they fall through a sort of trapdoor in the ice and into an ice cave. The entrance collapses above them, and they must find another way out. After looking around in the dripping, echoing caverns, they see a slope to the surface, but to reach it they must cross a deep chasm. Pingu manages to do so with some rope, but Pingo has difficulty, and nearly falls. Pingu catches him just in time, and the two crawl out cheerfully to the surface.

Produced in 1990

Pingu's Tobogganing

: Alternative titles - "Sledging", "Pingu's Sledge Race", "Sled Trouble''", "Pingu is Tobogganing''"

Pingu and his friends Pingo and Pingg are going tobogganing up in some high mountains. After a long climb, they reach the top, and sled their way down. Pingu's friends go down at great speed, but Pingu has trouble; his sled doesn't seem to slide and he can only go slowly. It then turns out that the skis on the bottom of Pingu's sled are rusted, and his friends give him a greased rag to polish them with. After Pingu's friends come down a second time, he shows them how clean the skis are, and does a test, which turns out successful. They try a third time, but Pingu over-polished the skis, and he goes zooming down too fast to control. His sled breaks, and he goes crashing into a snowman and gets stuck inside it. Pingu's friends find him, move the snowman inside, and then put it near the furnace so it melts to free Pingu.

Produced in 1990

Pingu's Lavatory Story

: Alternative titles - "Little Accidents''", "Pingu's WC Episode''"

Pingu and his family are eating lunch. Afterwards, Pingu decides to go to a bar type shop to get a drink. Pinga, annoyed with him due to him not giving her fish at lunch, follows him and demands a drink too. Pingu buys her two, but when she drinks them, she wets the ground, and Pingu sends her home; she makes it to her potty just in time. Pingu then finds he needs to go to the toilet, and rushes home just in time to see his dad go into the bathroom. He pushes Pinga off her potty so he can use that instead, and is sent outside, and he then in a rage rings the doorbell so that dad has to rush out of the bathroom to get it and Pingu can run in and use the toilet. He wees on the floor because it is too high, however, father angrily tells him to clean it up. While finished and walking away thinking of an idea, he then attempts to go to the toilet on stilts, and his exasperated mother suggests they build some steps out of ice. They do so, and Pingu is finally able to go to the toilet in peace.

The episode has been banned in some countries because of its graphic depiction of urination.
Produced in 1990

Pingu at School

: Alternative title - "School Time"

Pingu walks to school with his backpack, and on the way, calls for Robbie. Robbie slides down a slant on a snowy mountain. Pingu does the same sliding on his backpack, rather further than Robbie. Pingu slides his backpack to Robbie. Robbie dons the backpack, Pingu is amused. Pingu and Robbie find two rows of desks, a blackboard and an igloo. The teacher walks out of the igloo. As the teacher turns around to close the door, Robbie quickly jumps into a water hole. The teacher rings the school bell. Pingo and Pingg arrive at the school. Before a lesson, Pingu tells Robbie to hide down the water hole. The teacher, Pingo, and Pingu walk over to the water hole. Pingo jumps into the water hole, much to Pingu's surprise. Pingo jumps back out. Pingo goes to the blackboard and draws a fish. Pingg jumps into the water hole. Pingg jumps back out. Pingg is sent to blackboard and draws a fish skeleton along with a tail fin and head. Pingu laughs in amusement. Pingg points to the blackboard telling him why it isn't funny. Pingu acts out Robbie's actions. Pingg, Pingo and the teacher do not know who he is. Pingu goes to the blackboard and draws his friend Robbie. Pingu takes a fish out of his desk and holds it over the water hole to attract Robbie. Robbie jumps from the water hole and eats the fish's body leaving the skeleton, head and tail fin. The teacher, Pingo and Pingg are astonished. Pingu calls for Robbie. He leaps from the water hole and Pingu introduces him. The teacher is much satisfied. Robbie brings a fish out of the water while the teacher erases the chalk drawings. They pass the fish down to the teacher and plaster it onto the blackboard. Robbie gets an eel and repeats the process with a flounder and a lobster. Pingg and Pingo are asked what the creatures are. Pingu tries to raise his hand in order to answer. Pingu is finally brought up to answer the question of what the lobster is. Robbie writes what it is. Pingu answers the question. The teacher pats Pingu's head happily. All this leaves a happy Pingu, teacher and cheering Robbie.

Features the Pinguish word for lobster; "coo-coo" and also mentions some nouns such as eclava(snapper),mokmo(eel) and silif(flounder).
Features Pingu, Robbie, Pingo, Pingg and a teacher.
Produced in 1991

Pingu's Grandpa Is Sick

: Alternative titles - "Grandpa is ill", "Pingu's Grandfather Takes Ill''", "Measles in the House''"

Pingu is painting a painting while his mom is ironing clothes, but then the telephone rings and Pinga answers the phone, Pingu's mom rushes Pinga off the phone - it is Grandpa who's suffering measles. Pingu lectures Pinga not to mess up his painting but Pinga throws red on it. Pingu gets really angry at Pinga and she runs away from Pingu and barricades the door. They all go to Grandpa’s house and while Pingu's mom tries treatments, Pingu and Pinga run around babbling and dancing, possibly to entertain Grandpa, but end up annoying him. Pingu's mom lectures them and tells them to be quiet, but they pretend to cook something in a pot and the lid falls off. Mom tells them to stop messing about and again tells them to be quiet, but they play dress-up while Pingu is on a sled and they crash into the drawer. Pingu's mom, exasperated, makes them go outside, where Pingu finds a board and puts it above a giant wad of snow to play seesaw. Pingu's mom, exasperated again, tells them to stop. Pingu then kicks snowballs into the door and kicks one into Mom. She gets angry and tells them to go home. They then use markers to make fake spots and then call Mom. She comes home, lifts the bed sheets and finds them all spotty, like measles. When Mom rubs their heads she finds out they have used crayon and they try it on Mom. When she jumps on the bed in the ending, she breaks it. They then laugh.

Produced in 1991
Dad is mysteriously absent from this episode

Pingu and Pinga Play Circus

: Alternative titles - "Pingu's Circus''", "Pingu Plays Circus''"

Pingu, Pinga and Robby put up signs announcing a circus and lots of penguins start to go see the circus, and during the performance, Pingu plays the drum, Pinga plays the trumpet and Robby plays the accordion, Pingu does a bunch of dances and actions during Robby's accordion performance and he lifts a big dumbbell and Pinga takes it away. In the next performance, Pingu and Pinga jump on top of a board and Pingu lands in a bucket of blue paint which splatters all over Pinga and Robby, Pinga arrives and scolds Pingu to be more careful and jeers at him by laughing. Enraged, Pingu spits blue paint onto Pinga, covering her in paint too. The audience laughs and then for the rest of the episode, Pingu, Pinga and Robby are clowns using their instruments again.

Produced in 1991
The word 'Circus' is spelt 'Zirkus' in this episode.

Pingu and the Organ Grinder

: Alternative title - "Pingu and the Barrel Organ"

Pingu is spending time around an old, poor penguin who is busking by playing a barrel organ. He is annoyed at the arrogant penguins who just walk past without giving money (one that walks past even looks upwards, and hysterically falls into a fishing hole due to not looking where he was going), and is even more upset when he follows the organ grinder home to find it an old, broken down, messy ruin. Feeling sorry for the grinder, he borrows the barrel organ and goes around town playing it in front of a tailor, bakery, tavern and fish shop, the pleased owners of which give him free supplies. He then goes back to the organ grinder's place and sets out for him a nice meal with the supplies, and then goes outside and makes some repairs to the house. The thankful organ grinder then rewards him with a harmonica.

Produced in 1991

Noise

: Alternative titles - "Pingu and his Friends Play too Noisily''", "Pingu and the Troublesome Ball''"

Pingu and Pingg are playing hopscotch, not knowing they are doing it in a parking space. When a driver comes and parks, they get into a fight, and Pingu and Pingg are forced to play somewhere else. They go over to someone else's igloo, and start running and playing about very noisily. The furious owner of the igloo starts yelling at them, and Pingu, Pingg and Pingo who comes along tease her. She was about to hit them but she missed. She leaves and accidentally closed the window on her hand! They then start playing ball, and the ball accidentally goes onto the angry igloo owner's roof. She catches it and takes it inside. Pingu begs for it back, to no avail, but then the owner gets locked outside, and though laughing at first, Pingu decides to help her, and she gives them their ball back and they all play together. But they accidentally hit the window on the owner's igloo!

Produced in 1991

Pingu's Parents go to a Concert

: Alternative titles - "Pingu and Pinga at Home''", "Pingu in Charge''"

Pingu’s parents are off to a concert leaving Pingu in charge of Pinga but as their parents leave, Pingu and Pinga perform antics such as jumping on their beds and asking Pinga to turn on a radio while Pingu makes a pancake then Pingu rifles through a dresser strewing a women's hat at Pinga. He then puts on a top hat and throws it at Pinga who is stuck in a box then Pingu pushes her as Pingu convinces Pinga to come back to where he is standing then Pingu pretends to be a monster and is devouring Pinga. Meanwhile, Pingu’s mom is worried about what Pingu and Pinga might be doing. Then Pinga turns on the bathtub and adds bubble bath to the bath water as Pingu jumps into the bathtub and play messily and then they tip over leaving a mess on the floor. Meanwhile, the concert is finished and Pingu and Pinga try desperately to clean things up and Pinga shuts off the radio while Pingu shoves every single pair of clothes he has all strewn about into the dresser by jumping on the clothes. Soon Pingu’s parents find out that the dresser had clothes completely shoved in. Pingu and Pinga wasn't amused. But their parents were not mad. So mom and dad put the clothes in proper cleaness and congratulate Pingu and Pinga for a good job they done watching the house.

Produced in 1991

Pingu's Dream

: Alternative title - "Pingu Dreams"

Pingu is at Grandfathers. He is in bed, and falls asleep while Grandfather is reading him a story. He then has a bizarre dream. The igloo is jumping up and down, and it then flies away. His bed sprouts legs and starts walking, jumping and rocking around. Although he's rattled at first, he starts enjoying riding about on the bed, but he's unaware that a giant seal is stalking him. The seal eventually shows itself and puts the igloo over the top of the bed. The seal takes the igloo off, plays with Pingu (Pingu is the plaything; they don't play a game!), and then as the bed tries to escape takes the mattress from it and tries to eat it. While the seal is distracted Pingu and the bed run off in fear, but Pingu isn't watching where he's going and slides down a steep slope, landing in a heap at the bottom. Pingu then wakes up and finds himself on the floor tangled in the sheet, and realises it was all a dream. Pingu sadly tells Grandfather all about it whilst being comforted by him.

Features Pingu, Grandfather and a giant seal (note: "giant seal" has been used rather than "leopard seal" or "walrus", to try to cover both, and other, possibilities).
First and only appearance of the giant seal.
This episode has apparently been banned in some countries because it contains a giant seal trying to capture Pingu.
Produced in 1991
The episode has not been shown on any channels in the U.K. since 2003 (allegedly because children were scared by it)