Tifou (partially found Belgian puppet series and French animated adaptation; 1988; 1990)

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Tifou.jpg

A screenshot of the animated series' intro sequence.

Status: Lost (Belgian puppet series)
Partially Found (French animated seres)
Existence Unconfirmed (English dub of French animated series)

Tifou was a Belgian puppet series that was co-produced by Zinzin Production, GPA, and Bonecos that aired in both Belgium and France in 1988 for 26 episodes, mainly through Antenne 2 in the latter country. The show is notably created and produced by André Franquin, a Belgian cartoonist famous for being the creator of comic book characters Gaston Lagaffe and the Marsupilami.[1]

Plot

The Tifous are three little hairy characters who discover the world that they live in. The green Tifou is the poet of the trio, the pink with glasses is the most reasoned and the red is the craziest of the crew who never ceases to be agitated wherever he goes. Together, they wonder about the objects they will have at their disposal, about the elements of nature and particularly insects. In the original Belgian puppet series, the trio doesn't talk but instead makes weird noises and stilted expressions, which made it hard to understand what was going on throughout the show's short run, hurt even more by the fact that each episode was only 3 minutes in length.

French Animated Adaptation

In 1990, a French animated adaptation would air on FR3 during the Sam'Dynamite block. This adaptation would have the episodes be 5 minutes instead of the original 3 minutes as well as triple the number of episodes in comparison. It was produced by Odec Kid Cartoons with animation outsourced to Fenix Animation. It is notable for being the final cartoon to have been produced by Odec Kid Cartoons as well as the only cartoon to be animated by Fenix Animation. A few changes were made, such as giving the main trio the ability to talk with distinct voices to differentiate them further from one another and the setting is changed from random parts of the world to the Tifou country, which is delimited by the Tumultuous River and is populated with many other Tifous, similar to that of The Smurfs.[2]

Also in the Tifou country lives the sad bird which is sad for just about everything and anything, including several very different trees: the major tree, the advisory tree, the jam tree, alongside several others encountered throughout the series. On the other side of the Tumultuous River, lies the desert where Betnoir lives. This one hates the vegetation as well as the Tifou and he would like to destroy the Tifou country. For that he asks for advice from Soul Damned, a hairy ball that he calls by an incantation; the latter always mistaking his name, sometimes calling him Peignoir, Pied Noir, Bonsoir, Versoir, etc. Unfortunately for Betnoir all his undertakings always end in bitter failure because our three heroes have more than one trick up their sleeve to put his evildoings to a halt.

English Dub of French Animated Adaptation

According to a reply from a YouTube user named Kids Time With Aunty Anne, an English dub of the animated series aired in Zimbabwe on ZTV from the mid-1990s to early 2000s. Other than the one reply, no other information surrounding the dub has ever surfaced and no footage or audio of it has surfaced either.

Availability

Outside of the English dub, only screenshots and a supposed finding of a short clip of the intro sequence currently survive for the original puppet series. The French animated series is partially found as out of 78 episodes known to have been produced, only 12 of them have surfaced online. Not much information is known about the history behind these shows nor airtimes, though it is said to have seen reruns through FR3's C'est Lulo block in 1992, Canal J in 1993 and TF1's A Tout' Spip block for one day on January 11th of 1995.

List of Episodes From Puppet Series

# Episode Title Status
1 Le Pays Des Merveilles Lost
2 Dans les Nuages Lost
3 Pop Corn Lost
4 Le Spray Lost
5 Chef D'oeuvre Lost
6 Friandise Lost
7 Crise De Croissance Lost
8 Ombres Chinoises Lost
9 Esquisses Lost
10 Album De Famille Lost
11 Unknown Existence Unconfirmed
12 Unknown Existence Unconfirmed
13 Unknown Existence Unconfirmed
14 Unknown Existence Unconfirmed
15 Unknown Existence Unconfirmed
16 Unknown Existence Unconfirmed
17 Unknown Existence Unconfirmed
18 Unknown Existence Unconfirmed
19 Unknown Existence Unconfirmed
20 Unknown Existence Unconfirmed
21 Unknown Existence Unconfirmed
22 Unknown Existence Unconfirmed
23 Unknown Existence Unconfirmed
24 Unknown Existence Unconfirmed
25 Unknown Existence Unconfirmed
26 Unknown Existence Unconfirmed

List of Episodes from Animated Series

NOTE: While the animated series is said to have had 78 episodes on Planete Jeunesse, the lack of reliable information surrounding either series on the internet makes it very difficult to confirm this. This is why the episodes are labeled with question marks instead of numbers.

# Episode Title Status (French) Status (English)
?? L'âme damnée de Bêtnoir Existence Unconfirmed Existence Unconfirmed
?? La Grande Course Existence Unconfirmed Existence Unconfirmed
?? Ardents, Les Charbons Found Existence Unconfirmed
?? Bêtnoir Entre En Scène Found Existence Unconfirmed
?? Le Gâteau D'anniversaire Found Existence Unconfirmed
?? L'étoile Félante Found Existence Unconfirmed
?? Le Voleur De Cuberdons Found Existence Unconfirmed
?? Le Cirque De L'oiseau Triste Found Existence Unconfirmed
?? Le Screpte De Neptune Found Existence Unconfirmed
?? La Tristesse De L'arbre à Conseils Found Existence Unconfirmed
?? L'ennui De L'arbre à Confiture Found Existence Unconfirmed
?? La Boîte à Musique Found Existence Unconfirmed
?? Bêtnoir a Tout Faux Found Existence Unconfirmed
?? La faux Par Défaut Found Existence Unconfirmed
?? La Suie De Bêtnoir Found Existence Unconfirmed

References