El Chapulín Colorado
El Chapulín Colorado is a Mexican television comedy series that ran from 1973 to 1979 and parodied superhero shows. It was created by Roberto Gómez Bolaños, who also played the main character. It was first aired by Televisa in 1973 in Mexico, and then was aired across Latin America and Spain until 1981, alongside El Chavo, which shared the same cast of actors. Both shows have endured in re-runs and have won back some of their popularity in several countries such as Colombia or Peru, where it has aired in competition with The Simpsons. The name translates literally in English as "The Red Grasshopper". The main character uses a conspicuous red uniform. It is known in Brazil as "Chapolin", "Vermelhinho" and "Polegar Vermelho" in allusion to the famous fairy tale character Tom Thumb.
Although the series has a regular cast, all actors but Gómez Bolaños play different characters each episode, and it is therefore described as an anthology series.
Profile
The show embodied many aspects of Latin and Mexican culture while making a critique on the unrealistic image of superheroes. In each episode, people recognized Chapulín wherever he appeared, believing him to be a great superhero. Recognition caused him to boast, only to stumble and fall right away, proving himself to be puny and timid, and disappointing his fans. Despite this, Chapulín tried his best to help, and all his adventures ended wellParodying Superman's "Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive" introduction, Chapulín was introduced as follows in the show's opening, reinforcing the idea of a barely powered hero:
Equipment and weapons
- Fighting Skills: La Yegua Voladora, that is some kind of superman fly ramming his opponents as in Mexican wrestling.
- Chipote Chillón, is Chapulín's primary weapon of choice. It is a red and yellow hammer which not only pulverizes his enemies, but also faithfully returns to his hands with a simple whistle, like a boomerang or Thor's Mjolnir.
- Antenitas de Vinil are two red and yellow antennae on the top of the hero's hood. The antennae are connected directly to his body's nervous system, allowing him to have direct control of its powers, including: detect presence of criminals and dangerous situations in general, decode and translate various languages and secret codes, capture readings of toxic or hazardous materials, receive requests for help and activate special electronic bio-resources in the Chapulín's body. The latter allows Chapulín to activate his Antenitas de Alta Velocidad, dramatically increasing his speed and allowing him to fight on equal terms with fast foes.
- Pastillas de Chiquitolina are special pills that, when swallowed by Chapulín, reduce him to a size of about 8 inches tall to put enemies off guard or to access hard-to-reach locations. The effects of the pill last an average of 10 minutes, and at the end of that time Chapulin returns to his normal size. A common joke on the show is that Chapulín's enemies often imply that the use of this equipment makes no difference at all, in reference to the hero's short height in his normal size..
- La Chicharra Paralizadora is a bicycle horn that, when aimed at a person or object and sounded once, would freeze it immediately in mid-air. Sounding the horn twice makes the frozen person or object free again. Another running joke on the show is the lack of mastery of Chapulín with this weapon, which is usually activated in the worst possible time and embarrasses both the hero and his allies.
- In one episode, it is revealed that Chapulín needs to use glasses, but he usually does not put them on during his adventures because The Superhero Union forbids the use of glasses at workservice.
Recurrent characters besides the protagonist
Heroes
- Súper Sam : Played by Ramón Valdés and Dan Castellaneta in the English dub.
Villains
The Mob
- Tripaseca : Played by Ramón Valdés and Dan Castellaneta in the English dub. He is one of the most frequently recurring villains on the show. He is a very dangerous gangster who is part of a mafia gang composed of Cuajináis, Shory, Botija and Minina. He is considered the archenemy of Chapulín, always scheming along with the rest of his gang to kill the hero to commit all the robberies he wants. In an episode in which he pretends to be dead to fool the local police force, Chapulín states that he had known Tripaseca since the two of them were children.
- Cuajináis : Played by Carlos Villagrán and Adam DeVine in the English dub. He is a deadly gangster characterized by the huge scar on his right cheek. Although he is an ally of Tripaseca, sometimes he attempts to score certain crimes on his own.
- Chory : Played by Rubén Aguirre and Beck Bennett in the English dub. He is a vicious mobster characterized by his high stature and coldness. El Shory often gives trouble to Chapulín in combat because of his superior strength and endurance. In some chapters, this character is nicknamed "El Nene ".
- Minina : Played by Florinda Meza and Cecily Strong in the English dub. A woman who accompanies the mafia in their schemes and is characterized by constant smoking and her low intellectual capacity.
- Pocas Trancas : Interpreted by Rubén Aguirre and Beck Bennett in the English dub. He is a madman who escaped from the asylum. People believe that Pocas Trancas was deaf but a detective clarified that he couldn't speak because he didn't wash his tongue and that he couldn't listen because he didn't wash his ears. What he lacked in intelligence he made up for in raw strength, according to the same detective. Súper Sam and Chapulín usually have to team up to fight him.
The Gunmen
- Rascabuches : Played by Ramón Valdés and Dan Castellaneta in the English dub. He is a fiery gunslinger whose mere presence makes all the inhabitants of any village flee in terror. He faced Chapulín many times and was always defeated by him. The Rascabuches has a young daughter named Rosa.
- Matonsísimo Kid : Interpreted by Carlos Villagrán or Rubén Aguirre and Adam DeVine and Beck Bennett in the English dub. A dangerous gunman who constantly plagues small towns of the old American West, he is an ally of Rascabuches and Rosa la Rumorosa. Although claimed to be the fastest gunman of the Old West, Chapulín always managed to overcome him.
- Rosa la Rumorosa : Performed by Florinda Meza and Cecily Strong in the English dub. She is the only daughter of Rascabuches, one of the most feared gunmen of the Old West. Despite being an accomplice to her father, she sometimes laments the fact that no one proposes marriage to her because of the notoriety of her father.
The Pirates
- Alma Negra : Played by Ramón Valdés and Dan Castellaneta. He is the captain of the pirates, and as he said, the chief of all the pirates of the seven seas. Captain Alma Negra is evil but sometimes clumsy as well. He is characterized by his malevolent laughter and his tendency to endanger the life of his own crew and of Chapulín or any girl that doesn't want to marry him. According to himself, he killed the Dead Sea and therefore there are no longer seven seas, only six. At some point, he died but his ghost continued to curse the seas.
- Matalote : Interpreted by Rubén Aguirre and Beck Bennett in the English dub. He is Alma Negra's right-hand man, the tallest of the pirates, and surely the most cruel after Alma Negra. El Matalote is known for being quite strong and ruthless.
- Sabandija : Played by Carlos Villagrán and Adam DeVine in the English dub. He is a clumsy pirate that has a left wooden leg and a right glass eye, the former lost in one of the many battles fought under Alma Negra's command and the latter lost after peeking through a keyhole. He and Panza Loca are the only ones in the crew who rebel against the master pirate alongside Chapulín.
- Panza Loca : Played by Edgar Vivar and Bobby Moynihan in the English dub. He is the fattest of the pirates, has a little intimidating voice and apparently was not a very good pirate. He is as cowardly as Sabandija and often suffers through life-threatening situations because of the whims of Captain Alma Negra.
Pioneer in visual effects
This innovation, which was already known in Mexican television but not widely used, gave Chapulín the distinction of being virtually the only adventure-comedy broadcast in Mexico.
Popularity
Chapulín has enjoyed popularity all over Latin America, the United States, Spain, Portugal and other countries, albeit somewhat less than its sister production of El Chavo. Like El Chavo, it is still shown in reruns in various countries. The cast of Chapulín was the same as that of El Chavo, although only actors Florinda Meza, Carlos Villagrán and Ramón Valdés were usually in every episode; however, the characters usually were different. Some of the regular characters who appeared, usually Chapulín foes, were El Tripaseca and El Cuajinais, a pair of Mafiosi who liked to make heists, as well as concurrent superhero Super Sam. One-off villains, mostly those played by Valdés, like Wild West outlaw El Rascabuche, are also fondly remembered by fans.Shorter Chapulín adventures were preceded by a skit, usually featuring Chespirito's other characters, like Dr. Chapatín, a tactless, impatient old physician, or El Chómpiras, an incompetent thief in the skit called Los Caquitos, along with El Peterete, played by Ramón Valdés. Chompiras and his new partner in crime, El Botija, played by Edgar Vivar, came to dominate the later years of Chespirito, an hour-long showcase featuring all the characters of the show.
The physical diversity of Chespirito actors permitted the richness of characters in the adventures, each week a new one. Chapulín was a hero of undetermined geographic and temporal location: his adventures could unfold in the American Old West, in ancient China, in London, in the Swiss Alps, during the Spanish Inquisition, in pirate ships, in Nazi Germany or outer space, and his enemies range from the Yeti to Egyptian mummies, including his interaction, in some occasions, with literary characters such as Romeo and Juliet.
El Chapulín Colorado is also extremely popular in Brazil. The company, Tec Toy, responsible for distributing the Sega consoles in Brazil, published a video game for the Sega Master System called Chapolim x Drácula: Um duelo assustador. It was a localization of another existing SMS title, Ghost House, with the hero's graphics changed to Chapulín's.
Animated series
An animated series based on the show premiered in April 2015, made by Ánima Estudios.Animated film
In May 2017, Roberto Gomez Fernandez revealed that an animated film adaptation of El Chapulin Colorado is in development. In 6 October 2019, it was reported that Gomez Fernandez has began working on the script. Later that month, Gomez Fernandez revealed that production on the film has begun. He also said that the film will take place in a shared universe featuring characters created by Chespirito.Comics
El Chapulín Colorado comics were sold in Mexico during the program's broadcasting years from 1974 until 1982. These comics have also been seen occasionally appearing in some episodes of El Chavo usually being read by the characters. The comics were sold weekly and sold an estimated total of more than 400 issues.In the early 1990s with the high popularity of the products of the Chespirito characters in Brazil, two series of children's comics were made in partnership with the Editora Globo, with a new art style different from Mexican comics. These comics were Chaves & Chapolim and Chapolim & Chaves, both comics features stories both with El Chavo and El Chapulín Colorado.
In May 2017, along with the announcement of a film, Gómez Fernández revealed that a comic series based on the character is in development.
Fine Art
El Chapulín Colorado was one of the subjects incorporated by photographer Dulce Pinzon in her photographic series titled "The Real Stories of the Superheroes." In this series, Pinzon dressed mostly Mexican immigrants as various superheroes, but performing their normal, daily work in construction, childcare, waitressing, window cleaning, etc., and then photographed them. The series included super heroes such as Batman, Superman, Spiderman, as well as El Chapulin Colorado. This photographic series was declared as part of the National Legacy of Mexico in 2020.Crossovers
The 1974 two-part episode "El disfraz, el antifaz y algo más" is a crossover between several Chespirito characters like: Chómpiras and Peterete, Laurel and Hardy, Quico and El Chavo del Ocho, Charlie Chaplin and Dr. Chapatín. This episode had a remake in 1979, but with Botija and Popis replacing Peterete and Quico respectively, due to the departure of Ramón Valdés and Carlos Villagrán from the cast.The 1976 episode "Todo Queda en Familia" is a crossover with El Chavo, the episode focuses on El Chapulín visiting the village where El Chavo characters lives and interacting with them. Another episode that is also a crossover with El Chavo is the two-part episode "Blancanieves y los siete Churi Churín Fun Flais" from 1978, were El Chapulín Colorado appears at Professor Jirafales' school telling the children the tale of Snow White.
The 1978 episode "Las Estatuas No Dicen Chanfle" is a crossover with Dr. Chapatín.
Legacy
The Simpsons creator Matt Groening has said that he created the Bumblebee Man character after watching El Chapulín Colorado in a motel on the United States–Mexico border.The character made a cameo on Action Comics No. 820, published by DC Comics.
The Marvel Comics superheroine Red Locust, a member of the newest incarnation of the Champions, was created as an homage to El Chapulín Colorado.
On the manga and anime series One Punch Man, a superhero called "Smile Man" physically resembles El Chapulín Colorado, while it also resembles classic Japanese character Anpanman. The character wears almost the same yellow and red suit as El Chapulín, using a big red and yellow hammer as well. However, there's a few noticeable differences, such as the lack of antennae on the head, a big smile face instead of a heart shield on his chest and the use of a mask. While it is yet to be confirmed if the character is a parody or a tribute of El Chapulín Colorado, several news websites noticed the physical similarities. The official Spanish Twitter account of the series even acknowledged the similarities, using one of El Chapulín's quotes along a screenshot showing Smile Man.
El Chapulín Colorado appears in one of the episodes of season 5 of Monica Toy.
To celebreate the 91st anniversary of Chespirito's birth date and the 50th anniversary of the character's creation, on 21 February 2020, the videogame FIFA 20 added a free DLC based on El Chapulín Colorado. The DLC specifically added a new yellow and red uniform based on the character for the Ultimate Team game mode, which includes the heart shield on the uniform's shirt.