Heidi (2015 TV series)
Heidi is a Swiss-German computer animated children's TV series, based indirectly on the 1881 novel Heidi by Johanna Spyri. The original 2007 television series was a Swiss-French-Italian-Australian co-production in 27 episodes of 26 minutes. A "remake" of Heidi, Girl of the Alps, much of the story is the same; the titular character is a then-five-year-old girl, who's taken to her grandfather on the Swiss Alps by her aunt, Dete to live with him and while the girl ends up improving his life, she also befriends Peter, the goatherd of the village Dorfli below and the one who causes her to find a big passion of hers, goats and other animals in general. But in this version, there is also a trio, Karl, Theresa, and William, who usually try to do something that would downgrade Peter, whom they often refer to as a mountain goat, in some way or another. But in the first winter up there, a letter is eventually gotten and what results from there will end up changing another's life, as well.
The series has been distributed in 138 countries around the world.
Characters
The actors cited are from the Australian cast.- Heidi Meier : The title character, a 5 year old and cute and innocent orphan girl, who's taken to her grandfather, like its base, as well as the base novel. She loves her grandfather very much.
- Ernst Meier : Heidi's grandfather, a gentle angerable and turned-grump old man who works as a carpenter.
- Peter : 11 year old goatherd. He owns the goat Goldfinch, who becomes a mother to baby Mischief.
- Dete Meier : Heidi's maternal aunt who forcibly leaves Heidi with her grandfather and shows sacchranine self-righteousness with those around her, including her own niece. She works as a partly cooking maid in the Sesemann household, with bulter Sebastian who she eventually falls in love with and marries, though where is not actually specified.
- Karl Traber : Used to call Peter "Billy goat" until an incident where he saved Karl's life.
- Theresa Keller : Owns the goat Sweetheart. Theresa is often mean to Heidi and Peter, along with Karl and William but accepts them in episode 33 with Clara and starts being a lot nicer.
- William : A short and obese member of the trio-turned-duo, tends to be distracted by thoughts of food and gets easily filled with fear and has a goat owned by his own family.
- Clara Sesemann : 12 year old daughter of Mr Sesemann. Rich girl used to be in a wheelchair, but in episode 37 she starts walking for the first time.
- Josef: Heidi's grandfather's Saint Bernard.
- Miss Vera Rottenmeier : The Sesemann household's strict governess, who has an overblown worry of Clara's health, focus on the kids' education and reactions towards animals, highly conformist and attemptively enforcing of it, the most on "Adeleid", and refuses other's opinions more often than not, in useless stubbornness.
- Sebastian : The Sesemann household's butler.
- Mr. Sesemann : Clara's father.
- Joan Keller : Dorfli's grocer, and Theresa's father, Alda's husband.
- Alda Keller : Theresa's snobby mother. A mean person and Joan's wife.
- Tobias Meier: Heidi's deceased father, who never built the Devil Bridge over a mountain gap he and his son worked on.
- Adelaide Meier: Heidi's dead mother, and Dete's sister.
- Anna Meier: Heidi's grandfather's late wife.
- Brigette : Peter's mother.
- Suzanne : Peter's blind grandmother.
- Barbel : A friend of Dete's, and William' mother.
- Hans: Barbel's husband, the village blacksmith. William's father.
- Grandmamma : Clara's kind and youthful grandmother. She is an actress in the theatre.
- Haans Bakker: A frustratable home school teacher who excessively punishes Heidi for her confusions and whose own teaching method includes torture involving physical pressure, the latter mentioned which gets him fired from teaching at Sesemann's.
- Mr. Traber: Karl's father, who is a school teacher. He and Karl move before Clara's visit.
- Rudy: A boy in Frankfurt who plays a barrel organ in the street. Owns the kittens Socks and Star.
- Dr. Bankman: The Sesemann family doctor.
- Mr. Dinkelmann: In one episode he came to the Sesemann's house to be regarding a adoption for Heidi to be Clara's sister
- Friedrich: Vera's close friend.
- Rico: Heidi's bestest friend.
Episode list
- Up to the Mountain
- First Day in the Mountains
- The Challenge
- Save Chippy
- The Treehouse Oath
- A Night Out
- For a Loaf of Bread
- Trapped in the Manor
- Beware of the Wolf
- Peter's Treasure
- Attack the Treehouse!
- Save Sweetheart
- The End of Spring
- Clara
- The Bell Tower
- The Promise
- Papa Returns
- Home Schooled
- Let's Make a Show
- At the Park
- Clara Stands
- Goats in the City
- The Resignation
- A Tree for Shelter
- The Ghost
- The Letter
- Back to Dörfli
- A New Goat in the Herd
- The Broken Statue
- The Brooch
- The School Test
- Scavenger Hunt
- Goat's Hour
- The Storm
- The Devil's Bridge
- Friedrich
- The Wheelchair
- Forgiven
- The Edelweiss
- My Best Friend
- Goodbye Snowflake
- Rico
- The Hike
- The Competition
- Bridgette's Secret
- The Violin
- Francesco
- The Watch
- The Resolution
- The Choice
- The Operation
- The Lady in Red
- The Matchmakers
- A Mariage is announced
- Reunited
- A Question of Time
Production
In the first production, from the writing bible, written by Christel Gonnard, was the first twenty-seven episodes first had their locations shot with high-definition footage, for reference to the animators making the now-fictionalized locations of the series, in Haute-Savoie for the Alps and in Friborg for Frankfurt, similarly to Zuyio 's team shooting pictures of the official locations themselves, for the setting references to background painters and writers, for the base series. The two halves that happened to be made in that production were directed, respectively, by Pierre-Antoine Hiroz and Anne Deluz. The theme music was two songs at the time; the credits song, replaced by a bit of a piece of background music from the series, when the series was bought the rights out of, was sung by Cindy Santos, first known in 2006, when she participated in the French show Nouvelle Star.
The first three episodes were screen as a "world preview" at Geneva's Tout Ecran Movie Festival on October 31, 2007. Later, was a twenty-episode documentary series, of three minutes each episode, and produced by Rita and Chocolat TV Productions, aired on Télévision Suisse Romande as well as on Chocolat's website, before the latter was removed, which documented the first production. Afterwards, an account of a promoter, impersonating an now-teenage Heidi, was opened on a blog and a MySpace page, where the character promoted the series. The series premiered on the Swiss network Télévision Suisse Romande on December 22, 2007, in Swiss HD. In France, Studio 100 Animation bought the rights in 2013 and produced a 3D series of 39 episodes of 26 minutes each, now directed by Jérôme Mouscadet, from that year to 2014 and the completed series began airing in 2015.
Due to the partnership of Eurovision Fiction, was the series sent to their affiliated countries, including Ireland, Norway, Cyprus, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Poland and aired on the EBU member chains of those countries.
Changes
From Heidi, Girl of the Alps, for time and/or other reasons, were several changes made in this version:- The characterizations were heavily simplified; with Heidi, her emotions were more prominent and her friendship with Peter is less affected by his beating tendencies of the goats, partly because they are stopped at once, when Heidi sees that and does her action.
- Sub-plots, from Heidi's relationship with the fir trees to the eventual living in the winter home, are either altered or removed entirely or even created for this series: of the last one, partway through Heidi learning how to read, Clara and her grandmother inform Heidi of: "Princess and the Frog", which they turn to making performance out of; based on that fairy tale being one of those shown with its illustration to Heidi, while Clara's grandmother first encouraged her to learn how to read, that night.
- Many of the base series' more episodic plots are re-told; the "Sad News-Snowflake" two-parter is told as: "Save Sweetheart", where the butcher is independent of the goat, the plants searched for saving the goat are in a singular place and adds the sub-plot of Theresa trying to keep one of the flock at bay, while Peter and Heidi climb the nearby mountains for the plants.
- Clara's training to being walking begins while Heidi's still in Frankfurt and progresses from there to episode thirty-eight.
- Elements from the two-part novel, including the religious elements are returned, sometimes loosely; Heidi's tendend prayers to the little star is based on her praying to God, to find a way to get her home to the Alm, inspired by Clara's grandmother's advice.
- A "terrible trio" group of villains are introduced, most prominent in the first third of the series, where they usually try to get Peter's secret cabin to themselves, especially from Heidi. Their trio ends when Karl moves away.
Critical reception
Worldwide titles
- : Heidi - London Live, Tiny Pop
France: Heidi - TF1
Norway*: Historien om Heidi - NRK Super
Latin America: Heidi 3D - Disney Channel Latin America and Nat Geo Kids
Germany: Heidi - ZDF and KiKA
Austria: Heidi - ORF1
Hungary*: Heidi - Minimax
Kazakhstan: Heidi - Balapan
Spain: Heidi 3D - CLAN and Canal Panda
Portugal: Heidi 3D - Canal Panda
Italy: Heidi - Rai YoYo
Brazil: Heidi 3D - Disney Channel Brasil
Switzerland*: Heidi - Télévision Suisse Romande
Slovakia*: Heidi - Dvojka
Turkey: Heidi - TRT Çocuk
Israel*: היידי - Yes Kidz
Australia*: Heidi - Nine Network
Poland: TVP ABC, Filmbox Family
United States: Heidi - Netflix
Slovenija*: Heidi- oto, pop
- The country has not aired Heidi, Girl of the Alps before this series.