der Rosarot Panther - pink panther

i still occasionally watch children's television as was recommended by the berlitz director. i would say that i understand more of it that i do, say, the news. but it can be incredibly boring. today, however, i ran across an old favorite: the pink panther.

alex and i always felt a little bit closer to the pink panther than other cartoons because our grandfather drew him for the insulation commercials. we learned how to draw him ourselves, although it appears neither of us inherited the drawing gene. if you asked me to draw the pink panther now you would get a bunch of circles overlapping each other. that's what i remember of the "pink panther technique".

anyway, i happened upon an episode of the pink panther that i remember very well from childhood. it's the one where the pink panther is paul revere. you know which one i'm talking about, don't you?

now, the charm of the pink panther was that there was no talking. alex and i just grooved to the pink panther music while we watched. but in germany, there is a narrator. granted, the german kinder don't know much about the revolutionary war. it's probably not something they learn in school. but as i watched more i realized that the narrator, while explaining that the guys in red were the english, and that they had tea in their ships, was also telling the kids what was going on in the cartoon. "now the pink panther is trying to steal an english horse, but the english horse sends the pink panther down a manhole and covers it up. he's too smart for the pink panther." (this is roughly translated. i don't actually know what "manhole" is in german.)

the narration simultaneously fascinated me and totally disturbed my viewing experience. i wondered if they narrated other episodes involving less historical context. maybe they are narrating for blind german children, i thought. or perhaps the germans just assume a lower level of comprehension from their children than americans. whatever the reason, i just wanted to hear that smooth pink panther jazz.

i was tempted to turn it off, but i just couldn't stop watching. plus, "die Schlümpfe" were on next. if they narrate the pink panther just think what the smurfs will be like! i just love Papa Schlumpf and Schlumpfine. they're schlumpftastic! (in case you're wondering, la la la la la la is the same in german.)