Bamse
Encyclopedia
Bamse – Världens starkaste björn ("The world's strongest bear") is a Swedish
cartoon
created by Rune Andréasson
. The highly popular children's cartoon first emerged as a series of television
short films as well as a weekly half page Sunday strip
in 1966, before being published periodically in its own comic magazine since 1973.
Andréasson did all the artwork himself until 1975 and wrote all comics until 1990. Francisco Tora did all the illustrations from 1976 until he was joined by Bo Michanek in 1983. In the early 1990s several new writers and illustrators were hired, including Claes Reimerthi
and Tony Cronstam
. Andréasson continued to do the magazine cover illustrations until 1992.
The series somewhat changed direction when Bamse had children, specifically triplets
, in 1982. In 1986 he had a fourth child, Lille Skutt having one at the same time. Family life is now in focus, and here also the basic values shine through, like that of gender equality
. In 1989 Skalman noticed that Bamse's fourth child Brumma had Aspergers, which again brought up the subject of equality. The children did develop in real-time within the magazine, but seem to have been fixed in age since around 1990. They are now around seven years old, in a narratively advantageous eternal state as first-graders.
Both the early Sunday strips and the early magazines have today been reprinted as glossy hard-bound volumes.
In 1998 the themepark Bamses Värld ("Bamse's World" or "The World of Bamse") started as an attraction at the Kolmården Zoo. Here you can see a theater, eat pancakes and enter houses as Bamse's house, Little Hop's house, Shell-man's house and some more.
Bamse is sometimes confused with Rasmus Klump
, another bear who plays the starring role in a cartoon and wears similar clothes.
, and other subjects. They often deal with superstition
, and Skalman's sceptical views ("I only believe what I know") wins over those of his more naive friends. On the other hand, beings like troll
s, tomtar
and dragons
exist on a very real plane in most of the stories.
Bamse and his friends are very clear about their value
s. They are strongly opposed to racism
, bullying and violence
. Bamse is not only the strongest bear in the world, but also the kindest, often repeating his slogan "Nobody is the better for being beaten".
The original villain, a black wolf simply called Vargen ("The Wolf"), became a friend of Bamse after consistently being treated kindly. The only villain that is depicted as unredeemable is Krösus Sork ("Croesus Vole
"), a crude capitalist
who will do practically anything for money.
The later colour films have aired frequently on TV in Sweden and have been released on VHS
and DVD
. The black and white films had been unavailable to the general public for a long time, but were released on DVD by late 2006. The color movies were low budget productions with actor Olof Thunberg narrating and voicing all characters, but they are considered to be classics and the musical theme is easily recognized by most Swedes.
In 1993, a Game Boy
game (in Swedish
) was published loosely based on the Bamse characters. The game received generally poor reviews. The game was in fact little more than a sprite
replacement of Beam Software's Baby T-Rex, which does explain the game's setting and the "Bamse version" is not the only time this happened but the game went through the same procedure for other regions featuring other characters. The "Bamse version" however has not been officially released outside Sweden.
In October 2006, forty years after Bamse was created, Ola Andréasson, the son of creator Rune Andréasson, announced that an animated feature film will be made, featuring better animation, a full voice cast and having a budget of SEK
25 million. The movie's release date is undetermined, although an estimated date of 2012 has been proposed.
In this translation the dunderhonung was given the name magic honey. However, in the 1980s, Andréasson referred to it in English as thunder honey, which is the literal translation also used in the Netherlands and Belgium (donderhoning).
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
cartoon
Cartoon
A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...
created by Rune Andréasson
Rune Andréasson
Rune Herbert Emanuel Andréasson was a Swedish comic creator.Andréasson has created children's comics since 1944, mainly for the Swedish market, but his works have been published in several European nations...
. The highly popular children's cartoon first emerged as a series of television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
short films as well as a weekly half page Sunday strip
Sunday strip
A Sunday strip is a newspaper comic strip format, where comic strips are printed in the Sunday newspaper, usually in a special section called the Sunday comics, and virtually always in color. Some readers called these sections the Sunday funnies...
in 1966, before being published periodically in its own comic magazine since 1973.
Andréasson did all the artwork himself until 1975 and wrote all comics until 1990. Francisco Tora did all the illustrations from 1976 until he was joined by Bo Michanek in 1983. In the early 1990s several new writers and illustrators were hired, including Claes Reimerthi
Claes Reimerthi
Claes Reimerthi is a Swedish comic writer, having worked with characters such as The Phantom and Bamse. Reimerthi has written more than 100 stories about The Phantom and is a member of Team Fantomen, the Swedish "braintrust" that set the line of what is going to happen to The Phantom.During the...
and Tony Cronstam
Tony Cronstam
Tony Cronstam is a Swedish cartoonist.An illustrator of role-playing games for Target Games during the 1980s, he made his debut as a cartoonist with the future-based strip Provet in Svenska Serier . In 1990 he began drawing Bamse, and was the principal Bamse artist between 1998-2001...
. Andréasson continued to do the magazine cover illustrations until 1992.
The series somewhat changed direction when Bamse had children, specifically triplets
Multiple birth
A multiple birth occurs when more than one fetus is carried to term in a single pregnancy. Different names for multiple births are used, depending on the number of offspring. Common multiples are two and three, known as twins and triplets...
, in 1982. In 1986 he had a fourth child, Lille Skutt having one at the same time. Family life is now in focus, and here also the basic values shine through, like that of gender equality
Gender equality
Gender equality is the goal of the equality of the genders, stemming from a belief in the injustice of myriad forms of gender inequality.- Concept :...
. In 1989 Skalman noticed that Bamse's fourth child Brumma had Aspergers, which again brought up the subject of equality. The children did develop in real-time within the magazine, but seem to have been fixed in age since around 1990. They are now around seven years old, in a narratively advantageous eternal state as first-graders.
Both the early Sunday strips and the early magazines have today been reprinted as glossy hard-bound volumes.
In 1998 the themepark Bamses Värld ("Bamse's World" or "The World of Bamse") started as an attraction at the Kolmården Zoo. Here you can see a theater, eat pancakes and enter houses as Bamse's house, Little Hop's house, Shell-man's house and some more.
Bamse is sometimes confused with Rasmus Klump
Rasmus Klump
Rasmus Klump is a comic strip series for small children created in 1951 by the Danish wife and husband team Carla and Vilhelm Hansen...
, another bear who plays the starring role in a cartoon and wears similar clothes.
Protagonists
- Bamse, the main character, is a brown bearBrown BearThe brown bear is a large bear distributed across much of northern Eurasia and North America. It can weigh from and its largest subspecies, the Kodiak Bear, rivals the polar bear as the largest member of the bear family and as the largest land-based predator.There are several recognized...
who becomes the world's strongest bear by eating a type of honeyHoneyHoney is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...
called dunderhonung (lit. "thunder honey"), specially prepared for him by his grandmother. (Almost) anyone else who eats it, apart from Bamse's pet bee and his daughter, ends up with three days of stomachache. Bamse is also the kindest bear in the world, and is often seen helping those in need. The name Bamse comes from a Scandinavian word for "bearBearBears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern...
" or "teddy bearTeddy bearThe teddy bear is a stuffed toy bear. They are usually stuffed with soft, white cotton and have smooth and soft fur. It is an enduring form of a stuffed animal in many countries, often serving the purpose of entertaining children. In recent times, some teddy bears have become collector's items...
". "Bamse" can also translate to "giant", though that would be somewhat of a misnomer, as Bamse is rather diminutive in size compared to many of the other characters.
- Brummelisa is the daughter of a forester who could always rely on Bamse helping out; soon they fell in love. In 1981 they all went on a boat trip to the north of Scandinavia (financed by individual odd jobs), climaxing in a view of the midnight sunMidnight sunThe midnight sun is a natural phenomenon occurring in summer months at latitudes north and nearby to the south of the Arctic Circle, and south and nearby to the north of the Antarctic Circle where the sun remains visible at the local midnight. Given fair weather, the sun is visible for a continuous...
(an anti-climax to grandma's cat and mouse who expected it to look different); it was here that Brummelisa popped the question and after a long hard think the answer was yes. But the surprises didn't end there though as the newlyweds became parents to triplets: Brum, Teddy, Nalle-Maja. Brum is artistically gifted, but somewhat shy. Teddy spends a lot of time by himself, and loves reading and learning. Nalle-Maja is the most extrovert kid, and loves sports and activities. Once their personalities began to shine through Teddy gravitated towards Skalman who noticed what the others failed to; Teddy's clumsiness stems from his eyesight and only needed a pair of glasses. Nalle-Maja has inherited more than just her father's looks; she also inherited his ability to get strong from the dunderhonung. To prevent her from injuring herself or her brothers, Bamse's grandmother attempted a new dunderhonung recipe to avoid making her strong. She partially succeeded; Nalle-Maja draws strength from it, but also winds up with the stomach ache. Late 1985 the triplets were informed on the arrival of another sibling; Brumma.
- Lille Skutt ("Little Hop") is Bamse's and Skalman's best friend. He is a very fast but notoriously frightened white rabbitRabbitRabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world...
with a red bow tieBow tieThe bow tie is a type of men's necktie. It consists of a ribbon of fabric tied around the collar in a symmetrical manner such that the two opposite ends form loops. Ready-tied bow ties are available, in which the distinctive bow is sewn into shape and the band around the neck incorporates a clip....
. However, his ability to run quick and jump far (not to mention braving his fears whenever someone he cares about is in danger) has saved his friends' skins on more than one occasion. Lille Skutt is the village postman, albeit on a part-time basis. He also works part-time as the head chef of the local restaurant. Like Bamse, Skutt ended up marrying his girlfriend; Nina Kanin, best friend with Brummelisa. Nina and Skutt became parents to a son Mini-Hopp, a hyperactive kid with an apparent lack of fear.
- Skalman ("Shell-man") is an ingenious tortoiseTortoiseTortoises are a family of land-dwelling reptiles of the order of turtles . Like their marine cousins, the sea turtles, tortoises are shielded from predators by a shell. The top part of the shell is the carapace, the underside is the plastron, and the two are connected by the bridge. The tortoise...
who invents all sorts of things, including spacecraftSpacecraftA spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....
and time machinesTime travelTime travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
. He stores just about anything in his carapaceCarapaceA carapace is a dorsal section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tortoises, the underside is called the plastron.-Crustaceans:In crustaceans, the...
except for locomotives, spaceships or atlantic steamboats (and also firewood, due to him getting splinters in the back). Skalman seems to be a polyphasic sleepPolyphasic sleepPolyphasic sleep, a term coined by early 20th-century psychologist J.S. Szymanski, refers to the practice of sleeping multiple times in a 24-hour period—usually more than two, in contrast to biphasic sleep or monophasic sleep . It does not imply any particular sleep schedule...
er, and according to himself, his best invention is the food-and-sleep clock, whose calls he follows slavishly, even at times when sleep seems highly inappropriate. To this date, he has only ignored the alarm call a few times, including the discovery of a dinosaurDinosaurDinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
's egg, the birth of Bamse's children, and a state of deep depressionClinical depressionMajor depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...
due to the false belief that his carelessness had caused the death of Bamse's children. None of the other characters come close to Skalman's intellectual level and he is sometimes seen playing chess with himself (he has met and beaten the chess world champion). Rune Andréasson has stated that he brought the food-and-sleep clock into the series for much the same reason as the dunderhonung; during a dangerous adventure, Skalman could just pull something out of his carapace to save them, or help the trio with his intellect. That's when the food-and-sleep clock calls Skalman to sleep, forcing Bamse and Lille Skutt to think on their own.
Antagonists
- Vargen ("The Wolf") is a black wolf who was the original main villain of the comic; a criminal and a bully who at one point was named "World Champion of Evil" by his colleagues, but who later on proved to not be such a bad person if given a chance. Vargen grew up on the wrong side of the tracks and was introduced to a life of crime by his villainous stepfathers. When they eventually ended up in prison he knew that it was time to make a fresh start but his past turned against him as nobody wanted to give him the chance to better his life. Bamse, however, did, and eventually managed to reform the wolf by consequently treating with kindness. Vargen occasionally slips back into his old ways, but as far as the other wolves are concerned he blew it by joining Bamse's club.
- Krösus Sork ("CroesusCroesusCroesus was the king of Lydia from 560 to 547 BC until his defeat by the Persians. The fall of Croesus made a profound impact on the Hellenes, providing a fixed point in their calendar. "By the fifth century at least," J.A.S...
VoleVoleA vole is a small rodent resembling a mouse but with a stouter body, a shorter hairy tail, a slightly rounder head, smaller ears and eyes, and differently formed molars . There are approximately 155 species of voles. They are sometimes known as meadow mice or field mice in North America...
") is an evil capitalistCapitalismCapitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
; born as a banker's son he was forced to play second fiddle to his brother Slösus (rough translation "wasteus") who couldn't put a foot wrong. After Slösus later won a lottery (ticket no 88), Krösus forged his own ticket (no 89), switched the tickets, claimed Slösus' prize and let the unknowing Slösus get detained for forgery while coming to pick up his prize. Slösus was devastated to discover the truth after his release and they had a falling out. Meanwhile Krösus built up his fortune with blood money and let his 'cousins' do the dirty jobs. While Krösus has on occasion showed some small shred of conscience, he is still by far the most amoral and ruthless of the comic's villains; willing to do just about anything for profit.
- Kapten Buster ("Captain Buster") and his three clumsy sideman pirates, Rusken, Slusken and Stollen. (Approximate translation: "Rover, Sloven and Silly".) They are largely incompetent and unsuccessful, and have mostly given up their life at sea thanks to a tendency towards seasickness.
- Knocke & Smocke, ("Knocker & Socker") two large thugs with flat caps who have performed several unsuccessful criminal attempts. They usually rely mainly on brute force and are generally outwitted by Skalman or others.
- Reinard is a fox who became an addition to the crew in 2006. He is shown to engage in all kinds of villainy, from shoplifting to explicit attempts on Bamse's life (which, curiously, has resulted in no retribution, or even rebuking, from Bamse's side).
Moral values and criticism
The magazine has educational goals. On special "school" pages, the characters educate the reader about animals, foreign cultures, the UniverseUniverse
The Universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, including all matter and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space. Definitions and usage vary and similar terms include the cosmos, the world and nature...
, and other subjects. They often deal with superstition
Superstition
Superstition is a belief in supernatural causality: that one event leads to the cause of another without any process in the physical world linking the two events....
, and Skalman's sceptical views ("I only believe what I know") wins over those of his more naive friends. On the other hand, beings like troll
Troll
A troll is a supernatural being in Norse mythology and Scandinavian folklore. In origin, the term troll was a generally negative synonym for a jötunn , a being in Norse mythology...
s, tomtar
Tomte
A tomte , nisse or tonttu is a mythical creature of Scandinavian folklore. The tomte or nisse was believed to take care of a farmer's home and children and protect them from misfortune, in particular at night, when the housefolk were asleep...
and dragons
European dragon
European dragons are legendary creatures in folklore and mythology among the overlapping cultures of Europe.In European folklore, a dragon is a serpentine legendary creature. The Latin word draco, as in constellation Draco, comes directly from Greek δράκων,...
exist on a very real plane in most of the stories.
Bamse and his friends are very clear about their value
Value (personal and cultural)
A personal or cultural value is an absolute or relative ethical value, the assumption of which can be the basis for ethical action. A value system is a set of consistent values and measures. A principle value is a foundation upon which other values and measures of integrity are based...
s. They are strongly opposed to racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
, bullying and violence
Violence
Violence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g...
. Bamse is not only the strongest bear in the world, but also the kindest, often repeating his slogan "Nobody is the better for being beaten".
The original villain, a black wolf simply called Vargen ("The Wolf"), became a friend of Bamse after consistently being treated kindly. The only villain that is depicted as unredeemable is Krösus Sork ("Croesus Vole
Vole
A vole is a small rodent resembling a mouse but with a stouter body, a shorter hairy tail, a slightly rounder head, smaller ears and eyes, and differently formed molars . There are approximately 155 species of voles. They are sometimes known as meadow mice or field mice in North America...
"), a crude capitalist
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
who will do practically anything for money.
Films and other media
Six animated black and white short films were produced for television in 1966. In 1972, seven more animated shorts were shown in colour. In 1981, another two shorts were released. And in 1991, a direct-to-video movie became available.The later colour films have aired frequently on TV in Sweden and have been released on VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
and DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
. The black and white films had been unavailable to the general public for a long time, but were released on DVD by late 2006. The color movies were low budget productions with actor Olof Thunberg narrating and voicing all characters, but they are considered to be classics and the musical theme is easily recognized by most Swedes.
In 1993, a Game Boy
Game Boy
The , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
game (in Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
) was published loosely based on the Bamse characters. The game received generally poor reviews. The game was in fact little more than a sprite
Sprite (computer graphics)
In computer graphics, a sprite is a two-dimensional image or animation that is integrated into a larger scene...
replacement of Beam Software's Baby T-Rex, which does explain the game's setting and the "Bamse version" is not the only time this happened but the game went through the same procedure for other regions featuring other characters. The "Bamse version" however has not been officially released outside Sweden.
In October 2006, forty years after Bamse was created, Ola Andréasson, the son of creator Rune Andréasson, announced that an animated feature film will be made, featuring better animation, a full voice cast and having a budget of SEK
Swedish krona
The krona has been the currency of Sweden since 1873. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it, but especially in the past, it sometimes preceded the value...
25 million. The movie's release date is undetermined, although an estimated date of 2012 has been proposed.
Translations
In the 1960s there were a few translations of the series "Bamses skola", where the characters were given English names:- Bamse - Bamsy
- Skalman - Professor Shellback
- Lille Skutt - Little Frisky
- Vargen - Willie
- Farmor - Granny
- Katten Janson (literally Janson the Cat) - Sooty
In this translation the dunderhonung was given the name magic honey. However, in the 1980s, Andréasson referred to it in English as thunder honey, which is the literal translation also used in the Netherlands and Belgium (donderhoning).
External links
- Bamse - Official site
- Bamses Värld - Official site