Nico (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Nico was a 2001 Spanish
animated
television series produced by BRB Internacional
and the National Organization of the Spanish Blind
about the title character, Nico; a boy that is blind
. Blind people in the cartoon are usually referred to by the more politically correct term "visually impaired
" (invidente) regardless of how severe, or otherwise, their blindness is.
The series raised awareness of progresses being made in cities as they became more blind-friendly
. It also educated children about blind people.
Other characters include:
Many episodes happening in a believable
scenario featured a reduction in visibility (eg: smoke from a building on fire) where Nico would save the day by quickly telling people how to "see" without using their eyes, enabling them to, in the above case, escape the building before the fire spread.
ing?" and then proceeded to explain, in the given example, that blind people can ski if a guide skis in front of them with a speaker on his/her backpack to shout warnings at the skier, and the blind person following the sound of his/her guide's skis sliding on the snow. The example would then be followed by some sort of more or less comical note, to which Tom winked at the audience. (In the above case, Tom commented that crossing the path between a blind skier's guide and the blind skier can lead to accidents, while the accident depicted on screen isn't particularly that of the blind skier, but of the person who got in the way.) Often, these "Watch Out!" notes were a show of a much later episode.
Immediately afterwards, Nico's voice would give an advance of what the next episode would be about, while brief images of that episode appeared on screen.
During the credits, a comical sequence where Boris chased a dragonfly
was shown.
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
animated
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
television series produced by BRB Internacional
BRB Internacional
BRB Internacional is a Spanish animation studio which is best known for producing 1980s cartoon hits such as Around the World with Willy Fog, Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds and The World of David the Gnome....
and the National Organization of the Spanish Blind
ONCE
ONCE , or Organización Nacional de Ciegos Españoles , is a Spanish foundation founded on December 13, 1938 to raise funds to provide services for the blind and people with serious visual impairment....
about the title character, Nico; a boy that is blind
Blindness
Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...
. Blind people in the cartoon are usually referred to by the more politically correct term "visually impaired
Visual impairment
Visual impairment is vision loss to such a degree as to qualify as an additional support need through a significant limitation of visual capability resulting from either disease, trauma, or congenital or degenerative conditions that cannot be corrected by conventional means, such as refractive...
" (invidente) regardless of how severe, or otherwise, their blindness is.
The series raised awareness of progresses being made in cities as they became more blind-friendly
Universal design
Universal design refers to broad-spectrum ideas meant to produce buildings, products and environments that are inherently accessible to both people without disabilities and people with disabilities....
. It also educated children about blind people.
Characters
Nico is initially introduced as moving to a new school, where the rest of the main characters, his classmates, are introduced. In the first episode, he states that he progressively lost his sight, and was therefore integrated into a school for visually impaired people for the last few years. This is later changed to him being blind from birth: This was expressed explicitly in one episode, he tells a supermodel that has recently lost her sight that it is best to have been able to see once, than to never have seen like him.Other characters include:
- Tom, Nico's guide dogGuide dogGuide dogs are assistance dogs trained to lead blind and visually impaired people around obstacles.Although the dogs can be trained to navigate various obstacles, they are partially color blind and are not capable of interpreting street signs...
who every now-and-then makes side-comments to the audience. - Patty, Nico's neighbor, classmate, and best friend. She always ties her blonde hair in a pony tail.
- Oscar, a classmate that perpetually chews bubble gum, who always tried to trick Nico or Tom into tripping or getting into trouble. He feels that Nico is stealing his popularity.
- Flappy (so named because he wiggles his ears too much), Oscar's dim-witted and good-hearted, yet only, henchman. He is a bit egocentrical, believes he has psychokinetic powers, and has a short stature.
- Aisha, Nico's classmate of African descent who perpetually is trying to invent something. Seems to be allergic to Flappy.
- Tábata, Nico's baby sister
- Boris, Nico's family's ever-hungry pet chameleonChameleonChameleons are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of lizards. They are distinguished by their parrot-like zygodactylous feet, their separately mobile and stereoscopic eyes, their very long, highly modified, and rapidly extrudable tongues, their swaying gait, the possession by many of a...
, who more than changing color, changes his shape. Always seen chasing a bug. - Charlie, Nico's classmate of Japanese descent. He loves small creatures in general and carries a different insect or rodent around in his pocket in each episode hoping to care for it, much to the dislike of the creature in question. The creature always ends up escaping near the end of the episode, usually after interacting with Boris or Tom.
- Caifás, Nico's elderly, ill-humored, and very rich neighbor. He hates childrenFear of childrenFear of children, fear of infants or fear of childhood is alternatively called pedophobia, paedophobia or pediaphobia. Other age-focused fears are ephebiphobia and gerontophobia...
in general, but he hates blind ones even more so. On one occasion, for example, he built a robotic bat for the sole purpose of bothering Nico. - Nico's teachers
Episode structure
The episodes usually showed a modern city, but frequently featured improbable plots (one episode, for example, included a time machine that took a handful of characters to the future). Usually, there was a background story involving the animal characters Tom and/or Boris.Many episodes happening in a believable
Suspension of disbelief
Suspension of disbelief or "willing suspension of disbelief" is a formula for justifying the use of fantastic or non-realistic elements in literary works of fiction...
scenario featured a reduction in visibility (eg: smoke from a building on fire) where Nico would save the day by quickly telling people how to "see" without using their eyes, enabling them to, in the above case, escape the building before the fire spread.
Closure
Each episode closed with a "Watch Out!" (¡Cuidado!) segment narrated by Tom. It consisted of stating a little-known fact of what blind people can now do. Each segment typically started out with something along the lines of "You think someone that is visually impaired can't go skiSki
A ski is a long, flat device worn on the foot, usually attached through a boot, designed to help the wearer slide smoothly over snow. Originally intended as an aid to travel in snowy regions, they are now mainly used for recreational and sporting purposes...
ing?" and then proceeded to explain, in the given example, that blind people can ski if a guide skis in front of them with a speaker on his/her backpack to shout warnings at the skier, and the blind person following the sound of his/her guide's skis sliding on the snow. The example would then be followed by some sort of more or less comical note, to which Tom winked at the audience. (In the above case, Tom commented that crossing the path between a blind skier's guide and the blind skier can lead to accidents, while the accident depicted on screen isn't particularly that of the blind skier, but of the person who got in the way.) Often, these "Watch Out!" notes were a show of a much later episode.
Immediately afterwards, Nico's voice would give an advance of what the next episode would be about, while brief images of that episode appeared on screen.
During the credits, a comical sequence where Boris chased a dragonfly
Dragonfly
A dragonfly is a winged insect belonging to the order Odonata, the suborder Epiprocta or, in the strict sense, the infraorder Anisoptera . It is characterized by large multifaceted eyes, two pairs of strong transparent wings, and an elongated body...
was shown.
See also
- Blindness and educationBlindness and educationThe subject of blindness and education has included evolving approaches and public perceptions of how best to address the special needs of blind students...
- Blindness in literatureBlindness in literatureDifferent cultures through history have depicted blindness in a variety of ways; among the Greeks, for example, it was a punishment from the gods, for which the afflicted individual was often granted compensation in the form of artistic genius...
- BRB InternacionalBRB InternacionalBRB Internacional is a Spanish animation studio which is best known for producing 1980s cartoon hits such as Around the World with Willy Fog, Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds and The World of David the Gnome....
- ONCEONCEONCE , or Organización Nacional de Ciegos Españoles , is a Spanish foundation founded on December 13, 1938 to raise funds to provide services for the blind and people with serious visual impairment....