I’m a kid of the 90s and thus I watched the TV series that were around at the time. Since I was just a kid, who knew no English, I was limited to watching the Dutch versions and occasionally English series. It not only made choices more limited, but in the end, it also helped me learn English. I probably can’t remember everything I watched, but there’s a good few. This post idea sparked when I came across some old TV tunes in my play list. Below you will find a list of my favorites incl. youtube clips! I will post the Dutch versions as that would be what I watched (if available). I think that will also give a great laugh for those of you who only know the English versions 😉
De Seend (English: Dynamo Duck)
Every kid loves fluffy animals and that’s what the makers of this series clearly understood: a baby duckling as a secret agent and a guinea big as a boss = winner!
Unfortunately the Dutch versions can’t be found anywhere, but the American ones are floating around youtube still! Hoozah!
I put this in here because just yesterday I remembered watching this a lot and since it’s my latest TV memory so to speak I thought it should be featured.
Rescue Rangers
I loved me some Chip & Dale. We had a ton of the short cartoons on video tapes when I was little and I adored Rescue Rangers.
I actually own 3 of the seasons on DVD and watched a few episodes. It’s hilarious only I don’t understand how on earth I ever understood the fly character who is called Zipper in Dutch.
Ducktales
The only series I remember watching religiously. Ever. This was watched, taped and rewatched until the next episode came along.
I personally love the Dutch theme song much more than the English one. The guy sings the song so much better!
Tik Tak
This was my favorite show when I was very little. It is actually Belgian, but features no talking. Therefore everyone and their mother can understand this. Here’s what an episode sort of looked like:
My favorite part were the sheep you can see at the end of the clip. Sometimes, but not always, there would be a dog amongst the sheep. The dog looked just like My Bobby, just watch the clip until the end and you will see what I mean! That was the added bonus! I also remember being able to do exactly what the girl in the book does aroun 3:00 into the video.
Sesame Street (Dutch: Sesamstraat)
Yes, I watched Sesame Street, but if you’ll watch this video you will see that the version I watched is totally different from the American one. For one, our Big Bird is blue and called Pino. We have our own actors and when I was little there were two additional puppets which are not in the American version (a dog, named Tommie and a mouse named Ieniemienie). By now they have added another one: a pig named plurk. Plurk, Pino, Ienieminie and Tommie represent the age groups of the children watching the programme. Below is the intro the way I remember it.
Pretty bad quality, but it took me ages to find this!
And there are of course tons more:
Telekids
Pippi Longstocking (Dutch: Pippi Langkous)
De Fabeltjeskrant
Barbapappa
De Snorkels (The Snorks I think they were called in English)
Seabert (It takes a while for the song to start about two thirds into the video)
Ovide en z’n Vrienden (Ovide and his gang in English apparently)
Nils Holgerson (Fun fact: If I had been a boy instead of a girl my parents would have named me Nils after this cartoon. They had the theme song taped from television just in case… They still do…)
Calimero
Pieter Post (E: Postman Pat. I actually watched this in English on BBC and refused to watch the Dutch version after a while)
Paulus de Boskabouter (Way older than me though!)
Darkwing Duck
Gummi Bears
Plons
Musti
etc.
etc.
etc.
Q: What did you watch when you were little?