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Badgers (animation)

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File:Badgerx3.png
The opening badger scene of "Badger Badger Badger"

"Badger Badger Badger" or "Badgers" is a Flash cartoon by British animator Jonti Picking. It consists of images of badgers doing calisthenics, a toadstool in front of a tree, and a snake in the desert. Accompanied by electronic music, a voice drones "Badger, badger, badger" over the animation, breaking tone to point out either "Mushroom!" or "A snake!"[1] One point of contention over the actual lyrics is exactly what the voice-over says in the snake announcement: it is most likely "Panic! A snake! Snake! A snake! Oh, it's a snake!".

The cartoon, published 2 September 2003, loops indefinitely. The first two badger scenes contain twelve badgers; subsequent badger scenes contain eleven badgers. After a long running time, the song becomes out of sync with the animation.

The cartoon brought Picking to the attention of MTV Europe, for whom Picking produced Weebl and Bob.[1] That cartoon series, together with the dancing badgers, helped Picking's website Weebl's Stuff win a People's Choice award from users of Yahoo! in the UK.[2]

Follow-up versions

There have been several follow ups to the "Badger Badger Badger" cartoon, including editions with holiday themes and those that parody of major films.

Holiday specials include both Halloween and Christmas versions. The "Halloween Edition", known as "Badgers 2", was the first follow up, created in 2003. It features zombie badgers on a black background with a scratching sound added to the music.[3] The next year, the "Christmas Edition" was debuted. The badgers wear Santa Claus hats in the snow. Rather than "badger badger badger", the music says, "Santa Santa Santa", "mushroom mushroom" becomes "presents presents", with a wrapped gift being shown, and an infant Jesus Christ in a manger is appears instead of the snake, set to "Hallelujah! Christ, it's a Christ, ooh, it's a Christ!"[4]

Several films are also parodied, including The Lord of the Rings, Snakes on a Plane, and Transformers. "The Lord of the Rings Special Edition" is based on a scene from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. In this version, the song says, "Here come, here come, here come the badgers" and the snake has the eye of Sauron.[5] "Badgers On A Plane" consists of a scene from a Snakes On a Plane trailer that includes badgers and a mushroom, which have been digitally edited into the scene, tumbling from their seats while a bit of the song plays in the background.[6] In 2007, "Big Ass Badgers" was released to spoof the Transformers film.[7]

A "Euro 2004 Edition" was also created during the UEFA Euro 2004 football championship, where the badgers wore England football jerseys to "footy, footy, footy" and "England! England! Goal! A goal! Oh, it's a goal, scored by England, England..."[8]

On television

  • On the CBBC television show Chute! the "Badger Badger Badger" song was shown in the episode with Ian Macneese. It was described as "something soothing and calm".
  • On RTE2's Apres Match, the panel use the song in response to Ryle Nugent's demand for more "pazazz" on the show
  • A parody of the song was used on the UK Disney Channel advertising The Emperor's New School.

Parody animations

  • Andrew Kepple released a spoof of "Badger Badger Badger" called "Badger Badger Polka" with polka music in the background and the head of the badgers superimposed over the head of men wearing lederhosen doing calisthenics with a circus tent in background.[9]
  • The Free State Project released "Porcupine Run", a cartoon featuring porcupines running for New Hampshire, which is based on the "Euro 2004 Edition".[10]
  • Valerie Kaplan and Steve Singer produced a Narbonic-themed version called "Gerbil, Gerbil, Gerbil".[11]
  • A group of artists put together a spoof of the Badger Badger Badger animation entitled "Potter Potter Potter", which features Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Severus Snape to the lyrics "Potter, Potter, Potter", "Weasley, Weasley!", and "Snape! Snape! Ooh, it's a Snape!"[12]
  • A very similar cartoon was used by PETA, but it was later withdrawn after controversy aroused due to the striking similarities becoming widely known.[13]

Allusions in the media

  • In Nickelodeon's Drake and Josh, Drake and Josh's school football team is called the Badgers, and a poster repeats the word badger numerous times.
  • The video series "Shortlist" made a clip on internet memes, listing the "Badger Badger Badger" animation as one of the top five internet fads of all time.[14]
  • Brick Frenzy has a lego mechanized version of a badger moving his arms up and down to the tune briefly.[15]
  • The animation has been referenced in the User Friendly comic several times in January 2004.[16][17][18][19]
  • Musician Tom Smith performs a version of the music entitled "Badger Pajamas".[20]
  • The arrangement of the bots is a subtle hint to the original animation in the top panel of Megatokyo 462: Tragic Deployments.[21]
  • In the popular online community Gaiaonline, if you examine one of the police badges in the shop, it has the description, "Badge badge badge badge mushroom mushroom..." [22]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Dwight Silverman (February 14 2004). "Computing Column". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2008-04-16. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ Jon Dennis (January 21 2005). "Dancing badgers help Weebl's website win award". The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-04-16. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ Halloween edition
  4. ^ Christmas edition
  5. ^ LOTR version
  6. ^ trailer - Weebl's Stuff
  7. ^ Big Ass Badgers - Weebl's Stuff
  8. ^ footy - Weebl's Stuff
  9. ^ Badger Badger Polka
  10. ^ Porcupine Run
  11. ^ Gerbil Gerbil Gerbil
  12. ^ PotterPotterMovie
  13. ^ Revver - PETA steals "badger badger badger" concept
  14. ^ PC World - Shortlist - Internet fads
  15. ^ brickfrenzy.com - Badger
  16. ^ 19th
  17. ^ 20th
  18. ^ 21st
  19. ^ 25th
  20. ^ Badger Pajamas
  21. ^ MegaTokyo - [462] tragic deployments
  22. ^ H.R. Wesley | Shopping | Gaia Online
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