The Shit I Used To Watch On TV: 2016

Saban's Adventures of Pinocchio

The Adventure of Pinocchio, was transmitted early mornings during the summer hols during the early 90's. Now don't be fooled into thinking this colossal sized Japanese cartoon series had much to do with the wishy washy child-friendly Disney movie, oh no! this Pinocchio was a little fucker. I first clocked his adventures when I awoke from a bad hangover, and didn't quite believe what I was seeing, our wooden hero was about to dig the beating heart from a sleeping boy (yeah! check episode 5). But after this baptism of fire I was hooked. Pinocchio or Pinoke as his gang called him was usually getting into all kinds of bother from breaking into pyramids to ripping off villagers with dubious scams. His father and creator Gapeto was a put upon drip who was so nauseatingly sickly sweet, half the time you wanted to bash his head in. Pinoke on the other hand swung pendulum-like from a murdering little fucker to a righteous little prick.

The Boring Facts

Pinocchio: The Series, also known as Saban's The Adventures of Pinocchio and known in Japan as Mock of the Oak Tree (樫の木モック Kashi no Ki Mokku?) in Japan, is a 52 episode anime series by Tatsunoko Productions first aired on Fuji Television in 1972, which was edited by Saban in 1990. The story is based on the novel The Adventures of Pinocchio by Italian author Carlo Collodi.

Unlike the lighter, more cheerful tones of the Disney Version and Nippon Animation's version Piccolino no Bōken, this series has a distinctly darker, more sadistic theme, and portrays the main character, Pinocchio (Mock), as suffering from constant physical and psychological abuse and freak accidents.

The series was adapted into English in the 1990s by Saban Entertainment under the title Pinocchio: The Series (colloquial also known as Saban's (The) Adventures of Pinocchio). This version was shown in the United States on weekday mornings on HBO in 1992.

A separate English version was created by Jim Terry (Force Five). Titled The Adventures of Pinocchio, it consisted of several episodes edited together to create a 90-minute movie. This version, released on video in 1989, was dubbed by Harmony Gold, using different voice actors than the Saban version.

The on-screen title was given as 'Pinocchio The Series', to emphasize the fact that this was an independent production, unrelated to the Disney feature.

This version of tells a story of an extremely gullible, naive and morally confused wooden doll/marionette brought to life by a mystical turquoise-haired fairy. Pinocchio (Mock) is characterized as having many character faults which he must learn to overcome in order to be worthy of being granted humanity. Some of these character faults include selfishness, sarcasm, insensitivity, indolence, obstinacy, over- trusting, self-pity, stupidity, disobedience, compulsive lying, arrogance, greed, cowardice, recklessness, cruelty, foolishness and an inability to learn from mistakes.

For example, during the fifth episode, 'What is a Heart', Pinocchio actually resorts to committing attempted murder to acquire a child's heart because he thinks it will help him become a real boy.[4] In the tenth episode, 'When my nose gets longer', Pinocchio is forcefully adopted by a Nobleman and becomes a Prince, whereupon he becomes so corrupted with wealth and privileges that he becomes extremely sarcastic and ironic to his servants and charges about his adopted father's estates on horseback, randomly riding down any person who gets in his way, whilst laughing at the terror, indignity and danger inflicted upon others for his personal amusement. Pinocchio is of course severely punished by the blue fairy for these acts of utter selfishness who makes his nose turn into a small tree. Pinocchio is consequently disowned and cast out naked into the wilderness by his adopted father who can't stop laughing at him as he is dragged away crying out in vain for mercy. The episode ends with a forlorn Pinocchio weeping sarcastically as he fumbles through the castle's surrounding brambley undergrowth, naked and cold because his ex-adopted father has taken away his expensive attire. There are clearly illustrated scratches etched into the wood of his body from the surrounding vegetation. The sequel episode sees Pinocchio transform into a small tree with a face and with roots fixed deep into the soil so that he can no longer move. He is eventually found by a wood cutter who chops him down and sells him as a novelty singing tree. In the last episode, he is even shot.

Throughout the entire series Pinocchio (Mock), partly due to his own delinquency and repetitive disobedience, must undergo other costly ordeals of hardship and pain in which he is continuously tormented, persecuted, taunted, hectorized, chastised, assaulted, picked on, humiliated, tricked, ridiculed, ostracised, beaten, downtrodden and subjected to degrading and inhumane treatment. Its plain depiction of the austere reality of what it would be like to be literally subhuman growing up in a world of danger and hardship, makes this another good example of traditional Japanese stories, which teach moral observance through tough endurance.

The cultural backdrop of these episodes seem to suggest an alpine region during the mid to late 19th century, only with an added mythical theme which includes creatures such as vampires, fairies, witches, dragons, demons and mermaids as well as talking animals and not to mention of course a living puppet. Such backdrops could include countries such as Switzerland, Austro-Hungary or even the Papal States or the Alps regions of Northern Italy.

01 "The Puppet is Alive!"