Tita Tovenaar or TiTa Tovenaar (translation: Tita the wizard) is a Dutch children's television series, which was produced by the Nederlandse Omroep Stichting and ran between 1972 and 1974. At the time it was popular enough to inspire audio plays and a comic strip. Tita Tovenaar remained popular in repeats and was adapted into a 2005 stage musical. Between 2008 and 2009 it briefly returned to Dutch TV screens in a new version.
Tita Tovenaar is set in a castle in the clouds, where Tita the absent-minded wizard lives with his daughter Tika. She learns how to conduct magic, but her spells often have a different outcome since her father is so absent-minded. Other characters are Tato the magic monkey and the Grobbevogel bird, whose eggs create monstrous birds who terrorize Earth. Many episodes revolve around their magic endeavours and the effect they have on the people on Earth. [1]
In the second season new characters like Kwark the sorcerer's apprentice and Grobelia the witch and her mother Grobbema made their entry. [2]
The series was written by Lo Hartog van Banda [3] and the songs by Joop Stokkermans. [4]
Tita Tovenaar was quite popular at the time. It inspired novelisations, audio play records, songs, dolls, magic lanterns and a comic strip drawn by Frans Piët, the creator of Sjors en Sjimmie . [5] To this day the series is often repeated on Dutch public television.
In 2005 the series was adapted into a musical, produced by the Dutch theme park De Efteling and its theater Efteling Theater. None of the original actors returned: instead new actors were cast: Erik Brey (Tita), Manon Novak (Tika), Anne-Mieke Ruyten (Grobelia), Rop Verheijen (Kwark), Jette van der Meij (Grobbema), Sander Jan Klerk (Tom de Tuinman), Harry Slinger (Opa Tovenaar), Dieter Jansen (Grobbebol Geeltje) en Thijs van Aken (Grobbebol Broer). This musical version also became the basis of the 2008-2009 TV reboot. [6]
Efteling is a fantasy-themed amusement park in Kaatsheuvel, the Netherlands. The attractions reflect elements from ancient myths and legends, fairy tales, fables, and folklore.
Sinterklaas or Sint-Nicolaas is a legendary figure based on Saint Nicholas, patron saint of children. Other Dutch names for the figure include De Sint, De Goede Sint and De Goedheiligman. Many descendants and cognates of "Sinterklaas" or "Saint Nicholas" in other languages are also used in the Low Countries, nearby regions, and former Dutch colonies.
Bassie & Adriaan was a television program series focusing on the adventures and lives of a circus duo consisting of clown Bassie and acrobat Adriaan, played by real-life circus duo Bas and Aad van Toor.
Tom Puss is a Dutch comic strip, created by Marten Toonder. Together with Hans G. Kresse's Eric de Noorman and Pieter Kuhn's Kapitein Rob, it is regarded as the Big Three of Dutch comics.
Jamai Johannes Loman is a Dutch singer, musical actor and presenter who was the winner of the first series of Idols, the Dutch variant of Pop Idol.
The Stripschapprijs is a Dutch prize awarded to comic creators for their entire body of work. It is awarded annually by the Stripschap, the Dutch Society of comics fans, since 1974. The prize is non-pecuniary, but is considered the most important award for comics in the country.
Lodewijk Hartog van Banda was a Dutch comics writer.
Dutch comics are comics made in the Netherlands. In Dutch the most common designation for the whole art form is "strip", whereas the word "comic" is used for the (usually) soft cover American style comic book format and its derivatives, typically containing translated US superhero material. This use in colloquial Dutch of the adopted English word for that format can cause confusion in English language texts.
Theater Efteling is a theatre in the amusement park Efteling in the Netherlands. It was designed by Ton van de Ven and opened its doors in 2002.
De Bereboot is a Dutch children's puppet television programme from the 1970s written by Lo Hartog van Banda. 407 episodes were made for broadcast on NOS and AVRO.
Inbraak is a 1942 Dutch film directed by Alfred Mazure. It was based on his own comic strip Dick Bos and the first cinematic adaptation of this popular series.
Sjors & Sjimmie is a Dutch adaptation of the comic strip Winnie Winkle, specifically the character Perry Winkle from that strip. The difference between the American original and the Dutch adaptation is that Sjors (Perry) forms a duo with Africa-born Sjimmie. They are raised by Sally and the Colonel. The Colonel regularly finds himself on the receiving end of their pranks. In return Sjors & Sjimmie are outsmarted by their scheming classmate Dikkie, although they manage to stay the best of friends.
Theo van den Boogaard – also known as Theo Bogart – is a Dutch cartoonist. He first came to attention as an underground cartoonist in the early 1970s for the sexually explicit comics series Ans en Hans krijgen de kans. He is best known for co-creating Sjef van Oekel, a long-running comic strip based on the TV character, written by Wim T. Schippers. He received the 1989 Stripschapprijs for his body of work.
Peter van Straaten was a Dutch cartoonist and comics artist. He is best known for his political cartoons as well as his satirical observations of everyday people. He also had a newspaper comic strip Vader & Zoon, which ran in Het Parool for almost two decades.
Lambik is a Flemish comic book character from the Belgian comic strip series Spike and Suzy by Willy Vandersteen. In the English translations he is known as Orville or Ambrose. Lambik is the breakout character of the franchise and one of the most popular and recognizable comic book characters in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Panda was a Dutch comic strip series, created by Marten Toonder. After Tom Poes it was his second most successful and well known comic strip and very popular in foreign translations. It debuted in 1946 and ran until 1991.
Celebrity comics are comics based on the fame and popularity of a celebrity. They are a byproduct of merchandising around a certain media star or franchise and have existed since the mass media and comics came into existence in the 19th century. Celebrity comics are usually not held in high esteem by critics, because of their purely commercial nature. They are solely created to capitalize on media trends and therefore published so quickly and cheaply that drawings and narratives tend to be of very low quality.
Frans Piët was a Dutch comics artist, most famous as the original creator of the longest-running Dutch comics series of all time: Sjors & Sjimmie.
Robert van der Kroft is a Dutch comics artist, musician and disc jockey. He has been drawing the longstanding Sjors & Sjimmie comic strip since 1977, and Claire since 1988.
Lucky Luke is an animated television series based on the comic book series of the same name created by a Belgian cartoonist Morris.