June 29th -Pingu’s Dream (Banned Pingu Episode)

Today is the airing anniversary of an episode of a children's TV show that was once barred from air due to being too scary. Pingu is a stop motion TV show originating from Switzerland, but the series has become popular internationally, something attributed to the series lack of any real spoken language. Much like Simlish in the Sims, the penguins in Pingu speak a nonsense language known as Penguinese or Pinguish. Anyway, back to the spooky episode. The episode, titled Pingu’s Dream or Pingu Dreams depending on the release, depicts Pingu having a nightmare. The episode features an infamous one off character, a giant walrus*. This walrus is giant, moves in surreal ways, and you can tell if you let him, he would have eaten poor Pingu. Like, this walrus just looks creepy outside of context and in context is worse. I understand why the episode was cut from reruns. [EDITOR’S NOTE: There is some scholarly debate as to what type of animal is depicted trying to murder this funny little cartoon penguin. While the generally accepted term is Evil Walrus, some wildlife experts have suggested that the beast is closer in appearance to a leopard seal, a sea lion, or some invented blend of traits from these marine mammals. Perhaps this is accurate to a penguin’s nightmare; Pingu’s subconscious does not care for the distinction between a penguin’s natural predators, it just cares that Pingu does not want to be messily devoured. Science!]