Which Barbapapa are you?
July 25, 2008 9:39 AM   Subscribe

The Barbapapa family are shapeshifters. (In French, Barbapapa's name loosely translates to "Cotton Candy.") Barbapapa was lonely; thus he went on an adventure to find others of his species, only to find that his Barbamama had been laying dormant in the same garden where he'd been first discovered! He and Barbamama now have seven brightly-colored children. Here are all of their names.

• The first ten episodes of Barbapapa (1973) in German--although you can probably follow along easily, no matter what your native tongue.
Nine episodes in English.
Synopses of the books upon which the cartoon was based.
posted by not_on_display (37 comments total) 12 users marked this as a favorite
 
No, Barbital wasn't in the immediate family.
posted by not_on_display at 9:41 AM on July 25, 2008


Is this a Hannah-Barbara production?
posted by Kirth Gerson at 9:42 AM on July 25, 2008


Is this where they got the idea for Barbarella from?
posted by Bromius at 9:43 AM on July 25, 2008


Superlambananabarbapapa.
posted by Floydd at 9:44 AM on July 25, 2008 [4 favorites]


foreign language + 70s + children's entertainment + cartoon + on the internet

Does it get any better than that?
posted by DU at 9:45 AM on July 25, 2008 [2 favorites]


Aren't these just schmoos?
posted by PigAlien at 9:51 AM on July 25, 2008


These remind me of the blobbiemorphs, which were previously discussed on Metafilter.
posted by VulcanMike at 9:53 AM on July 25, 2008


IIRC, the new schmoo was based on a French cartoon
posted by the cuban at 9:53 AM on July 25, 2008


...but he couldn't change his feet back. So he started whining. That's why we call him Strong Sad.
posted by Smart Dalek at 9:54 AM on July 25, 2008 [1 favorite]


Clickety-click! Barba-trick!
posted by Kabanos at 9:59 AM on July 25, 2008


How to rid the world of Barbapapas: roll 'em in sugar and call 'em Peeps.
posted by grounded at 9:59 AM on July 25, 2008


WTF? You people are responding as if you've never heard of Barbapoppa. Is this possible?! I've hated these things for on 35 years.
posted by dobbs at 10:04 AM on July 25, 2008 [1 favorite]


My sisters (born 1969 and 1972) loved these books. The name sounded a little familiar, but as soon as I saw the pictures I remembered every one of their names.
posted by yhbc at 10:05 AM on July 25, 2008


Loved those books as a nipper
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 10:06 AM on July 25, 2008


I remember the little black one was a shaggy hippie. Didn't like that show.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 10:09 AM on July 25, 2008


Wow, I have remembered this show, but have never met anyone else outside of my family who had heard of it. Thanks for this post.
posted by bove at 10:12 AM on July 25, 2008


Ahhh, memories. Here's a cool ToyHack* for all my fellow ToyHackers and Barbapapa fans:

You'll need:
-Bag of balloons
-Sharpie Marker
-Imagination

Step one: Inflate balloons to varying sizes.
Step Two: Draw eyes, arms and mouth on balloons.

Voila! Instant Barbapapa action figures (If you want a Barbabeau, you'll either need a bunch of yarn or a very forgiving imagination)!

*Read: We wuz poor.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 10:18 AM on July 25, 2008 [1 favorite]


Holy crap! I had Barbapoppa's Ark as a little girl (born in '74) but had completely forgotten about it until this moment. I loved that book and am totally bidding on it on eBay for my kid now. Thank you!
posted by tits mcgee at 10:25 AM on July 25, 2008


Show me your magic Barbapapa.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 10:37 AM on July 25, 2008


I had Barbapapa's New House myself. Such a cute book.
posted by Epenthesis at 10:41 AM on July 25, 2008


i have never heard of these things or seen them. did i miss out on something?
posted by misanthropicsarah at 10:49 AM on July 25, 2008


PigAlien: "Aren't these just schmoos?"
Kirth Gerson: "Is this a Hannah-Barbara production?"

No, Shmoo's aren't Barbapapas. Not real Shmoos, that is. Easy to see the confusion, because Hanna-Barbera sucks!
posted by not_on_display at 11:09 AM on July 25, 2008


Aren't these just schmoos?

NO THEY ARE NOT. BARBAPAPA > SCHMOO.

Good lord.

WTF? You people are responding as if you've never heard of Barbapoppa.

I think it's mainly a Canadian/Euro thing. Most American kids I've known (and knew when i was a kid) had never heard of them, and looked at me with thinly-veiled condescension when i would talk about them.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 11:25 AM on July 25, 2008


I loved these things, and still remember the theme all these years later. Can't believe there's never been a MeFi post on them before.

They always reminded me of Weebles (they wobble but they won't fall down). Also, their houses were always pretty 70s cool, whether from the outside or the inside.

I'm going to have that song stuck in my head all day now. "Barbamama, Barbapapa..."
posted by stinkycheese at 11:26 AM on July 25, 2008


We own Barbapapa's New House in the 1978 Scholastic edition. We read it to our kids regularly, but it is by no means a real favorite (that would be Daniel Pinkwater's Big Orange Splot).

Hell, if I'd known how much the damned thing was worth, we would have ebayed it a long time ago...
posted by Chrischris at 11:29 AM on July 25, 2008


I see a, perhaps somewhat distant, familial relationship to Mr. Blobby. This Mr. Blobby may be a closer relative.
posted by StickyCarpet at 12:06 PM on July 25, 2008 [1 favorite]


StickyCarpet: "I see a, perhaps somewhat distant, familial relationship to Mr. Blobby. This Mr. Blobby may be a closer relative."

I think Mr. Blobby #1 is more closely related to Mr. Bill.
Mr. Blobby #2 is either Calvert DeForest (Larry "Bud" Melman) or StrongSad.

All of them likely descended from the same common ancestor.
posted by not_on_display at 12:47 PM on July 25, 2008


Mr Bloody is the Babapapa that grew up in Chernobyl.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 2:10 PM on July 25, 2008


Fucking Barbapapa. What a downer it was when it came on instead of Scooby Doo or Tom and Jerry.
posted by unSane at 6:25 PM on July 25, 2008


Man, I had the whole run of those books when I was a kid back in the 70s. I wonder if my parents still have them.
posted by cerulgalactus at 6:34 PM on July 25, 2008


They always reminded me of Weebles (they wobble but they won't fall down).

Ever try to drown a Weeble? Those suckers will fly out of the water like a bullet out of a gun.
posted by jonp72 at 9:07 PM on July 25, 2008 [1 favorite]


I used to have a few of the books when I was a kid. Had forgotten about them until Catatonia's song "Part of the Furniture", where she starts by singing "I'll be your Barbapapa".
posted by harriet vane at 11:58 PM on July 25, 2008


Thanks, I've been looking for english language Barbapapa's for years. I was really disappointed that Suspect video in Toronto didn't have them when I looked. When I was in Tokyo in the nineties they had several of those photo sticker machines (is there a name for those machines?) with the Barbapapa's on the stickers. Totally made my trip worthwhile.
posted by saucysault at 7:16 AM on July 26, 2008


Barbapapa! I loved the books when I was a little kid in French school. I still wish I could shapeshift to this day...
posted by vodkaboots at 7:20 AM on July 26, 2008


Like Tits McGee, born at a similar time, I too had Barbapapa's Ark as a kid. Also a bunch of other BP (plus TinTin, Spirou, Asterix) comics that I couldn't read because they weren't in English. We also had some squeezy rubber barbapapas, about fist-sized, perfect for the bath. Then again, my father was French.

I never saw a cartoon though, so thanks for this.

And as for the title, I'm totally the orange one.
posted by Hal Mumkin at 12:54 PM on July 26, 2008


Hal Mumkin: And as for the title, I'm totally the orange one.

I remember always relating to the black furry one myself.
posted by not_on_display at 5:55 PM on July 26, 2008


They can change their shapes and sizes --
very easily!


30+ years later I can still sing the song. Thanks for the links!
posted by phliar at 8:11 PM on July 26, 2008


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