| Musti | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Children's show, Animated series |
| Created by | Ray Goossens |
| Country of origin | Belgium |
| Original language | Dutch |
| Original release | |
| Network | B.R.T. (nowadays the VRT) |
| Release | 1968 |
Musti is a Flemish animated children's television series created by Ray Goossens. It first aired in 1968, but new episodes have been made over the decades in more sophisticated animation, even going to 3D animation from 2007 on.
Musti is a small childlike anthropomorphic cat. He lives with his parents and friends Mr. Rabbit, Miss Tortoise, Miss Hedgehog and Mr. Dog. The stories are simple tales, usually not longer than five minutes in length. The show's target audience are toddlers.
In total, 156 episodes have been made, airing in Belgium, the Netherlands, Canada, Turkey, Japan, Portugal, and 18 other countries.
In 2007, a new television series has been created. Instead of the flat 2D images with a white background, the new series is entirely rendered in 3D. The new series airs in Belgium, The Netherlands, Israel, Norway, Japan, Croatia, Portugal and the United States on BabyFirst TV. Al-Jazeera also airs the series throughout the Arabic world.[1]
The original narrator was Rachel Frederix. Since 2007, her successor is Kristel Van Craen.
In the Netherlands, Musti appeared on television in 1980. The narrators were Arnold Gelderman and Marijke Merckens. The series was shown on BabyFirst TV in the United States.
In France, Belgium and Canada, the narrator since 2007 was Emmanuelle Delchambre.
The Flemish publisher Standaard Uitgeverij carries an extensive portfolio of Musti children's books, targeting children 3–6.
Another publisher Dupuis, printed a number of Musti children's comics in French, based on its appearances in the magazine Bonne Soirée.
Recently, a number of educational software programs were developed with Musti as the lead character. They are currently only available in Dutch.