Mio Mao
- "Mio and Mao are two little kittens who are very curious about the world. What's inside that tree? And who's hiding inside the trunk? And in that bush... who's sniffing? First goes Mio, then Mao, then together. Finally they find that what seemed a scary moving figure was just a nice and friendly animal!"
Official website (the studio makes other great programs):
[Watch the one with the ants online - CLICK HERE!] (thanks User 62.232.209.114)
Lyrics and Music
Here are the lyrics to the MioMao theme tune:
- Mio Mao...Mio Mao! Lallallallalà
- Mio Mao...Mio Mao! Lallallallalà
And the music!
- (this is actually the soundtrack to an entire episode I think. I wonder which one it is?)
Pictures
This is Mio and Mao:
Here is a very large picture of Mio and Mao.
Episodes
Channel Five have been showing MioMao recently in the UK. There are 26 episodes in total, so maybe there will be another series of MioMao being shown soon.
The Monkey
Mio and Mao are curious about a mischievous creature who seems to be eating bananas in the trees.
The Hedgehog
Mio and Mao find a small, spiky animal collecting apples.
The Shell
Mio and Mao are playing on the beach when they come across a very strange motionless object.
The Tadpole
Mio and Mao spy a small creature swimming in the pond with a black tail. (SPOILER: it turns into a great big frog, which they then play with happily)
The Snail
Mio and Mao see an animal that looks a bit like a cabbage but has eyes on stalks.
The Owl
Mio and Mao are intrigued to find two yellow eyes staring at them from a tree.
The Mole
Mio and Mao discover a strange creature burrowing a hole.
- You can watch a low-quality mpeg of this episode here: http://bunker.tgv.net/meganimation/Video/mio_mao.mpg (2MB)
- This makes more sense than most of the rest of my life.
The Beaver
Mio and Mao discover a mysterious creature building a house out of a tree trunk.
The Piglet
The kittens play in the mud with their friend the piglet, and help it to clean itself up
Mio and Mao: The Piglet (Italy; 1976; 5 min) Claymation kitties Mio and Mao rumble and tumble their way into adventure with a muddy, mischievous piglet.
This morning Mio and Mao came across a piglet in a big puddle of mud. After both falling in the mud themselves, and getting scared when the piglet wiggled his ears, Mio and Mao manage to help out the piglet who got a bucket stuck on his head when he was looking for some food (after having eaten the mud puddle, improbably). The water from the bucket washed the mud off the piglet and they all played happily together.
Here's the muddy piglet with its head stuck in the bucket:
Here Mio and Mao have rescued the piglet from the bucket and are sitting on him:
- Dude, what were we just saying about things being NSFW?!
- Just a bit of kitten-on-piglet action. You should see it when their plasticine gets all mixed together!
- I hate it when that happens. It's hell separating out again in the morning.
The Hare
Mio and Mao meet a hare who loves to eat carrots.
The Hippopotamus
...
Other episodes
I have heard that other episodes feature ants, and bees. It would be nice to have a complete list.
Websites
- "les tribulations des chatons s’adressent d’abord aux plus jeunes téléspectateurs mais ratissent en fait un large public."
- the tribulations of the kittens, while aimed at young viewers, in fact draws in a wide audience.
http://www.zanimoenfolie.com/about38.html
http://www.bide-et-musique.com/song/1200.html
http://www.antoniogenna.net/doppiaggio/anim/mioemao.htm
http://www.meganimation.net/Animes/layout.php3?menu=menuda_m.htm&mainscreen=Html/miomao.htm
Films
This can't be them, can it?
A user elucidates:
- Hi, the film that's linked here isn't the same MioMao, just found this: http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=159465 The MioMao cats are fab!
The webpage concerned reads:
- Mio Mao a k a My Mao. 1970-Italy. PLOT DESCRIPTION: Giuda (Yves Beneyton) is a revolutionary of Maoist zeal who leads a march to China to promote sex to insure the movement will never die. Jean (Rosemary Dexter) has eyes for Giuda, but he encourages her to run off with an archaeologist. He convinces some nomads to kidnap another woman in the group, and his last friend elects to convert to Buddhism. Giuda arrives alone at the border of China and is turned away with the advise that a Maoist can practice at home. The disappointed man becomes a lonely beachcomber until Jean sees him one day from her window on an outbound airplane. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
I think there's been a mixup somewhere here. But thanks.
- I'm intrigued by this. Both MioMao and this film were made in Italy in the 70's. Maybe the TV series was inspired by the name of the film? Maybe there is a hidden communist subtext to the antics of the plasticine kittens?
MioMao News
NEW SERIES! "The first series of Mio Mao was made in the 1970s, and after a 30 year hiatus a second series was produced in 2005" [Wikipedia]
OUT-OF-DATE UPDATED NEWS UPDATE: MioMao is on TV in the UK right now! Five are showing it at 07:25 in the mornings on Sunday, as part of Milkshake!. It looks like this has caused a surge in interest in these lovable bundles of fun.
MioMao Chat
When is this entertainment exhibited?
- There's one more tomorrow: [broken link]
User 195.92.168.173 reports that MioMao is the best thing iv seen on tv and im 18 years old!. Honey, we're pushing 30 and we still lap it up!
See also: /a letter from Leah
URGENT UPDATE
Max writes in with a little piece of MioMao history, and some important news:
- hello there,
- thanks for all the great information about mio and mao. I was looking for quiet a while before I found your site.
- I saw the show when I used to live in London between 89 and 96. I now live in Los Angeles and have a little daughter whom I was trying to find the show for.
- thanks to the correct spelling and info on your page, I managed to get the full series on 3 dvd's from Poland for about 25 $ including shipping.
- here is the link: http://astabe.com/exec.1000/_item/id.8189
- cheers,
- Max
Thanks, Max!
- RECENT UPDATE: Helen writes to say, "Hello Max, I have tried to order the items from the polish site but cannot seem to get through checkout, how did you manage it please? Thanks, Helen"
- The Tongs aren't sure how often Max checks this site for his correspondence, however we have looked ourselves and are too baffled by the Polish to understand the process. Please write to admin@astabe.com for further assistance.
Recent questions
User 62.255.32.14: "i love mio an mao but none of the links work!! thanxs for making a site on them"
User 82.41.81.149: "my autistic son can't talk, but he started watching mio mao an now sings the theme tune!"
- This is great. The theme tune is irresistibly catchy. I have it in my mp3 playlist and I love it when it comes up.
User 86.138.51.7: "I am also interested in buying the mio mao dvds, my 3 month old loves watching it on tv but it has now finished; does anyone know if they sell them on amazon or locally in the uk?"
User 195.92.67.75: "This delightful and cheerful animation is so addictive and positively enchanting. I applaud the animators and creators of this fantastic idea, I would love to know more about the background and making of Mio Mia particularly for my son who is interested in animation and has recently graduated in film studies.....yes at 49 I am a fan of this "childrens" show! well done"
User 212.100.250.215: "William, 7 months 1st word, 'Mio'. First song, 'La la la la la!'"
User 1157129260 states that "i am besotted since i saw it on milkshake on channel 5. it is back on five in november however it is on their dvd - milkshake treats which you can buy on ebay. there is someone selling a lot of them. or even try channel five."
- - thanks, 1157129260, we'll check out ebay!
Bear writes in to say,
- I just watched this on Channel 5 - it's rubbish now it has been 'reversioned' to include a voiceover. However, it was the one where the piglet gets his head stuck in a bucket. I like how at the end the piglet gets so excited he subdivides into 4, then joins into 2 piglets. It messes with your head!