Mattel and British studio Aardman Animations have teamed up to say “Noot Noot!” to a revival of the toyco’s quirky Pingu franchise about a young emperor penguin and his Antarctic family. 

Aardman’s Sarah Cox and Alan Thorpe are co-developing the series with Sidney Clifton, Rob David and Melanie Shannon for Mattel Television Studios, crafting a treatment that adds an “enhanced, modern touch” to the IP’s classic stop-motion style, according to a Mattel spokesperson.

This revival is looking to capitalize on growing social media interest in the Pingu brand that has been bubbling up over the past few years, ranging from viral tweets, to a TikTok filter, to Pingu meme pages on Instagram.

Created by Otmar Gutmann and Erika Brueggemann in the ’80s, Pingu debuted in 1990 on SF DRS in Switzerland and ran for 10 years. After HIT Entertainment bought the rights in 2001, a two-season revival hit CBeebies in the UK two years later.

The original claymation, stop-motion series followed Pingu as he navigated hijinks and life lessons such as trying to make popcorn (with disastrous results), delivering mail with his dad, helping his sister get rid of the hiccups and joining a hockey game. One of the show’s signature elements was its characters’ gibberish dialogue (often referred to as “Penguinese” or “Pinguish”), which helped Pingu overcome language barriers and succeed internationally. Its global reach eventually extended to India (Doordarshan), Australia (ABC), Kenya (KBC), Vietnam (HT7) and South Africa (SABC2).

Mattel picked up Pingu and a host of other franchises (including Bob the Builder) with its US$680-million acquisition of HIT Entertainment in 2011. And its TV unit teamed up with NHK and Polygon Pictures to produce a previous reboot called Pingu in the City that ran on Japan’s NHK ETV from 2017 to 2019.