De Bereboot is a Dutch children's programme from the 1970s written by Lo Hartog van Banda

Lo Hartog van Banda

Lodewijk "Lo" Hartog van Banda was a Dutch comics writer.Working for the Toonder Studio's he co-wrote Aram, Kappie, Panda, Tom Puss and his own creation Koning Hollewijn. When Marten Toonder went to Ireland, Lo Hartog van Banda left the studio...

. The first season was broadcast by NOS

Nederlandse Omroep Stichting

The Nederlandse Omroep Stichting , English: Netherlands Broadcasting Foundation, is one of the broadcasters in the Netherlands Public Broadcasting system...

 from October 2, 1976 to April 29, 1977. After a transfer to AVRO

AVRO (broadcaster)

AVRO is a Dutch public broadcasting association operating within the framework of the Nederlandse Publieke Omroep system.-Television programmes:* Andermans veren...

 the second season ran from October 1, 1977 to September 30, 1978. No less than 407 episodes were made.

Leading characters

De Bereboot is kept afloat by a three-piece line-up; the white-moustachioed captain Brom (Grouch), a young panda called Maatje (Buddy) and a technician by the name of Brilbeer (Speccy Bear).

Supporting characters

• Neel; landlady of resident pub Het Zeemanshuis (The Sailor's Home). This hippopotumus has a one-sided crush on the captain and loves to give him cuddle names.
• Kokki; the pub's Italian chef. Whenever something goes wrong he says "Santa Hoopla".
• Jimmy Bril (Jimmy Specs); a pop singer.
• Professor Knobbel (Dr. Knob); a mad genius who invents ill-working gadgets.
• Fred de Kei (Fred Rock); business-pig who fails to see beyond the dollar-signs in his eyes.
• Teun; a farmer whose eggs are transported by the bears.
• Guus Hap (Gus Bite); an ostrich who eats anything within eyesight to return it as a real surprise-egg.
• Alida; a snake who lives underwater. She insists on being referred to as a lady.
• Lorrelies; this mermaid is the only one for whom the captain shows his sensitive side.
• Juf (Miss); a strict school-teacher. She moved to Stupid Toddler's Island (Dutch; Dommedreumesseneiland) to supply the well-needed education.

Plot

The three bears enter the pub and start a conversation with Neel; halfway subject switches to one of their adventures. Because of the five-minute slot these were serialised over the course of two to five episodes, and oftens took place at the silliest of theme-isles.
A few examples are the above mentioned Stupid Toddler's Island that served as a boobytrap for a robber who took great delight in claiming kids' pocket-money; Cake Island, where two bakers are constantly feeding this greedy geezer with pastries; Hat Island, where one's status can be judged by the size of his hat. The bears had even the (mis)fortune of meeting the permanently water-eyed inhabitants of Cryland (who referred to the captain as being fat when he told them to stop crying).

Side-project

During their AVRO

Avro

Avro was a British aircraft manufacturer, with numerous landmark designs such as the Avro 504 trainer in the First World War, the Avro Lancaster, one of the pre-eminent bombers of the Second World War, and the delta wing Avro Vulcan, a stalwart of the Cold War.-Early history:One of the world's...

 days the bears also hosted the Wednesday afternoon show Berebios (Bear's Flicks) at the local cinema with Fred selling the tickets. Apart from their own adventures they also aired Dutch-dubbed cartoons (Hanna-Barbera

Hanna-Barbera

Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century...

, The Adventures of Tintin

The Adventures of Tintin

The Adventures of Tintin is a series of classic comic books created by Belgian artist , who wrote under the pen name of Hergé...

 and their Scandinavia

Scandinavia

Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...

n peer Rasmus Klump

Rasmus Klump

Rasmus Klump is a comic strip series for small children created in 1951 by the Danish wife and husband team Carla and Vilhelm Hansen...

). After cancellation of De Bereboot, the Wednesday slot changed its name into Kinderbios (Kid's Flicks) and remained for about a decade.

Merchandise & popularity resurgence

The images of Brom, Maatje and Brilbeer appeared on merchandise ranging from erasers to balloons; the latter even guesting in one of the episodes. A six tune sampler was available at a now defunct supermarket-chain as a taster of the album-formats.

In 1991, nine year after re-runs of the first season, De Bereboot was introduced to the new generation; this time on TROS

TROS

TROS is a Dutch television and radio organization part of the Netherlands Public Broadcasting...

. The original theme-tune was replaced with the one used for the AVRO

Avro

Avro was a British aircraft manufacturer, with numerous landmark designs such as the Avro 504 trainer in the First World War, the Avro Lancaster, one of the pre-eminent bombers of the Second World War, and the delta wing Avro Vulcan, a stalwart of the Cold War.-Early history:One of the world's...

-season and the episodes were slotted together as one. Later children's channel Kindernet

Kindernet

Kindernet was the first commercial television station in The Netherlands. It started on 1 March 1988. It broadcast programmes, most of them were cartoons. Their final broadcasting was on 31 December 2004...

 (now Nickelodeon

Nickelodeon (TV channel)

Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...

) took over with more success; by 2000 new merchandise was available including double VHS-tapes. These have yet to be converted onto DVD.