Joe the Little Boom Boom (French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

: Joë chez les Abeilles / Joë petit boum-boum) was an animated

Animation

Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...

 television series first produced between 1960 to 1963 and later remade into an animated feature film

Feature film

In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...

 in 1973 (the English title for the film was Johnny in the Valley of the Giants).

The show and the film were created by Jean Image

Jean Image

Emeric Hajdu better known by his stage name Jean Image was a director, script writer and producer of French animation films. He emigrated to France in 1932 where he worked on films and eventually produced several shorts on his own...

, one of the leading French animators of his time.

The original series (1960 - 1963)

Joe is a kid who one day sees two youths trying to steal honey out of a beehive. Furious, he succeeds in stopping them from doing so. To thank him, the queen bee, Reine Fleur de Miel 145 (Queen Honey Flower 145), requests Bzz, her favorite adviser, to give him the size of an insect with help of a magic puncture in order to give him the opportunity to visit her kingdom of the bees as a sign of gratitude. Accompanied by his new friend Bzz, Joe discovers a kingdom full of surprises and dangers.

The film (1973)

In the 60-minute-long film, a group of boys encounter a spooky castle during a camping trip. The boys discover a very large man living there. The man traps the boys in a shrinking machine and reduces them to the size of flies. One boy, Joe, escapes and has an adventure in a beehive. When he gallantly saves the hive, the Queen Bee, Reine Fleur de Miel 145 (Queen Honey Flower 145) knights him. Eventually, they organize the bees and other woodland animals to attack the castle and rescue (and restore) his trapped friends.

Alternative titles

• בזיק ויויו (Bzik VeYoyo) (Israeli Title)
• Joë chez les Abeilles / Joë petit boum-boum (French title)
• Joe e le api / Joe e le formiche (Italian title)