Lazy Town could be dismissed as just another brainless children's programme but this well thought out advert for healthy living is a multi million dollar revolution.
Lazy Town is the Icelandic kids' show that is sweeping the world in a quest to reduce childhood obesity. The friendly diverse characters and good versus evil, lazy versus healthy storylines keep children glued to the screen and deliver a valid, life-prolonging message.
The Story
The story starts when a little girl called Stephanie, who likes exercise, dancing and living healthily moves to stay with her uncle, the Mayor of Lazy Town. Here she makes many friends, all of whom are lazy. She also meets a super villain whose aim it is to make all residents into lazy junk food addicts and an athletic superhero who saves people in peril whilst reminding everyone of the benefits of exercise . The superhero eats “sports candy” i.e. fruit and vegetables. On the face of it, it sounds over simplified and patronising but the bright sets and costumes and kitsch tongue-in-cheek way in which the show has been produced ensures that it is fun and not too preachy. It is a puppet filled whirlwind of music, dance and comedy.
The Characters
- Sportacus – Lazy Town's healthy acrobatic action hero. He lives in an airship and is alerted to trouble by a crystal on his bright blue uniform. Sportacus is glucose intolerant and even a taste of it leaves him lethargic and useless.
- Stephanie – the new girl in town and the only other non-lazy person in Lazy Town. She helps Sportacus to inspire her friends into action. She wears pink and has pink hair.
- Ziggy – sweet obsessed and Sportacus' biggest fan. He always carries a lollipop or sweets and in his quest to be a super hero wears a cape.
- Bessie Busybody – the local gossip and only other adult apart from the Mayor, Sportacus and Robbie Rotten.
- Trixie – feisty, clever and Stephanie's only female friend.
- Stingy – spoiled and selfish and often seen driving around in his little car with silver hood ornament or pointing at random things and proclaiming “Mine”. Materialistic and egocentric but still part of the gang.
- Pixel – a computer geek with a gadget for everything. Especially for things which mean he doesn't have to exert himself. Like tying his shoelaces.
- Mayor Milford Meanswell – who loves Lazy Town but is too flustery and nervous to be a truly effective Mayor. Overweight, balding,Stephanie's uncle and with an eye for Bessie Busybody.
- Robbie Rotten - the bad guy. He spies on the people of Lazy Town from his underground lair and will do anything for a quiet lazy life. He has an ingenious disguise for every situation and wants Sportacus gone.
Facts
- Lazy Town is now on air in over 100 countries
- Lazy Town is a combination of CGI, puppets and live action. The only non puppets are Sportacus and Robbie
- Lazy Town is filmed in Iceland
- Each 25-minute episode costs £500,000
- The creator and Sportacus are one and the same – Magnus Scheving
- Times Online reported that Magnus built his own house from scratch where he now lives with his wife and 3 children
- Magnus was a carpenter and the 1994 European aerobics champion
- Lazy Town was first a book then a musical before becoming a TV show.
- The Independent reported that Magnus single handedly reversed the problem of childhood obesity in Iceland
- The Lazy Town stage show is now touring Britain
- Why does Sportacus have a moustache? Magnus Scheving told The Independent “All villains always have moustaches. No nice guys ever have moustaches. So, firstly, I wanted to break the mould. But also... what I found, from going around the world, was that kids who come from a small village, who have no money, no nothing, they can draw a moustache on themselves with a pen, and suddenly, they are Sportacus. They can put a hat on their head, and they are Sportacus.”
