The World of David the Gnome facts for kids
Quick facts for kids David, el Gnomo (alias The World Of David The Gnome & "David, the Gnome") |
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Title screen of original David el Gnomo opening
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| Genre | Fantasy |
| Created by | Will Huygen & Rien Poortvliet Claudio Biern Boyd |
| Directed by | Luis Ballester |
| Voices of | Matilde Conesa José María Cordero Ángel Egido Paco Hernández |
| Narrated by | Teófilo Martínez |
| Country of origin | Spain |
| Original language(s) | Spanish |
| No. of episodes | 26 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Claudio Biern Boyd |
| Producer(s) | Micheline Charest Ronald A. Weinberg |
| Running time | 24 minutes |
| Production company(s) | BRB Internacional Televisión Española |
| Distributor | BRB Internacional |
| Release | |
| Original network | TVE1 |
| Original release | 26 October 1985 – 19 April 1986 |
| Chronology | |
| Followed by | Wisdom of the Gnomes The Great Adventure of the Gnomes The Gnomes in the Snow The Fantastic Adventures of the Gnomes The New World of the Gnomes |
The World of David the Gnome is a fun animated TV show from Spain. Its original name was David, el Gnomo. The show is based on a children's book called The Secret Book of Gnomes. This book was written by Dutch author Wil Huygen and illustrated by Rien Poortvliet.
The TV series was made in Spain by BRB Internacional and Televisión Española. BRB Internacional also created other famous cartoons like Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds. The show has 26 episodes. There's also a spin-off series called Wisdom of the Gnomes.
For English-speaking viewers, the show was called The World of David the Gnome. It was made by a Canadian studio called CINAR with Miramax Films. The famous actor Christopher Plummer narrated the show. Tom Bosley was the voice of David the Gnome. This version of the show aired on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. from 1988 to 1995.
Contents
What are Gnomes Like?
This TV series shows gnomes as very kind creatures. They are about 15 centimeters (6 inches) tall. They weigh between 250 and 300 grams (8 to 10 ounces). Gnomes live in different places, so there are different types. Some live in forests, gardens, or farms. Others live in houses, sand dunes, or even Siberia! There are also "gypsy" gnomes who travel a lot.
Gnomes usually live for about 400 years. But some gnomes in the Balkans lived to be 550 years old!
David and his wife live in cozy caves or holes under trees. They often share their homes with mice and crickets. Gnomes mostly eat plants. Forest animals help them travel long distances quickly. Gnomes also work to fix problems caused by humans. They can even use telepathy (reading minds) and mind control.
Their main enemies are trolls. Trolls are mean and clumsy creatures. They often cause trouble for gnomes and other forest animals. There are also gnome poachers who try to catch gnomes.
Meet the Characters
- David – David is a forest gnome. He is 399 years old, which makes him one of the oldest gnomes. Gnomes usually live for 400 years. David is a doctor. He uses his knowledge of things like hypnosis and acupuncture to help animals and other gnomes. His best friend is Swift the fox. David can also whistle for a special bird that takes him wherever he needs to go quickly. Sometimes he travels in a basket carried by the bird. Tom Bosley voices David.
- Lisa – Lisa is David's wife. She is the same age as David. They have two children, Lily and Harold. Lisa takes care of their home. She also joins David on his adventures and helps him. Jane Woods voices Lisa.
- Swift the Fox – Swift is David's best friend. He lives in the forest and is always ready to help David travel. Swift is known for being very fast and loyal. Vlasta Vrána voices Swift.
- The Trolls – There are four main trolls in the series: Pit, Pat, Pot, and Holler. They always try to bother the gnomes. Holler is the only one who can think clearly among them. Trolls have some magical powers. But they are not very smart. Their biggest weakness is sunlight. If direct sunlight touches them, they turn into stone! A.J. Henderson voices Holler, Marc Denis voices Pit, Rob Roy voices Pat, and Adrian Knight voices Pot.
- Susan – Susan is David and Lisa's granddaughter. Barbara Pogenmiller voices Susan.
- King – The King is voiced by Richard Dumont.
- Paul – Paul is David's twin brother. He looks a bit different from David. Paul has a normal mustache, while David has a handlebar mustache. Paul's jumper is a darker blue, and his hat is dark blue (David's is red). Their trousers and boots are also different colors. Walter Massey voices Paul.
Episode Guide
David the Gnome has twenty-six episodes. Each episode is about 24 minutes long. In the United States, the show first aired from January 4, 1988, to February 8, 1988. Here are the English episode titles and what they are about:
| No. | Title | Original air date | U.S. airdate | |
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| 1 | "Good Medecine" | 26 October 1985 | 4 January 1988 | |
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David talks about the daily life of gnomes. He explains his job as a doctor. He once saved a goat who swallowed a wire and a badger with a splinter. David also mentions that trolls are their enemies.
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| 2 | "Witch Way Out" | 2 November 1985 | 5 January 1988 | |
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Lisa worries when David doesn't come home. He was helping a deer. On his way back, David and Swift are caught by trolls. Lisa dresses as a witch and uses a sleeping potion to rescue them.
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| 3 | "David to the Rescue" | 9 November 1985 | 6 January 1988 | |
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David goes to Italy to help a sick gnome girl. She ate a strawberry with pesticide. David finds a special flower to cure her. He outsmarts a troll named Pot, who turns to stone in the sunlight.
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| 4 | "The Baby Troll" | 16 November 1985 | 7 January 1988 | |
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Lisa explains gnome clothes. David helps two deer with locked antlers. He then saves a baby troll stuck in a river, even though trolls are enemies. A farmer had put the baby troll there.
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| 5 | "Little Houses for Little People" | 23 November 1985 | 8 January 1988 | |
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David explains how gnomes build their homes. Many gnomes and animals help. David and Lisa help a deer with a broken leg. Later, David removes pine cones from another deer's throat.
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| 6 | "The Wedding that Almost Wasn't" | 30 November 1985 | 11 January 1988 | |
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It's winter, and David and Lisa go to a gnome wedding. Trolls try to ruin it by starting a fire. Gnomes use traps and snow to stop the trolls.
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| 7 | "To Grandfather's House We Go" | 7 December 1985 | 12 January 1988 | |
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David's granddaughter, Susan, visits. A witch's cat tries to get into David's house but falls into a trap. David lets the cat out. The cat's adventures inspire the witch to write "Little Red Riding Hood."
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| 8 | "Ghost of the Black Lake" | 14 December 1985 | 13 January 1988 | |
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David learns how gnomes make glass. The king asks David to find stolen gold thrown into Black Lake by trolls. David gets help from an otter and outsmarts the trolls.
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| 9 | "Kingdom of the Elves" | 21 December 1985 | 14 January 1988 | |
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David describes how gnomes make pottery. He helps a deer with barbed wire around its neck. Swift gets sick from poisoned food. David gets help from the king of the elves to get back at the trolls.
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| 10 | "The Magic Knife" | 28 December 1985 | 15 January 1988 | |
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David journeys to the Himalayas and India to find a special knife. He faces Holler the troll and his spiders in a temple built over a volcano. David uses sneezing powder to escape.
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| 11 | "Young Dr. Gnome" | 4 January 1986 | 18 January 1988 | |
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David's nephew Jonathan visits. He doesn't want to be a doctor. A rumor spreads that David is sick. Jonathan learns about David's good deeds and decides to become a doctor. They stop a hunter.
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| 12 | "Happy Birthday to You" | 11 January 1986 | 19 January 1988 | |
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David talks about gnome childhood. He takes Susan to a birthday party. Men from the city are cutting down trees. Trolls crash the party, but a bulldozer accidentally helps the gnomes.
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| 13 | "The Siberian Bear" | 18 January 1986 | 20 January 1988 | |
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David gets a message from the king of Siberia. He and Lisa travel there with Swift. David helps save a bear stuck in a tall tree.
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| 14 | "Foxy Dilemma" | 25 January 1986 | 21 January 1988 | |
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Susan visits a sawmill with David. Swift gets caught in a trap. A boy named Tom gets stuck in a river. David sends an eagle to rescue Tom, and other gnomes free Swift.
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| 15 | "Three Wishes" | 1 February 1986 | 22 January 1988 | |
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A poor woodsman saves Lisa. David grants him three wishes. The woodsman wishes to be rich, but it causes problems. David helps him, and the woodsman learns to wish wisely.
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| 16 | "Ivan the Terrible" | 8 February 1986 | 25 January 1988 | |
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David and Lisa go to Siberia to stop a mean gnome named Ivan. Ivan is stealing furs and giving gnomes a bad name. David teaches Ivan a lesson with help from a man and an owl.
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| 17 | "Rabbits, Rabbits Everywhere" | 15 February 1986 | 26 January 1988 | |
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David and Lisa go to Holland to help farmer gnomes. Many rabbits are trapped on a small island due to heavy rain. Gnomes build rafts and, with Swift's help, save the rabbits.
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| 18 | "Any Milk Today?" | 22 February 1986 | 27 January 1988 | |
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David remembers when his children were young. The milkwoman didn't deliver milk. David, Harold, and Lily go to help. Harold gets into trouble, and David teaches him to be careful.
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| 19 | "The Shadowless Stone" | 1 March 1986 | 28 January 1988 | |
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David and Lisa are asked by King Conrad to find a stolen treasure, the shadowless stone. They travel to the island of Mentoa. Trolls guard the stone, but only kind hearts can leave the mountain.
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| 20 | "Friends in Trouble" | 8 March 1986 | 29 January 1988 | |
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David and Lisa learn a hunter is trapping birds. David's friend, the flycatcher, is caught. David goes to the city and, with guinea pigs' help, frees all the trapped birds from a pet store.
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| 21 | "Airlift!" | 15 March 1986 | 1 February 1988 | |
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David's friend Cosmo worries about bats starving because humans are poisoning insects. Gnomes make baskets and geese transport the bats to a hospital for hibernation.
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| 22 | "Big Bad Tom" | 22 March 1986 | 2 February 1988 | |
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David and Lisa go to a birthday party. They cure David's twin brother Paul's cold. A mean cat named Tom picks up a gnome girl. Friendly cats help rescue her.
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| 23 | "Kangaroo Adventure" | 29 March 1986 | 3 February 1988 | |
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Susan finds an X-ray of Australian Prince Rex. David tells Susan how he and Lisa went to Australia. David helped young Rex, who was shorter than his brother, by telling him to drink fruit punch.
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| 24 | "The Careless Cub" | 5 April 1986 | 4 February 1988 | |
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David and Lisa meet a wolf whose cub is sick from poisoned meat. They search for a special plant to cure the cub. Trolls snatch Lisa but let her go when they learn a wolf will die.
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| 25 | "The Gift" | 12 April 1986 | 5 February 1988 | |
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David wants to give an old family pocketwatch to a human doctor named Walter. David tells Walter a story about a boy named Wimpy who visited the gnomes' world. Wimpy grew up to be Walter.
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| 26 | "The Mountains of Beyond" | 19 April 1986 | 8 February 1988 | |
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David and Lisa's time on Earth is ending. They travel to the Blue Mountains to say goodbye to friends. Their bodies turn into apple trees. Swift meets a new fox friend.
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Home Videos
In the 1980s, Family Home Entertainment released four VHS tapes of the series in the United States. Each tape had 2 episodes. In the United Kingdom, Video Collection International Ltd released one VHS tape in 1990 with the first two episodes.
A full series DVD set was released in the United Kingdom in 2006. The complete series also came out on DVD in Spain and Italy in 2011. Most episodes are available on DVD in Germany and the Netherlands. In 2012, Oasis DVDs released the complete series on DVD in the United States.
Music
In the Finnish version of the show, actors sang new Finnish lyrics to the original music. Some scenes with music were cut from the Finnish version.
Other Gnome Adventures
After The World of David the Gnome became popular, the same creators made other shows and movies about gnomes.
Spin-off Series
- Wisdom of the Gnomes (1987): This spin-off stars a gnome named Klaus, who is a judge. He travels with his helper Dani to solve problems and arguments.
Gnome Movies and Shows
Other movies and series include:
- The Gnomes' Great Adventure (1987)
- The Great Adventure of the Gnomes (1995)
- The Gnomes in the Snow (1999)
- The Fantastic Adventures of the Gnomes (2000)
The popular TV movie Gnomes (1980) came out before the series. It was also based on the same books.
In 1997, a series called The New World of the Gnomes was released. This show was a new version of the original story. David and his nephew Tomte travel the world. They try to save animals and protect nature from pollution and other dangers. Lisa, David's wife, also appears in this show. The bad guys are usually humans who harm nature, and three trolls named Stinky, Brute, and Drool. This show was made with the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF).
Images for kids
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Title screen of original David el Gnomo opening
See also
In Spanish: David el Gnomo para niños
