(The Show with the Mouse), often (The Mouse), is a German children's television series.Bernhard Borgeest, "Von Mäusen und Machern" Focus, official website. (March 12, 2001) Retrieved November 21, 2010 The show first aired on 7 March 1971."Die Sendung mit der Maus" The Internet Movie Database, official website. Retrieved October 25, 2010
Originally called Lach- und Sachgeschichten für Fernsehanfänger, it was controversial because West German law prohibited television for children under six years of age.Dennis Pumm, "Das Interview mit dem Christoph" Pumm & Behrmann. Retrieved October 27, 2010 "Gespräch mit Armin Maiwald" (PDF) Köln im Film, official website. (December 2003) Retrieved October 30, 2010 Today, the show is beloved and easily recognized among Germans for its theme, its mascots and the introduction as "Lach- und Sachgeschichten" (Funny and Documentary Stories).Manuel J. Hartung, "Die Mensa mit der Maus" Die Zeit, official website. (February 18, 2009) Conversation with Armin Maiwald. Retrieved October 25, 2010
The program was initially condemned by teachers and childcare professionals as bad for children's development,Felix Helbig, "Das tut fast weh" Frankfurter Rundshau, official website. (November 11, 2009) Interview with Armin Maiwald. Retrieved October 26, 2010 but is now hailed for its ability to convey information to children,Georg von Holtzbrinck Prize for Science Journalism: Special Prize for Successful Knowledge Transfer to Children Veranstaltungsforum der Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH. Retrieved October 27, 2010 Florian Freistetter, "Sendung mit der Maus erhält Medaille für Naturwissenschaftliche Publizistik" German science blog. Retrieved November 5, 2010 having received over 75 awards. On 7 March 1999 the program's Internet site was launched and received 2,400 e-mails and 4 million hits on the first day.Stafford Wadsworth, "German Mouse Gets 4 million Hits on First Day" internetnews.com, official website. (March 17, 1999) Retrieved October 29, 2010
Format Aimed at young children, the program has a magazine format, with several segments, some humorous, others educational presented in a simple, straightforward manner.Stephanie Diana Storch, "Die Sendung mit der Maus – ein Wissenmagazin für Erwachsene?" (PDF) Bachelor thesis (September 27, 2007) University of Augsburg. Retrieved October 25, 2010 Many of the show's early viewers are now adults whose children are forming the second generation of viewers. It is not uncommon for children to watch the program with their parents"Walter Moers: Die 13 ½ Leben des Käpt'n Blaubär" Bistum Mainz, official website. (May 1, 1999) Retrieved November 7, 2010 or for children to stop watching around the age of 10 or 12 and then come back at the age of 18. The German newspaper Welt am Sonntag found that although the target age was from about four to eight, the average age of viewers was 39.WDR Lernzeit: Diktat der Jugend? Von „relevanten Zielgruppen“ und anderen Zuschauern; Informationen zur Sendung vom 19. April 2008
Each show consists of several segments, the Lachgeschichten ("laughing stories") purely to amuse, and the Sachgeschichten ("non-fiction stories" or "documentaries"), short educational features on a variety of topics,Index of episodes and descriptions of "Die Sendung mit der Maus" Official KIKA (Children's channel) website. Retrieved October 25, 2010. such as what must be done before a plane can take off,"Sendung mit der Maus" in the Visitors Park Munich Airport, official website. Retrieved October 25, 2010 how holes get into Swiss cheese"Die Maus project" Think German, official website. Retrieved October 25, 2010 or stripes into toothpaste."Die Sendung mit der Maus" tv-kult.de. Retrieved October 25, 2010. These are punctuated by a short cartoon with the mouse, often with one or more of its friends.
Introduction The show starts with its theme music,Prof. Dr. Lothar Mikos and Dipl.-Medienwiss. Claudia Töpper, "Analyse dramaturgischer und narrativer Strukturen erfolgreicher 'Familiensendungen'" (PDF) Internationales Zentralinstitut für das Jugend- und Bildungsfernsehen, Dr. Maya Götz" (2009) Retrieved November 17, 2010 unchanged since 1971. The introduction consists of a few bars of the theme and a German voice-over describing three topics in that week's show, ending with introducing the mouse, the elephant and the duck. The intro would be repeated once in a foreign language. Initially, Turkish, Spanish and Italian were used, in order to include the children of foreign guest workers (Gastarbeiter).Dirk Oetjen, "Die Sendung mit der Maus" Hörzu, official website. (April 12, 2010) Retrieved November 14, 2010 Today, another foreign language would be introduced every week. The foreign language is shortly revealed after the intro with ever the same phrase, like "Das war... klingonisch!" In this way, the mouse introduced children to more than 100 different languages, not only the more commonly known languages like English, French or Spanish, but also more obscure languages like Aramaic and Afghan Dari, or fantasy languages like Klingon or "elephantese".
Animated interludes Between the show's segments are "mouse spots", hand-drawn cartoons of 30 to 100 seconds that feature the orange mouse and its friends, a small blue elephant and a yellow duck. None of the characters speak."Die Sendung mit der Maus" (PDF) University of Cologne, official website. Retrieved November 6, 2010 Unique and identifying sound effects, as well as music comprise the soundtrack as the characters interact and solve problems, often in contradiction to laws of nature, but very much within laws of the animated world. The animated interludes serve to separate the segments, offering young viewers a moment to relax, avoiding sensory overload from too rapid a succession of input.
The mouse is orange with brown ears, arms and legs. In order to solve problems it can stretch its legs as long as it wants, jump a rope with its detachable tail or fetch tools from its body. Following more the laws of animation rather than their real-world example, the protagonist mouse is the biggest one of the three characters. The elephant is blue with yellow toenails and is smaller than the mouse. It can be characterized as curious, very strong, spontaneous and faithful. When it appears on the stage it trumpets loudly. It likes to sleep, or to laugh when the mouse has done something wrong. It appears in many of the Mouse-Spots. The duck is yellow (with orange beak and feet), smaller than the mouse but larger than the elephant, so that their relative sizes are exactly the opposite of those of their real-life counterparts. The duck is naughty and quacks loudly, "chaos comes onto the stage" anytime it appears. It appears in the mouse-spots less frequently than the elephant.
Educational film shorts The idea for the educational film shorts came from one of the founders of the series, who noticed that children were very aware of the advertising on television. They were very well-made with very good photography and he got the idea to make "commercials" about reality. The first production answered the question, "Where do bread rolls come from?" Some 400 letters a week arrive at the production office, and a large part of each show is used for such features, often answering questions asked by viewers.Anna v. Münchhausen, "Die erste Maus, die zwanzig wird" Die Zeit (March 8, 1991) Retrieved November 3, 2010 Segments have covered such topics as: How re-usable hand warmers work"Die Sendung mit der Maus - Wärmepad" YouTube video. Retrieved November 9, 2010 How the Internet works"Die Sendung mit der Maus erklärt das Internet" www.wdrmaus.de. Retrieved January 7, 2013 How a hot-air balloon flies How to make electricity from lemons, enough to light a light bulb"Die Sendung mit der Maus" tv14.de Retrieved November 9, 2010 "Eine Batterie aus Zitronen" (PDF) Zentrale für Unterrichtsmedien im Internet, e.V., official website. Retrieved November 11, 2010 How a cell phone works"Sendung mit der Maus - Wie funktioniert ein Handy" YouTube video. Retrieved November 11, 2010 How solar cells work"Die Solar Maus" - videos 1, 2 and 3 Elektrizitätslehre (Lesson on electricity) Retrieved November 11, 2010 How weather and temperature relate to each other A complete list of all documentary stories broadcast to this day is collected on the website of the show. A stuffed toy "Mouse" flew into outer space and was a "guest" on board the Russian Mir space station, where it appeared in an educational segment. The stuffed toy was later brought back to the producers on earth.Lena Fuhrmann, "Interview with Klaus-Dietrich Flade: From fighter pilot to astronaut to Airbus test pilot" German Aerospace Center, official website. Retrieved November 16, 2010 The mouse is often visually included as drawing, print or stuffed toy in documentary segments where a familiar focus point would serve an otherwise overwhelming experience.
A number of the educational segments have also dealt with difficult topics, such as life in Germany in the aftermath of World War II, the Chernobyl nuclear disasterChristine Feil, Handbuch Medienerziehung im Kindergarten. Teil 1. Pädagogische Grundlagen Deutsches Jugendinstitut (1994) . Retrieved November 15, 2010 and death.Linda Wilken, „Ich werde für meine Neugier bezahlt.“ Interview with Christoph Biemann. (2005) Retrieved November 15, 2010 Care is taken to explain things in a way that is comprehensible to young children."Interview Christoph Biemann" Interview with Christoph Biemann at the 2003 Frankfurt Book Fair. (October 10, 2003) Retrieved November 5, 2010 Analogies are used to explain concepts, and often everyday items already known to most children are used to illustrate. For example, a segment on the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest was produced using Playmobil figures to represent the three Roman legions involved, a total of 16,500 soldiers. Wanting to convey how large a force that was, the program purchased 16,500 Playmobil toy figures and dressed them up as Roman soldiers, lining them up into columns as they would have appeared in real life. The columns of toy soldiers took up 200 meters."Sendung mit der Maus spielt Varusschlacht nach" Rheinische Post, official website. (June 23, 2005) Retrieved November 2, 2010 Interview with Armin Maiwald Köln Inside, historical photo archive of the Cologne region. Retrieved November 2, 2010 These toy Roman legions are now housed in three museums in different parts of Germany.
A segment on the internet shows messengers running through the hallways of a large building, delivering messages in envelopes (data packets) from the user to servers and back. The hallways represent the data lines and the offices were internet hosts. In just eight minutes, the program accurately describes how the internet functions in a manner simple enough for children to understand. In the case of industrially produced things, each step is shown in great detail, so one can actually see how, for example, a piece of metal is formed by a tool. If something happens too fast for the naked eye it is shown filmed in slow motion. After each step, usually the previous steps including the new one are recapped briefly to help children remember what they already saw. Concepts which are not visible at all are explained with some form of analogous portrayal.
The segments would include originally recorded sound and voice-over narration as the only spoken language, further advancing the comprehensibility for children. People appear silent in these segments and would even engage in silent acting, while the voice-over narrates the film. When appearing in the show, working staff of institutions like the German Railway could often be convinced by the production to contribute to the show with silent acting.