Badger Badger Badger

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"Badger Badger Badger", "The Badger Song" or "Badgers" is a Flash cartoon by British animator Jonti Picking. It consists of images of badgers doing calisthenics, a toadstool in front of a tree, and a snake in the desert. Accompanied by electronic music, a voice repeats the word "badger" over the animation, breaking off to say either "mushroom" or "a snake".^[1]

The cartoon, published 2 September 2003, loops indefinitely. The first scene contains twelve badgers; subsequent badger scenes contain eleven badgers. After a long running time, the song becomes out of sync with the animation.

The cartoon brought Picking to the attention of MTV Europe, for whom Picking produced Weebl and Bob.^[1] That cartoon series, together with the dancing badgers, helped Picking's website Weebl's Stuff win a People's Choice award from users of Yahoo! in the UK.^[2] "Badger Badger Badger" was also listed as one of the top five internet fads of all time by PC World.^[3]

Contents 1 Follow-up versions 2 In popular culture 2.1 On television 2.2 Parody animations 2.3 In media 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Follow-up versions

There have been several follow ups to the "Badger Badger Badger" cartoon posted to the Weebl's stuff website. A Halloween version of the cartoon, "Badgers 2" was created in 2003 and features zombie badgers on a black background with a scratching sound added to the music.^[4] A Christmas-themed version, with badgers dressed in Santa outifts, is also available.^[5] "Badgers On A Plane" consists of a scene from a Snakes On a Plane trailer that includes badgers and a mushroom, which have been digitally edited into the scene, tumbling from their seats while a bit of the song plays in the background.^[6] In 2007, "Big Ass Badgers" was released to spoof the Transformers film.^[7] Also in 2007, a live action version of the cartoon called "Baby Badgers" was released to promote the new Badger toys.^[8]

A "Euro 2004 Edition" was also created during the UEFA Euro 2004 football championship, where the badgers wore England football jerseys to "footy, footy, footy" and "England! England! Goal! A goal! Oh, it's a goal, scored by England, England..."^[9]

An unofficial Harry Potter edition was also made in 2005. The badgers were replaced by characters from the Harry Potter series and the lyrics were changed to "Potter, Potter, Potter", "Weasley!, Weasley!" and "Snape! Oh, it's a Snape!"^[10]

There was a Lord of The Rings version of "Badger, Badger, Badger" for a short time floating around the net, taken from scenes in Peter Jackson's version of "The Two Towers", when the Rohirrim and co are facing the horde of the White Hand at Helm's Deep. The elves which come to help the Rohirrim are in fact Badgers in disguise.

[edit] In popular culture

[edit] On television

• On the CBBC television show Chute! the "Badger Badger Badger" song was shown in the episode with Ian McNeice. It was described as "something soothing and calm".
• On RTE2's Après Match, the panel use the song in response to Ryle Nugent's demand for more "pazazz" on the show
• A parody of the song was used on the UK Disney Channel advertising The Emperor's New School.

[edit] Parody animations

• Andrew Kepple released a spoof of "Badger Badger Badger" called "Badger Badger Polka" with polka music in the background and the head of the badgers superimposed over the head of men wearing lederhosen doing calisthenics with a circus tent in background.^[11]
• The Free State Project released "Porcupine Run", a cartoon featuring porcupines running for New Hampshire, which is based on the "Euro 2004 Edition".^[12]
• A very similar cartoon was used by PETA,^[13] but it was later withdrawn after controversy arose because of their similarity. The PETA version used baby chickens instead of badgers.
• a Thanksgiving version was released, the words changing to Turkeys, Gravy & Stuffing

[edit] In media

• In Nickelodeon's Drake and Josh, Drake and Josh's school football team is called the Badgers, and a poster repeats the word badger numerous times.
• The animation has been referenced in the User Friendly comic several times in January 2004.^{[14][15][16][17]}
• Musician Tom Smith performs a version of the music entitled "Badger Pajamas".^[18]
• In the online community Gaia Online, if you examine one of the police badges in the shop, it has the description, "Badge badge badge badge mushroom mushroom..."^[19]
• In the MMORPG Kingdom of Loathing, there is a familiar named Astral Badger that drops Astral Mushrooms.
• In the Flash game "Protector: Reclaiming The Throne" there is a level where all the enemies are Badgers, Mushrooms or Snakes. Also, on the gaming site Kongregate that award badges to games that people get points for achieving certain milestones, scores, etc, and there is a badge for the game that is awarded for completing said level, called Badges Badges Mushroom Mushroom Badge.
• In the MMORPG Dark Age of Camelot, if a player approaches a badger npc and continuously says the word "badger", the badger will eventually respond with "Mushroom! Mushroom!"
• In the MMORPG EverQuest II, there is a named mob called Digg (badger-like creature called burynai) that wants you to bring him a badger, mushroom or snake during the whole fight.
• In the Half Life 2 mod, Portal: Prelude, the badger song is incorporated into an easter egg.

[edit] See also

• Weebl's Stuff, the website of the creators of the badger cartoon.
• List of Internet phenomena

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• The original Badger animation