Goodnight Kiwi

The Goodnight Kiwi, later also called TV Kiwi, is a character in an animated short which has been used to signal the end of nightly broadcasts on Television New Zealand channels. The animation was introduced in 1975 on TV2, and used on South Pacific Television between 1976 and 1980. Between 1980 and 19 October 1994, the animation was screened again on TV2. This animation returned on 6 September 2007 for use on TVNZ 6 when the channel ends transmission at midnight. TVNZ 7 and TVNZ U continue the Goodnight Kiwi at midnight before overnight service.

The Goodnight Kiwi's companion is simply known as The Cat.

Overview

The one minute long animation begins with Goodnight Kiwi and the Cat in the master control room. Kiwi shuts down the screens, and starts an audio cassette playing an instrumental arrangement of the traditional Māori lullaby, Hine e Hine, or sometimes God Save the Queen. Kiwi walks through the studio while Cat jumps and pulls faces into a camera. Kiwi turns out the lights, puts a milk bottle on the porch and locks the door, while the cat heads upstairs to the studio roof. The Kiwi follows and rides an elevator (presumably just after it had been used by the cat) to the top of a transmission mast. At the top, Kiwi covers himself in blankets (in which the cat was already curled up) and goes to sleep in a satellite dish with the Cat sitting on his stomach. The short closes with the words: "Goodnight from TELEVISION NEW ZEALAND." There was a slight variation of the ending, with the TVNZ channel ident and the announcer fading down the volume to announce "and it's goodnight from Channel . . ." (this being directly followed by the channel number e.g. "and it's goodnight from Channel 2").

When the cartoon debuted in 1975, the Kiwi had been a director. The cartoon began with the Kiwi yawning in the director's chair. Kiwi wakes up the cat, and the two race each other down a series of cameras and other broadcasting equipment. The Kiwi then goes outside, cuts the power and turns on the lights from inside. No footage can claim what happens after that.

An alternate version of the Goodnight Kiwi clip was used by South Pacific Television somewhere between 1976 and 1980 and saw the Goodnight Kiwi and his companion living in a television camera. At the end of the clip, the kiwi would close the side flaps on the camera and then the South Pacific Television logo would appear as the music faded out.

During transmission breakdowns, a still picture of the Goodnight Kiwi was often used, in poses including one of sweeping the floor and accidentally pulling out a power cord.

The characters are regarded as part of New Zealand broadcasting culture.

References

• TVNZ children's presenter Olly Ohlson used the name TV Kiwi for the character and occasionally performed a song 'The T. V. K. I. W. I.' on his afternoon show After School.
• Clips from, and references to, the Goodnight Kiwi occasionally appear in locally produced television, including an advertisement for the Retirement Commission's website Sorted.org.nz, in which a list of New Zealand's favourite logos appear in a group therapy session.
• In 2004, composer Victoria Kelly wrote a solo piano piece inspired by this animation for Stephen de Pledge's set of 12 Landscape Preludes.
• The Goodnight Kiwi was referenced in episode 3 of season 3 of Outrageous Fortune ("Most true, she is a strumpet").
• A few seconds of The Goodnight Kiwi appear on a TV screen in the New Zealand film Boy. It is however the wrong version for the film's period, closing with a "Goodnight from 2" caption which in 1984 wasn't due to be seen for at least another five years.

Parodies

• Before SKY debuted its Tui TV Wednesday night lineup on SKY 1, the station produced a parody of the Goodnight Kiwi; using footage from a TVNZ special in 2000, the Kiwi is knocked out after turning out the lights and a tui turns all the equipment back on and watches a collage of SKY's Tui TV lineup with a beer in one wing. It is not known if SKY got permission to use the original footage. The sequence goes like this:
  1. Beginning is normal.
  2. When the Kiwi reaches the door, two eyes come out.
  3. It hits a bottle on the kiwi and the kiwi is knocked out.
  4. The tui puts its wing finger inside the camera revealing a real finger in the camera.
  5. When the tui arrives at the screens, the screens are covered with test cards.
  6. The tui flips two switches and the screens show the collage.
• Eating Media Lunch also parodied the Goodnight Kiwi - the clip plays as normal (save for the kiwi mooning the camera and throwing the cat out of the nest), but instead of the kiwi sleeping, it shoots some New Zealand icons with a sniper rifle from the satellite dish.

Return of the Kiwi

Eric Kearley, head of the TVNZ Digital Channel Launch team stated in a messageboard response that the Goodnight Kiwi would return to TV on Freeview on TVNZ 6 which began broadcasting on 6 September 2007, a move which proved popular with New Zealand television viewers. The clip is now used to close down the station at midnight, as it did with TV ONE and TV2. New Christmas animations featuring the Kiwi and Cat characters were introduced by TV One on 1 December 2008.

External links

• YouTube video of Goodnight Kiwi
• tvnzondemand footage
• New Zealand film and television in 1981
• aus.tv.history: TVNZ One videos (including Goodnight Kiwi)
• Info about TVNZ 6 including the announcement of the return of the Goodnight Kiwi