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Oobi: Dasdasi
Five bare-hand Oobi puppets with acrylic eyes and fabric costumes
The puppet characters in their costumes
Persianدس دسی صداش می آد
Genre
Based onOobi
by Josh Selig
Developed byNegar Estakhr
Directed byAmir Soltan Ahmadi
Starring
ComposerAmirali Razaghi
Country of originIran
Original languagePersian
No. of episodes78
Production
ProducerNegar Estakhr
Production locationsTehran, Iran
Camera setupMulti-camera
Running time8 minutes
Production companyIslamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting
Original release
NetworkIRIB TV2
Release22 September (2012-09-22) –
20 December 2012 (2012-12-20)

Oobi: Dasdasi (Persian: دس دسی صداش می آد‎‎ lit. Dasdasi: Clapping Hands) is an Iranian children's television series created for the channel IRIB TV2. It is an adaptation and spin-off of the American series Oobi. It was produced by Negar Estakhr and directed by Amir Soltan Ahmadi, two puppeteers who also starred on the program. Other performers featured on the show are Bahador Maleki, Banafsheh Samadi, and Isa Yousefipour.

Like on Oobi, the series follows a family of characters represented by bare hand puppets with eyes and accessories. The American prop makers for Oobi supplied the puppet costumes, which are identical to those of the original show. Dasdasi introduced new characters and locations, some of which highlight elements of Iranian culture. The stories have a heavy emphasis on comedy and typically follow the children of the family as they discover something new.

78 eight-minute episodes were made for the first season. They aired from 22 September to 20 December 2012, with six new segments premiering every week for three months. A second season was confirmed in a 2012 interview with the creators, but it did not play in Iran. In July 2013, the series was sold to international markets in Southeast Asia and Japan, becoming one of IRIB's first children's shows to air outside of Iran.

Plot

See also: Oobi characters

The main characters are a family of five hand puppets: a boy and a girl, their parents, and their grandfather.[3] The kids are mischievous and like to play tricks on their parents and each other. They are impressionable, easily amused, and known for daydreaming a lot. However, they are also genuinely curious about the world. They often come to Mom and Dad with questions about science topics, like perception and the four seasons. Other times, they are interested in sillier things, like how to buy ice cream or play a mimicking game. No matter the episode's topic, the kids always learn about it in an awkward and humorous way.

In a departure from the American show format, the episodes have a unique structure. The stories are eight minutes each, with two or three intermissions. During these transition scenes, a duo of puppets called the Palms have short adventures that relate to the episode's topic.[4] They are upright hands with faces on their palms. They are sometimes joined by their friend Finger, a male little finger with a brown wig.

Cast

Production and broadcast

Negar Estakhr produced the series, and Amir Soltan Ahmadi directed it.[5] After the two watched a screening of the original Oobi in 2011, Estakhr proposed the idea of an Iranian version to the children's programmers at IRIB.[6] She prepared a series pitch that focused on how Oobi had been successful with audiences in America and other international markets.[7] When IRIB accepted the pitch, the production team arranged sets and props. The American makers of acrylic eyes and hand-sized clothing from Oobi supplied them with puppet costumes. The Iranian crew added distinctive clothing, including Arab garments for the adult characters, to the new puppets' designs.

Estakhr and Ahmadi brought veteran puppeteers that they knew from Kolah Ghermezi, one of Iran's longest-running puppet series, to perform on the show.[8] They cast male puppeteers with wider hands for the father and grandfather puppets, and female puppeteers for the children and women because they had smaller hands.[7] After assembling the cast, the actors held an impromptu photoshoot with their hand puppets to "get a feel" for their characters. To produce the show's music, the crew hired Amirali Razaghi, a film score composer who previously worked as a music teacher at the Tehran University of Art.[9]

The series was first announced in January 2012, when IRIB added it to the "Upcoming series" section of its website.[10] During filming, the writers worked closely with a "think tank" of IRIB staff members who ensured that each episode included the right blend of family-friendly humor.[6] Production started on 21 May 2012 and ended on 20 September.[11]

The first episode aired on 22 September.[11] From then until 20 December, a new episode premiered once per day from Saturday to Thursday each week.[12] Premieres were aired at 10:00 AM, with an encore showing at 5:30 PM. Episodes were not broadcast on Fridays, a non-working day in Iran, as IRIB's children's block does not run on this day. Reruns have continued to air in these timeslots, but they are no longer played every weekday. Episodes of Dasdasi were notably played during Ramadan 2013, the first time IRIB TV2 aired children's programming during this month.[13]

In July 2013, the series was screened and pitched to international broadcasters at a conference held by the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union.[14] The Japanese station NHK obtained distribution rights for the series in Japan.[14] It also aired in several Southeast Asian territories: Kuwait, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka.[15][16]

Second season

A second season entered development after the first. In an interview from December 2012, Negar Estakhr confirmed that a second season was being made.[6] It was planned to introduce outdoor locations, namely a village and a forest, in addition to a cast of animal characters created similarly to hand shadow puppets.[6] Plots for season two episodes included the kids entering kindergarten, the family planting a garden, and the family learning about the water cycle.[7] The season was never officially cancelled, and it is possible that it finished production and aired outside of Iran.

References

  1. ^ "Negar Estakhr on the budgets of children's programs". Cinemakhabar (in Persian). 15 January 2013. Archived from the original on 16 January 2013.
  2. ^ "Dasdasi succeeds at a meeting of ABU". SNN.ir (in Persian). 9 July 2013.
  3. ^ "Dasdasi: Clapping Hands to bow on Channel 2". BlogFa: TVIrani. 13 March 2012. Archived from the original on 24 September 2018.
  4. ^ "Dasdasi: The Copycats". Vimeo. 2012.
  5. ^ "Television is influential in the boom of children's cinema". Young Journalists Club (in Persian). 15 September 2013. Archived from the original on 24 September 2018.
  6. ^ a b c d "An interview with the producer of Dasdasi". Jaam-e Jam (in Persian). 9 July 2013. Archived from the original on 14 December 2012.
  7. ^ a b c "Hands and silence". Tebyan (in Persian). 15 December 2012. Archived from the original on 28 May 2013.
  8. ^ "Dasdasi in collaboration with Kolah Ghermezi". Kolah Ghermezi Blog. 2012. Archived from the original on 24 September 2018.
  9. ^ Razaghi, Amirali (2013). "Animation & Children - Amirali Razaghi". Archived from the original on 9 September 2013.
  10. ^ "IRIB's Upcoming Series". IRIB TV2. Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting. Archived from the original on 22 January 2012.
  11. ^ a b "Dasdasi: Clapping Hands - IRIB TV2". IRIB TV2 (in Persian). Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting. 21 May 2012. Archived from the original on 27 October 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  12. ^ "IRIB TV2 Children's Schedule". IRIB TV2 (in Persian). Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting. 27 October 2012. Archived from the original on 7 November 2012. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  13. ^ "Redhat 92 ready to air". Doostihaa. 21 January 2013. Archived from the original on 24 September 2018.
  14. ^ a b ""Dasdasi" wins at ABU conference". Magiran (in Persian). 9 July 2013.
  15. ^ "Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union desires to play Dasdasi". Iranian Students News Agency (in Persian). 8 July 2013.
  16. ^ "See Dasdasi submission at the ABU conference". Banifilm (in Persian). 9 July 2013.
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