The love for Pumuckl, for the old stories as well as for the productions of the 1980s, the reverence for them and a certain humility in everyone involved is noticeable New stories from the Pumuckl not only on, they shine through very strongly: in the dramaturgy as well as in the subtle dialogues, in the acting of the actors as well as in small details in the mise-en-scène. With the new season, the makers have created something very loving, enchanting and heartwarming that will not only bring joy to the children, but will also lure parents in front of the screens and bring many a tear to their eyes.
The fact that the whole thing is true is first of all due to the script and the fact that it really continues the story and doesn’t repeat or copy it. We are in Munich a good 30 years after Franz Eder, the ‘old’ master Eder, died. His nephew Florian and his sister inherit the workshop, and they actually plan to sell it. But then – this much can already be revealed – it happens that Florian takes over the Eder carpentry business. And with it its resident, a little goblin, descendant of the Klabautermen, who of course sticks to the glue again and therefore becomes visible to the new master carpenter: the Pumuckl.
From then on, what was the recipe for success of the ‘old’ series is done: Pumuckl once again explores the (now more modern) world of people, and again he finds a calm, sensible counterpart in Eder who patiently explains this world to him. It’s sometimes funny, sometimes touching, but above all always coherent and equipped with wonderful dialogues in which the goblin confuses the German language and Bavarian and turns letters around, rhymes and makes Eder think. Florian Brückner is a wonderful Master Eder – younger than the old Master Eder was, completely contemporary, albeit down-to-earth, honest and decent, almost a little shy at times – a good choice!
The Pumuckl is also convincing! There has been a lot of speculation as to who would step into Hans Clarin’s shoes. Shortly before the film festival, the secret was revealed: cabaret artist Maxi Schafroth voiced the ‘new’ Pumuckl. With the help of artificial intelligence, the recordings were then adapted to Hans Clarin’s voice in order to make the Pumuckl sound like it once did – and that works really well and is even a bit (pleasantly) quieter than the original.
Schafroth himself was there at the premiere and proved to the audience that he could have done it well without AI. He’s clearly enjoying the Pumuckl. His amazement, his shrieks, his fabulations – it sometimes sounds deceptively real, i.e. clumsy, and one can hope that RTL+ offers different versions of the series: with an AI-modulated chump and without technical support.
“It was the great stories,” explains director Rosenmüller (Those who die sooner are dead longer, Poolside Sheriff), who finally convinced him to say yes to the project and direct New stories from the Pumuckl to take over. That was a stroke of luck. Rosenmüller approached his work with a lot of sensitivity and modesty, or as he himself puts it: with a “big nod to the old series”. That is unmistakable. For example, the episode “The Old Eder” not only plays with a lot of what the audience knows from the past, but also incorporates the characters from the past into the current plot: Where did the old Eder actually go, asks the Pumuckl in a moment . The conversation finally ends with Florian Eder having to explain death to Pumuckl. The episode finds wonderful dialogues about dying, about grieving and thinking about someone who is gone but remains in your heart. This means that the old master Eder can still be felt as part of the whole. And the New stories from the Pumuckl As a sequel, they are already a part of the Pumuckl world that you no longer want to miss.
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