Thanks for making this! I was the editor that made that commercial. We shot it on our stage at Magnetic in NYC as well. The director was Len Kanter. We made hundreds of direct response spots like this one, and I actually forgot about this one until I saw your vid. Thanks!
@@MrUltrAdaman She's saying "Je suis la jeune fille", which is French for "I am the young girl." Her pronunciation is off, but she's a kid, so we'll forgive her. The real sin is a language video that has her say "la" instead of "un". It should be "Je suis un jeune fille" or "I am A young girl."
Muzzy has been my first contact with English. I was 5-6 years old. My mum recorded the episodes on VHS from the Slovak Television, and til this day I remember most of the phrases there by heart. Now when I want to learn a new language, I start by watching another version of the story.
This is incredible. When I saw the commercial for this as a kid, I begged my parents for it- I was desperate to learn a foreign language, but we did not have money to burn, so Muzzy and the video's contents remained a mystery until watching your video. Glad to know I did not miss anything by not owning this, haha, and it certainly wouldn't have helped me reach my language goals. Thanks for putting this together!
I went down a rabbit hole and wounded up here. Even though I have a hard time paying attention to videos, yours kept me hooked! I’m definitely subscribing.
“Yes that’s AMERICAN they’re speaking, and no these AMERICANS aren’t AMERICAN.” I got introduced to these commercials thanks to Tony Goldmark, anyone else?
@@Mitchollow I had 4 or 5 years old when I wachted this. I didn't understand all of it, but cartoons and videos games where my first introduction to English. I'm Portuguese btw
that intro had me fucking rolling. me and my brothers found this because we regularly quote this and my brother just so happened to stumble upon it this time while searching for the actual clip. thank you. I love you.
My friends and I in early middle school came up with our own Muzzy character based on a vague recollection of the commercial where he would force children to learn to talk exactly in his voice or he would grow sharp claws and Slash them to ribbons
Muzzy is still around today; there's still an official website and they even redid the animated films in CGI! I liked Muzzy because the concept was similar to Sesame Street. You were taught words and phrases in a useful context such as size, numbers, adjectives, colors, time of day and so on.
I watched this online when I was 11 to improve my Esperanto. But not without watching the English version first. And all for free! I loved it and it also worked quite well. But I think that was because I had already learned some Esperanto from Duolingo and other websites. The only criminal thing about this review is that you _completely_ ignored the short intermissions with Norman. As well as being educational, I also found them charming!
Great video and analysis. My dad borrowed Muzzy in German and I watched it as a kid, but I never saw parts 4/5/6 as they were on a separate cassette that we never got our hands on (now I know why - the price!). 30 years later, all three of my kids are old enough to watch Muzzy, and they love it! Especially my 2 year old son. Thanks UA-cam 👌 And I finally got to see the second half of the story! Honestly the German version is perfect for the story and art style.
I grew up with Muzzy, as well. I got this as my 3rd birthday present in 1999. I had the German course, and learned to say "Was ist das? Es ist eine Uhr" (What's this? It's a clock) from the video. Even though I no longer have a VCR to play VHS, I still have the videos. I'm glad the Learning Advantage and the BBC are keeping this up despite some of the original voices being no longer with us (Willie Rushton, Susan Sheridan, Jack May and Benjamin Whitrow). One thing you forgot to mention was that in later years, whatever Muzzy course you got included a vocabulary lesson video in the language that you chose. Some of the lessons were very interesting, like when you have Corvax as a professor at a school, or when he and Muzzy would chase each other on different modes of transportation, or having Bob and Sylvia live in a house (though I don't know when or how they were able to move out of the palace and into their own house), or having Norman and his wife (even though she doesn't have a name, or at least isn't mentioned, I'll call her Sarah, due to the fact that her chalkboard cutout in Muzzy looks a lot like Princess Sylvia as a human, and the fact that the name "Sarah" means princess) play sports or play dress up, or have Muzzy work several jobs.
my husband told me about this and we found the commercial on an old vhs of monstervision tnt 1992. Interesting enough my husband learned languages from emersion into cultures. It’s funny to see this and to see what my husband saw as a young boy in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Interesting review. Although some parts were disturbing as you pointed out, I think it still holds up as a foreign language learning material with a cohesive storyline. Btw, educational VHS were extremely expensive back in the 80s and 90s, not only in America but also in Asia.
I would see this commercial almost everyday. I have "Je suis la jeune fille" memorized because of it. When I attended high school later on, I was able to ask our resident French teacher what it meant. She says it translates to "I am a young lady/little girl." What an odd piece of media. I didn't expect to learn about helicopters today! Thanks :)
I saw that ad more times than I can count. I did not know a SINGLE kid who had it…and yet saw a bunch at a local library…I don’t think anyone ever touched them
My parents got me the Spanish version of Muzzy when I was a kid and I watched it over and over again because I liked the talking animal characters. This video brought back a lot of fond memories, although didn't realize until now just how creepy Corvox's obsession with Sylvia was, especially when you consider the fact this was made for small children.
i watched this when i was in year four ( grade 5 ) and i never realised the story because we never got taught french we just had to figure it out , i'm 17 now ( senior year ) and ive only just thought of it again and this story is HORRIFYING for how young i was .... i always loved the style but this story is well and truly horrifying at the least .....
It’s funny to hear that this advert was just as ubiquitous on American TV as it was on British. It says something to the long term impact of TV when this stupid advert just pops into your head out of nowhere 😂
To this day every time I want to make fun of 80s fashions I reference "the Muzzy Lady"! As you pointed out, this was from the early 90s, yet the woman narrating looks totally outdated in her icky pleated silk dress that looks like she's going to be a guest star on Designing Women and hair that would make Barbara Mandrell proud as she hunts through the polyester knockoffs to find "the Visa Tag" - that meant it was "America's 'Freedom Fabric'"! Hahaha! Great video!
I remember my teacher in primary school rolling in a crt tv and putting this on for us to learn Gaelige when he didn't feel like teaching us himself. And I remember not understanding a word of it haha
The entire muzzy series (including that one when Sylvie lost her ring and when jean was farming) was practically my childhood (the french version, obviously)
Our lazy Spanish teacher in elementary school used to shove this vhs into the big ass box tv on the ceiling and make us watch this. 😂😂😂 this brings back a memory I almost forgot
1:20 “Fair warning though this movie has an extremely disturbing plot line that grapples with some of the deepest ethical questions of existential philosophy and consciousness.” Kinda reminds me of similar philosophical themes from Ghost in the Shell...so Muzzy is actually “an extremely, extremely, bizarre, disturbing animated movie”...carefully crafted in the disguise of cute-looking edutainment meant to teach English and other languages to foreigners...how strange... “It’s a classic tale really-a forbidden love affair between a high-status young lady and a lowly peasant.”
Interesting but kind of ruins the innocence of a childhood memory. This is how my siblings and I learned our first words in Mandarin before moving to China for my dad's work. We got the DVD's from the library and must have watched them a hundred times. Even back then we weren't impressed by the plot, but the plot is just supposed to be a vehicle for the language. We loved repeating those melodramatic lines in Chinese! :D
I remember when I was in sixth grade Spanish, my teacher played the Spanish VHS tape during one of our classes. I couldn't figure out what the heck was going on, only that the queen kept saying "Me gusta" while shaking the trees. And then I think someone/something fell out of the tree and she ran off screaming? I can't remember.
My friends and I only saw this commercial as little kids, and created our own version of the Muzzy character that was dumb as rocks, a multi-trillionaire, and obsessed with teaching kids (stickmen) to say that "French" from the commercial in exactly his voice. If they failed to perfectly do so, he would scream, grow razor-sharp claws, and Slash them to pieces. He would also "wah" a lot because as kids we didn't know what "bonjour" was and couldn't hear anything on our crappy old TVs except some fuzzy moanings in the commercial
I begged my parents for this just so I could get the muzzy stuffed animal that came with it for "free". I did watch the movie but only in english because as a 4 year old I didn't like not being able to understand what they were saying, therefore defeating the purpose of learning a new language. I still have the stuffed animal and whenever my parents see it they talk about how it's the most expensive toy they've ever bought me lol
The new CG version doesn't look very good, the designs don't really translate well to CG and the environments look flat and not very detailed. Really wish they would do it with better 2D animation someday.
I forgot how weird Muzzy was. Watched it years ago in Scottish Gaelic and all I remembered up until I watched your video was the annoying voice acting.
I'd all but forgotten this late morning fever dream, roiling around in the ether like some kind of secret I wasn't supposed to see. You've unearthed this like a repressed memory that dawns on you in the shower.
Thanks for making this! I was the editor that made that commercial. We shot it on our stage at Magnetic in NYC as well. The director was Len Kanter. We made hundreds of direct response spots like this one, and I actually forgot about this one until I saw your vid. Thanks!
That's really cool! Thanks for dropping a comment!
Wow. Collective gasps from everyone who was a kid c. 1990.
Wow… painfully obvious question but do you remember what that girl was trying to say?
@@MrUltrAdaman She's saying "Je suis la jeune fille", which is French for "I am the young girl." Her pronunciation is off, but she's a kid, so we'll forgive her.
The real sin is a language video that has her say "la" instead of "un". It should be "Je suis un jeune fille" or "I am A young girl."
@@MarcusWeathersby except she was emulating Muzzie when he says “je suis le grand Muzzie”, so there’s that.
Muzzy has been my first contact with English. I was 5-6 years old. My mum recorded the episodes on VHS from the Slovak Television, and til this day I remember most of the phrases there by heart. Now when I want to learn a new language, I start by watching another version of the story.
This is incredible. When I saw the commercial for this as a kid, I begged my parents for it- I was desperate to learn a foreign language, but we did not have money to burn, so Muzzy and the video's contents remained a mystery until watching your video. Glad to know I did not miss anything by not owning this, haha, and it certainly wouldn't have helped me reach my language goals. Thanks for putting this together!
The exact same thing happened to me as a kid. No money for that amazing set and here we are finding this content on UA-cam.
"Place the child in front of the television"
Idk if my sense of humor is just fricked up but PPFFFFFF
IKR. Where else would a child be? Just distract it while you put in the tape!
Muzzy literally living life via the “Eating clocks is time consuming” meme
P.s. 1:34 I didn’t hear clocks
You too? It sure didn't sound like he said clock....
I went down a rabbit hole and wounded up here.
Even though I have a hard time paying attention to videos, yours kept me hooked!
I’m definitely subscribing.
Thanks! I hardly post anymore but that's a great compliment
“Yes that’s AMERICAN they’re speaking, and no these AMERICANS aren’t AMERICAN.”
I got introduced to these commercials thanks to Tony Goldmark, anyone else?
I still use it in my classroom today. Youth and adult students in 2024 are still crazy about Muzzy!!
Well, i remember this, thats how I learned English
Wow, good to know it helped you out. What's your native language?
@@Mitchollow I had 4 or 5 years old when I wachted this. I didn't understand all of it, but cartoons and videos games where my first introduction to English. I'm Portuguese btw
that intro had me fucking rolling. me and my brothers found this because we regularly quote this and my brother just so happened to stumble upon it this time while searching for the actual clip. thank you. I love you.
My friends and I in early middle school came up with our own Muzzy character based on a vague recollection of the commercial where he would force children to learn to talk exactly in his voice or he would grow sharp claws and Slash them to ribbons
This was a real, hilarious and extremely entertaining trip down memory lane. Thank you
Muzzy is still around today; there's still an official website and they even redid the animated films in CGI! I liked Muzzy because the concept was similar to Sesame Street. You were taught words and phrases in a useful context such as size, numbers, adjectives, colors, time of day and so on.
I watched this online when I was 11 to improve my Esperanto. But not without watching the English version first. And all for free! I loved it and it also worked quite well. But I think that was because I had already learned some Esperanto from Duolingo and other websites.
The only criminal thing about this review is that you _completely_ ignored the short intermissions with Norman. As well as being educational, I also found them charming!
This videotape taught me that dika means A fat ass queen. Thanks Muzzy!
Ohh, a bag of cLocks. I misunderstood that until I saw the clocks
Dude, I heard "cocks" at least twice, I swear!
@@tinypeanutsHe does say it! Just some trolling
Great video and analysis.
My dad borrowed Muzzy in German and I watched it as a kid, but I never saw parts 4/5/6 as they were on a separate cassette that we never got our hands on (now I know why - the price!).
30 years later, all three of my kids are old enough to watch Muzzy, and they love it! Especially my 2 year old son. Thanks UA-cam 👌
And I finally got to see the second half of the story!
Honestly the German version is perfect for the story and art style.
I grew up watching this and now I know why I am so messed up
“Je Suis La Jeune Fille” has haunted me for 30 years.
Did you mean "YES WEE LAH SHOO VEE"?
It is this day that I finally know what the girl is saying 🤣 " I am the young lady"
I remember my mom bought these tapes so my sister and I could learn English, well, guess the damn thing did its job properly lmao
What?
"You heard that right"
.....nnnnno, no I did not.
Thank you for this video. I'm now fluent in French.
Yes wee lah shoo vee!!
You make vids about anything and no matter what it just works
The sequel is even more disturbing where Corvax kidnaps Amanda (Bob and Sylvia’s baby) to raise and eventually marry so he can become king. 😳
What? Seriously?
Somewhere out there on the internet an incel has posted this exact same plan.
Muzzy comes back is weirder than the original, and that’s saying something
Real
This was my first introduction to english when I was 3 or 4. It is weird but charming mostly. Definitely iconic.
In 1993 it was popular kids tv programme in Poland :)
I grew up with Muzzy, as well. I got this as my 3rd birthday present in 1999. I had the German course, and learned to say "Was ist das? Es ist eine Uhr" (What's this? It's a clock) from the video. Even though I no longer have a VCR to play VHS, I still have the videos. I'm glad the Learning Advantage and the BBC are keeping this up despite some of the original voices being no longer with us (Willie Rushton, Susan Sheridan, Jack May and Benjamin Whitrow).
One thing you forgot to mention was that in later years, whatever Muzzy course you got included a vocabulary lesson video in the language that you chose. Some of the lessons were very interesting, like when you have Corvax as a professor at a school, or when he and Muzzy would chase each other on different modes of transportation, or having Bob and Sylvia live in a house (though I don't know when or how they were able to move out of the palace and into their own house), or having Norman and his wife (even though she doesn't have a name, or at least isn't mentioned, I'll call her Sarah, due to the fact that her chalkboard cutout in Muzzy looks a lot like Princess Sylvia as a human, and the fact that the name "Sarah" means princess) play sports or play dress up, or have Muzzy work several jobs.
Do you mean by any chance the orange DVDs that came with the yellow ones, which contained the series itself? Weren't those little computer games?
I had that game as a kid and I still remember bits and pieces!!
This just awoke a memory I didn’t know I had
my husband told me about this and we found the commercial on an old vhs of monstervision tnt 1992. Interesting enough my husband learned languages from emersion into cultures. It’s funny to see this and to see what my husband saw as a young boy in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Interesting review. Although some parts were disturbing as you pointed out, I think it still holds up as a foreign language learning material with a cohesive storyline.
Btw, educational VHS were extremely expensive back in the 80s and 90s, not only in America but also in Asia.
I would see this commercial almost everyday. I have "Je suis la jeune fille" memorized because of it. When I attended high school later on, I was able to ask our resident French teacher what it meant. She says it translates to "I am a young lady/little girl." What an odd piece of media.
I didn't expect to learn about helicopters today! Thanks :)
Aussie here ive weirdly watched Muzzy twice. Once in primary/elementary school in german and again in high school in italian.
My God this commercial used to come on like every other minute when I was a kid!
I'm glad that I did my research on this I remember being so confused when I watched that ad as a kid or though it was a later ad
My mom showed me the Spanish version of Muzzy when I was a kid, but I never learned a word of Spanish 😂
I saw that ad more times than I can count. I did not know a SINGLE kid who had it…and yet saw a bunch at a local library…I don’t think anyone ever touched them
This was all over UK kids TV ad breaks in the 2000s
Was just thinking about this and boom, great video on it!
My parents got me the Spanish version of Muzzy when I was a kid and I watched it over and over again because I liked the talking animal characters. This video brought back a lot of fond memories, although didn't realize until now just how creepy Corvox's obsession with Sylvia was, especially when you consider the fact this was made for small children.
i watched this when i was in year four ( grade 5 ) and i never realised the story because we never got taught french we just had to figure it out , i'm 17 now ( senior year ) and ive only just thought of it again and this story is HORRIFYING for how young i was .... i always loved the style but this story is well and truly horrifying at the least .....
It’s funny to hear that this advert was just as ubiquitous on American TV as it was on British. It says something to the long term impact of TV when this stupid advert just pops into your head out of nowhere 😂
je suis la jeune fille - just learned I been saying “I am little girl” for years!
Probably ain’t far from the truth now, is it...
My mom bought this for me and I guess she thought it would teach me Spanish, but I just liked it in English so it was just a movie to me 😂
Trying to sit your child in front of the TV could have been challenging depending on your child's attention span 😂
To this day every time I want to make fun of 80s fashions I reference "the Muzzy Lady"! As you pointed out, this was from the early 90s, yet the woman narrating looks totally outdated in her icky pleated silk dress that looks like she's going to be a guest star on Designing Women and hair that would make Barbara Mandrell proud as she hunts through the polyester knockoffs to find "the Visa Tag" - that meant it was "America's 'Freedom Fabric'"! Hahaha! Great video!
CRACKING UP THIS WHOLE TIME THANK YOUUUUU
Honestly muzzy was one of my favorite videos when i was a kid. The songs were super catchy and i loved the story
Oh god this unlocked memories that i didnt even know existed
Thank you for this!
This is a bizarre cartoon but my kids love it. The modern 3d version too
I remember my teacher in primary school rolling in a crt tv and putting this on for us to learn Gaelige when he didn't feel like teaching us himself. And I remember not understanding a word of it haha
every morning before school in the 90s I remember commercials for this.
That's funny. In my childhood, in 1990, it was broadcasted free - on TV in the Soviet Union. I still use Muzzy for teaching English
30 years ago and I still remember “je suis la jun fil”
Which I’ve just googled and apparently it means “I am a young girl”
The entire muzzy series (including that one when Sylvie lost her ring and when jean was farming) was practically my childhood (the french version, obviously)
I'm now also realizing that in the second one, corvax and his lackey kinda.. kidnapped.their baby.. on a boat.. hm.
IMO the updated animation looks worse. it looks like a student reel from the 2000s. At least the old-time hand-drawn animation has its charm to it
We need to start a campaign to find the little girl from the commercial 🤣
We need to awake her from troubled dreams, like Gregor Samsa.
My childhood 😻😻😻😻😻
Corvax has always been my favorite ❤️
Our lazy Spanish teacher in elementary school used to shove this vhs into the big ass box tv on the ceiling and make us watch this. 😂😂😂 this brings back a memory I almost forgot
I like the changing photos on the desk behind you. Well played, sir.
1:20 “Fair warning though this movie has an extremely disturbing plot line that grapples with some of the deepest ethical questions of existential philosophy and consciousness.”
Kinda reminds me of similar philosophical themes from Ghost in the Shell...so Muzzy is actually “an extremely, extremely, bizarre, disturbing animated movie”...carefully crafted in the disguise of cute-looking edutainment meant to teach English and other languages to foreigners...how strange...
“It’s a classic tale really-a forbidden love affair between a high-status young lady and a lowly peasant.”
Muzzy was the pilar for me to learn English outside of school. I had the US English dub version.
Interesting but kind of ruins the innocence of a childhood memory. This is how my siblings and I learned our first words in Mandarin before moving to China for my dad's work. We got the DVD's from the library and must have watched them a hundred times. Even back then we weren't impressed by the plot, but the plot is just supposed to be a vehicle for the language. We loved repeating those melodramatic lines in Chinese! :D
Thanks for this!
Excellent intro.
Everyone needs to do that ”yes they’re speaking in French” line.
I remember when I was in sixth grade Spanish, my teacher played the Spanish VHS tape during one of our classes. I couldn't figure out what the heck was going on, only that the queen kept saying "Me gusta" while shaking the trees. And then I think someone/something fell out of the tree and she ran off screaming? I can't remember.
Way before Duolingo, Babbel, Rosetta Stone and Google Translate, There was Muzzy
My friends and I only saw this commercial as little kids, and created our own version of the Muzzy character that was dumb as rocks, a multi-trillionaire, and obsessed with teaching kids (stickmen) to say that "French" from the commercial in exactly his voice. If they failed to perfectly do so, he would scream, grow razor-sharp claws, and Slash them to pieces.
He would also "wah" a lot because as kids we didn't know what "bonjour" was and couldn't hear anything on our crappy old TVs except some fuzzy moanings in the commercial
I remember that commercial and always wanted to know if it really work, but my parents told me that it was never worth it. They were probably right.
OMG i forgot about this, my brain feels weird with how much i remember this now 😭
I couldn't agree more. The scene with the Sylvia clones being erased was pretty sad.
The Irish version of this show had suprisedly good voice-acting.
As an American I've never actually heard spoken Irish in my life, so I might actually pay for that
@@ecstasycalculus no need, the entire english language version is available for free here on youtube.
@@ecstasycalculus correction: the entire Irish language version is available on UA-cam. Sorry for that mistake
My childhood! "Plums and Peaches". Hello from BR.
I remember seeing muzzy when I was a kid!
We in Russia had this cartoon streamed on tv on english-russian, thank you for the story!
My mom had a muzzy set years ago. There was a DVD and VHS. I have no idea where they went. I didn't even know what a VHS was at the time
I begged my parents for this just so I could get the muzzy stuffed animal that came with it for "free". I did watch the movie but only in english because as a 4 year old I didn't like not being able to understand what they were saying, therefore defeating the purpose of learning a new language. I still have the stuffed animal and whenever my parents see it they talk about how it's the most expensive toy they've ever bought me lol
If I was 5 watching that “creepy scene” I would just assume that they teleported to the computer and that’s it
That's also what I thought, and I watched this when I was 11.
loved your review- hilarious!
My sister is the girl in the commercial and I tried out for it but didn’t get the part.
I used to watch this as a child and it absolutely scared me.
Wow this guy must have had one of those retro super computers with time warping capabilities. He must have been on 4chan or something.
I can still hear Muzzy say, "Bonjour."
Oooh, I remember this cartoon and vhs, we used to watch it in school to learn Spanish.
YESSSSSSS!!!!! il grande Muzzi!!! 😍
The new CG version doesn't look very good, the designs don't really translate well to CG and the environments look flat and not very detailed. Really wish they would do it with better 2D animation someday.
The girl says, "Je suis la juene fille." Which translates to- I am the young girl.
I always wanted to know what was on those damn tapes.
Fun fact! If you have a library card with access to Kanopy, you can watch the 3D remake of Muzzy lol
This is so crazy brother. I Never seen this before. Wow. Lol. 😂😂.
Man, what a fantastic video.
I had that show...I HAVE NEVER LOOKED AT IT THAT WAY
I forgot how weird Muzzy was. Watched it years ago in Scottish Gaelic and all I remembered up until I watched your video was the annoying voice acting.
What about the moments where the movie cuts out to a random guy in a completely seperate plot? I found those the most educational parts as a kid.
WAIT, the Queen's English voice was done by the actress who played Prof. Sprout in the Harry Potter movies?!?!?!?!
Yes, it sure was.
Miriam Margolys
That 2014 version looks like something straight out of Ratboy Genius's channel.
I remember the commercial reruns in the 00s
i dont even know if i used this to learn a language (maybe german) but i remember it so well
I'd all but forgotten this late morning fever dream, roiling around in the ether like some kind of secret I wasn't supposed to see. You've unearthed this like a repressed memory that dawns on you in the shower.
I get a very faint nostalgia from this but I know I never watched this
I'd love to see you review the sequel. :)