Rölli "Rölli ja pahan valtakunta" (found episode of Finnish children's TV series; 1993)

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Rölli.png

A screenshot from the episode.

Status: Partially Lost

Rölli is a Finnish children's television series based on the character with the same name created by Allan ”Allu” Tuppuraisen. Tuppurainen himself starred as the title character in the tv series, that aired as part of the programming block Pikku kakkonen on the channel Yle TV2. As described in the theme song, Rölli is an troll-like creature living at his cottage deep in the forest, who likes to frighten children for fun. Despite this, each episode shows him to be shy, curious and kind, while telling tales and thoughts to his audience.

However, the episode titled Rölli ja pahan valtakunta (roughly translating to Rölli and the kingdom of evil) was deemed too scary for younger audiences due its dark nature.[1] The episode originally aired as the fourth episode of the fourth season in April 19th, 1993[2] and it was then pulled from re-airings, while being blacklisted along with couple of other banned children's cartoons featured on the programming block.

Premise

On his boat pier, Rölli is trying out his career as a writer. After completing his writing in the evening, he returns to his cottage and begins reading his dark story. The forest outside the cottage becomes dark and windy, as Rölli continues reading his story. He then becomes very frustrated after noticing errors and inconsistencies in his story and decides then go to sleep while imagining seeing terrible and creepy nightmare for his own amusement.

As he falls asleep, we see Rölli's spirit detaching off his body and leaving the cottage. This starts off the musical sequence featuring original song "Pahan valtakunta" (Translated as "Kingdom of evil"), that describes the evil lurking in your house unasked and that the kingdom of evil can be anywhere including your house.

The song also gives thoughts of when evil is going to threaten the world as well giving a statement that the evil cannot be destroyed, it will always survive and continues to change its form. After the sequence, the spirit returns to its body and Rölli wakes up from his nightmare. After brief wondering, Rölli then goes back to sleep wishing to see more beautiful dreams.

Availability

After the episode's original broadcast, it was never re-aired on television and it isn't available on any home video format.[3] The only way to see the episode legally is to get access to the Finnish radio and television archives (KAVI).[4] In March 2017, the episode (Here internationally dubbed as Rölli and evil empire) along with other banned cartoons of Pikku Kakkonen was screened as part of the film festival's Pikku kakkonen 40th anniversary presentation in Tampere.[5][6]

Despite the ban, the song "Pahan valtakunta" featured in the episode, was already included on the children's cassette/CD album "Rölli Seikkailee 6. - Onnea Etsimässä", that was released on 1990.

In March 2019, majority of the episode recorded from its original broadcast surfaced on YouTube before the account was shortly shut down due copyright claims. Parts of the episode missing in the video are the opening sequence, first couple of minutes and ending credits. On February 4th, 2021, the video was re-uploaded to YouTube.

Gallery

Seven minute clip of the episode from its original broadcast.

Original song "Pahan valtakunta" from Rölli Seikkailee 6. - Onnea Etsimässä album.

External Links

References