History Series / Uhu

'''''Uhu''''' (sometimes also written as ''[[ExcitedShowTitle Uhu!]]'' with an exclamation mark) was a Norwegian children's TV series that ran for three seasons on the national broadcast station NRK, from 2001-2003.

* ExcitedShowTitle: The show's title is often written as ''Uhu!'' with an exclamation mark. In this case, since the show is about ghosts, the exclamation mark is meant to indicate terror rather than excitement -- though the show itself is very explicitly not very scary.

'''Napoleon:''' Oh. Darn it, I lose again.

* TheMusical: Every episode had at least one musical number -- often two, with one number being an original song sung by one or more of the character, and the other being a MusicVideo segment of a song by well-known Norwegian kids' entertainers such as [[WesternAnimation/TwoBuddiesAndABadger Knutsen & Ludvigsen]]. The third season had fewer original songs and often reprised songs from the previous two seasons; sometimes new recordings of the same songs, sung by different characters, and sometimes outright recycled from the earlier episode.

** Ghosts are usually the spirits of once-alive humans -- the ghosts sometimes talk about "when I was human" when discussing their past lives -- though this isn't ''always'' the case, as the third season sees the birth of Blitzabeth and Napoleon's daughter Delfia, who is born as a ghost and has never been human. It's not terribly clear if all humans who die become ghosts, or if it's some of them -- or what exactly causes someone to become a ghost.

* {{Teleportation}}: The only ghostly power the ghosts in the HauntedHouse have left, and it only works within the house itself: They can teleport from any room in the house to any other room, which they'll go if they're in a hurry or don't feel like walking. Each ghost has his or her unique method of FlashyTeleportation; Polter does a disco dance while fading away accompanied by a snippet of a disco song, Geir Gatsby stands on one leg and strikes a pose as his body irises out, Ridder Reddik raises her hand and sings a heroic fanfare before vanishing, Obus pulls her trenchcoat collar up and steps behind an invisible wall, Blitzabeth just swipes downwards with both her arms, vanishing from the top down, and Delfia goes a high kick in the air as she vanishes, the kicking foot being the last thing to vanish.

The show also had many inserts with segments that were mostly unrelated to the HauntedHouse (but often reflected the theme of the current episode). Some of these were recurring, like the "Superhero Boy and Superhero Man" segments (a generally non-violent superhero parody), the "Trainee Scarecrow" segments (about a scarecrow learning how to scare birds and other pests away from the farmer's crops) and the "Historical Person" segments (simplified recaps of the lives of important historical people, with kids playing all the roles).

** It's not played ''completely'' straight, however. While most of the main characters don't manage their missions before the final episode, there are a few who do and as such get PutOnABus: Cumulus late in the second season; Geir Gatsby, Ivers and Avers in the second season.

* GainaxEnding: [[spoiler: Well... more like a Gainax Epilogue. The ''ghosts'' all get a happy, non-trippy ending; in the very last episode everyone who's still left in the HauntedHouse manages to complete their missions, and they all travel to Hermetika with a final happy song. The final couple of minutes is when things get ''surreal'': After the ghosts have gone, the Oracle comes out of its room, cheerfully announces it's time for some peace and quiet, and leaves the house. It flies around until it comes to a grocery store, where it hides in a can of tomato soup. A human girl and her parents buy the can, somehow missing the voice from inside laughing and saying things like "lovely tomato soup!" They heat the soup up and have it for dinner... and then all three of them starts talking in the Oracle's voice, complete with Trondheim dialect and bad rhymes. They take it surprisingly well, their reaction being essentially "We all sound like we're from Trondheim, that's hilarious!" And then they happily start singing a song by the famous Trondheim band DDE as the credits roll for the final time.]]

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: A number of the main ghosts. Geir Gatsby is an InnocentlyInsensitive [[ThePrankster Prankster]], Blitzabeth is a PerpetualFrowner who hates the thought of being "friendly," Berit Smerit Perit is [[ItsAllAboutMe totally self-centered]] [[TheDiva Diva]], and Delfia is a BrattyHalfPint. None of them are bad people, however; ultimately they are helpful and sympathetic, and will do the right thing in the end. Likewise, the Oracle is often haughty and can occasionally act like a BadBoss, but when the chips are down is a fairly ReasonableAuthortityFigure who is more bluster than bite.

Before they can pass on to the afterlife, though, they each have a "mission" to solve. Upon arriving to the house, each ghost is taken to the Oracle (a mysterious, but goofy FlyingHead who speaks in a Trondheim dialect and [[RhymesOnADime bad rhymes]]) to receive their unique mission or task. Some of the missions are very easy, some are near-impossible, and some are just plain bizarre, such as standing on one leg for two minutes with an envelope on your head. If a ghost completes their mission, they're allowed to pass on to "Hermetika," the best of the afterlives, where everyone has fun and food is plentiful -- but if they don't complete their mission, or if they tell any of the other ghosts what exactly their mission is, they end up on the "Slampamper Islands" where everything is boring and the food selection is pitiful.

Before they can pass on to the afterlife, though, they each have a "mission" to solve. Upon arriving to the house, each ghost is taken to the mysterious (though goofy and bad-tempered) Oracle to receive their unique mission or task, which they then have to solve without telling any of the other ghosts what exactly that mission is. Some of the missions are very easy, some are near-impossible, and some are just plain bizarre, such as standing on one leg for two minutes with an envelope on your head. If a ghost completes their mission, they're allowed to pass on to "Hermetika," the best of the afterlives, where everyone has fun and food is plentiful -- but if they don't complete their mission, or if they tell anyone else about their mission, they end up on the "Slampamper Islands" where everything is boring and the food selection is pitiful.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: A number of the main ghosts. Geir Gatsby is an InnocentlyInsensitive [[ThePrankster Prankster]], Blitzabeth is a PerpetualFrowner who hates the thought of being "friendly," Berit Smerit Perit is [[ItsAllAboutMe totally self-centered]] [[TheDiva Diva]], and Delfia is a BrattyHalfPint. None of them are bad people, however; ultimately they are helpful and sympathetic, and will do the right thing in the end.

* {{Teleportation}}: The only ghostly power the ghosts in the HauntedHouse have left, and it only works within the house itself: They can teleport from any room in the house to any other room, which they'll go if they're in a hurry or don't feel like walking. Each ghost has his or her unique method of FlashyTeleportation; Polter does a disco dance while fading away accompanied by a snippet of a disco song, Geir Gatsby stands on one leg and strikes a pose as his body irises out, Ridder Reddik raises her hand and sings a heroic fanfare before vanishing, Obus pulls her trenchcoat collar up and steps behind an invisible wall, Blitzabeth just swipes downwards with both her arms, vanishing from the top down, and Delfia goes a jump-kick in the air as she vanishes, the kicking foot being the last thing to vanish.

* {{Teleportation}}: The only ghostly power the ghosts in the HauntedHouse have left, and it only works within the house itself: They can teleport from any room in the house to any other room, which they'll go if they're in a hurry or don't feel like walking. Each ghost has his or her unique method of FlashyTeleportation; Polter does a disco dance while fading away accompanied by a snippet of a disco song, Geir Gatsby stands on one leg and strikes a pose as his body irises out, Ridder Reddik raises her hand and sings a heroic fanfare before vanishing, Obus pulls her trenchcoat collar up and steps behind an invisible wall, and Blitzabeth just swipes downwards with both her arms, vanishing from the top down.

* {{Teleportation}}: The only ghostly power the ghosts in the HauntedHouse have left, and it only works within the house itself: They can teleport from any room in the house to any other room, which they'll go if they're in a hurry or don't feel like walking. Each ghost has his or her unique method of FlashyTeleportation; Polter does a disco dance while fading away accompanied by a snippet of a dicco song, Geir Gatsby stands on one leg and strikes a pose as his body irises out, Ridder Reddik raises her hand and sings a heroic fanfare before vanishing, Obus pulls her trenchcoat collar up and steps behind an invisible wall, and Blitzabeth just swipes downwards with both her arms, vanishing from the top down.

* {{Teleportation}}: The only ghostly power the ghosts in the HauntedHouse have left, and it only works within the house itself: They can teleport from any room in the house to any other room. Each ghost has his or her unique method of FlashyTeleportation; Polter does a disco dance while fading away accompanied by a snippet of a dicco song, Geir Gatsby stands on one leg and strikes a pose as his body irises out, Ridder Reddik raises her hand and sings a heroic fanfare before vanishing, Obus pulls her trenchcoat collar up and steps behind an invisible wall, and Blitzabeth just swipes downwards with both her arms, vanishing from the top down.

* {{Teleportation}}: The only ghostly power the ghosts in the HauntedHouse have left, and it only works within the house itself: They can teleport from any room in the house to any other room. Each ghost has his or her unique method of FlashyTeleportation; Polter does a disco dance while fading away accompanied by a snippet of a dicco song, Geir Gatsby stands on one leg and strikes a pose as his body irises out, Ridder Reddik raises her hand and sings a HeroicFanfare before vanishing, Obus pulls her trenchcoat collar up and steps behind an invisible wall, and Blitzabeth just swipes downwards with both her arms, vanishing from the top down.

* {{Teleportation}}: The only ghostly power the ghosts in the HauntedHouse have left, and it only works within the house itself: They can teleport from any room in the house to any other room. Each ghost has his or her unique method of FlashyTeleportation; Polter does a disco dance while fading away accompanied by a snippet of a dicco song, Geir Gatsby stands on one leg and strikes a pose as his body irises out, Ridder Reddik raises her hand and sings a HeroifFanfare before vanishing, Obus pulls her trenchcoat collar up and steps behind an invisible wall, and Blitzabeth just swipes downwards with both her arms, vanishing from the top down.

* StylisticSuck: Employed on a few occasions. The Oracle is a hilariously bad-looking paper mache puppet on an obvious GreenScreen, the Mute Dragon is very obviously a person in a shoddy dragon costume, and the Slampamper Bus is a cardboard box with a poorly drawn-on bus exterior.

''''Uhu'''' (sometimes also written as ''[[ExcitedShowTitle Uhu!]]'' with an exclamation mark) was a Norwegian children's TV series that ran for three seasons on the national broadcast station NRK, from 2001-2003.