YMMV / Barbapapa

• Adaptation Displacement:
  • The original book series isn't that well known outside of France, since the original animated series aired in more countries.
  • A famous song written in Israel of the character (which isn't the theme song, surprisingly enough – the Hebrew dub aired it without lyrics) became so popular that many who grew up with the song didn't know that such character actually existed. Suffice to say, the episodes uploaded to Youtube have at most a few tens of thousands of views as of late 2022, while the music video is above four million.
• Awesome Music: The intro of the original series is a soft catchy song about the Barbapapa family and who they all are. The way the Theme Tune Roll Call is incorporated naturally into the flow of the song is genius too.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff:
  • Barbapapa was incredibly popular in Israel in the 70s and 80s, warranting multiple songs based on the character. This faded out over time when the original series would be re-dubbed in 2017, along with the 2019 reboot; though one of the songs still retained its popularity.
  • In Canada, the series was also incredibly popular as it was seen on many television screens at this time, with its own Canadian dub, and is thought of fondly today. The transformation phrase used mostly in that dub, "Clickety click — Barbatrick!" would remain the most popular English phrase of all the translations. Even in the United Kingdom, they released DVDs of the Canadian dub, advertising them as the "Americanised version".
  • The franchise found great success in Japan, too, which is likely why the country had a hand in animating the second season of the original series, as well as a spin-off anime being created in 1999. There's even a café in Tokyo that was opened up in 2018 for the franchise.
• Good Bad Translation: In Albania, the series was translated as "Mjekëroshët", or in English, "The Bearded People". Seriously. This came to be because the term "Barbapapa" originally came from the French word for cotton candy, "barbe à papa", and "barbe" means beard.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "DID YOU MISS THAT? BARBAPAPA, BARBAMAMA, BARBAZOO, BARBALALA, BARBALIB, BARBABEAU, BARBABELLE, BARBABRIGHT, AND BARBABRAVO!"^note The British English dub of Barbapapa adapted the Theme Tune Roll Call from the original into a guy quickly reading the names of all the characters, and then repeats it shortly after. Because clearly everyone missed it the first time. The album version reveals that he actually said it THREE times.
  • "You brussels sprout!"^note In one episode of One Big Happy Family!, Barbabright and Barbabravo get into an argument and insult each other with the names of vegetables. The latter takes offense to the former calling him a brussels sprout as if it's some kind of terrible crime.
• Moe:
  • All of the Barbababies count as this, but Barbazoo is perhaps the kindest and sweetest by far, being a soft-spoken animal caretaker.
  • Lolita, the family dog, is absolutely precious.
• Older Than They Think: Nickelodeon gaining the rights to One Big Happy Family! and airing it worldwide should not be so much of a surprise, given that the 70s series already aired on Nickelodeon in Italy and Spain many years ago.
• Sweet Dreams Fuel: The franchise is FULL of it, especially the original cartoon series. The Barbapapas are clearly a family that care for each other, are always there for each other, and work out any problems they have peacefully. They're all on the side of good, are all filled with love, and they help out anyone and anything that they can. It really helps that all of the characters are extremely adorable and loveable thanks to the amazing art style. Any book or animated series is bound to make you smile at least once.
• Viewer Name Confusion: Some people, especially those who don't understand French, think Barbapapa is spelled "Barbababa". Which is actually hilarious given the origins of his name.
• What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: The franchise has done its part recently in making it look more family-friendly, but as to be expected from an old European cartoon, some episodes of the 70s series were brutal. There are many episodes about gun usage and bad guys wanting to shoot innocent animals, and yes, even babies. Usually it's toned down a bit as they don't show anyone actually getting shot on-screen, and usually Barbapapa steps in before anything too bad can happen, though in the one episode where he didn't, Barbazoo witnesses a poor bird getting shot in their wing, and the blood is actually shown on-screen. In another episode, Barbabravo and a cowboy have a gun fight, and the latter tries to kill the former.
• The Woobie: Lolita in Around the World. So much happens to the poor gal that it's incredibly hard not to feel even slightly bad for her.

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