History Literature / Babar

The books are seen by some as an allegory of French colonialism, with Babar as a young native who goes to France for education and comes back to teach the ways of civilization (defined as "the way the French do things") to his fellow countrymen. Jean de Brunhoff originally created 7 ''Babar'' books between 1931 and his death in 1948; his son Laurent de Brunhoff succeeded him as author and continued to write new ''Babar'' stories up until his passing in 2024 at age 99.

The books are seen by some as an allegory of French colonialism, with Babar as a young native who goes to France for education and comes back to teach the ways of civilization (defined as "the way the French do things") to his fellow countrymen. Jean de Brunhoff originally created 7 ''Babar'' books between 1931 and his death in 1948; his son Laurent de Brunhoff succeeded him as author and continues to write new ''Babar'' stories to this day.

A few years later, an AnimatedSeries was produced by the world-renowned Canadian animation studio Creator/{{Nelvana}}[[note]]who have since assumed distribution rights to the non-Nelvana Christmas special, likely as a result of the bankruptcy that befell Atkinson Film-Arts[[/note]]. It originally aired between 1989 and 1991 and then in 2000, airing on the Creator/{{CBC}} and then Creator/GlobalTelevisionNetwork in Canada, and on Creator/{{HBO}} (which also aired the Christmas special annually) and later Creator/{{Qubo}} in the US (with the 2000 revival being shown on Creator/{{Teletoon}} in Canada and Creator/{{CBS}} in the US). The series ran for 6 seasons of 78 episodes and was broadcast in 30 languages in over 150 countries, making it one of the most widely distributed animated shows up to that point. The first 2 seasons mainly followed Babar's childhood and early years as king (told through his own recollections), while the remaining 4 seasons shift to his life in the present. A number of new characters were introduced in this series too, such as Babar’s uppity second advisor Pompadour. The characters' voices were provided by many familiar Canadian actors, most notably Creator/GordonPinsent as Babar himself. Praised for its ability to tackle serious issues with drama and nuance and treat its preschool audience with respect and maturity, the show is widely considered to be one of Nelvana's greatest series and a true icon of Canadian animation. Episodes can be seen on Youtube on [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFe57hUldf3jWklSRCuztgg the show's official channel]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUIixndCOJ8wdtVGJKKjDwfVovy9Og5Iy Treehouse Direct]].

* CassandraTruth: When the hunter returns to the jungle in ''Babar's Triumph'', Rataxes and the other animal leaders brush off Babar's warnings about how dangerous the hunter is and refuse to join forces to stop him. It isn't until Rhinoland (then merely a cluster of rural grasshuts) is attacked by the hunter and his men ,with all the rhinos captured, that the other animals realize who they are dealing with.

* ClipShow: The episodes "Remember when...", "Boys will be boys" and "Oh, to be an adult" all feature flashbacks to several previous episodes. The first two are the season finale for Season 2 and 3.

A few years later, an AnimatedSeries was produced by the world-renowned Canadian animation studio Creator/{{Nelvana}}[[note]]who have since assumed distribution rights to the non-Nelvana Christmas special, likely as a result of the bankruptcy that befell Atkinson Film-Arts[[/note]]. It originally aired between 1989 and 1991 and then in 2000, airing on the Creator/{{CBC}} and then Creator/{{Global}} in Canada, and on Creator/{{HBO}} (which also aired the Christmas special annually) and later Creator/{{Qubo}} in the US (with the 2000 revival being shown on Creator/{{Teletoon}} in Canada and Creator/{{CBS}} in the US). The series ran for 6 seasons of 78 episodes and was broadcast in 30 languages in over 150 countries, making it one of the most widely distributed animated shows up to that point. The first 2 seasons mainly followed Babar's childhood and early years as king (told through his own recollections), while the remaining 4 seasons shift to his life in the present. A number of new characters were introduced in this series too, such as Babar’s uppity second advisor Pompadour. The characters' voices were provided by many familiar Canadian actors, most notably Creator/GordonPinsent as Babar himself. Praised for its ability to tackle serious issues with drama and nuance and treat its preschool audience with respect and maturity, the show is widely considered to be one of Nelvana's greatest series and a true icon of Canadian animation. Episodes can be seen on Youtube on [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFe57hUldf3jWklSRCuztgg the show's official channel]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUIixndCOJ8wdtVGJKKjDwfVovy9Og5Iy Treehouse Direct]].

* UnpleasantAnimalCounterpart: Rhinos to elephants in ''Babar's Travel''. Elephants are mostly gentle and benevolent, and are ruled by TheGoodKing Babar, whereas the rhinos are violent, and declare a war on the elephants in response to a simple, juvenile prank by Arthur. The conflict is expanded upon in the animated series.

* AngryAngryHippos: The antagonist of "Land of Sweets" is an ill-tempered hippo [[RoyalBrat prince]] who throws chefs in prison and shuts down their establishments [[DisproportionateRetribution whenever their dishes don't satisfy him]]. [[spoiler:It turns out his bad attitude was the result of no one wishing him a happy birthday. When the cast throw him a proper birthday party, he pulls a HeelFaceTurn.]]

* FunnelMouthedCephalopod:
** The squid pirates in "Land of Pirates" have their siphons act as mouths.
** Octolunga in "The Seabed Land" has a mouth located right under his eyes (rather than a beak in the center of his arms like a real octopus). He spews ink from that mouth, which turns into a funnel shape when he does so.

* PutOnABus: The Old Lady, Pompadour, Troubadour, Basil, Lady Rataxes, and Victor in the final season. Isabelle and Cornelius only appear in the first and last episodes, and Arthur appears in the last. Rataxes (though in his original design from ''The Travels of Babar'') makes a cameo appearance in a story told by Babar in "Land of Pirates".

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: All of the adult female elephants in the movie lack tusks, including Queen Celeste, despite being clearly African elephants which have tusks in both genders. This is jarring considering the rest of the franchise gets this detail ''right''.

* PutOnABus: The Old Lady, Pompadour, Troubadour, Basil, Lady Rataxes, and Victor in the final season. Isabelle and Cornelius only appear in the first and last episodes, and Arthur appears in the last. Rataxes makes a cameo appearance in a story told by Babar.

** Octolunga in "The Seabed Land" has a mouth located right under his eyes (rather than a beak in the center of his arms like a real octopus). It turns into a funnel shape when he spews ink.