Pingu at the Wedding Party

Pingu at the Wedding Party (also known as A Very Special Wedding or Pingu: The Movie) is a 1997 television film featuring the British-Swiss character Pingu. It was originally broadcast on SF DRS in 1997, and was released on VHS and DVD in the UK in 2004. It was broadcast on BBC Two on 27 December 2010 and on CBeebies on 31 December 2010.

Plot

Pingu is helping Father deliver the mail. Pingu wakes up a penguin to deliver a parcel, but he’s puzzled to receive it. Then his neighbour comes out and says it’s for her, so Pingu grabs the parcel back and gives it to Mother, who is delighted to get the letter, as it’s an invitation to a wedding. Pingu shows the photo to Father, who gets out Mother and Father's wedding album with the green penguin friends and shows it to Pingu and Pinga.

Mother and Father go to get a present, leaving Pingu and Pinga at home playing weddings. They’re shown a remotely operated Roomba, which they decide to get. The cleaner and remote are put on the table, and Pingu is intrigued. Mother then comes in and tells Father that she needs a new hat, so they go out to get one, and leave Pingu and Pinga alone at home again. Pingu touches the control stick, and the parcel moves. Pinga comes over to watch, as Pingu pushes the stick on the remote control full forward. The parcel takes off and hovers like a helicopter. Pingu finds that pulling the stick back makes it land. Unfortunately, when the parcel lands it over-balances and falls off the table, landing upside down and getting dented.

On the day of the wedding everything is ready, and the guests who have arrived are chatting. Father and Grandfather chat to some of the other guests, and Mother and Pinga go to coo over an egg in a cradle being looked after by its mother. Pingu spots Robby, who is there as photographer and is polishing the camera, which is on a tripod. Robby taps the camera and the tripod collapses, which makes Pingu laugh. Pingu is looking at some flowers when he’s called over by one of the green penguin family. She introduces Pingu to her son, who is about Pingu’s age. The son greets Pingu by making rude noises, swaying from side to side, slapping Pingu on the back and shaking hands.

As it nears the time of the wedding they all go to anxiously look out for the groom, who hasn’t yet arrived. The minister keeps looking at his watch. Then crying distracts them; the egg has hatched, and they all go to look at the baby. Meanwhile, Pingu is called over by Pongi’s son, and they go and look at the cake. The green penguin and Pingu both naughtily sample the cake, and Pingu patches it up so it’s not so obvious what has happened to it. Then the bride spots the groom and the others turn to look. The groom is momentarily distracted when his tie covers his eyes, causing him to crash into a block of ice, which sends him and the bouquet flying. He ends up sitting on the ice next to the bride, who catches the bouquet as it bounces off his head. Later they open the dented Roomba, who becomes evil, ruins the party, sucks up the bride’s bouquet and the groom attacks it with a stick. The Roomba spins its antennae like a helicopter and takes a little flight. It nearly hits Pingu's father, who drops the remote control, causing it to drop down to earth and break. Pingu is blamed for this, and the green penguin's son comes and collects the sucked-up bouquet and drops it on the ground. Then he fixes the Roomba and it functions like normal. Everyone is now pleased.

Robby takes a photograph of the wedding party and the bride and groom leave on a sledge.

Trivia

• Features Pingu, Pinga, Mother, Father, Grandfather, Mother and Father's friends, the bride and groom, the families of the bride and groom, Robby, and a Roomba. Various other penguins have supporting and/or minor roles (minister, organist, shopkeeper etc.).
• The groom and his family are green.
• The "Movie" is about twenty-five minutes long.
• This episode was in cooperation with UNICEF
• Film music: Andy Benedict (New version only)
• Voices are given by Carlo Bonomi and Pietro Ubaldi.
• Produced in 1997