Badgers is a Flash cartoon by British animator Jonti "Weebl" Picking. It consists of 12 animated cartoon badgers doing calisthenics, a toadstool in front of a tree, and a snake in the desert. The Flash cartoon is accompanied by electronic dance music.
Contents
This Flash cartoon was published 2 September 2003. The cartoon loops indefinitely. The first two badger scenes contain twelve badgers; subsequent badger scenes contain eleven badgers.
The cartoon brought Picking to the attention of MTV Europe, for whom Picking produced Weebl and Bob. That cartoon series, together with the dancing badgers, helped Picking's website Weebl's Stuff win a People's Choice award from users of Yahoo! in the UK. "Badger Badger Badger" was also listed as one of the top five internet fads of all time by PC World in 2009.
Lyrics
The cartoon's song is performed by Weebl himself over an electronic dance beat.
Badger, badger, badger, badger Badger, badger, badger, badger Badger, badger, badger, badger Mushroom! Mushroom! Badger, badger, badger, badger Badger, badger, badger, badger Badger, badger, badger, badger Mushroom! Mushroom! Badger, badger, badger, badger Badger, badger, badger, badger Badger, badger, badger, badger Mushroom! Mushroom! Badger, badger, badger, badger Badger, badger, badger, badger Badger, badger, badger, badger A snake! A snake! Snake! A snake! Oh, it's a snake!The first snake line is off homage, although people say it "Argh! A snake!", "Oh, it's a snake", "Argh Snake! Snake, a snake!" "Ow, it's a snake!" "Argh, a f**king snake, f**king snake, a f**king snake!" (or what the editor reads "tickles me").
The audio doesn't play exactly with the visuals, exactly when they say the 12th "badger" repetition (a few minutes later) while the visuals show the mushroom (after approximately 15 to 30 minutes) which means the audio is off synchronization with the visuals. That plays for about 4 hours long, thereafter the gaps starts closing, the song and animation get back in sync, then lasts for 8 to 10 hours.
Few people claim that the lyrics actually say "Magic" instead of "badger". Stanzas 2-10, the editor thinks, only includes 11 repetitions of "badger".
Follow-up versions
There have been several follow ups to the "Badger Badger Badger" cartoon posted to the Weebl's Stuff website. "Badgers 2" was created in 2003, and features zombie badgers on a black background with a scratching sound added to the music. A Christmas-themed version, with the badgers dressed in Santa Claus suits, is also available. Badgers On a Plane consists of a scene from a Snakes On a Plane trailer that includes badgers and a mushroom, which have been digitally edited into the scene, tumbling from their seats while a bit of the song plays in the background. In 2007, Big Ass Badgers was released to spoof the Transformers film. Also in 2007, a live action version of the cartoon called Baby Badgers was released to promote the new Badger toys.
A "Euro 2004 Edition" was also created during the UEFA Euro 2004 football championship, where the badgers wore England football jerseys to "footy, footy, footy" and "England! England! Goal! A goal! Oh, it's a goal, scored by England, England..." A new version titled Footy 2010 was created for the 2010 FIFA World Cup with vuvuzelas drowning out the audio. Another version, titled "Realistic Football Badgers", was created in response to England's loss in the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
A parody by a group called Fifth District, titled "Potter Potter Potter," depicts several images of Harry Potter dancing on the Hogwarts Campus, one image of Ron Weasley dancing in another area of the campus, and Severus Snape advancing menacingly toward the figures of the bespectacled wizarding teen, with a Whomping Willow tree and flying hippogriffs in the background. The chant is "Potter Potter Potter Potter" and "Weasley! Weasley!" and "Snape! Snape! Oh, it's a Snape!"
More recently, a dubstep version called "Guess I got My Badger Back" was released based on "Swagga" by Excision & Datsik. On April 6, 2011, he uploaded a 3D version.
A new version of the song was launched on the Moshi Monsters website, where the Monsters appear on the screen as, "Moshi Moshi" is sung instead. Every now and then, there is a break where "Monster", or even rarer, "Moshling", is said instead.
On March 6, 2013, Canadian musician Devin Townsend released a previously unreleased cover of the song while recording the album Deconstruction.
Another adaptation of the song, "Save the Badger Badger Badger", was released on 19 May 2013, in response to proposed badger culling in the United Kingdom. The song features vocals and guitar from Brian May and visuals reminiscent to the 1980 film Flash Gordon, in addition to vocals from Weebl and Brian Blessed.