Hugo (game show)

Original program

Hugo was first aired on Danish national television TV2 in the program Eleva2ren in 1990, featuring a video game that was played by the audience via telephone connection. A player would call the show, then be prompted by a human host to control a cartoon character on the TV screen in several scenarios by pressing digit keys on the phone (either 1,2, 3 or 2, 4, 6), assorted to the character controls. The hit show has been aired continuously for five years. Since then, there have been various merchandise produced in Denmark and elsewhere as welll as two attempts to adapt it into an animated film among other developments.

The show's original scenario, which ran on Danish television for a year, featured only the titular character - a small, friendly troll named Hugo of 220 years (a young age for his kind), navigating an old mine in a quest for a treasure. For the next season, the developer ITE added Hugo's family: his 180-years-old wife Hugolina (Hugoline) and their kids aged 20-50: Rit (TrolleRit), Rat (TrolleRat) and Rut (TrolleRut), as well Hugo's enemy, an evil witch named Scylla (originally Afskylia in Denmark and also having other international names such as Hexana in the German version, Maldicia in the Spanish version, Maldiva in the Portugaese version, Mordana in Croatia, Skylla in Finland, Sila in Turkey, and Simla in Vietnam) who is extremely old and hideous but uses magic to appear young and beautiful when she is nearby Hugolima. (Most Hugo video games and other adaptations would drop this motif as Scylla become always youthful by default and instead usually either seeks revenge against Hugo or searches for an ultimate power to conquer the world, and even tries to make trolls extinct.) The objective of the game became to navigate obstacles in a series of scenarios in order to reach Scylla's Skull Cave lair and rescue Hugo's family from cruel captivity, and several people would usually attempt this task to win the prize (depending on the amount of points from collecting gold along the way) during half an hour of airtime. Hugo would communicate with the player to comment on the game's progress, while the witch Scylla would taunt both Hugo and the player. Later, the show gradually expanded further with more characters (talking animals and regular animals, both good and evil) and increasingly diverse environments and gameplay, especially with the spin-off program Hugo Jungle Island (Hugo Vulkanøen) that premiered in January 1999. Another scenario, based on the video game Hugo: The Evil Mirror, was also created but never aired.

Behind the scenes

Hugo was originally portrayed by Michael Brockdorf, who has developed this voice while in the Army. Several others have since taken over the task of voicing the character, including Amin Jensen and Torben Simonsen. Hugolina was originally voiced by Louise Engell (Louise's brother, Thomas Engell, also composed Hugo music for the show) while her mother Winnie lent her voice to the antagonist Scylla.

For Hugo and its similar television program projects, ITE originally developed a designated, custom-built computer hardware system called the ITE 3000 that would convert telephone signals into remotely control the characters in the game and allow the interaction of the audience and the TV action without delay. The system was based on two Amiga 3000 computers plus a new audio control system MIDI sampler, the DTMF system and some other extra hardware, and reportedly costed $100,000 to make. The ITE 3000 was later replaced by the PC-based ITE 4000, which used a real time motion capture system Animation Mask System (AMS) invented by Bjarne Sølvason (father of the ITE founder Ivan Sølvason) to transfer an actor's body/head/eye movements and facial expressions to Hugo's character on screen. The actor providing the voice of Hugo wore the helmet which contained sensors that could capture his facial expressions and translate them to the character, but all of the characters' body movements were pre-rendered. In 1996, ITE created new, 3D graphics for Hugo using Silicon Graphics machines. A new technology for real-time 3D animation of Hugo was unveiled in 2005, but was aimed only for export, specifically to Asian countries.

Licensed programs

The programs were licensed for more than 40 (43 as of 2007) TV shows around the world (first in Spain in 1992, followed by France), tailored to individual markets. Many viewers believed that the program is native to their countries, as Hugo spoke Danish only in Denmark. Hugo never aired in South Africa because the local TV station demanded ITE to remove horns in all animations for all games, as their viewers where very superstitious and believed that Hugo would appear as a demon from the local beliefs; the horns of Hugo also caused some problems in the Middle East.

Argentina

In Argentina, A Jugar Con Hugo, hosted by Gabriela "Gaby" Royfe, was a spectacular success and ran for seven seasons and 343 episodes, winning the Martín Fierro Awards' "Best Kids Show" 2003. Hugo was voiced by César Ledesma and there was also a paper magazine being published for the show. Gaby Royfe returned to again host the program in 2016, this time using the Internet and a mobile app instead of TV and a classic telephone, when the 30th anniversary event was attended by 1600 people and watched by half million.

Brazil

In Brazil, the Hugo show on CNT Gazeta (later Hugo Game) topped with 500% above the expected rating level, with 1.8 million callers on a single day. Hugo was presented as a duende and played by a robotic puppet voiced by Orlando Viggiani.

Chile

In Chile, Hugo was a resounding success and quickly was extended from a 15-minute segment to 30 minutes in the latter half of 1995, eventually receiving a daily one-hour timeslot daily on Televisión Nacional de Chile as La Hora de Hugo ("Hugo Hour"). The winner of the daily editions would meet in a weekend finale and a "Hugo van" was visiting places all over the country to meets the program's viewers. The show was hosted by Ivette Vergara and later by Andrea Molina, with Sandro Larenas lending the voice to Hugo, and having uome unique merchandise.

Finland

In Finland, where Hugo was brought by game journalist-turned-producer Pekka Kossila already in 1992, two different, 30-minute Hugo shows were aired at the same time by Yle TV2 - one for adults and one for children, achieving an 18% market share by 1996. The programs were presented by Taru Valkeapää, who was chosen from among 45 candidates, and later by Marika Saukkonen, while Hugo as voiced by Harri Hyttinen. Merchandise included the music CD DJ Hugo with dance hits of 1993.

France

In France, the program was titled Hugo Délire ("Hugo Madness") and Les Délires d'Hugo ("Hugo Delusions") and was presented by Karen Cheryl on France3. The very popular show achieved a cult status among the children of the 1990s.

Germany

In Germany (and at first also Austria and Switzerland), Die Hugo-Show was scored with techno music and was drawing up to 200,000 phone calls every day. It used a virtual reality-like studio and the "Hugo-mobile" for live broadcasting all around the country, and became a cult show for some. The German version of Hugo won Golden Cable award 1995 for the best children's program. There were several musical guests, including Masterboy. A 1996-1997 Kabel 1 spin-off program titled Hexana-Schloss ("Hexana's Castle"), was hosted by a live-action version of Hexana (German name for Scylla) as played by Julia Haacke and dedicated to the PlayStation. German presenters included Minh-Khai Phan-Thi, Yvette Dankou, Tania Schleef (Schleefstraße) and Judith Hildebrandt, while Sonja Zietlow hosted the spin-off program Hugo & Hexana' Hugo's voice actors were Michael Habeck, Oliver Grimm, Oliver Baier and Sven Blümel. The country also had a Hugo magazine and a wide variety of assorted merchandise, including numerous music CD releases.

Israel

In Israel, Hugo got his own 30-minute daily program Hugo (הוגו) on Arutz HaYeladim. It quickly became the most popular show, receiving a three-hour spin-off show Hugo's World (עולמו של הוגו) in 1996, in which children used a large step-on number pad. In 1997-2001, Hugo starred in children's electricity safety campaign by Israel Electric Corporation and the show offered a contest related to this campaign in 1997. The program's presenters included Tal Berman. In addition to various merchandise, the show was adapted into a comic book series and even a musical stage show.

Poland

In Poland, there was the main show its two spin-offs also on the Polsat network, Hugo Family and Hugo Express, where it remained the most popular children's program for years. It was hosted by Wojciech Asiński and Andrzej Krucz, and later Piotr Galus, while Aleksandra Woźniak hosted Hugo Family. Hugo was voiced first by Andrzej Niemirski and later Mariusz Czajka. Similar to in Germany, there was a monthly magazine and many types of locally produced merchandise.

Portugal

In Portugal, the show's presenters included Alexandra Cruz, Fernando Martins, Pedro Mendonça, Pedro Pinto, Joana Seixas and Susana Bento Ramos, and the voice actors were Frederico Trancoso (Hugo), Grace Ferreira (Hugolina), and Mónica Garcez (Maldiva/Scylla). Hugo won a Troféu Nova Gente award in 1999. It was later renewd by the daily program Hora H ("H Hour").

Serbia

In Serbia 'Hugo became a highest ranking children's show for over 4 years. It was hosted by Ivana Zecevic (m.Golubovic), Sandra Vlatkovic.

Spain

In Spain, 25% of the population tuned in to watch Hugo hosted by Carmen Sevilla on Telecinco, a viewing figure that has remained unsurpassed by 1994. The success of Hugo prompted the launch of Hugolandia, a dedicated program presented by Beatriz Rico, Luis Alberto Vazquez, and Roma and Eva Morales, and directed by Sebastian Junyent, with Pepe Carabias voicing the character of Hugo.

Turkey

In Turkey, Hugo became a highest ranking children's show and achieved a 12% share of the total market at the time when the country was new to private channels. The program was enormously popular, especially at first in 1993 when it was watched by millions of children, thousands of whom would compete to play, and was hosted by Tolga Gariboğlu. There was also a theatrical show and locally made merchandise too. The popular character of the witch Scylla (cadı Sila) gained a motivation for kidnapping Hugo's family as she needs to drink troll sweat for eternal life and beauty.

Vietnam

In Vietnam, Vui cùng Hugo ("Fun With Hugo") became one of the highest rated shows by 2008, receiving 20,000 phone calls per episode. The program became a household name and a favourite not only among children but also many adults. It was hosted by Hoang Thuy Linh, Le Duc Anh (Duc Anh Hugo), Ngoc Linh and Thanh Van (Thanh Van Hugo), and Hugo was voiced by Quach Ho Ninh.

Other countries

Legacy