Wickie und die starken Männer
| Vicky the Viking | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Adventure, Comedy |
| Created by |
Zuiyo Eizo Taurus Film |
| Written by | Runer Jonsson |
| Directed by | Hiroshi Saito |
| Music by | Karel Svoboda |
| Country of origin | Japan |
| Original language(s) | Japanese, German |
| No. of episodes | 78 |
| Release | |
| Original network | ZDF |
| Original release | 31 January 1974 |
Vicky the Viking, known as 
Wickie und die starken Männer in Germany and Austria and Chiisana Viking Bikke (小さなバイキング ビッケ?) in Japan, is a German-Austrian-Japanese animated television series which tells the adventures of Vicky, a young Viking boy who uses his wits to help his Viking fellows. It premiered on the German TV channel ZDF on January 31, 1974 but aired in various countries.
The series' main character is Vicky, son of Halvar, chief of the Viking village of Flake. Unlike his village fellows - including most of the other boys of his age - Vicky is blessed with a sharp and imaginative mind which helps his fellow Vikings out of many tight situations, including rival Viking lord Sven the Terrible. Certain results of his intellectual approach shown in the series and the film adaptation include building a makeshift catapult to beat his father in a stone-ferrying contest, fitting their longship with kites to make it glide through the air, and using a small sawfish to cut an escape hole through a wooden door.
The script was developed from children's book Vicke Viking (1963) written by the Swedish author Runer Jonsson, who won the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis (German Children’s Book Award) for it in 1965. The Japanese animation studio Zuiyo Enterprise Company (later renamed to Nippon Animation) adapted the original version (1972–1974) and developed from it an 85-minute-long movie (original title: Chiisana Baikingu Bikke) as well as the series with 78 episodes, each 25 minutes long. The series' Japanese roots are clearly visible in its styling and character design - this led to the series being a first unwitting brush with Japanese animation for those who would become anime fans later in life.
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