Close Encounters
Series titles: The Hydronauts, Hydronautit (Finnish)
- Studio
- Epidem ZOT, France 5, KIKA, Kinderkanal, Millimages, Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR), Toons'N'Tales
- Distributor
- Kinderkanal
Synopsis
Balty is sure of what he has heard: Neptuna wants to return to her planet without telling them! When Ponto thinks he has seen another spaceship, he is convinced that Neptuna's friends are coming to find her! Now is the time to act. Disguised as aliens, Ponto and Balty meet manta rays and a remora fish!
Characters
Neptuna, Balty, Obo, Ponto, Octavia
Credits
Directing
- Director
- Udo Beissel
Writing
- Writer
- Ishel Eichler, Eckart Fingberg, Christian Melüh
Voices
- Voice
- Jenni Laakso (Neptuna), Rauno Ahonen (Balty), Taisto Oksanen (Obo), Kimmo Rasila (Ponto), Jaana Bister (Octavia)
Music
- Music
- Nils Kacirek, Lars Löhn, Christian Mevs
Editing
- Editor
- Ulf Albert
Crew
- Creators
- Eckart Finberg, Michael Maedel
- Concept
- Mikael Wahlforss
- Graphics Technician
- Fernando Figoli
- Documentary Footage
- Gedeon Programmes
- Sound Designer
- Ulf Krueger
- Sound Mixer
- Ulf Krueger
Production notes
Neptuna the extraterrestrial has been sent to planet Earth on a mission to study the marine world. The knowledge she brings back will be vital to save her planet, threatened with imminent engulfment from overpollution. On board her vessel the Hydronaut, equipped with a central computer answering to the name of Obo, Neptuna crash-lands in the Baltic Sea. There, she meets Balty the seal and Ponto the seagull, who decide to follow her on her voyage. From the Baltic Sea to the Indian Ocean via the two poles, they discover an extraordinary world where truth often surpasses fiction. Through the exciting adventures of these heroes, The Hydronauts introduces us to the amazing richness and diversity of the aquatic universe.
The series is a part of an information project which has been created together with WWF Finland and the Finnish TV channel Nelonen to raise public awareness of the alarming state of the sea environment.
Developed and produced with the support of the Ministry of Environment and the Turku Environmental Bureau, Finland, Filmfoerderung Hamburg, Federal Foundation for the Environment (DBU), Germany, CNC, Millefin, France and MEDIA, A Programme of the European Community.
The series is a part of an information project which has been created together with WWF Finland and the Finnish TV channel Nelonen to raise public awareness of the alarming state of the sea environment.
Developed and produced with the support of the Ministry of Environment and the Turku Environmental Bureau, Finland, Filmfoerderung Hamburg, Federal Foundation for the Environment (DBU), Germany, CNC, Millefin, France and MEDIA, A Programme of the European Community.