Lohikäärme Justus ja Taikuri Savinen

Lohikäärme Justus ja Taikuri Savinen 

(rough translations: "Justus the Dragon" and "Clay the Magician") 

YLE, Finland 1977-1991.

Introducing classic Finnish children's TV shows from 1970-90s! 

"Justus the Dragon" and "Clay the Magician" are nostalgic clay animations made for children and shown originally in Finnish TV. The DVD contains 8 episodes of "Lohikäärme Justus" (1983) (translated: Justus the Dragon), five episodes of "Justus maailmalla" (1991) (translated: Justus goes abroad) and five episodes (of total of 15) of "Taikuri Savinen" (1978) (translated: Clay the Magician). The series were animated by Tuula Pukkila. Unfortunately there are no English subs. All series fully utilize the properties of modelling clay and the characters can curl themselves into a ball or disc.

Both series were voiced by Erkki Thil (all episodes) and also Riitta Räty (some episodes of "Justus goes abroad.") 

Other animations by Pukkila include clay animation "Pallerot" (Small Spheres), quite experimental show that has small spheres dancing and forming flowers and other objects. Sadly "Pallerot" is nowadays quite forgotten series. 

Justus the Dragon (Lohikäärme Justus)

"Justus the Dragon" was scripted by Lea Himberg. It is the story of small friendly dragon whose wings have not yet grown. Justus changes colour depending on his mood. Justus lives in mountains with his friends Mountain Goat and group of intelligent flowers. The series has themes of friendship and helping others.

Justus and the flowers

Mountain Goat

1. Justus can't fly (Justus ei osaa lentää)
Justus practises flying but his wings have not yet grown. Two other dragons fly away for dragon convention. His friends Mountain Goat and the flowers cheer up the sad dragon.

Adult dragons

2. Justus gets sick (Justus sairastuu)
Justus goes swimming and catches cold. Mountain Goat goes to find medicine.

3. Justus and little people (Justus ja pikkuihmiset)
Justus and Mountain Goat hide when humans arrive to mountains. Two kids are lost in the mountains and need help.

Little people

4. Justus exercises (Justus voimistelee)
Justus wants to fly so he straightens his muscles.

Justus exercises

5. The quarreling flowers (Kukkien Tora)
Sun is shining and the flowers argue who will get most of the sun light. Justin sings a song for them.

Justus plays a song

6. New friend (Uusi ystävä)
Justus meets caterpillars and butterflies. Mountain goat gets a girlfriend but Justus is jealous.

7. The return of the dragons (Lohikäärmeiden paluu)
The other dragons return but both have injuries from flight accidents. They bring flight manual to Justus.

8. Justus flies (Justus lentää)
Justus finally gets his wings.

New wings!

Justus Goes Abroad (Justus maailmalla)

A sequel series to "Justus the Dragon." Now Justus can fly so he goes to explore the world. He meets different people who are often first afraid of him, but soon they become friends. This series has more human characters and more variable backgrounds.

1. Justus goes abroad (Justus lähtee maailmalle)
Friends of Justus warn him not to get in trouble when he flies to explore the world. Justus does not listen.

2. Justus in the land of windmills (Justus tuulimyllyjen maassa)
Air pollution makes Justus temporarily blind and he has to land in Netherlands. He gets caught in windmill but the locals help him.

Dutch people

3. Justus and snow (Justus ja lumi)
It is cold and Justus falls into a snowdrift. Two skiers help him.

4. Justus in Peru (Justus Perussa)
Justus goes to Machu Picchu where he first gets cold shoulder. There are strange earthquakes but Justus saves the day.

Peruvian people

5. Justus goes to foreign mountains (Justus lähtee vieraille vuorille)
An old lady asks what it is like around the world. Justus finds mountains with other dragons.


Clay the Magician (Taikuri Savinen)

"Clay the Magician" stories have ecological themes. Clay tries to maintain the balance of humans and nature. Clay's spells do not always go as wished but luckily he has a magic ball that helps. Being made earlier than "Justus" the animation style is not yet as refined and the human characters look very much the same.

Clay the Magician

1. Elmo the animal searcher (Elmu eläinten etsijä)
Elmo tries to find animals but does not find any. Clay creates a tree that is full of animals.

Clay and Elmo

2. Rick the trekker (Riku retkeilijä)
Clay's bunny friend is stuck in an empty can. The forest is full of trash left by Rick.

Clay and bunny

Rick throws trash in the forest

3. Tate the road builder (Tate tientekijä)
Tate is building a road that goes over foxes nest. Clay intervenes and suggests an alternative route.

Tate builds the road

4. Noise barrier (Meluvalli)
The road traffic is noisy and disturbs the animals. Clay must create noise barrier. However he first misunderstands the concept: the barrier is not supposed to be noisy.

5. Dream about city (Uni kaupungista)
The bunny has a nightmare about city without trees and flowers. The dream seems to be accurate. Clay paints the gray houses more colourful.

Bunny in grey city

Happy citizens