Fantadroms

Fantadroms is a Soviet and Latvian children's cartoon by the production company Studio Dauka. It first aired in the Soviet Union in 1985. The show has no dialogue and drama unfolds through pantomime and expressive noises such as grunts, groans, and laughter. This allows the show to cross language barriers.

Fantadroms
Genre	science fiction
Directed by	Ansis Bērziņš
Country of origin	Latvian SSR Latvia
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	13
Production
Running time	7 min
Production company	Studija Dauka
Original release
Network	Latvijas Televīzija
Release	1985 (1985) – 1995 (1995)

The episode "Salt" won the Lielais Kristaps award for best animation in 1985,^[1] and further episodes were made sporadically until 1995.

In the early 1990s, Streamline Pictures was planning to release Fantadroms in the United States, but it was scrapped because the company thought the series was too bizarre for American audiences and that the person representing it did not actually have the rights to it.^[2]

Plot

The main character of the show is a yellow shape-shifting robot called Indriķis XIII, who usually takes the form of a cat. He flies through the universe mediating various disputes between the other characters or saving them from disaster. One recurring dynamic in the show is the love triangle between Indriķis, Receklīte ("clot" in Latvian, a flying purple cat-octopus with whom Indriķis is in love), and The Rat (who is in love with Indriķis). Other recurring characters include a cow, two young humans, and an amorphous pink blob.

Episode list

No. overall	No. in series	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
0	pilot	"Takeoff Field of Fantasy"	Ansis Bērziņš	Ansis Bērziņš	1984 (1984)
1	1	"The Laugh"	Ansis Bērziņš	Ansis Bērziņš	1985 (1985)
2	2	"The Salt"	Ansis Bērziņš	TBD	1985 (1985)
3	3	"The Fire"	Ansis Bērziņš	TBD	1985 (1985)
4	4	"Flowers"	Ansis Bērziņš	Ansis Bērziņš	1992 (1992)
5	5	"Milk"	Ansis Bērziņš	Ansis Bērziņš	1993 (1993)
6	6	"Ice Cream"	Aivars Rušmanis	Ansis Bērziņš, Uģis Segliņš	1993 (1993)
7	7	"The Contest"	Dzintars Krūmiņš	Uģis Segliņš	1993 (1993)
8	8	"Earthquake"	Jānis Kārkliņš	Uģis Segliņš	1993 (1993)
9	9	"Feeding Bottle"	Aivars Rušmanis	Uģis Segliņš, Ansis Bērziņš	1994 (1994)
10	10	"A Little House"	Jānis Kārkliņš	Ansis Bērziņš, Aldis Linē	1994 (1994)
11	11	"Rainbow"	Dace Liepa	Ilze Skrastiņa, Ansis Bērziņš	1994 (1994)
12	12	"Cocoa"	Ilze Ruska	Ansis Bērziņš, Aldis Linē	1995 (1995)
13	13	"Daddy"	Ilze Ruska	Ansis Bērziņš, Aldis Linē	1995 (1995)

Episodes "Takeoff Field of Fantasy", "The Salt" and "The Fire" got another cut a few years after release, being shortened as a result. "Takeoff Field of Fantasy" was renamed into "The Laugh" on that release.