Mot (TV series)
A purple monster teleports through time to adventure with his human friend.
Mot is a French children's animated television series centered on a purple monster from the Monstrous Organicus Telluricus family. Based on the children's comics by Alfonso Azpiri, the show follows Mot's adventures with his human friend Leo, whom he visits by teleporting through a wardrobe door. The series aired from 1996 to 1997 and was rebroadcast in several countries during the 1990s.
Quick Facts
- Original run
- 1996–1997
- Based on
- Children's comics by Alfonso Azpiri
- Broadcast countries
- US
- France
- Spain
- Australia
- Singapore
- U.A.E.
- New Zealand
- Poland
- Hungary
Facts from the source article.
Characters
The purple, teleporting monster Mot, voiced by Gérard Rinaldi, belongs to the Monstrous Organicus Telluricus race and typically begins each episode by appearing inside Leo’s wardrobe. Leo, the human protagonist voiced first by Christophe Lemoine and later by Mathias Kozlowski, is Mot’s best friend and joins him on all his adventures, though this friendship often lands Leo in trouble. In the final episode, Mot travels forward in time and discovers that Leo has become a successful businessman, yet Leo is still thrilled to reunite with his old friend after many years. Diane, voiced by Dominique Vallée and Barbara Tissier, is Leo’s girlfriend who remains unaware of Mot but frequently suspects Leo is concealing something, nearly discovering the monster several times. Leo’s parents, voiced by Sophie Deschaumes and Cyrille Artaux, are oblivious to Mot and usually blame Leo for the chaos Mot causes. Aunt Zelda, voiced by Valentine Quintin, is Leo’s mother’s sister, a domineering, abrasive woman who bullies Leo’s father and desperately wants to marry. The elderly neighbor, with her hair in tight curls, constantly spies on Leo and Mot using binoculars and hiding behind hedges or trash cans, but because her past complaints have been unfounded, the police no longer take her calls seriously, allowing Mot and Leo to move about freely.
Comics
Alfonso Azpiri's comic strip inspired the animated series. In those comics, Mot, who was orange at first, could teleport the boy Leo into alternate realities, where they faced dangerous situations before going back home. The strip ran in El Pequeño País, a supplement to the Spanish newspaper El País. From 1988 to 1993, the comic was released in France, totaling five volumes before Azpiri ended the project. The first volume, Monster, came out in 1991. Leo finds a monster in his closet, and Mot, too eager for friendship, wreaks havoc around the house. Mot offers to take Leo through time and space, and by the end Leo wonders if it was all a dream, while his parents suggest a psychiatrist. Volume two, The Collector, also from 1991, sends the pair to a big city full of lights and noise, where appearances deceive. In 1992's The Green Ireland, they meet Banshees, Leprechauns, and Merlin, learning about a rainbow's pot of gold, sad Banshee songs, and how Stonehenge got where it is. New York, New York, also 1992, lets Mot be himself without standing out as he searches for his shadow. The final volume, Never Plus from 1993, has Fairies, Pirates, and Indians all competing for Mot's attention.
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