Teletubbies Trivia
Here is some trivia for the television program, Teletubbies.
Character mnemonics
For parents and others who don't watch the show, but want to tell the characters apart, say, for a toddler who wants you to get them a particular doll, the antenna shapes provide mnemonic clues:
- Triangle: "T" for "Tinky-Winky"
- Dipstick: "Dipsy"
- curLy: "L" for "Laa-Laa"
- circle: "O" shape rhymes with "Po"
L'affaire Tinky-Winky
One Teletubby, Tinky Winky, was the focus of a still hinted-at controversy in 1999 due to his carrying a bag that looks much like a woman's purse (although he was first "outed" by the academic and cultural critic Andy Medhurst in a letter of July 1997 to The Face).
A February, 1999 article in the National Liberty Journal, published by Jerry Falwell, warned parents that Tinky could be a hidden gay symbol, saying "[h]e is purple—the gay pride color, and his antenna is shaped like a triangle—the gay pride symbol."
A spokesman for Itsy Bitsy Entertainment Co., who licenses the characters in the United States, said it was just a magic bag. "The fact that he carries a magic bag doesn't make him gay. It's a children's show, folks. To think we would be putting sexual innuendo in a children's show is kind of outlandish."
However, this did not stop people from wrongly interpreting the sounds that the original version of the Talking Po doll produced as "faggot faggot," when in fact they were "fidit fidit" (cantonese for "fast").
Eventually the actor playing Tinky Winky was replaced with another who did not carry the bag. The producers of the show never conceded that they replaced him because of the controversy regarding the original actor's sexual orientation. The fact that the Teletubbies are in full-body costumes throught the show made this change, with the exception of the bag, unnoticeable.
Other controversies
A Boston lawyer accused Dipsy, as a bath toy, of child endangerment. He was put on a 10 most dangerous toy list, later joined by the Laa-Laa bath toy. Their antennas were hard plastic and understandably a jabbing concern in a slippery, wet tub.
Dolly O'Neal (a.k.a., The Teletubby Lady and Mommy Tubby) has expressed hope that "all these adult issues that interfere with this excellent child's show will run away so the innocence and educational qualities of the show will guide it to become a classic in the likes of Winnie The Pooh. Snuggly, cuddly, and Big Hug!" She also hopes that PBS will air more of the episodes—and there are hundreds—that haven't been shown in the USA.
