The Little Vampire

"The Little Vampire" ("Der kleine Vampir") is a children's fantasy series by German author Angela Sommer-Bodenburg that follows the adventures of young Tony Peasbody and the child vampire Rudolph Sackville-Bagg (Rüdiger in the original German version).

The series has sold over 10 million copies and has been translated into over 30 languages. Sommer-Bodenburg states that her "vampire is not a bloodthirsty monster, however, but an affectionate little vampire with fears and foibles who will perhaps help free children of their own fears."Source: "Angela Sommer-Bodenburg" Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2002.] The novel, written in 1979, spawned a series of books, and the plot has been adapted to theatre, radio, cinema, and television.

Sommer-Bodenburg wrote the first chapter of "The Little Vampire" as an experiment to get to see what types of literature could hold the interest of her students. [http://www.angelasommer-bodenburg.com/ Author's website] ] In 1984, she retired from teaching and dedicated herself to painting and writing. She has written more than 40 books for both children and adults, from poetry to novels. She calls the success of the "Little Vampire" series a "mixed blessing" to her career as an author, stating on her website: "I was pigeon-holed as the author of children's books and, within this pigeon-hole, I was further classified as the author of vampire books."

Television series

1985 (Canada)

A 13 episode TV series that was adapted from the first two books of the series: "The little Vampire" and "The Little Vampire Moves in". The production was shot in Edmonton, Canada and was a co production of Norddeutscher Rundfunk, TVS UK and Norflicks Canada. The show was dubbed into German and was broadcast in Germany by Norddeutscher Rundfunk.

The series starred Joel Dacks in the title role of Rudiger, Christopher Stanton as Anton, Marsha Moreau as Anna and Canadian musician Jim Gray as Lumpi (Rudiger's older brother) who sang the show's theme song "They Can See in the Dark". Gert Fröbe, known for the role of Goldfinger in the James Bond series, appeared in the series as the vampire hunter Geiermeier. It was one of Fröbe's last roles before he died in 1988.

1993 (Germany)

A 13 episode sequel to the Canadian series was produced by Westdeutscher Rundfunk in 1993. The series was adapted from the third and fourth books of the series: "The Little Vampire Takes a Trip" and "The Little Vampire on the Farm".

The series starred Jan Steilen in the title role, Matthias Ruschke as Anton, Lena Beyer as Anna and German theatre star Angelika Milster as Aunt Dorothy.

Film (2000)

The Hollywood version of the story was released in 2000 and stars Rollo Weeks, Dean Cook, Anna Popplewell, Jonathan Lipnicki, Richard E. Grant and Alice Krige. The film premiered on ABC Family and now frequently runs around Halloween on the Disney Channel and ABC Family. It was written by Larry Wilson

Plot

Tony Thompson (played by Jonathan Lipnicki) is an only child whose family has moved to Scotland from California. As would be expected, he has no friends in the new country, and he is picked on by bullies at school, who happen to be the grandsons of his father's boss. It seems as though he is destined to suffer through his first year at the new school. However, he starts having recurring nightmares about vampires.

Life starts to get very interesting for Tony when he meets a young vampire named Rudolph (played by Rollo Weeks). Rudolph has a sister Anna (played by Anna Popplewell) and a brother Gregory (played by Dean Cook). A battle ensues on a cliff with Tony, his parents, Rudolph's family and other vampires versus an evil vampire hunter named Rookery. Rookery is defeated by Tony's parents, and Tony turns all the vampires back to being human and later reunites with the human Rudolph and Anna. However, there is some question as to whether it worked on Gregory seeing that he looks the same, minus the fangs.

oundtrack

The soundtrack was released on October 17, 2000 by New Line Records.

# "Iko Iko" — Aaron Carter
# "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" — A*Teens (Cover from the original ABBA song)
# "Let's Get Funky Tonight" — Dream Street
# "Best Friends" — Angela Via
# "You Can Get It" — Baha Men
# "Let Your Soul Shine" — Bosson
# "Shalala Lala" — The Vengaboys
# "Here I Am" — No Authority
# "Flee Fly Flo" — Fe-Mail
# "Reason I Live" — Ace
# "Cool In The Wind" — Michael Reiss
# "Requiem (The Fifth)" — Trans-Siberian Orchestra

References

External links

*Imdb title|id=0192255|title=The Little Vampire