Peep and the Big Wide World (1988) (2024)

Peep and the Big Wide World is a 1988 remake of The Peep Show in full color and an extended runtime.

Information[]

Produced by NFB (the National Film Board of Canada) in 1988 and narrated by Peter Ustinov, it and its original short film 1962's the Peep Show served as the basis for the 2004 Peep and the Big Wide World series.

Plot[]

Set in the country, A Young Girl routinely collects eggs from a chicken yard. One day, as she is headed for the kitchen, one of the eggs falls out of the basket, hits a stone and hatches into Peep. Peep discovers her abilities to "peep" and stand up. Standing up so quickly causes her to faint, but she is later revived by the falling rain. Still unaware of what water is, Peep's attempt at observing it leads to her tasting it and then pursuing water farther off with her newfound ability of walking. Peep accidentally walks into a large pond due to becoming overexcited but is quickly saved by a nearby duck named Quack.

Quack decides to befriend Peep and greets her with by saying "quack," but is puzzled when Peep responds with "peep". After inquiring and hearing that Peep came from an egg, Quack denies this and insists Peep should be able to say "quack" if that were so. To prove her origin, Peep reconstructs her eggshell, then swims after Quack and bursts out of the egg, which proves successful. Quack suggests the two swim over to Green Island, where apparently only ducks are allowed. Shortly afterthey arrive, they encounter a robin named Chirp who falls from the sky. Quack then harshly states to the robin that only ducks are allowed on Green Island, thus leading Chirp to point out that Peep is a chicken. He explains, alongside an interpretive dance, that though they are all different species, they are all birds.

Peep is amazed by Chirp's knowledge and asks him how he knows so much. Chirp explains that he was born in a tree, allowing him to see the "big wide world". Peep aspires to explore the big wide world, as does Chirp. Suddenly, Quack points out that since Chirp cannot fly yet, he cannot see the big wide world, but Quack can since he can swim. He begins to leave, but Peep reasons to Quack that since all of them want to see the big wide world, Quack should carry her and Chirp across thewater. This idea pleases all three of them, and they all head off to see the big wide world.

They make it to the shore before they stop. Quack, immediately forgetting Peep's idea, leaps into the water without the other two, and Peep improvises by using part of her old eggshell as a raft. Chirp, not wanting to be left behind, attempts to follow, but quickly remembers he hates water. He tries flying across, but is still too young and quickly crashes into the lake. As a traumatized Chirp rushes back onto land to dry off, Peep assures him that she and Quack will look for something on the mainland to help him get across.

Peep and Quack make it to the mainland and split up, with Quack looking along the shore and Peep searching inland. After a lengthy walk, Peep finds an old tree stump and decides to use it as a lookout point, but is puzzled when she spies something moving inside a brown paper bag.

She goes to investigate and comes face-to-face with a blue kitten. Still naïve to the fact that cats prey on her kind, Peep introduces herself as a chicken, and then compounds this by adding that a chicken is a bird, that her two friends are also birds, and that none of them can fly. She also inadvertently reveals Chirp's location. The kitten, a malicious grin growing on his face, introduces himself as Tom and tells Peep he'll be glad to help. Careful not to let his intention to devour Chirp slip, he devises a plan to use a nearby log to float the robin across the lake.

Peep then rolls the log with his foot. Off the went pushing the log across the plains, through the forest, down the valleys and up the hills until they stopped. Peep calls for Quack to introduce Tom the kitten that who can help get Chirp across the water. Quack asks Tom to make sure if he swims. Tom asks Quack that where green island is. Quack looks behind. Tom pushes to tell Quack the watch out. Peep then jumps up while the log is rolling down the hill. The log splashed and sank into the water. Quack then looked at the water to make sure where the log is and then log floats up and hits Quack in his bottom. Quack moved the log up feeling angry. Tom told Quack the bring the log closer to Peep and Tom and then he tells Peep to climb on board to get Chirp across the water. Quack is the outboard motor, Peep is the navigator and Tom is the skipper. Quack kicks his feet to move the log closer to green island where Chirp is. Back on green island, Chirp wondered if Peep and Quack had forgotten him.

Just then, his eyes popped out that the log coming closer bringing a kitten. He is very scared of it and calls for help. Peep then tells Quack to speed up the log that Chirp is in danger. Tom tells Quack to speed the log up, too. Chirp calls for help again. Peep then calls to Chirp that they are coming to get him. Tom then added that he said the same thing as Peep. Chirp calls for help again. Peep and Quack wondered why that Chirp was very upset. Chirp then tries to fly away from green island, but he landed on the log. Chirp tries to run away from Tom, but that kept the log rolling and rolling. Chirp flies up away from Tom. Peep also calls for help. Chirp calls for help again, but landed in the water. Tom meowed for help, but landed in the water. The log float up and hit Peep is her bottom. Chirp and Tom run away as fast as they can that the water is wet for them until they made it to the edge of the green island. Chirp and Tom were out of breath when the made it to the shore and they felt happy. Robins and kittens don't like the water. Peep shouted to Chirp to introduce Tom that he likes birds.

Chirp then tells Tom if there is more birds up top of the tree. Yum for Tom. Tom ran up to the tree and Chirp ran down to the log. He then shouted to thank Tom for bringing him across the water. Tom then slides down a little bit on the tree and looks down at the three bird friends. Just then, a pink butterfly came to him. Tom tries to catch the butterfly, but flew away a little. He tries to catch it again, but still the pink butterfly flew a little again. Peep asks Chirp that they should wait for Tom, but Chirp told Peep not to wait that Tom is happy with his pink butterfly (Sometimes, cat can be troubled for birds). Quack said that Tom doesn't come out from an egg. Peep, Chirp and Quack finally sailed off to see the big wide world. Quack is the outboard motor, Peep is the navigator and Chirp is the passenger. Just as the three bird friends happily ride along and across the water, they struck Pierre the very cautious and careful turtle.

Quack asks Pierre that what he is. Pierre introduced himself the he is a cautious and careful turtle. Peep asks Pierre that Pierre should take Peep, Chirp and Quack to the big wide world. Pierre answered with his French accent that he felt sorry and then felt shocked. He said he wouldn't go to that place himself, but wished to take Peep, Chirp and Quack across the water to the shore and told them to be careful. As Pierre hides into his turtle shell, Peep tells Quack and Chirp to go see the big wide world. Peep then thanked Pierre to bring them to the shore.

Just as the three bird friends walked along which each other if haven't gone too far, Peep tripped over a ladybug and felt excused. The ladybug struggles to get up on its own. Peep then flips the ladybug up (like straightening it) with her beak. The ladybug then grouched at Peep to make sure who she is. Peep introduced herself and tells the ladybug that her friends (Quack and Chirp) are going to see the big wide world. The ladybug grouched again at Peep to make sure if it's impossible to stand on two feet and walked away. Peep wondered that two feet are not enough and looked over to his friends that Chirp and Quack wondered about this, too. Just then, they felt dizzy and fell leaning against one another. They tried to walk away, but they are spinning clockwise. They tried to walk away again, but they are spinning counter clockwise. Suddenly, a Spider appeared that she grouched at the three bird friends to make sure if it's impossible to walk on six legs. The bird friends then looked at each other. Chirp said it is ridiculous, but Quack said the his friends are big enough to walk on two feet. Off they go! They marched again to see the big wide world.

Just as they marched along, they bump into each other to stop. In front of them sat a big frog. Peep stepped forward and notices the frog the way to the big wide world. The frog blinked thoughtfully and answered with a "ribbit ribbit ribbit". Peep was puzzled and tells the frog which way it is. The answered again with a "ribbit ribbit ribbit". The three bird friends were confused about this. Quack asked the frog that it's along the water. Chirp asked the frog that it's over the hills. The frog answered one more time with a "ribbit ribbit ribbit", chuckles and hops away from the three birds. Quack said to Chirp to go along the water, but Chirp argued with Quack that the way is over the hills. Quack argued with Chirp to go along the water. Chirp argued back that the way is over the hills. Peep got a little frightened that Chirp and Quack both had an argument until he tells them to calm down.

The three are suddenly lifted by a strong breeze that eventually sends them crashing into a wall. After recovering, they get up and stare at the wall as "strange creatures" project themselves onto it. Not realizing the creatures are their own shadows, the three become nervous, then petrified, as the creatures swell into "monsters". As the sky darkens, these "monsters" engulf the wall and eventually everything else. Cold, scared, and tired, respectively, Chirp, Quack and Peep huddle together in fear in this new cold, pitch-black world, regretting ever leaving Green Island. Suddenly, the big black started shaking. Chirp shouted to make sure if it's a earthquake as the three birds friends ran away from it. The wall then stopped shaking. Something yawned, banged, tongue clicked and sniffed at the three birds friends.

Then, the eye of a dog looked left and right. Quack shouted to run away to make sure if it's a huge cat, but Chirp said it's a dog. They shivered together while the dog keeps sniffing at the three bird friends. The dog notices that the three poor bird friends are afraid and told them to come to her house. A moment later, they snuggled together and the dog said "I'm Nellie the country dog". The three bird friends are no longer afraid and started asking questions. Peep asked Nelly that who are the three monsters on the wall. Nellie then answered that it was your own shadows. Chirp asked that why did the big wide world go black. Nellie answered again that the sun went down. Peep asked Nellie what the sun is. Nellie tells the three bird friends that the sun is a fiery ball in the sky that shines on the big wide world. Quack then asks Nellie about where does the sun go down. Nellie answered again the sun goes around and comes back up again tomorrow. Peep asks Nellie about what does the big wide world look like.

Nellie then answered the big wide world is round when she picks up her ball that looks like the big wide world. The three bird friends kept asking a lot more and more questions until they suddenly noticed Nellie was asleep. The three birds friends then looked up and the nighttime sky from the cozy doghouse. The sky is full of stars. Peep said to look at something in the sky. Then, something appeared in the nighttime sky. Quack tells Chirp to make sure what it is. Chirp tells Quack that it's the moon. Peep asked Chirp to make sure what the moon is. They all looked at the moon for a while until it looks different. Quack thinks it's a big egg. Peep said to Quack that maybe the big wide world was the big egg, too. This seemed such a good idea that Peep, Quack and Chirp all fell sound asleep in the cozy doghouse of Nellie the country dog.

Location appearances[]

• Big Wide World
• Green Island
• Nellie's doghouse

Character appearances[]

• Peep
• Chirp
• Quack
• Frog
• Pierre
• Tom
• Nellie
• Ladybug
• Spider

Trivia[]

• The 1988 film and the TV series has some differences.
  • While in the show, Quack is indigo, in the film, Quack is purple.
  • In the show, Peep is male, Chirp is female, and Quack is male, while in the film, Peep is female, and Chirp is male, though, Quack is male in both the film and the show.
  • In the show, Nellie is orange and has thin fur, in the film, she is brown and hairy.
  • In the show, Tom is blue and has black stripes, while in this film, Tom is plain dark blue.
  • In the show, Frog is plain green, while in this film, he has multiple spots.
  • In the show, Peep's egg rolled out of a chicken coop, and down the hill, and it hatched, while in this film, his egg fell out of the basket.
  • While Green Island is located in Big Bay in the show, Green Island is located in the middle of a big lake.
• Oddly, in one of the covers of the short, Quack is red, like Chirp, despite the fact he is purple.

Gallery[]