The World of David the Gnome (1985)
A Spanish animated television series based on the children's book The Secret Book of Gnomes, by the Dutch author Wil Huygen and illustrator Rien Poortvliet.
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Episode 1 - Foxy Dilemma
Release Date: 1988-04-04Susan goes to a sawmill with David, who explains how gnomes cut down dead trees to make furniture and birdhouses. Susan gets bored and goes for a ride on Swift with a little boy named Tom. Swift gets his leg caught in a trap in the forest, and Tom tries to cross a river to get help. The current catches him and he is left hanging on a rock in the middle of the river. Susan gets help from David, and he sends an eagle to pick up Tom. The other gnomes free Swift from the trap.
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Episode 2 - Three Wishes
Release Date: 1988-04-11A poor woodsman saves Lisa after she is attacked by his cat. To express his generosity, David grants the woodsman three wishes, which do not go as planned. When David grants the woodsman's wish to become a rich man, the woodsman takes a bar of gold into the city and attempts to sell it to a store owner. The woodsman is accused of thievery and thrown in prison. David helps him to become free and the woodsman learns to use his wishes wisely.
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Episode 3 - Ivan the Terrible
Release Date: 1988-04-18David and Lisa travel to Siberia where David is called upon by the gnome king. The king wants David to stop a mean gnome called Ivan, who is stealing furs from the human hunters and giving the gnomes a bad name. David enlists help from a man and the king's owl to teach Ivan a lesson he will not forget.
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Episode 4 - Rabbits, Rabbits Everywhere
Release Date: 1988-04-25David and Lisa journey to Holland to help some farmer gnomes. It is raining heavily, and there are dozens of rabbits trapped on a small island in the floodwater. The gnomes build rafts, and with the help of Swift, they save the rabbits from drowning.
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Episode 5 - Any Milk Today
Release Date: 1988-05-02David remembers a time when his children Lily and Harold were kids. Lisa realized the milkwoman had not delivered milk that day, and she knew something was wrong. David and Harold and Lily decided to go to town and see the milkwoman. On the way, Harold carelessly ran ahead and was almost stepped on by racehorses, and David got caught in a rope trap. Later David treats the milkwoman for a sprained ankle and tells her that he and his family will help deliver the milk. When Harold goes on the milk route, he loses his hat and is picked up by a magpie. David finds him hiding in some tall grass and teaches Harold a lesson about being more careful.
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Episode 6 - The Shadowless Stone
Release Date: 1988-05-09David and Lisa are summoned to the palace of King Conrad. The king lives behind a waterfall and has a jester named Tim. King Conrad tells the gnomes he wants them to go to the island of Mentoa and find the valuable shadowless stone. The stone is a royal treasure and it is stolen by the trolls. David and Lisa jump down a deep hole, then sail across an eerie red sea. David and Lisa enter Mentoa, a mountain with 1000 steps leading to the top. At the top of the stairs is a chamber holding the stone. Once David picks it up, the trolls materialize out of thin air and chase him and Lisa down the steps.
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Episode 7 - Friends in Trouble
Release Date: 1988-05-16David and Lisa learn that a hunter is in the forest trapping birds. The man even caught David's friend, the flycatcher. While Lisa tries to feed the flycatcher's family, David rides on a raven to the city. There he finds a pet store where the hunter is selling wild birds. David gets help from some guinea pigs and unlocks all the cages. Then they use a chair to break out the window. Just as the birds are flying out, the man comes back. The raven grabs David, while the hunter fires a rifle at them. They outsmart the man and David took care of the sick birds himself.
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Episode 8 - Airlift
Release Date: 1988-05-23To save hibernating bats from the destruction of their hollow tree home, the gnomes construct wicker baskets and airlift them to a safer part of the forest, with the help of a large flock of geese.
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Episode 9 - Big Bad Tom
Release Date: 1988-05-30David and Lisa go to a birthday party in a windmill for a David's nephew, Maxmilion, where the two cure the former's twin brother Paul's cold. The farm has three friendly cats and one big mean black cat named Tom. During the party a gnome girl named Tina goes outside and gets picked up by Tom. David and the other gnomes get help from the friendly cats, who run after Tom. The cats beat him up and he lets Tina go.
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Episode 10 - Kangaroo Adventure
Release Date: 1988-06-06Susan is staying with David and Lisa and finds a gnome xray in an old trunk. It is an xray of the Australian Prince Rex, who just happens to be coming to visit David that day. David tells Susan about how he and Lisa went to Australia a long time ago. Rex was just a boy then, but he was a lot shorter than his twin brother. David found out Rex was allergic to his boomerang and told the prince to drink lots of fruit punch. At the end of David's story, an adult Prince Rex shows up. He is a lot taller than average gnomes, and David says it is because he kept drinking the fruit punch.
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Episode 11 - The Careless Cub
Release Date: 1988-06-13David and Lisa go for a walk in the forest and meet a wolf. The wolf tells David that his wife and one of his cubs ate meat that had been poisoned by a shepherd. The wife had died, but the cub was still holding on. David examines the wolf cub and determines that a certain plant can cure him. He and Lisa split up and go look for the medicine. Lisa is snatched by the trolls, but they let her go when she tells Holler that a wolf will die if she can't get the medicine to it. The wolves are friends of the trolls. David and Lisa find enough of the plant to cure the wolf cub.
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Episode 12 - The Gift
Release Date: 1988-06-20David goes to see an old friend of his, a human doctor named Walter. David wants to give Walter a pocketwatch that has been in the gnome family for generations. David tells Walter a story about the time he let a human boy enter the world of the gnomes. The boy's name was Wimpy and David used magic to shrink him and his dog down to gnome size. David took Wimpy around the forest and let him meet his fox friend, Nimble. Nimble and his wife had just had cubs, and Wimpy named one cub Swift. Later Wimpy went to David and Lisa's house for dinner, and the boy was fascinated by the pocketwatch. We find out that Wimpy grew up to be Walter. David's son Harold did not want the watch, but told David to give it to the best doctor he knew. Walter had always wanted the watch and thought it was a heartfelt gift.
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Episode 13 - The Mountains of Beyond
Release Date: 1988-06-27David the Gnome and his wife get turned into trees by an evil witch. Thus ends the glorious days of David the Gnome. Where will Swift go now?