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{{Short description|Canadian series of wildlife public service announcements}}
{{Italic title}}
'''''Hinterland Who's Who''''' is a Canadian series of 60-second [[public service announcement]]s profiling Canadian animals, produced by [[Environment Canada]] Wildlife Service and the [[National Film Board of Canada]] (NFB) in the 1960s and 70s, and re-launched by the [[Canadian Wildlife Federation]] in the 2000s. While the word "[[hinterland]]" refers to an area near a coast line or river bank, the series explores wildlife throughout Canada in general, regardless of location.

==Format==
The ''Hinterland Who's Who'' series was commissioned in 1962 by the [[Canadian Wildlife Service]], as a way to generate interest in Canada's wildlife through a series of short, one-minute vignettes, broadcast during commercial breaks.<ref name=HWWhistory>{{cite web|url=http://www.hww.ca/en/about-us/50th/history.html|title=Hinterland Who's Who - History|publisher=}}</ref> The series, produced for the CWS by the [[National Film Board]], has been airing on Canadian television since 1963.<ref name=cbc>{{cite news|title=Hinterland Who's Who beaver vignette found in CBC Archives|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/07/29/bc-hinterland-whos-who-beaver.html?cmp=rss|accessdate=July 29, 2013|newspaper=CBC News|date=July 29, 2013}}</ref>

In the original announcements, a distinctive refrain of [[flute music]] ([[John Cacavas]]' ''Flute Poem'')<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hww.ca/en/about-us/hww-profile.html|title=Hinterland Who's Who - HWW Profile|publisher=}}</ref> opens the ad, and is accompanied by the low-key style of the narrator, [[John Livingston (naturalist)|John Livingston]] (originally the executive director of the Canadian Audubon Society),<ref name=HWWhistory/> describing the animal over footage of it taken in the wild.

The end of each message, where viewers were reminded to contact the Canadian Wildlife Service for additional information, varied. The earliest installments from 1963 concluded with, "For a more complete story on the [animal], why not contact the Canadian Wildlife Service in Ottawa?"<ref name=YouTubeLoon>{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr4szXuxEPk |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/Kr4szXuxEPk| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|title=The Loon, 1963 original version!|date=11 July 2013|publisher=|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref> After the series was introduced in colour, it concluded with, "For more information on the [animal], contact the Canadian Wildlife Service, in Ottawa." Newer segments in the late-1970s and 1980s ended with, "For more information on the [animal], why not contact the Canadian Wildlife Service in Ottawa?", with later instalments including its [[Postal codes in Canada|postal code]], K1A 0H3. Viewers requesting information received a four-page, illustrated brochure providing more details on the featured animal.<ref name=HWWhistory/>

By the early-1990s, the series received about $3.6 million in free publicity, and over a million leaflets were sent out to inquiring viewers.<ref name=HWWhistory/>

A [[French language|French]] version of this series was also produced, as '''''Merveilles de la faune''''' (''Wonders of Wildlife'') or '''''Faune et flore du pays''''' (''The country's fauna and flora'').

In 2003, the [[Canadian Wildlife Federation]], in cooperation with the [[Government of Canada]], began producing new episodes of ''Hinterland Who's Who'', featuring two versions:
* those containing the quiet narrative of the original series of commercials
* those containing modern background music, directed at younger viewers

These versions, now available as 30- or 60- second installments,<ref name=HWWhistory/> are often hosted on-camera and voiced by a female Canadian Wildlife Service worker (Jody Gienow), concluding with, "To learn more about [subject], and how you can protect it, visit "hww.ca".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hww.ca|title=Hinterland Who's Who|publisher=}}</ref> The initial animals featured in the new series included the [[polar bear]], the [[monarch butterfly]], the [[leatherback sea turtle]], and the [[loon]].<ref name=HWWhistory/>

In both cases, the new ''Hinterland Who's Who'' narrative includes suggestions for conservation along with the description of the animal and its behavior.

==Presumed lost installments==
In July 2013, it was announced that the first four installments of ''Hinterland Who's Who'', released in the Summer of 1963, were presumed lost, as the Canadian Wildlife Federation and the Canadian Wildlife Service were unable to locate any copies for the series' 50th anniversary, despite extensive searches of various sources, including the NFB, [[Library and Archives Canada]], the [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|CBC]] archives, and even [[YouTube]]. These segments, filmed in black and white with versions in English and French,<ref name="VanSun071113">{{cite web|url=https://vancouversun.com/entertainment/movie-guide/Long+lost+loon+from+1963+Hinterland+vignettes/8647764/story.html|title=Long-lost loon from 1963 Hinterland Who is Who vignettes lands in Vancouver|publisher=vancouversun.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160325174901/http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/movie-guide/Long+lost+loon+from+1963+Hinterland+vignettes/8647764/story.html|archive-date=2016-03-25|url-status=dead}}</ref> featured the [[beaver]], the loon, the [[gannet]] and the [[moose]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/07/09/hibernating-or-extinct-original-black-and-white-hinterland-whos-who-tv-spots-missing-on-50th-anniversary/|title=Hibernating or extinct? Original black-and-white Hinterland Who's Who TV spots missing on 50th anniversary|author=Randy Boswell, Postmedia News|date=9 July 2013|work=National Post}}</ref>

Soon after the problem of the search was made public, one of the missing installments, an English-language version featuring the loon, was found in the [[CBUT-DT|CBC Vancouver]] archives a few days later, as part of a commercial break during a broadcast of the 1932 [[Laurel and Hardy]] classic comedy, ''[[Helpmates]]'' on July 1, 1969, a holiday then known as [[Canada Day|Dominion Day]]. According to Colin Preston, library coordinator at the CBC Vancouver Media Archives, the 1969 recordings were saved by a former CBC employee, who later donated them to the archives for posterity.<ref name=YouTubeLoon/><ref name=VanSun071113/> The footage for the 1963 loon installment was originally filmed in colour, but converted to black and white for the installment.<ref name=VanSun071113/> The colour film and soundtrack would be recycled in later versions of the series.<ref>{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lninX4Nsvfo |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/lninX4Nsvfo| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|title=Hinterland Who's Who - The Loon|date=11 June 2008|publisher=|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Another of the missing four, the original beaver vignette, was subsequently found by Preston as well,<ref name=cbc/> as were the moose,<ref>{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4xdI5GrjJs&feature=c4-overview&list=UUpXaXOmAPcfDuGjrOnRTQig |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/M4xdI5GrjJs| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|title=The Moose, 1963 original version!|date=18 July 2013|publisher=|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref> and the gannet.<ref>{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaWcLUGccQY |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/MaWcLUGccQY| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|title=The Gannet, original 1963 version!|date=12 December 2013|publisher=|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The French-language versions of all four animals soon followed.

==Re-airings==

Starting in August 2016, the local Mountain View, California television show ''[[John Wants Answers]]'' started airing the original Hinterland Who's Who vignettes in high definition. The show obtained digital high definition copies converted from the original film from the NFB.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://johnwantsanswers.com|title=John Wants Answers}}</ref>

==In popular culture==
These announcements became a widely recognized and often-parodied feature of Canadian pop culture.

*''[[Second City Television|SCTV]]'' episode 142 featured a spoof of the ''Hinterland Who's Who'' "Woodchuck" episode, voiced by [[John Candy]]. The [[woodchuck]] also makes a brief appearance in episode 143.
* Also on ''SCTV'', [[Bob and Doug McKenzie]] parodied the ''Hinterland'''s distinctive flute theme by singing "coo roo coo coo, coo coo coo coo" at the start of each ''Great White North'' sketch.
* A spoof ''Hinterland Who's Who'' episode entitled "The Wood Spider" credited to "First Church of Christ, Filmmaker" was released on YouTube in 2006 and has garnered over 57 million views as of June 2021. The video purported to show the behavior of [[Huntsman spider|wood spiders]] given various drugs, such as alcohol, caffeine, and [[THC]], a mocking reference to the 1940s research of [[Peter N. Witt|Dr. Peter N. Witt]], who [[Effect of psychoactive drugs on animals#Spiders|showed that giving drugs to spiders alters their web building behavior]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/09/17/science/spiders-seduced-into-yielding-secrets-of-web.html|title=SPIDERS SEDUCED INTO YIELDING SECRETS OF WEB|date=17 September 1985|work=The New York Times}}</ref>
* The ''[[Double Exposure (comedy series)|Double Exposure]]'' comedy series on CBC Radio repeatedly sent up the series with a number of 'Political Hinterland Who's Who' sequences in the late 1980s and 1990s. With no visuals, the narrator's elaborate punning compared bureaucratic affairs to the struggle for survival in nature. "On the depression north of Lake Ontario, the Great Blue [[Mike Harris|Harris]], or in Latin, ''Attila Foraqueensparkicus'', has stirred up a hornets' nest with its fellow creatures living off a diet of bologna and tuna. The Great Blue Harris, not concerned with the welfare of others, has stirred the left wing back into full flight."
* The PSA "[[House Hippo]]" by [[Companies Committed to Kids|Concerned Children's Advertisers]] was a parody of the series. It features a voice over and footage of a small hippo. The narration was similar in style to "Hinterland Who's Who".
* The game ''[[Dragon Age: Inquisition]]'', produced by Canadian video game developer [[BioWare]], features a sub-quest named "Hinterland Who's Who".

==See also==
*''[[Heritage Minute]]s'', sixty-second short films, each illustrating an important moment in Canadian history

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.hww.ca/ Hinterland Who's Who homepage] (current series)
*[http://www.cbc.ca/player/Shows/ID/2398629639/ Hinterland Who's Who: The Beaver] (original series)
*[http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/Canada/BC/ID/2396570547/ Hinterland Who's Who: The Loon] (original series)
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_amnqvUl0k Hinterland Who's Who: Little Brown Bat] (new series)

[[Category:Canadian television commercials]]
[[Category:Public service announcements]]
[[Category:Documentary films about nature]]
[[Category:Short film series]]
[[Category:1963 Canadian television series debuts]]

Hinterland Who's Who - Revision history

JJR: 1 revision imported: might be problem

en>Mrceleb2007 at 18:01, 10 May 2022