Alfred J. Kwak[a] is a children's animated comedy-drama television series based on a Dutch theatre show by Herman van Veen, produced by Telecable Benelux B.V. in co-production with VARA, ZDF, Televisión Española, TV Tokyo, and animated by Telescreen Japan, and first shown in 1989.

The series has been broadcast in many countries and has been dubbed and subtitled in Dutch, French, Japanese, Greek, English, Italian, Spanish, Hebrew, Arabic, Hungarian, Finnish, Serbian, Polish, German, Swedish, Danish, Icelandic, Chinese, Czech, Romanian, Korean and Norwegian.

Some time after his birth, Alfred loses his parents and his brothers and sisters after a car hits them as they're moving their home during a heavy rainstorm.

Unlike many other cartoons targeted for children, Alfred J. Kwak features exceptionally mature and often dark themes.

Amongst others it deals with different social and political issues, such as abuse of power, but also raises important values such as friendship and solidarity.

In the cartoon, Alfred fights against a fascist dictator, takes in refugees fleeing from a country under apartheid (with white geese and black ducks), saves whales against hunters, and oversees the changeover of his country from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy with a democratically elected president.

Such themes are far from typical in a children's cartoon, and form a big part of Alfred J. Kwak's appeal.

In Alfred J. Kwak, we see the progress of the main characters from very young children to adulthood as the series advances.

Other surreal elements to the cartoon include such strange characters as the evil genie of the bottle, living chess pieces from Alfred's chess game, Pied Piper style Clown on the Moon, and aliens who appear like ducks except for their human-style feet, and a "dream" style wild West episode during which Dolf seems to become aware that he is a character in a cartoon.

Although he has gone through a lot of sad things, his favourite song is 'Ik ben vandaag zo vrolijk' (I'm so happy today).

In the first episode Dolf's parents, a crow and a blackbird, can be seen making disparaging comments on the eggs of Alfred's mother.

The father wears lederhosen, a feathered hat and, in the Dutch original, speaks with a heavy German accent, while Dolf's mother is seen in a dirndl outfit.

So in a way I can understand why they are so vile and disgusting.Dolf gradually develops from a mere naughty schoolboy to a merciless dictator, an arms dealer, a reckless politician, and overall criminal.

Dolf can also be seen to express a sense of self hate and poor self image; as he is disgusted by the fact that he is only part crow, and paints his orange beak black to disguise his true identity.

Episode 22 through 25 are essentially an allegory of the rise and fall of Fascism and Nazism, with Dolf himself, though wearing a Napoleonic uniform, as a clear caricature of Adolf Hitler.

After the dam has broken, Dolf cunningly withdraws his entry because he wants to *help* people and cannot waste time on a campaign.

Dolf then publicly funds the repairs of the dam, skyrocketing his popularity and prompting his reentry in the presidential race.

In the final two episodes, Dolf becomes the henchman of an oil magnate who is attempting to get his hands on the blueprints of an environmentally friendly fuel, invented by Professor Buffon.

Aided by a former member of his Crows Party, he can escape and takes Winnie, Alfred's girlfriend, hostage.

After telling Alfred her whereabouts, Dolf attempts to escape, only to be caught by the police and put back into prison.

Spetter Pieter Pater Zo vrolijk Alfred J. Kwak is one of the first cartoon series in the Netherlands to feature an (almost) all-star cast.