The Mr. Men and Little Miss books were written by British children's author Roger Hargreaves in the 1970s and '80s and continued by his son. In 1974, they came to British television. Mr. Tickle was one of my favorites. Unlike most of the other characters in these series, who are somehow reformed (Mr. Messy gets cleaned up, Little Miss Chatterbox learns to keep her mouth shut) Mr. Tickle's primary personal failing is his inability to respect others' personal space. He tickles everyone, and although it certainly causes problems - how would you like all your mail dropped in a puddle? - he is never punished for his mischief.



The show was redone and reworked with worrying frequency and one of those pit stops was a U.S. cartoon series based on the books that aired in 1995. The style of that animation has its own charm but clearly much of what was unique about these characters has been brought into the standard cartoon animation vernacular.



For a truly contemporary reinvention, we must turn to the amateurs. Here is Mr. Tickle, created in the new platform game Spore:

- Jeremiah