Fixiki (Фиксики—the unusual spelling of the transliteration is due to the fact that the Russian word is actually taken from the English word “fix”) is a contemporary Russian cartoon series. It is based on the story “Warranty People” (“Гарантийные Человеки”) by Soviet/Russian writer Edward Uspenskiy (Эдуард Успенский), about small people who live inside machines and electronics and keep them running while they are under warranty. Uspenskiy first published the story in 1974, and wrote a sequel, “The Warranty People Return” (“Гарантийные человечки возвращаются”), in 2010, when the cartoon series started up.
The cartoon first appeared in 2010 as one of the animated interludes in the TV show Good Night, Little Ones! (Спокойной ночи, малыши). Since then, there have been three seasons and more than 100 episodes, from five to seven minutes long.
The show’s conceit follows that of its source material—it is about a family called the Fixiki, who live inside machines and fix them. The Fixik family includes the parents, Papus and Masya (Папус и Мася); the kids, Simka and Nolik (Симка и Нолик); and the grandfather, Dedus (Дедус). Simka’s classmates, Fayer, Igrek, Shpulya, and Verta (Файер, Игрек, Шпуля и Верта), are also involved, as are the family who owns the instruments the Fixiki fix: DimDimych (ДимДимыч), the son; his chihuahua, Kusachka (Кусачка); his parents; and a spider, Zhuchka (Жучка). The Fixiki all look more or less like people, but colorful and with mechanical-looking hair.
The show inhabits a rather complicated universe, with a whole branch of science or perhaps mythology (“fixology”) surrounding it. It’s also part of a larger media project aimed at an international audience, and there are plans for a full-length film, video games, mobile content, and merchandise in the works. The project’s founders note that since, according to fixology, Fixiki live in all machines, all over the world, the possibilities for expanding the project are endless.
Creator: Aleksandr Tatarskiy (Александр Татарский)
Voiceover actors: Larisa Brokhman (Лариса Брохман), Yakov Vasilyev (Яков Васильев), Andrey Kononov (Андрей Кононов), Yuriy Mazikhin (Юрий Мазихин), Pyotr Ivashchenko (Пётр Иващенко), Inna Korolyova (Инна Королёва), Dmitriy Nazarov (Дмитрий Назаров), Andrey Kluban (Андрей Клубань), Feliks Golovnin (Феликс Головнин)
Production company: Aeroplan
TV channel: Rossiya-1 (Россия-1) and others
The first episode of Fixiki, from 2010:
