Two Drylanders resembling the characters of Seu Madruga (Don Ramón or Mr. Ramond) and Seu (Señor) Barriga (Mr. Beliarge) from the Mexican sitcom El Chavo del Ocho have appeared on several occasions in the first series.
Character history[]
During their debut appearance in The Missing Crown, they manage to catch the Turtle Royal Crown in one of their hooks, which Polvina and Ester later find in a bucket when they sneak up onto their boat. The two men are woken by their dog, who found Polvina and Ester and chased them to the door of the boat's cabin. They attempt to open the door, but unknown to them, Ester suddenly starts the boat, causing the two men and their dog to fall towards the back of the boat. Polvina and Ester use this distraction to jump back in the sea as the boat continues to sail into the distance.
In A Weighty Problem, they set out a drift net which Ping and Patchy get stuck in. When they return to the area, presumably to retrieve the net, they are briefly distracted by Gummy, who "Madruga" fires a net at. Just as they are bringing Gummy onto their boat, Ping and Patchy, who were freed by Tubarina, Polvina, Ester and Delfi, summon their pod and stack themselves on the trailing canoe, forcing them to cut it and the net away before they sink.
In The Great Escape, the two Drylanders "befriend" Nub and use him to capture Ping and Patchy, who they take to an aquarium along with Nub, who was following them as well. The next morning, they are seen separately at the aquarium as Polvina, Ester and Tubarina are trying to rescue Ping, Patchy and two other dolphins who were captured. Nub decides to turn on his "friends" at the last minute, providing a distraction so that the princesses and dolphins can escape.
Background[]
Madruga and Barriga in design art
El Chavo del Ocho, often shortened to El Chavo, is a Mexican sitcom that was broadcast from 1973 to 1980. It was originally featured as a sketch on the comedy series Chespirito from 1971 to 1973 and again from 1980 to 1992. It was also dubbed into Brazilian Portuguese and broadcast under the name Chaves from 1984. An animated version of the series was also produced and broadcast from 2006 to 2014, of which a localised English dub was also produced. Fábio Yabu, the creator of the Sea Princesses (Princesas do Mar) series, has been quoted on his blog as being a fan of the series, noting it as being "the equivalent of Seinfeld for children".
Don Ramón (Seu Madruga) was portrayed by Ramón Valdés while Señor Barriga (Seu Barriga) was portrayed by Édgar Vivar. In the English dubbed version of the animated El Chavo series, they are respectively voiced by Doug Erholtz and Dave Mallow, and are known as Mr Raymond (Rister Maymond) and Mr Beliarge (Mr Tummy).
Other homages to El Chavo are also included in the series. In The Doll, Tubarina's doll, Bebe, resembles Madruga's daughter, Chiquinha (Chilindrina), played by María Antonieta de las Nieves. In The Healer, Duante's cap is similar to that worn by Quico, played by Carlos Villagrán from 1972 to 1978.