“Wickey and the Strong Men,” an animated movie featuring the song “Hey Wickey, hey Wickey, hey Wickey, hey,” comes to the big screen next year. At the filming site, locals and tourists alike are treated to a preview of the fantastic creations being prepared for the film.
On location at Sachenbach Bay on Lake Walchen, a Viking ship, built to replicate an original one, majestically crisscrosses the lake’s turquoise waters. This place in upper Bavaria is the setting for the new filmed version of the 1963 Swedish children’s classic, “Vicke Viking,” by Runer Jonsson, winner of the Children’s Book Prize in Germany in 1965.
Producer Christian Becker (The Wave) and stage director Michael “Bully” Herbig began filming in August of 2008. Some of the filming will also be done on the Island of Malta. The film will reach theaters in the summer of 2009.
A Piece of Norway in Germany
Onlookers were fascinated to watch the arrival of this 13-ton, seaworthy ship as she maneuvered into her berth in the stage-set—an elaborately constructed Viking Village.
The village is a carbon copy of an historic Viking village, “Flake,” and is Wickey’s home.
Lake Walchen had been a part of movie fame once before—as the 1958 setting for the adventure film “The Vikings,” starring Kirk Douglas. Bully Herbig was overwhelmed with the possibilities of the scenery.
“This is really fabulous,” he told the local reporter of the Toelz Courier. “It looks exactly like the scenery at a Norwegian Fjord, and the lake is a mixture of Caribbean and glacial water. We could not have found a better backdrop in all of Scandinavia.
A Success Story
For the past 35 years, the “Wickey” story has been marketed through thousands of paper- back novels, comic books, and a 78-segment animated film. “Wickey” became one of Germany’s best-known children’s TV heroes, and the show reached cult status in the 1970s. The Cologne musical band, “The Stowaways,” later known as “Black Feet” (Black Foes), produced a rendition of the song, “Hey Wickey,” which further promoted its popularity among children.
About the Story
Wickey, portrayed by Jonas Haemmerle, lives in the Village of Flake with his mother, Ylva, and his father, Halvar. Halvar is the most stubborn of all Viking chiefs. Vikings, by nature, were fearless, strong, and loud men. But Wickey is the opposite—cautious and gentle. However, what he lacks in brawn, he makes up for in smarts. Thus, he helps his people avoid many dangerous situations.
One day the whole village is attacked by a horde of strangers wearing dragon masks, and all the children are abducted. All of them? Well, no—not Wickey. While he was at play flying his kite, he got caught in a tree limb, and the marauders did not see him. Soon, led by Wickey and Halvar, the Vikings hoist their sails and set out to rescue the children. But somewhere out there lurks another danger—the ogre Sven…
To know the rest of the story, you must see the film!
Background
The picturesque setting for “Wickey and the Strong Men” replicates a Norwegian fjord.
The Walchensee, or Lake Walchen, is one of the deepest and largest alpine lakes in Germany with a maximum depth of 631 ft. and a surface area of 6.3 sq. mi. The lake is 47 mi. south of Munich in the middle of the Bavarian Alps.
The name “Walchen” comes from the Middle High German language and means “strangers.” All Roman and Romanized peoples of the Alps south of Bavaria were known to the locals as “Welsche” or even “Walche.” This is also found in the etymology of the Swiss Lake “Walen” and the Salzburg “Wallersee.”
Walchensee fills a tectonic valley—part of the Bayerischen Synkline or the Bavarian syncline. The rocks are of the Triassic Period (mainly dolomite, Plattenkalke, and Kössener layers). The extreme depth of the lake, 631 ft., is the result of this tectonic formation. Walchensee lies 2,630 ft. above sea level. It is surrounded by wooded mountains.
