The Moomin Valley in Spring

The Moomin Valley in Spring is the first episode of the 1990 television series Moomin.

Synopsis
The episode opens with the narrator asking if the viewer has ever heard of Moominvalley. In winter, the valley is covered with snow and everyone goes to sleep in order to keep warm. A notable location in Moomin Valley is the Moominhouse. The narrator introduces the viewers to our hero, Moomin, as well as Moominpappa and Moominmamma. Also sleeping in the Moominhouse is Little My. The narrator says that, before the story starts, "We'd better wake everyone up, with some Spring sunshine."

Moomin is the first to awake. He opens his bedroom window and sees that Spring is finally here. He calls out for everyone to wake up because Spring is here. As he heads downstairs, Little My emerges from her bedroom, upset about Moomin's yelling waking her up, to which Moomin replies, "I can't help it if I'm happy." Little My tells Moomin that she was having a lovely dream about living in a watermelon. Moomin tells her that the flowers are out and the sun is shining. Little My states that she'd rather be asleep, even though she said that Moomin was supposed to wake her as soon as spring was here. Moomin says to Little My that she can go back to bed if she wants, but Little My thinks that there is no point as she's not sleepy.

Moominmamma comes out of her bedroom and puts on her apron. A starving Little My asks Moominmamma if she has any watermelon. Even though, there's no watermelon, Moominmamma tells her that they'll all have a nice, big breakfast.

Moomin hears Snufkin playing his harmonica. He exits the house through the window and climbs down using the ladder attached to his windowsill. Little My asks if it would be quicker to use the stairs, but Moomin thinks that using his ladder is more fun. As he runs to see Snufkin, Little My decides to return home after spending winter with Moomin and his family, even though her sister won't be home.

Snufkin is sitting on the bridge, when Moomin comes along. Moomin is delighted to see his friend early. Snufkin tells Moomin that he didn't want to miss springtime in Moomin valley. He decides to tell Moomin what he did outside of Moomin Valley later. They decide to wake up Sniff.

At Sniff's house, Snufkin tries to wake Sniff up by whistling. It works, but Sniff tells them to go away, but then becomes interested when he hears they're going to do something really exciting. To Sniff's disappointment, it turns out to be a long walk up a mountain.

During the walk, Moomin and friends see Mr. Hemulen jumping over rocks. At the top of the mountain, Moomin and his friends are watching the view, when Moomin sees what looks like a large top hat. Moomin believes that his father would like it.

Unfortunately, the hat is too big for Moominpappa's head as it covers his eyes, much to Moomin and Sniff's amusement. When Moominpappa tries to take the hat off, it seems to get stuck. Moomin and Sniff manage to get it off. Moominmamma hears the commotion, and Moomin tells her what happened. Moomin considers throwing it away, but Moominmamma decides that it's too good for hat. Moominpappa asks I they know anyone with a big head. They decide to use the hat as a waste paper basket. Everyone goes into the kitchen to have breakfast, unaware of the hat suddenly getting a little bigger.

Meanwhile, Snorkmaiden is picking flowers in her garden. She takes some into her house so she can put them in a vase, and then goes upstairs to check on her older brother, the Snork. She tells him that she's going to see Moomin and asks him if he wants to come. All the Snork says is "uh huh". He then says that his flying ship will be ready this year. But when he tries to demonstrate by throwing his model, it falls to the floor and breaks apart.

A disappointed Snorkmaiden goes to Moomin House and sits with Moomin, Snufkin and Little My on the porch. Moomin wonders if Snork really CAN make a flying ship, but Little My tells him that he can't. Snorkmaiden says that her brother's always dreamed about making the flying ship, to which Moomin replies, "Dreams are alright." Snufkin agrees when they're not impossible.

Sniff comes out onto the porch, having apparently eaten a lot. Little My asks him if he has dreams. Sniff tells her that he only has nightmares about not having any food.

Inside, Moominpappa finds some eggshells on the floor and puts them in the hat. As he leaves, the eggshells start to glow inside the hat and become pink clouds.

The clouds pass through the door and window, where the children notice them. Sniff thinks they may be poisonous, but the clouds feel like cotton. Moomin finds himself flying upwards on one. Little My, Snorkmaiden and Snufkin follow him, but Sniff is concerned about them falling off. He tries to jump onto a cloud to fly after them, with little success. Moomin pulls Snorkmaiden's tail when his cloud is below hers, then her cloud flies down onto his.

Moominpappa is writing one of his memoirs, when he sees Snorkmaiden and Moomin fly by on the clouds. He slaps on his top hat and asks his son what he's doing. Moomin tells him tat they're flying, and that the clouds came out of the house. Moominpappa tries to reach him so he can bring him inside, but Moomin decides to ask him to come for a ride instead. Unfortunately, Moominpappa can't hold on and pulls down Moomin's cloud, which flies off. Moominpappa tells Moominmamma what's happening. Moominmamma tells him that she told them to be careful, much to Moominpappa's surprise.

Little My beats Sniff at what appears to be cloud jousting, knocking him off his cloud, which he tries to jump back onto. The cloud goes into a tree, which Sniff climbs easily. However, getting back onto the cloud is much more difficult, and he only succeeds in getting a small bit of the cloud, which disappears. The same thing happens to Snufkin and Little My's clouds, much to Little My's disappointment. Moomin and Snorkmaiden's clouds also disappear just as they're getting off.

Later, Moomin and friends are playing hide and go seek. Sniff starts counting, as everyone else goes to hide. Little My hides in the kitchen, Snorkmaiden hides under the bunk bed in Little My's room, and Snufkin considers hiding in Moominpappa' study (Even though there doesn't appear to be anywhere to hide). Moomin emerges from the fireplace (because it's too dirty for him to hide in) and decides to hide in the hat, just as Sniff finishes counting to 10.

Sniff begins to search upstairs as Moomin, still hiding in the hat, crawls over to the couch on the other side of the living room. Sniff starts searching in Moominpappa's study. As he leaves, Snufkin accidentally closes the door on his tail, giving him away. Sniff then finds Snorkmaiden under the bed, and Little My in a pot in the kitchen.

The only person who hasn't been found now is Moomin. Sniff has searched everywhere in Moomin House, including the cellar. Snufkin hears someone laughing, but Sniff doesn't know where it is. Snorkmaiden decides to go home. As Moominpappa comes down, Sniff tells him that he can't find Moomin anywhere. Little My remarks that he's "Too fat to be most places". Suddenly, the laughing starts again, and this time, everyone knows where it's coming from: Under the hat (which is under the couch).

A strange, monkey-like creature emerges from under the hat. Sniff asks the creature who he is, and the creature says-in Moomin's voice-"I won then, didn't I? You looked everywhere in the house, and you couldn't find me, could you? So I won!". Little My asks who would want to find him. The creature asks if this is a new game. Snorkmaiden introduces herself to the creature, who introduces himself as "The King of Moomin Valley". Sniff tells him that he's to ugly to be the king of anything. The creature asks Moominpappa if that's a nice thing to say to his friend.

Moominpappa tells the creature to tell him what he's done with Moomin. When the creature tells him that HE'S Moomin, Moominpappa asks him who he is and where Moomin is. When the creature says "Papa", Moominpappa tells him that he's not his father. The creature tells him that he is his father. Snorkmaiden tells the creature that Moomin's nice and handsome and nothing like the creature, then asks him if he's looked in a mirror.

The creature feels his face and realizes that his massive nose is gone. He then notices that his tail is big and bushy. He finally snaps when he sees his reflection in the mirror. The creature believes that he is having a nightmare. Moominmamma hears the commotion and enters the living room. Immediately, the creature runs over to her and hugs her, tearfully. Moominpappa tells her that the creature says he's Moomin and tells her to look at him. The creature tells Moominmamma that he is Moomin, even though he doesn't look like him. Moominmamma tells the creature that crying won't help at all. After a minute or two, Moominmamma will know if the creature really is Moomin or not. The creature tries to convince her that he Is Moomin. Eventually, Moominmamma tells the creature that he is her Moomin. She hugs her sobbing son, which apparently causes him to change back into the white hippo-like shape of Moomin.

Everyone can now recognize him. Moominpappa asks him where he was hiding, and Moomin tells him that he was hiding in the hat, which everyone glances at.

Later, Moomin and Snufkin throw the hat into the river. Snufkin hopes that they won't see the hat again. The narrator ends the episode by saying "Moominpappa decided that, although it was a fine hat, it was too dangerous to keep. So Moomin threw it in the river, and it floated away. He wasn't too sure about it though, because it was a rather special hat."

Characters
The following are all the characters seen in this episode (in order of appearance):
 * Moomin
 * Moominpappa
 * Moominmamma
 * Little My
 * Snufkin
 * Sniff
 * The Hemulen
 * The Snork Maiden
 * The Snork