Puppetoons were a groundbreaking series of stop-motion animated shorts created by Hungarian-born filmmaker George Pal. Combining elements of puppetry and cartoon animation—hence the portmanteau "Puppetoon"—these films utilized innovative techniques to bring wooden puppets to life in colorful, musical stories. Produced primarily in the 1930s in Europe and the 1940s in the United States, they are celebrated for their technical ingenuity and have influenced both animation and science fiction filmmaking.