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Archive for the ‘TV - Kids’ Category

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Wizbit

Posted by Big Boo on October 19th, 2009

wizbit and wooly the rabbitAs a kid I was fascinated with magic tricks. I had several books on card tricks and simple magical illusions, and also my prized Paul Daniel’s Magic Tricks. Paul Daniels was on the TV quite a lot when I was growing up so he became one of my childhood heroes, which is the main reason why I used to watch Wizbit.

Wizbit appeared in 1985 and was really aimed at younger children than I was at that time, yet so great was the draw of Mr. Daniels that I still tuned in to watch the adventures of the titular large yellow conical creature and a gigantic white rabbit called Wooly. The show was intended to get kids thinking, as it was more about solving puzzles than magic tricks, although given that Wizbit was actually an alien magician from the planet Wow (short for World of Wizards) there was the odd trick too.

The idea was that Wizbit was visiting Earth for a year and a day, although he ended up in a place called Puzzleopolis which is like no town I’ve ever been too. Puzzleopolis was inhabited by a number of strange folk, most of whom were related to the world of light entertainment. Some of the more obvious choices here included clowns and mime artists, although there were walking dice and playing cards, and a big round red thing with massive lips which I assume was meant to be one of those sponge balls magicians use in tricks.

Paul Daniels and his assistant (wife), the lovely Debbie McGee (as Paul always referred to her), also lived there apparently, as did the aforementioned Wooly, who whilst a bit dim witted quickly became Wizbit’s friend and guide to Puzzleopolis. I also remember a big purple lump of slime who sounded like a blues singer who went by the name of Squidgy Bog, but I don’t quite remember what he did other than sound laid back and cool.

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Animal Magic

Posted by Big Boo on July 29th, 2009

animal magicAnimal Magic is yet another example of a BBC children’s TV show that ran for absolutely ages.  It first came on air in 1962 and lasted 21 years, finishing in 1983.  It came to an end because the BBC deemed it “not educational enough” which considering it was a programme telling kids about different kinds of animals I find quite amusing.

The programme will forever be linked to two things.  One is Bristol Zoo, where a lot of segments were filmed, although Bristol Zoo was not the only place used.  The other link is the late Johnny Morris, who was the main presenter of the show and the reason many watched.  Most often dressed as a zookeeper he would introduce various animals, but more importantly would provide voices for them too, which always seemed to match the animals perfectly.

Johnny would have little conversations with the animals, for want of a better word considering he was doing all the actual talking, asking them how they felt about things and the animals replying with very humanised responses.  I particularly liked the more stuck up animals, who would almost treat Johnny with contempt as he asked them what they thought were stupid questions.

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Cloppa Castle

Posted by Big Boo on July 24th, 2009

cloppa castleSome kids TV shows will forever remain stamped in your memory, but some end up buzzing around the a fly against a window, where the more you struggle to remember them the more annoyed you get with yourself.  Cloppa Castle is a perfect example of just such a show for me.

I remember the name, and I remember it being a puppet show with some very strange looking puppets.  As the name suggests it was set in a castle, and I remember it being vaguely medieval in era.  I even remember it had a really bouncy theme tune that went “It’s Cloppa Castle” at various points.  I also remember it was shown as part of the ITV lunchtime kids shows and that I would be really excited when it came on, but sadly that’s about all I remember.

So thank God then for the Internet.  A quick Google search and the blanks start to get filled in.  The show featured two warring clans, the Hasbeenes and the Byegones, who were fighting over an oil well that had been discovered within the grounds of Cloppa Castle.  The two factions may have fought tooth and nail over the oil most of the time, but at teatime they call a temporary truce and sit down together for a cup of tea.  How very British!

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The Munch Bunch

Posted by Big Boo on June 5th, 2009

munch bunchOne of the most successful series of children’s books I remember from my childhood was the Mr. Men books, which are still around today. The Mr. Men set up a pattern for others to follow, which was to produce a series of books based around a range of characters based on a particular theme. One of the better series to employ this idea was the Munch Bunch.

The Munch Bunch were a group of walking, talking fruit and vegetables, mostly with suitably alliterative names like Sally Strawberry, Aubrey Aubergine or Pippa Pear. Alternatively they had names relating to the type of vegetable they were, for example Spud, who was obviously a potato, and Bounce, who was a spring onion (spring, bounce, geddit?). However, my favourite has to be Dick Turnip, who was a highwayman root vegetable, based on the legendary Dick Turpin. I wonder if kids today know who Dick Turpin is, as I’ve not heard his name mentioned in many a year.

Sorry, went a bit off track there. Enough of highwaymen and back to the Munch Bunch. There were more than 30 Munch Bunch characters created for the first series of books, which went on sale between 1979 and 1982, with each character getting their own book. In the years that followed additional books were released for the more popular characters, and larger format books featuring multiple characters were also produced.

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Stocking Fillers - Suppliers to Father Christmas
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Fingerbobs / Fingermouse

Posted by Big Boo on May 20th, 2009

fingerbobs titleYou’ll need to be one of the older Children of the 1980’s to remember Fingerbobs, since it was actually a 1970’s kids show.  I have very fond memories of sitting watching this excellent show, spellbound by it despite the fact it was so very simple.  Even now the show oozes with a charm that is simply missing entirely from todays kids tv shows, and at the end of this post you can check out an episode for yourself.  But first, what was Fingerbobs for those that don’t know?

Fingerbobs was a show created by Michael Cole, who also created another favourite of mine, Bod.  It was presented by Rick Jones, a very laid back Play School presenter and coincidentally member of little known rock band called Meal Ticket.  Rick played the part of Yoffy, who with his roll neck jumper, neckerchief and copious facial hair looked all the world as if he was going to launch into some out there beatnik poem any minute.  To some he looked a little more sinister though, as a friend at college once said when we were reminiscing about old kids television they thought he looked a bit like a child molester…

Anyway, whether you thought of Yoffy as the friendly uncle or the strange bloke hanging around the school playground at 3pm, there’s no doubting that once the puppets came out Yoffy melted into the background as if he wasn’t there at all.  The best known of the puppets is surely Fingermouse, who was little more than a grey glove and a piece of grey paper rolled into a cone with some whiskers stuck on the end.  This may sound pretty naff, but once Fingermouse came to life you failed to notice Yoffy’s arm coming out the back and instead were awe struck at this “wonder mouse”, as his little signature song pointed out.  It was almost as if it were a real mouse.

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Star Fleet

Posted by Big Boo on May 4th, 2009

star fleet dai-xPut simply, Star Fleet is the best puppet TV series never made by Gerry Anderson.  Sure, I love Gerry’s stuff, but Thunderbirds, Joe 90, Stingray and the rest of them were not of my era – Star Fleet was and when the series first aired on Saturday morning British TV in 1982 I was hooked.  Well, it featured space ships and giant robots!  What more could a young boy want?

Star Fleet featured an ongoing story line about Earth being attacked by the Imperial Alliance from the Thalian Zone, headed up by an imposing black helmetted guy (at least, I think it was a helmet) called the Imperial Master.  He sends Commander Makara (a batty female officer who looked like she had a mini extra head over her left eye) on a mission to find the mysterious F-01.

The Earth Defence Force uses X-Bomber, a heavily armed space ship to combat the alien invaders.  It is commanded by Dr. Ben who is assisted by pilots Shiro Hagen, Barry Hercules and Jon Lee.  Shiro is the hero of the piece, whilst Barry Hercules is the cool afro headed dude (if it were live action he’d be played by Samuel L. Jackson) and Jon Lee is the portly, ginger haired, easily spooked one.

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Supergran

Posted by Big Boo on April 16th, 2009

supergranSupergran started as a series of childrens books written by Forrest Wilson.  Unsurprisingly they were about Granny Smith, a grandmother who had super powers from the town of Chiselton.  Her arch-enemy was the villainous Scunner Campbell, who ironically gave her the powers in the first place when she got hit by a beam from one of his strange contraptions.

It is the TV adaptation that I remember best however.  Supergran herself was played by Gudrun Ure, a Scottish actress who looked fairly ridiculous in her tartan scarf and floppy hat, complete with bobble.  She looked every inch the sterotypical granny, except for when she was running, jumping or skateboarding down the road.

Each episode of the series revolved around the same basic storyline.  The Scunner Campbell would be up to some kind of mischief, and Supergran would stop him in his tracks, which always looked ridiculous as a little old lady in fingerless gloves and old fashioned boots wrestled a helicopter to the ground or scaled a massive wall.  Sometimes she would employ a daft invention to help save the day, such as a flying bicycle or an anti-gravity belt.

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Jim’ll Fix It

Posted by Big Boo on March 25th, 2009

jimll fix itJimmy Saville really is one of the UK’s national treasures, and not just because he’s beginning to get on a bit now! Whether using eggs to demonstrate the perils of not using a seatbelt, hosting Top of the Pops or running the London Marathon whilst smoking a cigar, he is always supremely confident in anything he does.

Who better then to grant the young (and old) of the British Isles their deepest wishes? In the 1970’s and 1980’s Sir Jim could be found every Saturday evening “fixing it” for people so their dreams came true, and the wilder the better.

Want to meet your favourite pop star? OK, but be prepared to have to sing or dance with them on British TV. Fancied eating a cake which looked just like yourself? Cool, and you’d get to meet the chef and watch him make it too. Want to ride with the Red Arrows air display team? Yep, as long as you were the right size and fit enough Jim could probably even fix that.

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