The little alien Bleep and his young human pal Booster traversed the distant
     galaxies in Space Freighter 9. Their galactic missions were handed down by
     Bleep's father, the moustached Captain. Bleep and his alien race haled from
     the planet Miron (or Myron, it varied between the books and films) and their
     adventures took them to numerous far-flung and varied alien worlds...

     These gentle science fiction tales surfaced on BBC tv's "Blue Peter" circa 1963.
     They were drawn by William Timym, who was then known as Tim, and 'animated'
     using simple rostrum techniques - panning the images and zooming in on details
     whilst Peter "Pugwash" Hawkins narrated the stories - a technique referred to as
     animatic animation. Stories were episodic, told in five parts or more on occasion.
     Of course, these little films were presented in black and white on tv, but Bleep And
     Booster quickly became regulars in the accompanying Blue Peter Annuals too and
     here their tales were frequently illustrated with Tim's rich, full-colour art. The duo
     were granted their very own tie-in Annuals too and Purnell published special
     stand-alone stories, like Bleep And Booster's Space Secret which appeared
     in 1967...

          

    Those with a hankering for these splendid simple sci-fi tales should track down
    the 1992 Bleep And Booster video from Watershed Pictures which included the
    stories of Solaron and The Giant Brain...
 
    Back in the 1940's William Timym drew numerous newspaper and magazine
    comic strips, like "Caesar", "The Boss", "Humphrey" and "Wuff, Tuff and Snuff".
    He also brought "Bengo The Boxer Pup" to our TV screens. After "Bleep and
    Booster", in the 1970s, this multitalented artist turned to sculpture where his eye
    for naturalistic animals earned him a plethora of commissions from zoos and
    institutions around the world. His most famous pieces included the bronze bust
    of "Blue Peter"s  much-lamented Alsatian dog Petra which still stands in the
    Blue Peter Garden and his magnificent statue of Guy the Gorilla which you'll
   encounter near the ape pavilion in London Zoo. Sadly William Timym died in
    1990, aged 87....

    Meanwhile, Bleep and Booster live on in the memory of a generation of "Blue
    Peter" viewers. They even inspired the name of a band. The line-up for Bleep
    and Booster includes a former member of eighties chart-stars ABC...

 

     Bleep And Booster by Tim

    stories:             Dorothy Smith
    special sound:   Brian Hodgson
    narration:         Peter Hawkins

 

      On the web


      Little Gems
      The Big Knights feature plenty of Bleep And Booster info here along with
      a storyline and screen grabs from The Giant Brain - Terrific!

      Whirligig-Tv
      An excellent contribution here, focusing on William Timyn's Bengo
      The Boxer Pup but also incorporating a most informative letter
      from Mr Timyms' niece...

 
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