"He's the science-fiction pixie from a strange atomic race,
    DoDo - The kid from outer space!..."
 

   Like it says in the title, DoDo is from outer space. From the planet Hena Hydro, to
   be precise. This exuberant pointy-eared pixie has little propellers on his heels which
   enable him to hover, and he has a propensity for talking in rhyming couplets. DoDo's
   partner in flight is Compy, the computer bird. He's half real bird, half computer,
   created thus when his mother laid her egg on a stack of computer cards. The
   cards wee fed into a computer and - voila - out popped Compy. Alongside these two
   aliens is professor Fingers, the scientist and genius who sports inter-dimensional
   pockets on his lab coat. These handy additions allow him to fit things of virtually
   any size inside them...

   In the course of the series DoDo and company tackle space pirates, diamond
   thieves, spies, and burglars and they visit the opera, the circus, the rodeo, Hollywood,
   Japan, the moon and beyond. Several adventures feature a rather powerful Magic
   Magnet too.
  
   This supersonic series emerged from the studios of Halas & Batchelor in 1964, and
   followed in the pioneering footsteps of Foo Foo, crossing the Atlantic and on to
   American syndication. But Dodo and friends also took a sizable side-step away
   in design from the days of "Foo Foo". These toon stars were of a more familiar,
   solid form, with full-drawn bodies and clothing, in the fashion of regular
   "Saturday Morning" animation creations. Add in that all-American twang to
   the soundtrack and the unknowing viewer wouldn't recognise this as being
   British at all.

   Of course, the science fiction of the series has dated spectacularly by modern
   standards. DoDo and his friends revel in the delights of atomic energy, which was
   a bright new future power back when the series was produced. Nowadays, if we
   saw an atomic space pixie we'd probably run a mile!
   
 

 

     Halas & Batchelor Cartoon Films

     director:       John Halas
     producers:    John Halas
     script:            Lady Robinson
     music:           Jack King, Johnny Gregory
     design:          Sunnivar Kellquist, Tony White
     animation:    Harold Whitaker, John Smith, Tony Whitehouse,
                          Tony Guy, Bruno Bozzetto, Arthur Humberstone       
          
 

      On the web


      Halas and Batchelor
      The official site with info on the extraordinary Halas & Batchelor
      catalogue, details of the studio history, awards, availability and clips
      to view too...

      Toontracker
      An American view of DoDo, with pics, theme music and info....

      Animation Research Centre
      The Surrey-based centre have an extensive Halas & Batchelor collection,
      and they present a huely informative studio and production history online
      here, together with an archive of the rest of their extraordinary work...


 
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