June
- 2001
Big
(not very), bad (probably), and back for your perusal....
news on the just-announced Magic Roundabout movie!
Mr Hell rescheduled again!
more stoopid tv scheduling...
it's all about me this month!
_____________________________________________________
Incredible, but true: The Magic Roundabout
is to be turned into
an animated feature film for release in
2003. And what's more
Dougal, Dylan, Zebedee et al will be transformed
into cgi-assisted
stars for the film by the Bolexbrothers studios
in Bristol!
The film will be a co-production betwen
the Bolexes and Films
Action, the French company which owns
the Roundabout
rights....
Now that's exciting... and bizarre... and,
well, just plain
fascinating on so many levels. I
mean, the Bolexbrothers,
turning their unqiue styled hands upon
a so-familiar tv
creation? Remember, these guys brought
us the rivetting but
so-far-away-from-'cute'-you-wouldn't-believe
Secret
Adventures Of Tom Thumb (see The
Movie Toon Guide).
Will they soften their approach? Certainly,
they have the unique
creative ability to capture the more -
er -'groovy' elements of
the concept. I can't wait to see what
they do to it...
The whole business of a Roundabout movie
is intriguing. It's
been tried before, of course, with Dougal And
The Blue Cat,
but how on earth is this new film going to
be constructed for
modern audiences? - From what I hear, the story
will begin in the
familiar garden and roundabout location before
taking the
characters outside their colourful realm to
embark on a 'round
-the-world' adventure. So where's that? - The
real, human
world? - Another Roundabout-type world?
And there was me thinking
it was a quiet month for toon news!
Does anyone know any more? - If you do,
pass it on
please,
I'm dying to know! - In the mean time,
there's more on the
original series on my Magic
Roundabout page...
_____________________________________________________
Ah me, Spring has come and gone, and now
the warm breeze of
Summer has blown in, but still we wait for
Peafur's Mr Hell
Show to ignite our tv sets...
Well it looks like we may have to wait
a wee while longer yet.
That's 'cos the BBC, in their infinite
wisdom, have pushed back
the broadcast date for the first season
until November - er, maybe.
Ouch! - That doesn't half scupper a number
of topical 'Clinton'
jokes from the show...
In its place you may have noticed
another devil - God, The
Devil And Bob - screening mid-week
in the kind of late-night
slot they had reserved for Mr Hell. (And
look how they
snuck THAT one in, almost apologetically...). I
don't know
why they're so hesitant. Mr Hell's run
on Canadian tv has proven
most successful and earned its producers
a Best Comedy Series
award at Worldfest, Houston (where it
beat off live-action opposition!),
and a Best Animated Show gong at the Canadian
Leo's...
Still, I guess the Beeb funded the
show so they can do what
they want. Let's just hope it gets
the Big Push it deserves when
the time finally comes. They've
a long enough lead-in to play
with. Gosh, I can see it now, Bob
Monkhouse and his Mr Hell
counterpart on the cover of the Radio
Times, both with one
mischievous eyebrow raised, with the
headline 'Oh, Bob,
you devil!...'
In the mean time, if you're wondering
what I'm rambling on
about check out the Mr
Hell Special Edition of The Hound,
including the lowdown on the show and
a Q&A with Peafur's
Alan Gilbey. Plus you'll find the several
associated links
indexed on the Mr
Hell TvToons page...
_____________________________________________________
Speaking of rough deals,
have you seen the latest broadcast
of Snowden Fine's Bob & Margaret
yet? - No, you probably
haven't, seeing as the schedulers
at C4 have, in their infinite
wisdom, decided to broadcast it
at half-past-one on a
Sunday morning!
I know, I know, it's a repeat. It
doesn't need to go primetime.
But is still a hopelessly derisive
timeslot and it comes on top
of the somewhat clumsy broadcasting
of both Family Guy
and Futurama. But, hey, what should
we expect from the
channel whose Animation Week films also
fell foul of such
cold-footed practices?
And all of this comes on top of
the BBC's hopeless mis-
treatment of Stingray. What on earth
is going on? - It's changed
days, times, shifted from double
bills to single episodes. No
doubt it'll be pulled any day soon,
and they'll point to 'poor
ratings' and how The Simpsons seems to
survive the changes,
but please folks, give us genre
fans a break, eh? Science
Fiction and cartoon geeks seem to
get the worst broadcast
deal going (look at Voyager, and
the X-Files, Buffy and
Angel, Batman Beyond...)
I was about to say 'Buy the video.
Collect the DVDs. Skip
the broadcast' but I'm forgetting
something. Most of the
above have gotten a raw deal on
homevideo too. Only Carlton
appear to have seen what genre fans
want and given it to
them. Fox, in particular, will tie
that cash-cow up and milk
her dry...
Gosh, the lament of the genre geek never
ends - *sigh *
_____________________________________________________
Seen these yet? - They're called Beano
Glo Bodyswopz
and there are 20 to collect inside special packs of
Skips corn
snacks. The backs feature tops and bottoms of various
Beano
characters so you can mix-and-match 'em....
The set includes all your DC Thonson favourites, like Dennis
and
Gnasher, Minnie The Minx and The Bash St. Kids. Plus,
there are
larger Bodyswopz to find in Skips Multipacks - cor...
Okay, so it's a rather childish thing to get worked
up about.
But think about it; other Tazo-style giveaways have
featured the
Looney Tunes stars, Pokemon or Star Wars. This is the
first
truly British toon-Tazo-type-thingy promotion - Let's
be proud
of it!
_____________________________________________________
Er, seen these as well? - The fine folk at Little
Chef are offering
up this here range of Thunderbirds collectables
at their 400
restaurants around the UK...
The 6 toys have been produced by Leisurehouse
Merchandise
in a hot deal struck directly with Carlton - whom
we all know
has been cannily exploiting the old Gerry Anderson
catalogue
of late...
Anyways, like those there Beano Bodyswopz I reckon
it's all to
be applauded. Especially as the silly summer season
of all-american
toys and promos is almost upon us - it really
does make a
change to see British licenses out there, fighting
the good fight...
_____________________________________________________
Okay, so it's a very 'girly' collectible, but
- look! - it's Bagpuss
on his very own official collectible porcelain
plate from the
Danbury Mint...
I don't usually go for this kind of thing, but
it does look very
smart in the advert, and the rim is decorated
with a brilliant
Peter Firmin decoration detailing the Organ Mice
and the
various 'Things' found in the series - from the
fiddle to the
haggis...
The plate measures 8 1/4 inches in diameter and
it comes with
the usual certificateof authenticity and costs £22.95
(+p&p).
Here's the orderline number for UK customers:
020 8391 2291
For the record, I'm not connected to the promo
in any way.
I'm just playing messenger, 'cos I thought it
looked so smart...
___________________________________________________
Just for a change, I thought I'd throw in a plug
for yours truly
this issue. Why? - Well, there are big plans afoot
here at
Toonhound...
First up, you'll spy that Fleetway
St. has just started a refit. Comics
pages are being upgraded and stuffed with as much
info as I can
lay my paws on. I'm also aiming to have every
fun Fleetway title
finally online and cross-referenced by the end of the
month. But
let's not get carried away: The indexing of all those
associated
strips is still going to take a fair while longer,
isn't it? - Still, it's
creeping up to 100 indexed strips now, which surely
ain't bad...
Movie Toon fanatics have no doubt already visited
Toonhound's
Movie
Toon Guide. Well, spurred on by success I'm on the
verge of launching a sequel: Stay tooned for the
Mini Movie
Toon Guide, indexing the wealth of British animated
short films
out there, like Bob Godfrey's 'Great'
and Tony Collingwood's
fabulous 'Rarg'.
Another huge undertaking then, but - hey - there's
nowt like a challenge...
What? - You want more? - Okay, I've a host of
new scans
planned for Bunty's
Booty, plus an idea to 'expand the brief'
into other licensing territories. And there are
several new shows
almost ready for indexing in my tvtoons
and puppet directories,
more Wired
World strips to come (and a refit there too) and
- well - as you can see, I've got my work cut out.
So what
am I waiting for...?
- Till next time!
thehound@toonhound.com
THE
HOUND: RECENT EDITIONS
CHRISTMAS
CAROL INFO BOB
& MARGARET SPECIAL MR
HELL SHOW SPECIAL
APRIL
2001 FEB
2001 JAN
2001
