Stan lives on Gosling Farm with his collie dog Patch, and his ever-reliable
    Little Red Tractor. LRT carries Stan and Patch all around the farm and its
    environs, meeting folks, making new friends and helping to keep the farmland
    and livestock in good order...

    This simple series was adapted from the stories by Colin Reeder. The tales
    focus on an everyday working farm, and its place in the countryside. The Tractor
    isn't exceptional in any particular way. LRT is just a regular farm vehicle.
    People and animals go missing, or get lost, fallen trees are removed, new farm
    equipement is obtained, old equipment is maintained - and LRT is usually at
    the heart of the work, pulling, hauling and transporting.

    The animation here is of the most rudimentary kind. Colin Reeder's watercolour
    artwork is panned and scanned, animatic style, beneath a rostrum camera and
    given some simple manipulation in an editing suite. It's an old-fashioned method,
    just half-a-step away from a "Jackanory" story, or indeed, those Ark Stories.
    But if you're in the right mood for a rustic country tale, it has appeal...    

     

     A Little Red History

    Those "Little Red Tractor Stories" were first published in 1990. The books
    featured Colin Reeder's artwork with text from Elizabeth Laird. For the series,
    Peter Tye came on board and several - um - Tye-in books were published
    featuring his new stories with Colin's artwork.

    But in 2004, Stan and his tractor hit paydirt when Entertainment Rights
    got behind a brand-spanking new tv series, filmed in stop-motion. The new
    "Little Red Tractor" series features fabulous animation from the Little
    Entertainment Company, and in a move akin to the 90s revamp of
    "Emmerdale Farm", Gosling farm, Babblebrook and its environs are
    invested with bigger, brighter machines, bigger storylines and bustle.
    It's a funky, fun series. And although farm life has been thoroughly
    mechanised and modernised, that olde countryside lifestyle and the
    pluckiness of our favourite Tractor are still at the heart of each episode...

    Meanwhile, Colin Tye has gone on to bring us the adventures of "Ollie the
    Collie", both in book form and as an animated show of its own.

 

     The Original Little Red Tractor books

     The very first 32-page stories were published by Collins in 1990.
     They were illustrated by Colin Reeder, with text by Elizabeth Laird.
     Here are the titles:

     The Day the Ducks Went Skating
     The Day Veronica was Nosy
     The Day Patch Stood Guard
     The Day Sidney Ran Off
     The Day Sidney Was Lost 

      Since their publication, we've had Peter Tye's tales published by
      Scholastic, as well as a shiny new selection of story and activity books
      to tie-in with the stop-motion series. But if you're getting back to the
      origins of the character, those titles above were first!

     » The original LRT books at Amazon.co.uk

 

    A Little Red video

    When the series launched on video, extra live-action episodes were tagged on
    to each tape. These weren't stories, rather, they were visual guides to life
    on a real working farm, and they featured a real-life Little Red Tractor,
    and farm pals. There was also a "Little Red Tractor" club for kids to join...

 

     Little Red Tractor episodes

     The animatic series began with Brian Glover narrating.
     But Richard Briers took over from episode nine...

    narrator: Brian Glover
    The Day Jeremy Came to Stay
    Little Red Tractor to the Rescue
    The Day Auntie Ellie Went for a Swim
    The Day Stan's World Turned Upside Down
    The Day of the Shipwreck
    Winter Arrives on Gosling Farm
    The Day of Molehills and Windmills
    The Day of the Big Surprise

    narrator: Richard Briers
    The Day Puppy Found His Name
    The Day Dudley Was Late
    The Day Henry Went to Wigglesworth
    The Ghost of Whistling Bridge

 

     Little Red Tractor Stories on DVD


      Little Red Tractor Stories Christmas Special
                Region 2 / Revelation Films / November 2008

 

     producer & director:   Peter Tye
    writer & illustrator:    Colin Reeder
    exec producer:          David Shawyer
    extra artwork:           Auberon Hedgecoe
    animation:                Creative TV Facilities
    original music:           Michael B Robbins
    rostrum camera:        Zephyr Films
    editing:                     Woodcut Productions
    on-line edit:               Lane End Productions
    sound dubbing:          Video London
    narration:                  Brian Glover (eps 1 - 8)
                                    Richard Briers (eps 9 - 12)

 

      On the web


      No links right now...


 
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