Towser (1982)

As I may have mentioned before, Tony Ross is one of the UK's busiest children's writer and illustrator with hundreds of thousands of books to his name. But strangely, with few TV credits. Only a handful of his books and characters have been adapted to television - his Little Princess, several stories for Anytime Tales and my personal favourite, Towser.

Towser is without doubt one of Tony's most brilliant creations, a character children and adults of all generations will adore. Tony has had enough sense not to talk down to kids when writing for them, instead using humour as his secret weapon with creative storytelling.

The hero of the original books is a little terrier dog with a gloomy-looking face, who somehow manages to stumble into a variety of odd adventures with even odder characters. What I think makes Towser so appealing is that there are many sides to him: sometimes he's helpful, sometimes he's cheeky, but what he does not lack in is determination and a sly attitude. He even follows in the paw-prints of Bugs Bunny at times when it comes to dealing with troublesome characters like the Terrible Thing, Goblin Gobble and a rather confused Alien Invader from the Planet Nice, all by using his brains.

Towser, the Alien and the Owl

But that's not all: Tony Ross throws in a good range of characters for Towser to play off, all who offer fun, varied storytelling potential - magic from the Wizard, science with Dr. Smellie, royalty with the King and "normal" characters like Sadie the Kitten for some down-to-earth humour. There's even the Owl, who fulfils a role similar to Hamlet the Cat of King Rollo; aka, a curious observer of the main story.

Towser and Friends

And when King Rollo Films adapted Tony's stories to the small screen, the fun just doubled from there! Although uncredited, animator Leo Nielsen (now Owner and Producing Director of the company) brings such life and energy to each character, all with their own unique style of movement. And all with the use of cut-out animation, which continues today, albeit within the use of computers than the traditional means. Tony even went as far as drawing the artwork himself for Leo to use, which included backgrounds and every character limb necessary.

Roy Kinnear (SuperTed, Bertha) adds the icing to this wonderful cake as the storyteller, delivering each one-liner from Towser perfectly. No one could have done a better job with his gentle yet enthusiastic style, and giving just the right voice to all characters, main or secondary.

Towser meets the Nosey Parker

I used to adore watching Towser when it was part of the children's line-up for Channel 4 once upon a time, and so I was delighted to see that all 26 episodes had made their way to DVD at long last. Demand Media have done an exceptional job of restoring the episodes with clear sound and even clearer picture (not unlike King Rollo, which suffered a good deal of grain on-screen due to age), and I surely hope that those who grew up with the series themselves will buy it for their little ones to enjoy almost as much as they (and I) surely have =)

LINKS OF INTEREST:

Toonhound's thoughts on Towser

Buy the Complete Collection from Play.com

Watch the first 13 episodes here to decide whether to buy the DVD or not...!

If you're lucky still, buy some of the original books from Amazon!

King Rollo (1980)

David McKee is, in my mind, one of Britain's top children's writers / illustrators with a great many books and characters under his belt - Elmer the Patchwork Elephant, Mr Benn and of course King Rollo. The latter, in fact, was the name that David used when he started up his own animation studio, King Rollo Films Ltd, which saw adaptations of his stories, and that of Tony Ross. The company continues to create new shows for today's young generation - Maisy, Humf and Poppy Cat - each a little gem in their own right using the latest technology but maintaining the classic, gentle look of shows gone by.

King Rollo was one of the first characters the studio created. From the original series of books, it tells of the young-at-heart king who is always in need of assistance from his friends - the Magician, the Cook, Queen Gwen and King Frank. The stories were very simple but wonderfully read by Ray Brooks and animated superbly by Leo Beltoft in their (then) trademark cut-out style. It's a nice little series which shows the skill David McKee's crew could produce at such a small number involved.

Arguably, whenever this series is brought up, fans would always remember Hamlet the Cat, and with good reason - there's no fear of viewers getting bored with Hamlet close by, trying to get involved in the story with his on-screen antics!

A few of David McKee's programmes have been put to DVD already - Anytime Tales and the complete Mr Benn - but just recently folks have reported that a few more shows will be following suit this coming September...including, I'm happy to report, King Rollo himself. So whether you remember the series from old or am keen on sharing some "old school" with your little ones, you can't go wrong here!

Pre-order the following DVDs to come from Amazon!

King Rollo

Towser

Victor and Maria

Toonhound's King Rollo page!

King Rollo Films Home Page!

Ric the Raven (1989)

Personally speaking, while I happily accept cartoons with clever word-play and mad personalties, I've mostly favoured visual humour on account of it's so much fun and easier to draw or write. And in terms of storytelling, they get through scenes and gags much quicker than having characters over-explain everything. To coin a phrase: "Actions speak louder than words."

Pantomime cartoons have always had a great appeal to the International Market, spanning back as far as the Black-and-White days of Charlie Chaplin - given that they barely contain any dialogue to translate, it makes them very easy to air across the world. The Pink Panther, Nudnik, Tom and Jerry, Chuck Jones' Road Runner and Coyote...these would all knock the likes of Spongebob for six should one find wall-to-wall dialogue extremely taxing. They have also inspired many modern-day "silent" works such as Oggy and the Cockroaches, Bernard and even Scrat of Ice Age fame.

They also inspired King Rollo Films to create their own "silent" cartoon back in the late 80's. Co-produced by German Studios Ravensburger Films / Videal GmbH Production, it follows the adventures of Ric, an optimistic blue raven who, as with many characters that weren't limited to singular settings or "guidelines", was placed anywhere in a variety of roles - as a Pilot, a Viking, a Thief, a Knight and many others - where he somehow stumbles through even the simplest of jobs in a series of frantic "sqwarks". Along the way he was regularly assisted / pestered by a trio of short bearded men, who seem like a cross between Bill Oddie and the Oompa-Loompas...  =P

Ric's career started out as a series of 30-second shorts - as were most of King Rollo Films's shows at the time, these were animated in a "cut-out" style; similar to Oliver Postgate's Ivor the Engine, for example. Then soon after, Ric was extended to five-minute shorts with full hand-drawn animation. All in all, it's a terrific series, which features the sparkling talents of Duncan Lamont, David McKee and David Bull, and which follows the comical spirit of the Pink Panther / Looney Tunes very nicely.

Ric originally aired first on Channel 4, then GMTV Kids for ITV, and then Tiny Living for Satellite Television, but he remains very popular in Germany to this day - so much so that he even has his own Digital Channel plus Website, which also airs a variety of other European cartoons. Suffice to say, it's impressive how far that little Raven has flown since 1989!

Everybody Say Humf...

Andrew Brenner is one of those remarkable folks who has been part of the animation circle for quite a long time, with a portfolio longer than the Trans-Siberian Railway. Since early 1990, he has succeeded and expanded himself as script writer / editor for the following titles (among many others besides);

• Spot 
• Maisy 
• Animal Stories 
• The Cramp Twins 
• Tractor Tom (Series 2) 
• The LikeaBalls 
• Fireman Sam 
• Pongwiffy 
• Binka 
• Kenny the Shark 
• Vampires, Pirates & Aliens

Now that I'm old enough to to fully appreciate and learn more of the mentioned shows, I was astounded of Andrew's "legacy" that could easily match those left by Brian Trueman and Jimmy Hibbert. Thankfully, though children's television has changed since the Silver Age of the 90s, that hasn't stopped Andrew from delivering more wonders!

His latest work has been a big hit - Humf tells of a "small furry thing" who explores the world around him with friends and family to help him along. After watching several episodes online, I can see why this has received such lovely acclimation. The animation - produced by King Rollo Films and Rubber Duck Entertainment - is the smoothest, beautifully crafted I've ever seen in the preschool market....and the fact that this is digital 2D animation makes it even better!

The writing, too, differs from the normal "cut-and-paste" storytelling in modern-day children's animation. Andrew clearly knows how to write for children and their parents in mind, having written just about every episode of Humf single-handed. The characters are cute yet relateable, the storylines simple but not obvious. According to this interview back in 2009, Andrew is very passionate about intelligent storytelling and getting the message across clearly to both children and parents.

"...Television is now one of the most influential sources of stories for most children and it is very important not to waste the chance to offer them something that has some kind of value...I am not at all convinced that television is ultimately a good thing...But the reality is that it has an influence and so I would like to think that it makes a difference what we do with it. And that it is worth trying to use it to tell better stories..."

So here are a couple of Humf episodes for you to watch and draw your own thoughts:

LINKS OF INTEREST:

Andrew Brenner's official web site