The Olden Days podcast
-
Episode 4 (The Chipmunks) http://yourlisten.com/TheOldenDays/the-olden-days-episode-4-the-chipmunks
-
Still enjoying these... I'm afraid I don't have anything much to say about Alvin and the Chipmunks as I haven't seen it since the '90s, though I liked it at the time and still remember the catchy theme song! (I loved the name "Brittany" which I first heard on that show. It doesn't have the same appeal now it's such a common celebrity name!) The Mysterious Cities Of Gold should be a little more familiar to me as I rewatched it three or four years ago.
Going back to the Knightmare podcast, is there really a new knapsack in Series 6? I've had a quick look at each series and I can't see any obvious change - the only one that seems noticeably different is the Series 8 knapsack which is square instead of rounded. What am I missing? Is there a particular scene where you can see it more clearly?
-
Episode 5 (The Mysterious Cities of Gold) http://yourlisten.com/TheOldenDays/the-olden-days-episode-5-the-mysterious-cities-of-gold
By the way, the best shot of the knapsack looking firmly square that I could find was Alistair standing in front of Dooris in the third episode of Series 4.
-
By the way, the best shot of the knapsack looking firmly square that I could find was Alistair standing in front of Dooris in the third episode of Series 4.
Ah, thanks for that - I see what you mean, definitely different from the Series 6 one!
I have strangely mixed feelings about MCOG. I was absolutely enchanted by it when I was 6 - I don't think I understood the historical context of it all, but it felt really magical and awe-inspiring, especially the stuff with the medallions and the Condor which always stuck in my memory. Alas, when I revisited it as an adult, it just didn't have the same effect on me. It was too hard to suspend my disbelief at some of the technology and coincidences, and I found a lot of things really annoying (Mendoza's sidekicks, that awful squawking parrot, some of the dubbing issues, and the incredibly repetitive music which often dominated my attention - I was surprised that Rosey said she hadn't really noticed it!). The stuff with the Olmecs was just bizarre and seemed to completely derail the story arc, too. It's disappointing when I don't love a TV show as much as I did in my childhood. On the other hand, I can see that it's very well done - I was impressed by how imaginative and ambitious it was, and I particularly loved those educational films at the end of each episode, which I don't think were ever broadcast in this country.
-
Listening back today, I noticed how we hadn't mentioned Kokapetl (the parrot) or the documentaries and I was rather surprised that they hadn't cropped up in our chat. (I guess the closest I got was talking about the real-life history of Macchu Picchu, which is the subject of one of the documentaries.)
The way you describe watching it as a 6-year-old tallies exactly with how I felt watching it at exactly the same age, and I can see that we've reacted strongly to some of the same things when re-watching as an adult but kind of gone to different extremes with whether we like them, which is interesting.
I find what you say about the music particularly interesting. There can be no denying that there is an awful lot of it, so I can see that each little tune would get repetitive rather quickly if you don't find that it complements what's going on in the story; it's all a matter of personal taste.
-
I have strangely mixed feelings about MCOG.
I didn't see MCOG when I was a kid; I only really saw it in any large degree when Forester burned me a DVD of a bunch of episodes and I watched then once a day, usually with lunch. I was in my early-to-mid-twenties at the time, IIRC.
I loved what I saw - I've long been a fan of the Japanese animation style and it was great to see it being done for something which isn't really anything to do with Japan. The historical context is a nice touch, and I'm quite pleased the conquistadors aren't automatically portrayed as heroes. I'd've liked to see more of the children - Esteban, Zia and Tao are the main characters, as suggested by the opening credits, and the episodes follow them, primarily - but I want to know more about them!
I'm pretty annoyed that I ran out of MCOG when I did, as there's a continuing storyline to be followed (this was both a good thing and a bad thing, as it kept you interested, but also teased out the story at a snail's pace!) and I wanted to see where it was going; I did, however, often wonder if the writers knew where it was going. At some points, it seemed as if they didn't - they just wanted to keep the series running and not reveal anything. It didn't work with Lost and it didn't quite work here!
Overall, though, great series; I'd like to see the last few episodes, though.
-
Episode 6 (Digimon) http://yourlisten.com/TheOldenDays/the-olden-days-episode-6-digimon
-
Episode 7 (Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds) http://yourlisten.com/TheOldenDays/the-olden-days-episode-7-dogtanian
-
I doubt there's anyone of a certain age who doesn't have at least a passing familiarity with the Dogtanian theme tune. That's another poor point about the second series, actually - it features a new recording of the famous theme tune with almost entirely new lyrics that make even less sense than the old ones and don't sound nearly so cool!
Episode 8 (The Adventures of Sinbad) http://yourlisten.com/TheOldenDays/the-olden-days-episode-8-the-adventures-of-sinbad
-
This time it's the low-budget Canadian romp The Adventures of Sinbad.
-
Anyone who's ever been to secondary school should find something to relate to in the subject of our ninth podcast - Grange Hill: http://www.yourlisten.com/TheOldenDays/the-olden-days-episode-9-grange-hill
-
We are still releasing these every other week. The latest episode features CITV classics Fun House, Finders Keepers and Terror Towers, and there is more than a bit of cross-referencing with Knightmare!
http://yourlisten.com/TheOldenDays/the-olden-days-episode-13-citv-gameshows
-
I had no idea there was an American Fun House!
I never watched most of the programmes featured in recent podcasts, with the exception of Bucky O'Hare. I always liked Jenny (a pretty, kickass female character with magical powers was right up my street), and the episode set on her home planet is the only one I can remember. Not sure how much I really followed the rest of it, but it did have one of the most memorably awesome theme songs of any cartoon!
Love Watership Down, so I should enjoy the next episode.
-
As promised, here is a podcast about Watership Down, including a shout-out to Annie: http://yourlisten.com/TheOldenDays/the-olden-days-episode-14-watership-down
-
As promised, here is a podcast about Watership Down, including a shout-out to Annie: http://yourlisten.com/TheOldenDays/the-olden-days-episode-14-watership-down
Goodness, I wasn't expecting a shout-out. Thanks for thinking of me! And I did enjoy the podcast very much.
My feelings and experiences of Watership Down seem to have been largely the same as Rosey's, although I believe I started watching the film at a much younger age - we had it recorded off the TV and it was one of the videos I watched repeatedly throughout my childhood. It's surprising that I wasn't turned off by all the gore and death and bleakness - just the sort of thing that normally traumatised me as a kid! - but for some reason I still found it really captivating, even though some bits disturbed me and I didn't understand half of what was going on. (My appreciation has grown steadily as I got older and was able to follow more and more of the story, and grasp the significance of things like Fiver's surreal visions.) It's hard to put into words why I love it so much, but it's something to do with how perfectly it captures both the sadness and the beauty of nature and the cycle of life. I find it incredibly moving these days and cry every time I watch it. Even hearing you quote all those wonderful lines in the podcast gave me goosebumps!
Like Rosey, I failed in my first attempt to read the book as a youngster (I got bored with all the scenery descriptions), but liked it very much as an adult. I read it in 2007 and haven't yet revisited it, so I don't remember every detail, but I hugely enjoyed learning more about the Lapine language and the characters' thoughts and motivations, plus all the extended scenes in Cowslip's warren, etc. It also made me realise what a fantastic job they did with the film adaptation, making the necessary alterations while still retaining the right feel of everything. Both versions of the story are brilliant in their own way. The end of the book had me crying floods as well.
I guessed that the film-makers had introduced (and then killed off) Violet because it seems a bit short-sighted to leave the warren without any females, but that's just my own assumption! The scene with the hawk is a good addition I think, illustrating how peril is never far away when you're a rabbit ("Prince with a thousand enemies...")
Love the whole cast of the film, they all did such a great job - Denholm Elliott's distinctive voice is an inspired choice for Cowslip. Michael Graham-Cox (Bigwig) was also the voice of Boromir in Lord Of The Rings, another childhood favourite of mine. And I can't imagine a better Hazel than John Hurt (who can apparently do no wrong), or a better Fiver than Richard Briers. It probably goes without saying that Zero Mostel's Kehaar is an amusing highlight!
I vaguely remember trying the CITV series and not liking it - I think I gave up on it after a couple of episodes, though it's possible I saw more and I've just forgotten / blocked it out! Will be "interesting" to see what the new one is like. I can't really see the point of it, since the original can hardly be improved upon (and I'm not keen on them removing all the violence to make it more kiddy-friendly), but I'll probably watch out of curiosity...
I was a big fan of The Animals Of Farthing Wood, so I'll be looking forward to your next episode too!
-
As promised, here this the second in our duo of fluffy animal snuff cartoon podcasts, The Animals of Farthing Wood: http://yourlisten.com/TheOldenDays/the-olden-days-episode-15-the-animals-of-farthing-wood
The Olden Days podcasts will continue to be released every other week for the foreseeable future, and I will check this post regularly to see if anyone wants to discuss anything or post any questions for us to answer.
-
I haven't seen it since the original broadcasts (with the possible exception of catching some Series 1 repeats in the late '90s or so?), but as previously mentioned, I loved The Animals Of Farthing Wood. I particularly adored Farthing Wood Friends (it was always so exciting when my Dad would bring home the latest edition from the newsagent!), and I also had the audio tapes and even the plaster casting kit, which I used a great deal. I do have the books but didn't really enjoy them much, and haven't read them since the TV show was on.
From what I can remember, the first series was by far the best (even if it did rip off Watership Down - I never noticed all those similarities!), and there was some good stuff in the second series; I seem to recall the Bold storyline being quite well done. I have very little memory of the third series but I think it had become a bit crap by then. Various new characters and scenes were revealed in the Farthing Wood Friends sticker book before we ever got to see them on telly, and none of it looked very promising (lots of cartoony farm animals and stuff), and indeed I wasn't impressed when the programme finally caught up!
It was a bit weird how they made Kestrel transgender...
Thanks for another fun podcast.
-
If you want the Animals of Farting Wood on dvd look no further...
Can also be purchased from homegrown Amazon too
Hello! It looks like you're interested in this conversation, but you don't have an account yet.
Getting fed up of having to scroll through the same posts each visit? When you register for an account, you'll always come back to exactly where you were before, and choose to be notified of new replies (either via email, or push notification). You'll also be able to save bookmarks and upvote posts to show your appreciation to other community members.
With your input, this post could be even better 💗
Register Login