The WI are running a musical competition which Grotbags really wants to win, so she employs Redford and Croc to be her resident composers. Obviously, they're not very good - unlike the Pink Windmill Kids, who are evidently The Greatest Band (a song from the Disney album Mickey Mouse Disco). But how will all this affect the latest plan to snatch Emu? This episode was originally broadcast on Friday, 3rd May, 1985.
The continuing saga of the leftover Boggle's Kingdom finally comes to an end in this one. See that scene at 24:30? That's been in the opening credits since 1984, proving that this 'space race' storyline was meant for the previous series, only for strike action to get in the way. All the stuff with Prince Poorly and his guards is new and added for 1985 - the fact that David Tate appears confirms that - but the main stuff about the rocket should have gone out a year earlier than it did. I'm glad they 'upcycled' the material rather than leaving it in the archives forever.
Besides that, Rod and Emu learn a bit of French, and there's a bagpipes gag that gave me a good giggle - almost as much as the story of the badly-addressed envelope. The second song in this episode is the Freddie Stevens tour-de-force medley of Two of a Kind (by Bobby Darin) and I Love to Laugh (from Mary Poppins), but here's a question for you: who's surprised by the bit where Redford messes with the Emu's Choice sign just before that? It's hard to get your head around it in this age of every graphic being computer-generated, but back then, cameras were pointed at cards and that was that. In fact, you can see the End of Part One card sitting ready in the background around 19:32.
Other things to watch out for include Debbie attacking Joe with a baby emu and Spencer presenting the Twin Schools section solo. (Those who went to Leichhardt High School in Sydney, Manor Park Primary School in Coventry, or Matthew Pearce Public School in New South Wales will particularly be interested in the latter.) There's a highly questionable Star Prize situation in the Spin Quiz, Rod's mic falls off right at the end after possibly getting tangled with Tammy's hair, Basil seems to have turned into a spider, and two of the Grotto Game contestants can be seen at the beginning and end of the show sitting right next to each other. Also, Rod refers to Alex as Alexis, which I'm 99% certain isn't right (I'm told she's Alexandrina), and Grotbags makes reference to someone called Velcro at 37:50 - I think this is an inside joke with a cameraman which spans quite a few episodes. In fact, the Grotto section is really starting to feel like its own show at times, and it's clear that cast and crew are just having a laugh, which makes it all the more entertaining.
Stay tuned at the beginning and end and you'll be treated to full pieces of Children's ITV continuity presented by Super Gran, a.k.a. the actress Gudrun Ure. I'm impressed that they bothered to animate dedicated idents for her stint at Network Control - not everyone got that privilege by a long chalk.
Many thanks to Spencer for lending me this tape.
(To the best of my knowledge, the contents of this video have never been available commercially anywhere in the world. Please also note that I don't monetise any of my uploads. Nevertheless, if you are a copyright holder and have an objection, please don't hesitate to contact me.)
3 май 2018
