Grotbags has a plan involving Rod, Emu, and her brand new cage - but how can she bring all three together in the same place at once? It turns out that paper planes may provide the answer... This episode, which I believe was originally broadcast on Wednesday, 3rd November, 1982, features the songs Ease on Down the Road (from musical The Wiz) and It Ain't What You Do (It's the Way That You Do It) (written by Sy Oliver and Trummy Young, and Rod most likely loved the Ella Fitzgerald version, but of course it was then a recent hit for Fun Boy Three and Bananarama).
So we're now properly into this second series, and Croc is man-size (but child-minded) from this point until the end of the entire run. Very nearly all the fundamentals that we remember from the classic years of the show have fallen into place, but one question mark seems to remain to me: what's the target audience? By the live era, it was supposed to be as broad as possible; the series of Emu's World just before that seems to be aimed squarely at primary school children; but this second series seems to aim slightly lower than that, and at one point - when Rod addresses the viewer directly around 7:06 (a real rarity, incidentally) - even slips into pre-school mode.
Anyway, there are some more nice 80s analogue video effects to marvel at here, with my personal favourite being them boarding the plane. Speaking of old technology, check out Grotbags's camera! It seems to be a subtle running joke that she's always trying to be all hi-tech, but falls short every time, while Rod is perfectly content with his ancient gramophone and that sort of thing. In fact, maybe it's not a joke, but a lesson.
Watching the beginning of this one, I can't help wondering whether an opening skit has been cut for time. Do you get that impression? This isn't the only occasion this happens this series, and it raises the possibility that there's some Rod and Emu sketches on the proverbial cutting room floor somewhere. Other thinks to keep an eye out for include the cast nearly running dry around 11:22, Daniel pushing over one of the twins at 18:42, and Anthony brutally tripping up Hugh at 18:26 (possibly). Oh, and stay tuned at the end for a tiny bit of Watch It! continuity. Just a few weeks to go until Children's ITV launches...
Many thanks to both Jayne and Joe for lending me tapes with this episode.
(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.)
20 фев 2018
