Drawn animation (PAGE 1)

This section contains details of the Cosgrove Hall shows made using either painted cels or, more recently, digital animation systems such as Animo. In other words, 2D animation. One-off specials have their own page here.

It's not easy being six. Aside from the fact that you can't reach things on high shelves, and no-one will sell you alcopops, your everyday life is constantly interrupted by wild animals who like to do - well - weird things. Like watching your older sister's every move through surveillance monitors in your basement, or singing in a Welsh male voice choir. If none of this rings a bell, you obviously never had a childhood like Albie's.

Comments
Albie mixes simple character designs, watercolour-style backgrounds and intricate CG graphics to create an endearing and unique-looking environment; a world in which a little boy's imagination can make water buffalo in the garden and moose in the attic an everyday event. So, what else can be said about the quality of this show? I'll let the awards it's won in its short life speak for themselves:

• Best Animated Series award at the British Animation Awards, 2002.
• Pulcinella award (the Canal Grande prize at the Cartoons on the Bay Festival in Positano, Italy for Best European Programme).
• The show's creator, Andy Cutbill, won in the Best Young Writer Category at the B+ Young Talent Awards 2002.

Pretty impressive, no? The adventures of Albie, his three siblings and the crazy animals that live in his head (and sometimes his paddling pool and sandpit) are sure to become one of Cosgrove Hall's major hits, and rightly so.

Merchandise

Expect a glut of it before too long. For the moment, you can buy an extremely nice-looking Albie storybook at Amazon or any decent high street bookshop.

Links

You can find Albie at the official Cosgrove Hall Web site, or (better) at the home of his creators, Ripping Gags Media, which has video clips, pictures and lots of information.

In the not-too-distant future, the world is under threat from evil genius Caractacus P. Doom. Only three brave souls are man -er, bird - enough to stand against him; the Avenger Penguins.

Comments
The daft title of this series (which was originally "Hell's Penguins") pretty much sets the tone for what's to come. The plot revolves around a trio of motorcycle-riding penguins fighting villains in Big City, a place not dissimilar to New York. In essence, AP is a parody of the lame action cartoons that were so popular in the nineties (Ninja Turtles et al), although how far it succeeds is up for debate.

In its favour, new blood in the writing department provided some interesting plots, the animation and character design were nice as you please, and some of the voices were done by lovable US man-mountain Mike McShane. But at the end of the day, it just wasn't as lovably quirky as previous CH cartoons, even though it was more technically accomplished. This may have something to do with CH's parent company Thames losing its broadcasting licence in the early 1990s, leaving CH in the poo. Their eventual rescuing by Pearson TV and Anglia seemed to lead not only to a name change (Cosgrove Hall Productions to Cosgrove Hall Films), but also a change in direction, as the shows started to become more "mainstream" and less silly. Or maybe I'm just bitter because I miss Brian Trueman, I dunno. Anyway, Avenger Penguins was also the last drawn CH cartoon to be made in the traditional way, using hand-painted cels.

Characters

Marlon
Leader of the Avenger Penguins.
Rocky
Big, dumb penguin with an amusingly small motorcycle or "hog", if you will.
Bluey
Tiny and incomprehensible penguin, with a large bike and intellect to match.
Bella
Attractive lady penguin who runs the APs' favourite ice-cream parlour (see picture above).
Caractacus P. Doom
Villain of the piece, wants to rule the world etc. etc.
Harry Slime
Doom's sychophantic little reptile minion; occasionally has spells of angst about whether he should really be bad or not.
The Old Prospector
An old prospector in long johns who hangs around in the ice-cream parlour.
The Badly-Drawn brothers
Two philosophical and sometimes just plain strange fellows who also frequent the ice-cream parlour. They are indeed badly drawn – all their construction lines are visible.

Merchandise

There were three videos released in 1993/94, all of which are now deleted. They still turn up occasionally in the kind of entertainment shops that sell compilation cassettes of Irish folk songs, and CDs like "Billy Sparkle's Dream Orchestra plays the Hits of the Musicals". You can get a single episode of Avenger Penguins on a DVD compilation called "Most Wanted Kids' TV, but check out the news below...".

Links

Ah, dear old Toonhound. I feel very lazy linking to them so much but dammit, they provide info where no-one else can be bothered. So, click here for more about those crazee penguins.

30/12/05 NEWS! According to Amazon, who ought to know about these things, this show is coming out on DVD in March 2006. Whether this will be a "best of" or a proper box set I've no idea, but since they're being released by the same folks who are putting out all the episodes of Alias the Jester, I have a pretty good feeling about it. More news as it becomes available.

Short animated segments which formed part of the Kenny Everett Video Show. They concern the adventures of the eponymous space captain (played by Everett, in case you couldn't tell from the picture) and his busty cadet Carla, who fight to protect the Universe from the Krells (a type of evil alien blancmange). This was definitely NOT one for the kiddies!

Did you know?

Captain Kremmen started life as part of Kenny's popular radio show.

A series for younger children which brings together the characters and situations from two of Enid Blyton's best loved creations – "The Magic Faraway Tree" and "The Wishing Chair". The former stars Joe, Beth and Fran (Bessie and Fanny in the original book – no prizes for guessing why that was changed), who find the amazing Faraway Tree in Enchanted Wood. When they climb the tree, they arrive in one of the Enchanted Lands of the title. There, they have all kinds of adventures and make many new friends, including Saucepan Man, Moonface and Silky the fairy.

"The Wishing Chair" stars a brother and sister named Peter and Molly, the owners of a capricious winged chair which whisks them off to many different places. They are accompanied by their friend Jinky the Brownie.

As a matter of interest, the character designs for this series are very similar to the ones in the Discworld series. The magical folk look kind of cute, but I'm not convinced about the kids...

Links

• Would you like to go up the Faraway Tree for some pictures and very thorough info? Best have your insulin handy, though, 'cos there be teddies and pink sparkly bits a-plenty on the home page...
• The official Enid Blyton Web site has more about this incredibly prolific author (over 700 books published during her lifetime!) and her work.
• For more variety, why not explore the Enid Blyton Web ring?

In the year 1699, the noble Duke Fantom was trapped in a painting by the evil Baron Von Skeltor. There he remained for 300 years, until a young detective named Tabitha Wildcat (call her Tabs) accidentally set him free. Now, together with Tabs and her friends MacDuff the mouse and Lindburgh the pigeon, he fights the sinister spider Marmagora in the futuristic Metro City.

Comments
I've tried really hard not to editorialize too much when constructing this site (note: I have a shaky grasp of irony), but I'm prepared to make an exception in this case. I HATE FANTOMCAT. IT STINKS. You are quite free to disagree (this lady clearly does). But for me, this show is the nadir of Cosgrove Hall's back catalogue. Even the presence of Robert "Jesus Christ" Powell as Fantomcat couldn't lift it out of the doldrums, as far as I'm concerned. I suppose I should justify this bilious outburst somehow, but all I can say is that it wasn't funny. Or clever. It was generic, that's the problem. Look, I'm a fair person; anyone who really likes this show, write in saying why and I'll put it on this page. Sorry, I'll shut up now.

Did you know?

Fantomcat was named after Fantomas, a swashbuckling French film star.

Links

One of my personal favourite toon sites, Toonhound, has an in-depth guide to this show up now. Click here to hop straight there.

Merchandise

In about 1995/6, there were three Fantomcat videos available, each one containing three episodes. Although these are now deleted, Granada video have recently started re-releasing this series on VHS and DVD. The DVD has no extras, and there are only two episodes per volume, but since they're only about £5 each, who are we to complain? You can get them from any decent high street music shop, or online from places like Amazon.

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