Drawn animation (PAGE 2)

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.

Three plucky chicken sisters – headstrong Ransome, resourseful Sims and jolly Jeffries – protect their farm from King Voracious and his vicious vulpine gang. Based (loosely) on the novel by Dick King-Smith, who was also the author of the Sheep-Pig, AKA "Babe". Foxbusters has won the following awards:

2000 British Animation Awards: Best Children's Series
2000 British Academy Awards: Best Animated Children's Series

Did you know?

• I don't know if this was explained in the cartoon, but the animals on the farm are all named after things their parents find written on the side of agricultural supplies (I read the book when I was little, that's how I know!). I seem to recall that Ransome, Sims and Jeffries was a firm that made tractors. Their useless brother, Icky, is actually named after famous industrial suppliers ICI.
• The voices of the sisters are supplied by Joanna Lumley, Whoopi Goldberg and Jane Horrocks.

Links

• There used to be a wonderful Foxbusters website, but like so many things in this sad ol' world, it's now dead. Toonhound might be able to supply some new links.

Merchandise

You can now buy Foxbusters on DVD and VHS, from Granada Home Video. Try Amazon if you're online, or HMV and MVC if you're not. Oh, and don't forget to read the original Dick King-Smith book too, it's really good!

For a plot synopsis for this series, let's totally cheat and copy the blurb from the back of the book it's based on:

OTHER CHILDREN GET GIVEN XYLOPHONES. SUSAN JUST HAD TO ASK HER GRANDFATHER TO TAKE HIS VEST OFF.
Yes. There's a Death in the family.
It's hard to grow up normally when Grandfather rides a white horse and weilds a scythe – especially when you have to take over the family business and everyone mistakes you for the Tooth Fairy.
And especially when you have to face the new and addictive music that has entered Discworld.
It's called Music With Rocks In.
It's got a beat and you can dance to it, but...
It's alive. And it won't fade away.

So. Soul Music, along with Wyrd Sisters, was Cosgrove Hall's attempt to bring Terry Pratchett's hugely popular Discworld series to the screen (the studio had already found their way into Terry's good books with their excellent adaptation of Truckers in the early nineties). But how did they do? Hmm...the visual style reproduced to some degree the well-known book covers, done by the late Josh Kirby. The voice talent was made up mostly of celebs and was, by and large, very good. The adaptation of the book, although necessarily limited, was as accurate as one could reasonably expect. These facts, combined with an enormous ready-made Discworld fanbase, should have made Soul Music and Wyrd Sisters monster hits. How unfortunate, then, that they got absolutely dire timeslots on Channel 4, and virtually sunk without a trace (in fact, I think Soul Music was shown at about 2AM during Christmas 1999). Very sad.

Merchandise

• You can buy the whole series on two videotapes, but it's becoming increasingly hard to find. A better bet is the DVD boxed set which has recently been released.
• A complete illustrated screenplay is available in selected bookstores.
• Not many people know this, but there is a soundtrack CD. Good luck if you want to buy it, though – I've only ever seen it in one shop, ever.
• Of course, the essential piece of merchandise is the original book. You can buy it virtually anywhere (anywhere that sells books, that is; probably not in branches of McDonalds or your local greengrocer).

Links

There are so many Pratchett and Discworld Websites out there that I don't even know where to start. One of the most highly-regarded ones seems to The L-Space Web, so try going there.

Commissioned specially to coincide with Britain's millennium celebrations, Timekeepers of the Millennium was shown in the zone of the same name in the ill-fated Millennium Dome throughout the year 2000. Notable for being cited by Pierre-Yves Gerbeau as being one of the things that "saved" the Dome, apparently said without a trace of irony. Fascinating. Anyway, if someone out there actually went to the Dome to see this, please feel free to write in with more information. I believe it was also shown on Children's ITV just prior to 2000, but I'm afraid that totally passed me by too. Until I find out more, here's a plot synopsis taken from the official site.

It's 1999. And planet Earth is in peril.

Deep down in the earth's core is the Great Clock – powered by twelve magnificent crystals. It generates time for the entire universe. A serious business indeed.

So why two twerps like Coggs and Sprinx were given the job is a mystery as big as the universe itself!

Because it was their game of football which stopped that Great Clock and catapulted those precious crystals into various parts of history! Without the crystals, there would be no new millennium – so Coggsley (aka Coggs) and Sprinx began their own race against time to recover the crystals and truly become the Timekeepers of the Millennium!

Their twelve-part series included guest appearances from June Whitfield, Leslie Grantham and Arabella Weir and featured major historical figures as diverse as Shakespeare, Elvis Presley and John Logie Baird.

Vampires, Pirates and Aliens

Based on the popular books by Colin and Jacqui Hawkins. Each episode is split into three segments – one about vampires, one about pirates, one about aliens (no surprises there!). This cartoon was made in association with the French company Millimage, and was shortlisted for a Pulcinella Award in its first season.

Sinister doings are afoot on the Disc. Scheming Lady Felmet encourages her spineless husband to bump off the King of Lancre, to advance his position. But there may just be another heir unapparant... Enter one coven of mismatched witches – terminally pragmatic Granny Weatherwax, bawdy Nanny Ogg and official Wet Hen Magrat Garlick – who may hold the key to restoring Lancre's true ruler. An everyday story of kings, ghosts, fools and witches, definitely not affiliated with a certain Scottish Play. (Also features divers alarums.)

Wyrd Sisters was technically CH's first Discworld adaptation, although the alphabetising of this page means you're probably reading this second. If you haven't done so already, go see the main Discworld entry under Soul Music. Wyrd Sisters was a pretty solid adaptation of the book, with some fine voice acting by Annette Crosbie, June Whitfield and Jane Horrocks as the witches. It was first shown on Channel 4 in about September 1997, running for 13 episodes. These are edited together for the video and DVD release. There's a review of the North American VHS release here.

Merchandise

• As with Soul Music, you can buy the Cosgrove Hall adaptations of Wyrd Sisters on VHS or DVD.
• An illustrated screenplay is also available. Naturally, the original book is widely available, and I strongly recommend it.

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