70s Famous Five 2nd Series

Discuss the television and film adaptations of Enid Blyton's stories.
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Petermax
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70s Famous Five 2nd Series

Post by Petermax »

Having recently obtained all 26 episodes of the two Famous Five Southern TV series it was an absolute pleasure to relive some happy memories of my early teens. On reflection the series was very good indeed and the casting was absolutely spot on. However, would anyone agree with me in that the quality of the second series was below par at times? Many episodes seemed too repetitive and sloppily put together. Too many underground passageways, country houses, simulated night scenes and bad continuity. It's easy to see why the Enid Blyton estate vetoed the proposed third series. Perhaps all the talented Southern TV production staff were working on Worzel Gummidge!
Tony Summerfield
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Re: Famous Five 2nd Series

Post by Tony Summerfield »

petermax wrote:It's easy to see why the Enid Blyton estate vetoed the proposed third series. Perhaps all the talented Southern TV production staff were working on Worzel Gummidge!
Welcome to the Forums, petermax, but this statement of yours is news to me - tell us more!
PeterPan
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Re: Famous Five 2nd Series

Post by PeterPan »

petermax wrote:Having recently obtained all 26 episodes of the two Famous Five Southern TV series it was an absolute pleasure to relive some happy memories of my early teens. On reflection the series was very good indeed and the casting was absolutely spot on. However, would anyone agree with me in that the quality of the second series was below par at times? Many episodes seemed too repetitive and sloppily put together. Too many underground passageways, country houses, simulated night scenes and bad continuity. It's easy to see why the Enid Blyton estate vetoed the proposed third series. Perhaps all the talented Southern TV production staff were working on Worzel Gummidge!
I like the first and the second series equally.
In my opinion the success of those series is well-grounded in their
simplicity.Also they are very British and consequently "Blyton".
I can remember coming into another world when I was a child.
It was a fantastic escape out of reality to my friends with dog.
Remembering the old times I would say watching these TV-series was also an adventure though. If I only remember the battles of positions to determine the TV-programs............
Dear PeterMax,
I hope you can understand me.It's no offense!
There are lots of sticky memories I don't wanna give away .
I cannot remember seeing trashy made series of FF.
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Sooty
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Post by Sooty »

I like how goofy the seventies series is; it isn't cynical or ironic. I wish it was available on DVD...
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Petermax
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Post by Petermax »

My fondness for the two Famous Five TV series remains, it took quite a while to locate all 26 episodes off Ebay! I still say that the second series was below par in places though. How I wish that the proposed third series had gone ahead.
Tony Summerfield
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Post by Tony Summerfield »

petermax wrote:How I wish that the proposed third series had gone ahead.
You didn't answer my query on your previous post, can you say what you mean about the proposed third series?
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Petermax
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Post by Petermax »

Whoops, forgot to answer that one. The uncensored Gary Russell article for the EBS magazine contains a brief reference to the third series .

Our final story, Five Fall Into Adventure, was a good one and although we were sad (we knew by now we would not be doing a third series because the Blyton Foundation had refused permission for us to write new adventures

The article can be found here. http://abl.ab.funpic.de/gary/index.html[/url]
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Post subject: Re: Famous Five 2nd Series

Post by PeterPan »

Well,I know this site.
Personally I can forgo the third series.But not by reason of sloppy piece of work!!! :lol:
Tony Summerfield
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Post by Tony Summerfield »

petermax wrote:Whoops, forgot to answer that one. The uncensored Gary Russell article for the EBS magazine contains a brief reference to the third series .

Our final story, Five Fall Into Adventure, was a good one and although we were sad (we knew by now we would not be doing a third series because the Blyton Foundation had refused permission for us to write new adventures

The article can be found here. http://abl.ab.funpic.de/gary/index.html[/url]
Yes, I guess I should have checked that in our Journal as it was in the final part of the article that Gary wrote for us - http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/soci ... .php?id=27

I am not sure that he is right though about a proposed third series, just wishful thinking by the children themselves, as they had already covered all 18 books (two were under copyright to the Children's Film Foundation and one was considered unsuitable as it involved a kidnap) and there wouldn't have been any question of doing Famous Five that wasn't written by Enid Blyton - at that time!!
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Soenke Rahn
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Re: 70s Famous Five 2nd Series

Post by Soenke Rahn »

Tony Summerfield wrote:
petermax wrote:Whoops, forgot to answer that one. The uncensored Gary Russell article for the EBS magazine contains a brief reference to the third series .

Our final story, Five Fall Into Adventure, was a good one and although we were sad (we knew by now we would not be doing a third series because the Blyton Foundation had refused permission for us to write new adventures

The article can be found here. http://abl.ab.funpic.de/gary/index.html[/url]
Yes, I guess I should have checked that in our Journal as it was in the final part of the article that Gary wrote for us - http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/soci" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... .php?id=27

I am not sure that he is right though about a proposed third series, just wishful thinking by the children themselves, as they had already covered all 18 books (two were under copyright to the Children's Film Foundation and one was considered unsuitable as it involved a kidnap) and there wouldn't have been any question of doing Famous Five that wasn't written by Enid Blyton - at that time!!
The second Link will not work :-( and in Journal 27, I suppose there is not the article: (Contents: http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/jour ... isissue=27" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) ---Which was the right link?
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Petermax
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Re: 70s Famous Five 2nd Series

Post by Petermax »

Fancy my old thread from six years ago being re-animated after such a long time! :lol:
Soenke Rahn wrote: The second Link will not work :-( and in Journal 27, I suppose there is not the article: (Contents: http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/jour ... isissue=27" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) ---Which was the right link?
The content is (or was) much the same on both links. The first link is still active and probably is the full unedited version of Gary Russell's EBS Journal article which was no doubt shortened for reasons of space.
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number 6
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Re: 70s Famous Five 2nd Series

Post by number 6 »

Never picked fault with the series as a Teenager, but I have as an Adult.
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Soenke Rahn
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Re: 70s Famous Five 2nd Series

Post by Soenke Rahn »

Petermax wrote:Fancy my old thread from six years ago being re-animated after such a long time! :lol:
Soenke Rahn wrote: The second Link will not work :-( and in Journal 27, I suppose there is not the article: (Contents: http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/jour ... isissue=27" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) ---Which was the right link?
The content is (or was) much the same on both links. The first link is still active and probably is the full unedited version of Gary Russell's EBS Journal article which was no doubt shortened for reasons of space.
Ah, thank you. Do you know in which EBS Journal the short version was printed?
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Re: 70s Famous Five 2nd Series

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Gary Russell's article was printed in four parts, in Journals 5 - 8.

Nice to see you posting again, Petermax!
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Soenke Rahn
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Re: 70s Famous Five 2nd Series

Post by Soenke Rahn »

Ah, thank you very much. A very soon Journal. :-) Interesting. :-)
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