Famous Five 90s Series

[Courtenay]

I haven't seen the 1957 Five on a Treasure Island, but I sent my mum the DVD (from the Ginger Pop Shop!) as a Christmas present a few years ago and she really liked it. But maybe she's just not very picky.

[Moonraker]

But is she a devotee of the book?

[Rob Houghton]

As Treasure was written as books were still being written, I couldn't forgive Fanny's name change. Why change it to Margaret???? Why not call Dick, Matthew? How on earth did Enid sanction this?

I couldn't watch an Agatha Christie film where the detective was called Henry Poirot. As for Mystery to Solve, I could only stick around 20 minutes of that tosh.

I found it rather Nostalgic!

All I can say to that is nostalgia ain't what it used to be!

I do agree about the Margaret name change - unnecessary...I do wonder why Enid allowed this...or maybe she didn't know until after it was filmed! I still like it though, especially for the under water swimming scenes etc, which are well filmed IMO.

[Courtenay]

But is she a devotee of the book?

Yes! Well, probably not a "devotee" as in re-reading it regularly, but she certainly loves the FF books — she's just not a complete purist (although I know for a fact that she prefers Soper's illustrations to Maxey's).

[IceMaiden]

As Treasure was written as books were still being written, I couldn't forgive Fanny's name change. Why change it to Margaret???? Why not call Dick, Matthew? How on earth did Enid sanction this?

If they had to chance it wouldn't Frances have been better and made more sense like they did in the 90's show? Margaret makes no sense at all!

I quite liked the 1957 film having seen it but there's a couple of things that niggle. George's voice is so high pitched and squeaky! She wouldn't pass for a boy once she opened her mouth . Timmy seemed utterly pointless! Not only was he far too small (even Anne could carry him easily!) to be any use, he didn't do anything. He seemed to be afraid of the boat as the children had to keep putting him in it and didn't appear like he'd be a bit of use defending the children. Nothing at all like the description of Timmy in the books. I suppose it could be argued that the 1978 Timmy wasn't either, but at least they picked a large collie who did look like he might have a chance of being up to the job!

[Rob Houghton]

I do agree about Timmy - and also George is a little too 'developed' to pass as a boy!

[IceMaiden]

I never noticed so I just looked at it again and you right, she is! The two TV shows did a pretty good job of hiding it better

I don't think any of them got Timmy really right (certainly not size wise!) but I still liked the dogs used in the part. I was lucky enough to watch a talk and demonstration by the person/company who trained the 90's dog at Crufts a couple of years back. Obviously they didn't still have that particular dog, but the ones they did have were also for TV work and they were showing how their trained to grab a handbag or 'attack' someone amongst other things. As a FF fan it felt quite surreal to be stood so close to the person who trained Timmy .

[Rob Houghton]

As a child in the 1970's I always pictured Timmy as being like the TV Famous Five Timmy - a black and white 'sheep dog' type dog (I never really knew the breed at the time) and as he was depicted as similar in the 2 Famous Five annuals I had, and I never read any other Famous Fives until the mid 1990's, I was quite shocked to see Eileen Soper's interpretation. To me, Timmy was black and white!

[Deej]

I always had Timmy down as being a grey, shaggy type dog. It's funny how we picture things differently.

[Chrissie777]

Definitely shaggy, but in my imagination he was brown and looked like Eileen Soper's Timmy.

[Courtenay]

I'm never quite sure what my mental image of Timmy looks like, there have been so many "versions" of him! But I did first encounter him as the Border collie in the 1978 TV series and was a little surprised, when I read the books, to find he wasn't black and white after all. I think my idea of him now is closest to Eileen Soper's. Enid obviously approved of Eileen's drawings, although she admitted they weren't exactly like the real dog she based Timmy on. She herself tells us "it was quite impossible to say what kind of a dog he was supposed to be" (in Five on a Treasure Island), but one thing we know for sure from the same description is that he's big and brown!

[Daisy]

Besides being big and brown he is described as mongrel. To me Timmy is as Eileen Soper depicted him. It's a pity Toddy was not the right colour but he was a good actor!

[Deej]

This is how Timmy is described in Five On A Treasure Island."As a dog, Timothy was far from perfect. He was the wrong shape, his head was too big,his ears were too pricked, his tail was too long and it was quite impossible to say what kind of a dog he was supposed to be. But he was such a mad, friendly, clumsy, laughable creature that every one of the children adored him at once."

[Courtenay]

Connal from the '90s series is a bit skinnier than I would imagine Timmy to be — maybe not quite hefty enough to defend the children from villains — and of course he's grey and white, not brown. But it's certainly difficult to tell what breed (or mix of breeds) he's supposed to be, which is in line with the original description. I guess in each screen version it was a matter of finding the dog that was the best at acting the part, rather than worrying too much about what he looked like!

[IceMaiden]

Even though he is smaller, I think Connal is a closer match than Toddy, as he is is partly brown and it is difficult to say what mix he is, whereas Toddy is very obviously a border collie, which Timmy most definitely isn't. Timmy to me is as Eileen Soper drew him and the closest actual dog which would fit her description of very large, shaggy coated, clumsy, mad and friendly would be a labradoodle or goldendoodle. The ones with a less curly coat look very similar to the dog in Eileen's illustrations:

http://pl.b5z.net/i/u/6098122/i/100_020 ... _puppy.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://animalsbreeds.com/wp-content/upl ... odle-7.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.valleyviewdogs.com/images/la ... raja32.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

These are the sort of dog I imagine Timmy to look like.