The Enid Blyton Society

Deej92 wrote: Thanks Ice Maiden That does sound so silly though and Smuggler's Top is one of my favourite FF books. I've seen the 70s series version but never seen the 90s version. I've just done a Amazon search for the individual video of Smuggler's Top and it's currently unavailable

For some reason it seems to be one of the hardest to find of the videos, I've never found it available on Amazon and the only copy I've seen on eBay is the one I bought! Compared to the other titles it rarely comes up, which makes the idea to leave it off the Dutch DVD set even more puzzling and maddening.

I really hope this capture card I've bought works as I'm longing to watch it again myself as it was one of my favourites of the TV series. Mr Barling and Block are (in my opinion) brilliantly cast. Having seen both the 70's and 90's series I do think the casting in the 90's one was better, much more how I imagined all the characters to be looks-wise.

I might be being dense here, but if you have it on video surely you can watch it? You'll surely have to have a VCR to play the video on your television to then record it onto your computer with the capture card?

I havent got a video player, I did buy one cheap off eBay but it broke so I haven't actually seen Smuggler's Top in years. I've borrowed one to have a go at this but I'm not testing it out until it's ready to record from incase it eats the tape or something - the fate of many taped shows I had . From what I've read on the item description the capture card is supposed to connect directly from the video player to the computer with no mention of a tv at all .

Wolfgang wrote:If you just want to see it, you shouldn't have much trouble finding "Fünf Freunde auf Schmugglerjagd". If you don't understand German well, you might find it challenging to follow everything, Deej92.

I've found it alright, but sadly I don't understand hardly any German. I learnt French at school Hope your capture card works for you so you can watch it again, Ice Maiden

The capture card turned up today and I was initially pleased with it as it seemed quite sturdy and up to the job. Unfortunately though the cd disk it came with is no use whatsoever, I think it's actually damaged as it either keeps spinning in the computer or there is no life at all from it. I and my computer savvy brother have spent all evening trying to get the thing to work, but because the disk can't be installed, the device itself can't be picked up by the computer, so that is also totally useless .

I then looked into sending the tape to a company who does video conversions but they won't do copyrighted vhs's, which it obviously is so that's no good either. The only other way I know of is connecting a video player to a DVD recorder, which I don't have, but as soon as I can find one cheap I will have another go. I'm determined to find a way around this, it's maddening to know the episodes are right in front of me but be completely unable to watch them!

Maybe you're able to download the necessary drivers and other software from the homepage of the producer, IceMaiden?

My viewing of the 1990's Famous Five TV series, has been interrupted, due to 2 faults, with my DVD player, normal service, will hopefully be resumed as soon as possible, I know I could watch the episodes on YouTube, but I prefer to watch them on my TV.

I never enjoyed watching Youtube on a small computer screen, it's much better to watch it on the TV screen.
I believe that there's a way to connect the computer screen with the TV screen via cable/wire to watch it there.

Deej our watchathon has fizzled!

I watched Run Away together the other day. I like this one very much but Jennifer annoys me a bit; in the book she seems very nice - a shy, frightened little girl, but in this episode she's portrayed as a bit of a spoilt madam!
Edgar's not too bad though!

Hi Cathy, I've watched all the 90s series episodes now and thoroughly enjoyed them. I know what you mean about Jennifer. She does seem a bit spoilt as when her father said he was talking to someone from the Ministry about the Gemini project and wouldn't be able to see her until later in the day, she didn't seem best pleased. As for Edgar and the Sticks, I find them to be as rude and awful in the TV series than what I do in the books. They're exactly how I imagined them to be! Run Away has to be one of my favourites

Carlotta King wrote:I watched Run Away together the other day. I like this one very much but Jennifer annoys me a bit; in the book she seems very nice - a shy, frightened little girl, but in this episode she's portrayed as a bit of a spoilt madam! Edgar's not too bad though!

Have you started watching the 70s series as Anne was played by Laura Petela in the 90s series? (Jennifer Thanisch in the 70s).

Jennifer is probably the girl who was Kidnapped in Five run away together, because I don't think Jennifer Thanisch looks spoilt in that one!

Ah, thanks Machupicchu. That explains it.

Machupicchu14 wrote:Jennifer is probably the girl who was Kidnapped in Five run away together, because I don't think Jennifer Thanisch looks spoilt in that one!

And would likely look older alongside Laura Petela.

Machu, we were talking about Jennifer Armstrong, a Captain's daughter, who was kidnapped by the Sticks and would be rescued by the Five. I've watched the 1990's version of the episode, and yes, she does come off like a highly-strung brat.

At least, in this case, the 1990's series version does follow the book (to some degree) more than the 1970's series version does. Jennifer (or her family) are not mentioned at all. But there is still a kidnapping!

I really did not enjoy watching the 1970's Five run away together . I had really enjoyed the book so I was disappointed a bit with that one.