The Enid Blyton Society

Hi everyone. I couldn't find this anywhere else, so I'm guessing no-one has spotted it yet I've made it a separate thread so it doesn't get lost in the other "Castle" discussion.

For those who don't know much about TVS and it's tortured history on air and off, I would suggest reading this, as it goes some way to explaining why we're unlikely to ever see a DVD or TV repeat of this marvellous drama. It's affected a lot of cult dramas too, such as The Ruth Rendell Mysteries and C.A.T.S Eyes.

If you don't fancy reading the whole thing, the important bit is that a company called IFE eventually bought TVS on 1 February 1993. "In September 1993, IFE launched a UK version of The Family Channel based at The Maidstone Studios and using some elements of the TVS programme archive. Flextech were a partner in the venture, taking a 39% stake in the business. In 1996, IFE sold its remaining 61% share to Flextech, giving them full ownership of the venture, and subsequently in February 1997 Flextech rebranded the channel to Challenge TV, focusing mainly on game shows. IFE was sold to Fox Kids Worldwide,which in turn was acquired by Disney in 2001. As a result, most of the TVS archive is controlled by Disney, although much of it is understood to be largely inaccessible due to the paperwork detailing programme contributors, rights agreements, etc., having been lost in the intervening years."

Despite this TVS appears to have it's own YouTube Channel, with all eight episodes of "Castle" available to view! So, if you haven't seen the whole thing, just the excellent but truncated VHS release, now's your chance!

Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
Episode 5
Episode 6
Episode 7
Episode 8

Enjoy!
P

That's fab Paul, thanks so much! I've just had a peep at the first episode and it's twice as long as the one I was watching previously on Youtube, as are the rest! I thought I had seen the whole thing but obviously the one I had watched was cut a lot!

Really lookin forward to sitting and watching this!

You're welcome. I stumbled across it looking for an example of the NZ Adventure series!

If I recall correctly, the video is about 2 and a half hours long, whereas the full 8 part story as televised is 3 hours 20 minutes. Better put the kettle on...

Thankfully I've got one of those giant tea-cups the size of a pudding bowl!

I remember seeing the other Adventure series on Youtube as well, although I don't know if that was cut too. I really didn't like it actually - only watched about 5 minutes and gave up on it so have no idea if/how much it's been cut!

PaulGreaves wrote:TVS appears to have it's own YouTube Channel, with all eight episodes of "Castle" available to view! So, if you haven't seen the whole thing, just the excellent but truncated VHS release, now's your chance!

It's great to know that the complete series is available to view online, Paul! I borrowed the series from a friend a while ago as I had only seen the shorter VHS version, and the extra scenes really add to the atmosphere. Tassie features a lot more!

Thank you for providing some very interesting information, Paul. It's good to know that the full version of The Castle of Adventure is available on YouTube.

Thanks for posting Paul, I shall download these episodes, edit them together and watch in one session when I get the time.

On the subject of TVS, I remember its inception well, around 1982. The anchor-man was Khalid Aziz, I see him occasionally on the trains, he is still very active but no longer appears in front of the cameras.

I shall download these episodes

What program do you use to download from Youtube, Petermax?

I don't know about Petermax but I use Firefox as my browser and it has a YouTube downloader add on. I've been using that to download loads of stuff. Most recently, all eight episodes of "Castle"

I've been looking at downloaders, I use IE and was reading up about YTD Downloader on CNet Downloads, very contradictory reviews, some say it's fab, some say it's just malware - you don't know what to believe!

There's a very easy way to download form youtube without using add-ons or browser extensions, which only slow the browser down..... whatever the URL is, just copy the address and paste into a new tab, then add 'ss' infront of the 'youtube' in the address... for instance:

http://youtu.be/hL4d3Pmpg7g" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

will now become

https://www.ssyoutube.com/watch?v=hL4d3 ... e=youtu.be" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This will open a new site called "savefrom.net" and from there you can select the quality to download (I normally go with the highest MP4 that they show). Just don't click on any of the big green or yellow 'Download' buttons.... always select from the options given on the right-hand side of the screen...
Very easy. The site may initially throw up a security alert message, but I ignore that; never had any nasty from there, and I use Malwarebytes Premium to guard against that stuff, along with the Windows anti-virus
Sounds complicated, but it's actually very easy, and I've downloaded SO much stuff form Youtube, including the full 90's FF series - very good too; even better than the Childrens Film Foundation version which I have on DVD...

Wow that does sound very easy - I will try that now! I would love to be able to watch Castle in my media player as part of my Blyton playlist!!

Had no idea that you could do that with the 'ss' - thanks for that!!

EDIT - 5 mins later - that is truly amazing, thank you Steve!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Moonraker wrote:

I shall download these episodes

What program do you use to download from Youtube, Petermax?

Investigate freemake

Zar Quon wrote: Investigate freemake

"Freemake" was once very good, but at some point, unwanted element were introduced... "Malwarebytes", one of the leading programmes for getting rid of malware, rootkits, and other nasties, has found what is known as a 'PUP' (Potentially Unwanted Programme - a form of malware) being included with "Freemake". Also, "Freemake" has started to stick a watermark logo on the end of every recording you do with it - I find that annoying!
I use an older pre-PUP & logo version solely for converting video files if I need to.

Carlotta King wrote:EDIT - 5 mins later - that is truly amazing, thank you Steve!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Glad it worked ok for you Carlotta...

Cheers!
Steve.

I'm a bit confused Steve, as you said just add SS to the url. However, the example you give seems to be a different web address...