Watching the 1970s FF series

[timv]

As a keen 'Goodie' fan from the 1970s, I can note three little-known Blyton/ Goodies 'crossover' facts:
1. The centrepiece of the Goodies episode 'Clown Virus', where the Goodies are hired by a dodgy American army colonel to dispose of a 'harmless' canister of chemicals which is in fact full of a secret virus that turns people into circus clowns, was shot at the Swanage lifeboat station in Dorset, next to Enid's 1940s-50s holiday hotel, the 'Grosvenor' on Peveril Point in Swanage, Dorset. (The Goodies try to catapult the canister down the slipway into the sea to sink it, but it floats.) This is also next door to the 'Kirrin Cottage' site in the 1957 Children's Film Foundation film of Five On A Treasure Island , which was a house on Seymer Road about 200 yards away.

2. The finale of Bill Oddie's TV presenting of the BBC annual Nature 'Springwatch'/ 'Autumnwatch' series , in autumn 2008, was located on nearby Brownsea Island, aka the real life original of 'Whispering Island' and cited as such in Enid's own introduction to the book. The BBC campsite where the series was filmed was in the woods near Brownsea/ Branksea Castle, at the SE end of the island, close to where the real life late C19th owners, the Cavendish-Bentincks, scattered a series of reproduction classical statues brought back from Italy in the woods - probably where Enid got the idea for the statues dumped in woods around the island in Five Have A Mystery To Solve.
3. The 'undersize giant' in the Goodies Christmas show of ?1972, the Goodies and the Beanstalk, was played by Alfie Bass who also appeared in the 1978 FF series, I think as Mr Tapper in Together Again .

[Gary Russell]

The Goodies/FF crossover continues of course with the likes of Patrick Troughton, Brenda Cowling, David Rappaport, Norman Nitchell and Gertan Klauber.

[Debbie]

my parents finally got a video player in 1997, when everyone else was getting rid of them to get DVD players. So I do have a good collection of FF videos

Keep the vids! Do they still play well, if you have a player? I had an unspecified *ahem* quantity of Doctor Who on VHS, my other vice, both bought and recorded from UK TV, a cable channel over here for many years.

I have all the 90s FF, a fair number of the 70s and the 50s one on video and no video player. So if you'd like them, you're more than welcome to see how well they work, as all they're doing is add to the clutter in my house.

[FiveFanDownunder]

I have all the 90s FF, a fair number of the 70s and the 50s one on video and no video player. So if you'd like them, you're more than welcome to see how well they work, as all they're doing is add to the clutter in my house.

Even though I have no VHS player either, I'm tempted, as I never owned the FF on VHS. I hear Gandalf's voice in my head ... "DON'T tempt me Frodo!"

The Goodies/FF crossover continues of course with the likes of Patrick Troughton, Brenda Cowling, David Rappaport, Norman Nitchell and Gertan Klauber.

I haven't even begun to look! Patrick Troughton again! Was this before or after he manhandled you down those stairs in Run Away Together?

As a keen 'Goodie' fan from the 1970s, I can note three little-known Blyton/ Goodies 'crossover' facts

Incredible knowledge Timv. I remember seeing at least one episode much later on cable that was never screened at the children's time of 6pm when I was young. Somehow the episode involved a Salvation Army tambourine player being overcome by some evil influence and turning her sedate routine into a strip tease!!! no wonder I never saw that

As promised, a screen shot of a Canberra Times TV guide from Friday 18th May 1979, covering the following week. I've pinched a bit of the 22nd May ( Tue ) page; it's the premiere of our favourite show in Australia. Nice to see ( I think ) that the Kirren/Kirrin confusion has successfully migrated to the paper!

[FiveFanDownunder]

Righto, time for this week's silliness. The scores so far ...



We're picking up the action half way through Episode One...

11:24 The MAN IN THE GREY SUIT is still watching the children, this time through a telescope! He can't seem to help himself.
11:29 GEORGE (3) is on the oars and looks like she means business. AUNT FANNY has donned a scarf.
11:31 Good heavens! Another well-dressed gent is watching the children! It's the MAN FROM THE MINISTRY.
11:45 GEORGE (4) is still on the oars, having rowed all the way out to the island. Indefatigable!
14:07 JULIAN (7) is magnanimous enough to compliment GEORGE on her rowing skills.
15:55 JULIAN (8) tries to tempt GEORGE into meeting her cousins on the beach for a bit of secret talk. Looks like she's interested.
16:25 The MEN IN SUITS are having their own discussions to work out their dodgy pecking order.
16:50 JULIAN (9) is first into the tunnel for some jolly good exploring! The THREE run into TIMMY!
17:40 DICK (8) has worked out GEORGE's secret and confronts her with it - TIMMY is GEORGE's dog!!
17:54 ANNE (6) knows the way to GEORGE's heart - by saying how lovely TIMMY(3) is and giving him a pat!
18:12 The FIVE make a pact to keep GEORGE's secret. One point each, including TIMMY(4)! Ahh, GEORGE's smile ...
18:20 DICK (10) doesn't mind telling GEORGE that he wouldn't want to be her enemy.
18:40 Somehow the MAN IN THE GREY SUIT convinces the children to come to tea.
19:41 The MAN IN THE GREY SUIT appears to be a bit of a bungler. He's left the telescope trained on PROFESSOR KIRRIN's tower and sends JULIAN straight towards his secret radio! DICK (11) takes a look through the telescope and JULIAN (11) is quick enough to see what's hiding in the cupboard. Things are not going well for him.
19:50 Full marks GEORGE(6)! She doesn't trust her host at all and tricks him with a ruse about FAKE AUNT JOAN.
22:43 JOHNSON, having dropped onto Kirrin Island from a light plane, untangles himself from his parachute and promptly pulls a gun on PROFESSOR KIRRIN. Things are warming up!

That leaves us at the end of this match with the these scores:



I hope this isn't going to be controversial in any way ...

[Debbie]

I have all the 90s FF, a fair number of the 70s and the 50s one on video and no video player. So if you'd like them, you're more than welcome to see how well they work, as all they're doing is add to the clutter in my house.

Even though I have no VHS player either, I'm tempted, as I never owned the FF on VHS. I hear Gandalf's voice in my head ... "DON'T tempt me Frodo!"

Well, I can't quite bring myself to bin them and they're doing nothing except sitting here so very happy to post them to you.

[FiveFanDownunder]

Ahhh, 1970s FF on VHS. It would be super, even though I can’t play it back.

I’ll send you a message Debbie, thanks! But remember I live a while away ....

[Judith Crabb]

This is the first time that I have posted on 'Blyton on TV'. I am so ignorant. I have never watched any Blyton on TV or VHS or DVD until last night when I started watching the 1957 black and white film I borrowed from the library. It came with a 5-disc set of 'The Famous Five The Complete Collection' which looks to me like something out of the 1970s.
So I am asking for guidance. 770 minutes worth of viewing. I have the DVDs for a week.
So which of all those tempting stories are the ones I shouldn't miss? I'm familiar with all the novels of course and I naturally prefer films that are reasonably faithful to the originals, in spirit if not always in incident.
Any recommendations will be gratefully considered.

[FiveFanDownunder]

Gosh Judith! You are under time pressure.

I am amazed how much the young actors changed from the first season to the next. You will notice as you watch them in relatively quick succession. Some on those on the forums feel that the second season is a bit more compelling and the production travelled a bit further afield in terms of locations.

If you watch Go to Kirrin Island you will see how the characters and relationships were introduced ( this is the first story j and many of the cast beyond the Five. I love Smugglers Top and Camp, Secret Trail, Hike ... Mystery Moor was the first shot and features the horse riding scenes ...

Get into Trouble (S2) is probably one of the scarier, Fall into Adventure has Jo and the scariest stunt work on the show, and Demons Rocks I thought had the right atmosphere. Most were fairly true to the original, but some of the single part stories had to be a bit simpler than the books I think out of necessity???

That’s my two bob’s worth ... tbh I love them all.

[Judith Crabb]

Thanks FiveFanDownUnder. Lovely to read such an enthusiastic post. I'll start with Smuggler's Top and depending on whether I get an extension work through your other suggestions. Who knows, I may end up watching the lot.

[number 6]

Being rather biased, I think you ought to watch them all, JC! One of my fav episodes is Fall into Adventure, only marred slightly by the totally mis-cast villain 'Markoff'. Nice actor who played him, but the most unbelievable baddie ever! I love Camp and Smugglers Top, too...and the rest of them!!

[tiger76]

I finally get around to buying this boxset today, so I'll contribute more to this discussion once I've viewed them.

[FiveFanDownunder]

Thanks FiveFanDownUnder. Lovely to read such an enthusiastic post.

There’s a few around here who are very enthusiastic about the 70s series. I have heard others praise the 90s series more as they thought the locations were better and the 50s clothes and cars etc matched the time that the books were written. For me I see myself and my brothers portrayed by the young actors in this series ... I had friends who wore the blue and white sneakers that Marcus Harris often wore, and we had t shirts in the exact style that Gary Russell had on the show. Depends on what you click with I suppose.

I loved the young actor they got in to play Sooty ... he seemed to have that cheeky side that Blyton described in the book and was certainly in the thick of things ... but no spoilers here.

Number 6 is right again of course ... we love them all.

Enjoy the box set tiger76 ... If 76 is your birth year then you were just a few years too young to get a part on the show chasing Curly around the New Forest ...

[FiveFanDownunder]

Hi 70s FF watchers.

Anyone have the DVDs? I am doing some work with the series on my PC and the whole thing seems to look very yellow, like the colour balance is out. Compared to the stills I usually get of YouTube, quite a marked difference. Just wondering if others have a second opinion or have noticed.

Also wondering if the overseas DVDs have had their Southern idents removed and the brightness tweaks for the ‘night’ scenes ...

[number 6]

I've got the UK released F5 DVD box set. It is very good. Gone are the darkened scenes in the video tape version. It is now clean cut and crystal clear, back to how it was originally intended to be seen. I think the overseas versions may have different features (bonus stuff), but I don't think they differ in quality. The UK version has the added bonus of the interview with Gary, Marcus, Jenny and Gail Renard.

I can remember when the series was first shown. At times you could hardly make out what was going on during the night scenes, and sometimes it was near impossible! This was due to the dark camera filters they used to simulate nightime. Thankfully, this was 'cleaned up' during the re-mastering of the original tapes prior to the re-release on DVD. However, I have noticed that some of the older YouTube F5 episodes have now been replaced by the newer cleaned up versions.