The Enid Blyton Society

I know we've already seen previews of the contents of Journal 58 elsewhere, but I always think it's nice to have a separate thread on each Journal!

Again - it looks a great treat - a real Christmas Stocking of goodies. I particularly like the Christmas theme with a few of Enid's seasonal stories, poems and articles, and the lovely cover. I must admit I prefer the original Christmas Book cover - it's one of the best cover designs I've ever seen - but it's good to see the paperback version also.

As always I look forward to reading the articles - the making of the castle of adventure film sounds very interesting, as well as the article about Stuart Tresilian.

I'm glad you managed to get a good filled up Journal, Tony, after your worries last month.

I agree that it all looks very interesting and it`s nice to have a Christmas theme - I always have something of a soft spot for any of Enid`s winter works...

The one thing that I wasn`t sure when putting together the Castle of Adventure article, was whether to describe it as a series, serial or film (one or two people who helped with the making of it weren`t sure how to describe it either). I personally wouldn`t describe it as a film because it was originally broadcast on TV in 8-parts, but it`s true that they had always intended to have an edited 120 minute version as well.

Ooh, it looks fantastic! I agree about the front cover - it is very striking and festive. I'm looking forward to when my copy arrives.

Nicko wrote:The one thing that I wasn`t sure when putting together the Castle of Adventure article, was whether to describe it as a series, serial or film (one or two people who helped with the making of it weren`t sure how to describe it either). I personally wouldn`t describe it as a film because it was originally broadcast on TV in 8-parts, but it`s true that they had always intended to have an edited 120 minute version as well.

Definitely a serial, Nick, as that was how it was originally broadcast. After reading your article again, I have just watched the 8-parter on DVD which I was kindly given a copy of. It has been 'topped and tailed' so that it runs straight through and the end credits only come after the final part, but even so it ran for three hours and I would guess that this is almost an hour longer than the video version although I have not watched that recently. For this reason it was difficult for me to tell just what had been cut out.

Wow, the cover looks great. Very seasonal Tony. I'll look forward once again to the journal coming through my door, here at Owl's dene.

A very festive and seasonal cover. Looking forward to it.

It looks great, Tony. I, too, am looking forward to it.

Tony Summerfield wrote:Definitely a serial, Nick, as that was how it was originally broadcast. After reading your article again, I have just watched the 8-parter on DVD which I was kindly given a copy of. It has been 'topped and tailed' so that it runs straight through and the end credits only come after the final part, but even so it ran for three hours and I would guess that this is almost an hour longer than the video version although I have not watched that recently. For this reason it was difficult for me to tell just what had been cut out.

Yep, I would think of it as a series or a serial as well.

I personally wouldn`t really like to watch a 'topped and tailed' version as you miss out on the cliffhanger endings, to a certain extent, and presumably miss out on hearing Tom Baker`s voice introducing the following episode.

We seem to have had a phalanx like group of new forum members posting for the first time in recent weeks-
It's marvellous to see them arriving and joining in with us here.

How more wonderful it would be to see them take the plunge and subscribe to the Enid Blyton Journal and become full members of the Enid Blyton Society - and all for the very reasonable cost of £10 for the whole year!

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/subscribe.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Nicko wrote:

Tony Summerfield wrote: Definitely a serial, Nick, as that was how it was originally broadcast. After reading your article again, I have just watched the 8-parter on DVD which I was kindly given a copy of. It has been 'topped and tailed' so that it runs straight through and the end credits only come after the final part, but even so it ran for three hours and I would guess that this is almost an hour longer than the video version although I have not watched that recently. For this reason it was difficult for me to tell just what had been cut out.

Yep, I would think of it as a series or a serial as well.

I personally wouldn`t really like to watch a 'topped and tailed' version as you miss out on the cliffhanger endings, to a certain extent, and presumably miss out on hearing Tom Baker`s voice introducing the following episode.

Yes - the video version was only 118 minutes! They obviously cut a lot out!

Look's as good as it always does. I can't wait.

Looks like another bumper issue. As the nights draw in I'm looking forward to reading this with me feet in front of the fire and getting ready for Christmas!

pete9012S wrote:We seem to have had a phalanx like group of new forum members posting for the first time in recent weeks-
It's marvellous to see them arriving and joining in with us here.

I am not sure where you got your figures from, Pete, as we had 13 new forum members in October and this is the lowest October figure ever - and only four of those actually posted! Last year wasn't all that great either, but previous to that all October figures have been above 40. Go back four years and we were sometimes getting monthly figures of over 70. It isn't just the membership numbers that are going down, as in 2014 the number of people registering on the forums dropped by 60% from the previous year.

People register I notice but never post at all. Maybe they think they can't read the site without registering firstly!

Then those who do register and post a bit then just disappear. And we don't hear anymore from them at all. I know these days people have busy lives and so I guess this is the reason.

Yippee.... Journal 58 has arrived! Now that has changed my plans a bit.... let's have a cup of tea and a first dip into it... it looks good.