Oliver Postgate:Pogles Wood,Noggin,The Clangers,Ivor The Engine,Bagpuss

-

There have been quite a few Blog postings about the passing of Oliver Postgate ,thought i'd add my own. If you're from the UK and you're of a certain age Oliver Postgate's name and voice are as familiar as The Queen's. I watched Pogle's Wood at Nursery School The Clangers At Infants and though i'd never admit it at the time Bagpuss while being off sick from Secondary School.
What i'm still aware of is how organic all of his and his creative partner Peter Firmins work seems even now.
I went with some friends to a big Animation festival in Cardiff 97 or 98 ?the big draw for the festival was the presence of ILM. The Phantom Menace was upcoming and the main event hall was packed with people waiting to get a whiff of the new Star Wars film or maybe even some stories of the early groundbreaking days . A representative from ILM preceded the event by såying he could not talk or say anything about the new Star Wars film but he was going to give us a talk about a film equally as exciting... 'Flubber'. You could feel the energy and excitment drain out of the hall as he proceeded to wow us with just how they got a green glob of slime to bounce around the screen. The following day we went to the same hall which was maybe a quarter full and there on the stage was Gerry Anderson ,John Ryan ,Peter Firmin and Oliver Postgate. Repectively creators of Thunderbirds, Captain Pugwash and The Clangers. After a Q&A session we could go down the front and after a sheepish request from someone to have a closer look at Bagpuss., Out came the puppets from various Sports Bags . John Ryan had original artwork from Pugwash and all of them were not precious about their creations being manhandled. They just looked really proud .
Oliver Postgate's films had a spot either at lunchtimes or early evening preceeding the news. If anyone remembers 70's Britain with any clarity it was'nt always cheerfull or pleasant place to be so those films were 5 or so minutes of much appreciated charm.
Someone in the audience at Cardiff said "'Thanks for my Childhood' I thought that was bit corny at the time,but man am i grateful for those films and the people who made them.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ramones Cartoon No 7: Sheena Is A Punk Rocker

-
Image
Ramones Cartoon Sheena Is A Punk Rocker This is the 7th and proabably final Ramones cartoon. Its based on the song of course and the Sheena comic, though i think the song itself was more likely inspired by the 50's TV series Sheena Queen Of The Jungle. Its also a tribute to 70's animation that I liked.A Facebook comment that my animation was terrible and worse than 80's Animation made me laugh. As long as it's entertaining somebody while they're watching it . That's all that matters to me. The video has been uploaded on to youtube . But as per restrictions its blocked from public view.If id got it finished  3 - 4 years prior it may have made it on there without the block. Update: since it was originally uploaded to YouTube the block has been lifted (for now) and free to view. And it’s got over 40’000 views . These books were my main source material as well as studying lots of photography of 70's NYC Backgrounds: Pen and watercolor in
Read more

Ramones Cartoon : Ramonestones

-
Image
The Animation is now up online . Think i  had the idea as long as 4 years ago when i just did a quick sketch  of  Joey Ramone and put him into a background from The Flintstones world                                                                  I didnt really have any other song in mind than "Listen To My Heart" . Seemed to fit in very easily The original Flintsones series was one of the first things i can remember watching as a kid. Mainly for the opening and closing segments. Very simple and repetitive. But in a catchy good way. originally Fred was going to make an appearance at the beginning. But i just wanted something really simple so dumped Fred and put in his daughter  Pebbles and her Boyfriend  Bam Bam . They had a spin off show The Pebbles & Bam Bam Show which came out mid 70's around the time The Ramones were starting to make an impact so seemed to make sense.To me anyway. The background characters mainly come from that show           
Read more

Deleted

-
Image
Sorry folks it looks like the video to Commando has been taken down. It was a Fan Video and i made absolutely no money from it . Maybe if id just uploaded the track and stuck an Album cover in front of it that'd make things ok. Or maybe there's an official video on the way . Which is fine by me. I did try uploading to another site but as soon as it was up it was taken down. So someone really does'nt want it available. The other three videos i've produced are still up on my channel and are freely available at the present but if the copyright holders dont want them around then there's nothing i can do about it. And will sadly mean i wont be producing anymore, which will be a real shame because they are fun to do and people get pleasure out of them. Nothing more to add except have a Great New Year. Peace
Read more