February 20, 2005

oh pollux! (flash warning)... magic roundabout, the movie.

or more correctly, the second movie. the original episodes were scripted in french. when the program crossed la manche, eric thompson (emma's dad) rescripted it in english based on the action. he also narrated the original british transmissions. the action-based script lends the english version a somewhat surreal quality, and frequent connections are made between the series and certain substances. dougal (pollux in the original) frequently ingests sugar cubes, and the character of dylan in the english version appears to be the archetypal stoner. in the original french, it appears he might have been simply spanish. in the 1990s, nigel planer (the comic strip and neil from the young ones) and jimmy hibbert did voiceovers for episodes that had been previously untranslated.

posted by roryk 19 years ago
  • Seminal childhood nostalgia, cheers roryk. Another masterpiece like Monkey! that grew in the dubbing.
  • It's interesting that it seems to have in the UK a cult status that it never had in its native France (apart the "Tournicoti, tournicoton" war cry of Zebulon/Zebedee), where it's just remembered as a cute show for children among many others. What made it so endearing to British viewers?
  • Well, the British shows were completely different from the French ones - the stories and dialogue were just made up to fit the pictures. I suppose there was something in that fractured and intuitive mode of adaptation that made it far more appealing to both small children, students and frazzled parents than a simple, easy, straightforward narrative. Also, Dylan was totally stoned, I'm telling you.
  • It was poetic and beautiful and touching As was bagpuss, and others.
  • i agree with flashboy on the appeal of the adapted story. another point in favour of the bbc broadcasts was that the show immediately preceded the early evening news - it was the crossover between children's television and adults' television and so was probably watched by young and old together. this guardian article has some good background information. perhaps "dougal" = "de gaulle", and pollux said 'bow wow' instead of 'ouah ouah'.
  • Back awaaay from my childhood...
  • pollux was actually British in the original, so he spoke in French but with an "oh I say" RP British accent (or so I've heard)
  • Is Pollux the same thing as Dougal? No, I'm not part of this strange cult...I just got to watch a hour of BBC nostalgia with a cult member this summer, who kept explaining why it was all amazing. I miss my Friendly Giant, and his rocking chair for those who like to rock.
  • i've just realized that captured al qaeda operative ramzi bin al-shibh is actually dylan . and yes, pollux is dougal