Not quite Gaming - Cosgrove Hall

ManicMan

ManicMan

Lord
Okay.. not quite Gaming related but this forum section says 'All things Retro' and I'm pretty sure many here can come up with Connections between the subject and gaming But I just came across this from a BBC News program yesterday:

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Basically, there is a permanent (which doesn't mean permanent just no foreseeable end) Cosgrove Hall Display in Manchester now. shame I'm nowhere near.

Being BBC, the report makes a few mistakes and some weird references (Cosgrove Hall didn't create Bill and Ben, They just worked on the remake of it and Andy Pandy in the late 90s which.. wasn't as good. They also didn't do the original postpat, just the later stuff which wasn't as good (at this time, Cosgrove hall was kinda a shell of what it once was. They kinda ended in 1993 when they were turned into Cosgrove Hall Films, as a animation studio owned by other companies and kinda produced their worse work in my view. Now all was awful BUT... They also comment on people who worked for them before they were famous, which is okay until they get to John Thomson, who was already a famous actor who they were hired for voices. Why they mention him and yet don't comment on people like David Jason (who was pretty much in ALL of there work for a period, Terry Scott, Jimmy Hibbert etc, I don't know.

Still.. Not gaming related per say but... I'm sure it's something that ANY Brit here will have a connection to in some way and I'm sure there are some local people who might wanna give it a visit.
 
My first conscious awareness of Cosgrove Hall was their unsurpassed take on Wind in the Willows. Because Toad Hall featured prominently in the credits my young brain assumed they had modelled it on Cosgrove Hall and that was the place all the animation was done. I was saddened to learn Cosgrove Hall wasn't a place but the names of the founders and that their workshops were... somewhat less grand!
 
Hehe I was exactly the same as you Fimm! I can only assume it was a little intentional. Willows and Danger Mouse flow in my veins!
 
ManicMan said:
never heard of Cosgrove Hall?!?
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Well, no, but it looks good. I think I might have seen an episode of Danger Mouse at some point, but I don't think it ever made it to American TV. There was a lot of good UK media that didn't make it over here. Clearly I'm missing out, as it looks hilarious. From the few shots in the video, it has a bit of the tongue in cheek, self aware feel of something like Rocky and Bullwinkle. Obviously I require some education, but I hope you will forgive me. I'll see if I can't fix it. :)
 
Eric said:
Hehe I was exactly the same as you Fimm! I can only assume it was a little intentional. Willows and Danger Mouse flow in my veins!
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Brian Cosgrove and Mark Hall. Hall died in 2011 of cancer.

symphonicpoet said:
Well, no, but it looks good. I think I might have seen an episode of Danger Mouse at some point, but I don't think it ever made it to American TV. There was a lot of good UK media that didn't make it over here. Clearly I'm missing out, as it looks hilarious. From the few shots in the video, it has a bit of the tongue in cheek, self aware feel of something like Rocky and Bullwinkle. Obviously I require some education, but I hope you will forgive me. I'll see if I can't fix it. :)
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Oh... that's not quite right.. Danger Mouse was shown in the USA.. where they did a really weird thing.. Stiletto, the Italian Henchcrow, was redubbed (probebly cause of the amount of Italian descent USAer) with a USA idea of 'Cockney'.. problem is, they didn't change any dialogue so he still said 'Si Barony'. There was also a Marvel Comic based on Count Duckula (some was reprinted in the UK) which guess starred Danger mouse a fair bit. Of course, as you might tell from the structure and content of the show, Count Duckula (and later, Avenger Penguins) were designed for a US market. In Duckula, this meant a bit less UK references, David Jason doing 'an American Accent' and other bits. For Avenger Penguins, they renamed the Penguins group while in early production (It was gonna be called "Hell's Penguins") and they got Mike McShane to do alot of voices, as well as the great Lorelei King (I kinda have a thing that I really like her voice work in stuff. She is a good actor and one of the USA people living in the UK so when they need a USA girl, get her ^_^).

But Oh... I can very much see how in things like Danger Mouse, you can compare them to the UK version of Jay Ward Productions. Just being English, much cheaper budget cause we are a much smaller place (thus needed later to design stuff for a USA market.. There were alot of problems and there last show was cancelled not because of ratings but the TV channels decided it was cheaper to just import shows then create any local content ¬_¬)
 
^_^
I think the top list of shows they did for me (in no particle order) would be
  • Danger Mouse (1981 - 1992)
  • Count Duckula (1988 - 1993)
  • The Wind in the Willows (and it's follow up which for some reason, the DVD set gives the Wind in the willows title to 'Oh, Mr. Toad) (1983 - 1990)
  • Victor & Hugo: Bunglers in Crime (1991 - 1992)
  • Truckers (based on the Terry Pratchett novel) (1992)
  • Captain Kremmen from The Kenny Everett Video Show (1978 - 1981)
  • Jamie and the Magic Torch (1976 - 1980)
  • Avenger Penguins (1993 - 1994)
  • Fantomcat (1995 - 1996)
  • Technically Rodney Matthews' Lavender Castle (Sold as Gerry Anderson's Lavender Castle because of his name) (1999)

But that is just my top list ^_^ they did other stuff too.
 
Gosh I'd quite forgotten about Avenger Penguins, well that's my afternoon of procrastination sorted, ta Manic!
 
While series 2 had alot of fun bits, I felt it was trying to go too far down the 'each episode is a parody of something so lets have no continuity at all' route. And I'm sorry to say, I'm a story guy so while I don't mind the odd iffy bit, I want characters to be consistence ^_^ Danger Mouse had alot of off the wall stuff but was still constant to there characters. DM didn't cheat on his girlfriend, the unseen Fifi, Penfold's auntie didn't change. The Narrator didn't state his name one time and then change it the next etc.

Avenger penguins series 2 was THAT bad but... it's not as good as the first and the show wasn't one of their best as the company was in trouble at the time and was trying to get the USA audience to help it out. Though unlike Fantomcat, it did get a complete DVD release (Poor old Fantomcat...)
 
ManicMan said:
Danger Mouse was shown in the USA.. where they did a really weird thing..
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Oh, I'm sure I saw a little bit of Danger Mouse at some point, if only on the internet. I don't mean to say UK media didn't make it over here. Some certainly did. There was a local station, the PBS affiliate, that showed Dr. Who, Red Dwarf, and a few other things late at night. (Tom Baker actually did a fundraising spiel for the station personally. Called everyone who watched, but didn't donate "leeches." It was quite funny.)

I don't mean to say there wasn't British media here. We even locally have quite a taste for it. (Quoting Monty Python was the done thing when I was in high school. Our cross state rivals preferred . . . something else. Something less classic, most likely.) But there's still a lot we missed.
 
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