Retro TV

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

The dealer who supplied me with the 'Q' material on disc was so inpressed with my memories of the shows over 30 years later, that he not only sold me the items for a third of the going rate, he also sent me this update via e-mail today---[I have offered him financial retribution, however, despite my Scottish mettle]:


the following paragraph is a cut-n-paste




Hi Rab , thanks for the email , glad you are enjoying Spike , I asked my mate to post these and it appears he has missed a disc out


it features q5 ( 1 episode sadly ) an episode of " oh in Colour " and 3 episodes of theres a lot of it about ( Q10 )


will pop in post to you tomorrow


if there is anything we can track down for you , feel free to get in touch


all the best

[stevezodiac]

I haven't seen my Telegoons dvd for a while. I'll have a look later. I only watched a couple of shows - you know how it is, once you get your shot of nostalgia it's enough. I have loads of box sets where I watch just the first few episodes just to bring back the memories. Laredo being the latest example.

[Raven]

it features q5 ( 1 episode sadly ) an episode of " oh in Colour " and 3 episodes of theres a lot of it about ( Q10 )

Even the Oh in Colour is on YouTube, so you could have watched it for free without funding the bootleggers.

A couple of complete Telegoons are up there too, uploaded by somebody who used to work the puppets on the show. And six There's a Lot of It Abouts.

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

I'm getting this disc for free, Raven, although I have offered the seller cash as he's been very decent----I would prefer to have the series on legit DVD if I had a choice, but my patience has long since run out on this score.

I will go to the bootleggers if I can't get the stuff anywhere else on disc, although I know not to provide direct links on here.

youtube is fine for sampling stuff, though---I got loads of not-bad quality GOODIES episodes from there, which I transferred onto disc myself---very time-consuming, though........I even sent out some free copies to other fans [of episodes unavailible on legit dvd]

Sometimes material on youtube is removed, for example I had the foresight to record my own A Collection of Goodies four years back, which is now pretty hard to get a hold of, so hard discs are obviously more permanent, and that's the route I prefer usually.

[DavidKW]

I always found Spike Milligan's Q series very hit & miss & un-PC for today.

One series that stuck in my mind was when it had opening titles with Spike's photo having his face being drawn on.

One of the best things about the Qs/There's A Lot OF It About was the distuinctive piano music on the opening titles.

[DavidKW]

As regards The Goodies on Race Relations I remember a 1977 episode called "Alternative Roots" which I saw recently on YouTube in the library. Bits of it are hilarious.

Its point was perhaps that with the series "Roots" being such an international hit, what are the Black & White Minstrels still doing on our telly?

The Misntrels were still getting some good viewing figures then, but after that show they dropped so much that the show got cancelled.

I think the relevant for its time sitcom "LOve Thy Neighbour" probaly raised some awareness regarding the Minstrels too (one episiode of Minstrels topped the ratings in 1971 - a year before "Neighbour" started).

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

I watched Alternative Roots as part of a 3-hour GOODIES marathon on Sunday night, David: you're spot-on: it was the opener to the seventh [1977] series.

They cover 'Hoots' and 'Froots' in a quest to discover their 'roots': the most alarming sequence comes later on, as the trio send up the Black and White Minstrels in a sawn-off shotgun-like manner.

It's an excellent episode, however off-putting the blackface elements strike us today.

Yes: the ramshackle theme tune from Q is but one of the esoteric delights!

[DavidKW]

Can't understand why "Alternative Roots" did not get a release on t Goodies DVD, or for that matter "Scatty Safari" and the DVDs came out before the Rolf Harris scandals, so they'll never be out now.

I recently went to a record shop and bought a curiosity on CD - Jess Conrad the Complete Decca recordings. These included the tracks he performed on the TV series "The Human Jungle" . I emntioned this and then the owner said he could get me the DVDs of The Human Jungle for a bargain , which I now own &n can't wait see (I remmeber watching the repeats on Tuesday nights on Channel 4 before "The Avengers repeats started at 6).

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

Nicholas Parsons probably got the biggest celebrity slagging from the GOODIES, David!

However, looking at the episodes in detail today, it's clear that their biggest scorn is for ex-disc Jockey John Peel: he 'bores for Britain' amongst other things in the shows. This started after Peely slagged off the Funky Gibbon single in print, and Garden and Brooke-Taylor later saw him down the Speakeasy [or some similar London music venue] and 'chinned' Peel, in his own words.

Peel's mate Robert Plant [Led Zep singer, all you boy-band fans reading this] told Garden and TBT to 'clear off' in no uncertain terms.

Oddie kept out of it, because Peel released some obscure Oddie 45s on his Dandelion label in the pre-Goodies days.

[DavidKW]

I remember Tony Blackburn used to get a lot of Goodies slagging too, but he saw the funny side & soon would often appear in person, as he liked to laugh at himself.

As for John Peel, after his death a documnetary was made on his record box which he took with himwhen making appearances. Bill Oddie was amongst those who looked through and talked, as the box included Oddie's recording take of Ilkley Moor B'Tat.

Oddie recorded on the Dandelion label owned by John Peel; other artists included Medicine Head (gave label its only hit) and Gene Vincent.

[DavidKW]

Speaking of comcis & retro TV, I was doing some reading on "Countdown" comic and mentioned it had a strip on "Autocat and Motoermouse" and Hanna Barbara cartoon.

This prompted me to view some episodes on YouTube - I rmemeber it being on TV in early 70s - likely in the 5 minute cartoon slot on BBC1 between Play School repeat and Jackanory.

Thinks I may get me a quick fix now to cheer me up.

[Raven]

The Motormouse and Autocat Show went out in a twenty minute slot on BBC1, with MM and AC cartoons bookending It's the Wolf (or It's the Wul-uf! as Lambsy would shout), which was later shown on its own in that five minute slot you mention. I don't recall MM and AC ever getting individual showings, though.

In other retro TV news, the Network website is presently running a 40% Off Everything sale until midnight on Thursday. Lots of series to be found at under a fiver and at other bargain prices.

http://networkonair.com/

[philcom55]

Here's a sample of the Motormouse & Autocat strip which appeared in Countdown/TV Action.



One of my own favourite Hanna-Barbera characters was Atom Ant, whose show co-starred the wonderfully absurd Secret Squirrel. Does anybody else remember these?



- Phil Rushton

[alanultron5]

Rab! both Peel and Tony Blackburn copped it from the Goodies! Peel & Blackburn were polar opposites but had a lot in commen e.g both LOATHED!! any music which wasn't their special like! I have a big collection of Disc & Music Echo mags circa 1966 to 74. From 1969 to 73 John Peel had a collumn in it and wrote the most unsufferable and prejudiced stuff about his `likes` and all the stuff he didn't like! He thought it his divine right to tell people `Not` to buy or listen to commercial music- he actually once harangued a Record Company meeting on this subject-alienating scores of top people in the trade by his `preaching`

[Raven]

From 1969 to 73 John Peel had a collumn in it and wrote the most unsufferable and prejudiced stuff about his `likes` and all the stuff he didn't like! He thought it his divine right to tell people `Not` to buy or listen to commercial music-

Any chance of a scan sometime of one or two of the more amusingly belligerent columns, please? Sounds like good fun! (Not to worry if it's inconvenient for any reason.)