For each new generation of children, there are new TV shows to amuse them. But sometimes, those new TV shows are just regenerations of what came before, whether that’s updating Bill and Ben from puppets to stop-motion animation, making the Teenage Mutant Ninja (Hero) Turtles more serious and grim, or giving Postman Pat a family.
Now it’s the turn of Clangers to get a new series. This new series about mice-like beings who live in space will be narrated by Michael Palin, with the Clangers retaining their whistling speech, but that’s about all we know – as of yet, there’s not even any word on whether the Clangers will still be knitted figures, or if they’ll be updated to CGI. But their return to British screens got us thinking. What might new episodes of Clangers and other classic Oliver Postgate series look like?
The original series ran for 26 episodes between 1969 and 1972, along with an election special in 1974. The knitted Clangers were animated using stop-motion techniques. The new series will be airing in spring 2015 on CBeebies.
The Original: A family of mouse-like creatures live on a small, hollow planet far, far away. They eat Blue String Pudding and Green Soup harvested by the Soup Dragon, who lives inside the planet. In each episode, there’s either a problem to solve or a visitor to meet, whether that’s a spaceman or the flying Sky Moos.
The Reboot: The Clangers are now on a diet of easily recognisable vegetables and healthy food, including smoothies provided by the Soup Dragon. They still speak in whistles, although all swearing has been removed. They hardly ever receive visitors to their planet, given the amount of space debris and spare satellites between them and Earth, but when an astronaut does land he claims the planet for Earth. The Clangers must find some way of paying their extortionate rent, given the amount of spare bedrooms on the planet.
Originally made in black and white using stop-motion animation, 32 episodes were produced for ITV in 1958. In 1975, the series was remade for the BBC in 40 colour episodes, with some alterations made to the original storylines.
The Original: Ivor is a small green train who lives in the “top left-hand corner of Wales” and sings first bass in the local choir, thanks to his whistle being replaced by organ pipes. His driver, Jones the Steam, is often thought of as strange for talking to his engine, but that’s no odder than anything else that happens in the village – bread which turns out to be dragon and runaway circus elephants are par for the course.
The Reboot: The nationalisation of the railway system and a lack of coal mean that Ivor is reduced to only running occasional services for holidaymakers. Sadly, the amount of tourists has greatly diminished, with only the most determined hikers heading up to try to climb Snowdonia. The choir dreams of making it big, but the Britain’s Got Talent production team refuse to hold auditions in a location where Ivor can take part. Jones the Steam is overheard speaking to Ivor by some local schoolchildren, who take to filming him and uploading it to Vine, where he becomes a viral sensation.
Thirteen episodes were made for the BBC in 1974. Mostly made using stop-motion animation, the character of Gabriel the Toad could move freely using a specially created mechanism.
The Original: A little girl, Emily, owns a shop where she displays lost and broken items for their owners to collect. Once she’s out of the room, her toys come to life, led by the pink-and-white Bagpuss. One toy tells a story about the broken object, while wooden mice mend it. At the end of each 15-minute episode, Bagpuss yawns and goes to sleep along as his friends return to being merely dolls, ornaments and bookends.
The Reboot: Emily no longer places belongings in the window – instead she takes to Twitter in an attempt to reunite children with their lost toys. Bagpuss is no longer the sleepy cat of old. Woken by Emily’s rap each morning, he instead leads the toys in a themed fitness routine as Professor Googho (the computer replacement for Professor Yaffle, the academic woodpecker) imparts facts and figures to the audience about the new item, such as how it’s made, or where it comes from. No more stories for these toys, and also no more mice to repair things: classed as vermin, they’ve been replaced by an anthropomorphised tool kit.
Are there any other TV series you'd like to see rebooted?
How would they look?
Let us know in the comments!