THE Cartoon/Animation thread (Discussion)

Anounced yesterday Edward Kelsey Joe Grundy in The Archers on Radio 4 died aged 88 but we would all remember him as the villanous toad/frog Baron Silas Greenback and the head of the secret service bumbling Colonel K. in that great animated series 'Dangermouse' RIP Ed/Baron.

Who were responsible foe for "ARABIAN nights" cartoons voices? i loved them when they were shown during the Banana Splits!! "Size of elephant..." :

Here is the full cast but it doesn't say who did the voices. I can look those up for you.

Henry Corden
Paul Frees
Frank Gerstle
Shari Lewis
Don Messick
Jay North
John Stephenson

Here you go
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabian_Kn...Characters

Incidentally you know the song by the Wonder Stuff-'Size of a Cow' ? well, apparently the lead singer was a big fan of Arabian Knights and used that idea in his song, although the character Bez never became a cow.

I know we discussed stop/go motion animation a few pages back but I watched Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger(1977)earlier on the Horror Channel.Absolutely wonderful creations from Ray Harryhausen including,the golden Minoton(Minotaur),massive troglodyte and a really impressive looking giant walrus.Principal photography was completed in late 1976 but it took Harryhausen a year and a half to finish all the animation from his home studio.

For my 7,000th post I thought I would concentrate on another animated classic:


THE HERBS
Anyone who remembers this charming series of 13 episodes will know how exciting as a youngster it was to hear Gordon Rollings the narrator and the voice of all the characters say "herbidacious!" as the door of the garden swung open to reveal, well a garden full of herbs and spices come to life. We had Bayleaf, the gardener, Sage the feathery yet permanently bad-tempered owl, Dill a mad dog, Parsley a lion, Sir Basil and Lady Rosemary the posh ones, Mr Chive, a teacher with the smaller chives as his pupils and Pershana Bedi(which I'd never heard of) as a snake charmer. Keeping law and order was Constable Knapweed. A fussy knitting character called Ms Jessup and a kindly lady Aunt Mint. Knapweed had his work cut out with a fire-breathing dragon called Tarragon and later a witch-like character called Belladonna. Each character has their own little 4 line song to introduce themselves which was fun to learn and I can remember virtually every song.

There was a spin-off later on called The Adventures of Parsley the Lion which would see him and Dill doing something in the garden which might lead to disaster but all was well in the end. The narrator and voice man was actor Gordon Rollings who had been a Play School presenter, but was also in television dramas, comedies etc. You might remember him as a drunk in film 'Superman' but you are more likely to remember him as the Northern drinker of John Smith's bitter in the adverts. My favourite one was where his friend tells him he has been learning French "la porte, the door" to which he asks "what's my pint of John Smith's is tinged with the colours of a sunset over Scarsdale Crag?" to which his friend says "I don't know!" He replies "well it's no good learning the advanced stuff if you don't know the basics!"

Another one of my favourite animated films is The Last Unicorn(1982).Based on Peter S.Beagle's novel who adapted it into the screenplay which was then brought to life by the Japanese animators at Top Craft studios.The amazing score written by Jimmy Webb and performed by America with the London Symphony Orchestra adds to the charm,as does the wonderful voice cast which included Alan Arkin,Christopher Lee,Jeff Bridges and Mia farrow.The animation still holds up today and the characters are so well fleshed out that its one I always come back to.I recommend seeking out the 2015 Enchanted Edition on blu ray,it boasts a fully restored wide-screen print and the original uncut dialogue from the American release.

I recently saw, not by Topcraft but the amazing Studio Ghibli, 'Laputa -Castle in the Sky' and another one of my favourites which I've not seen for a while was 'Howl's Moving Castle.' I would also recommend a SKY film being shown at present on Sky Family I think it is called 'Mary and the Witch's Flower' which I saw earlier this year and it is beautifully done with Kate Winslet and Jim Broadbent doing some of the voices. Ruby Barnell, who was Sophie in 'The BFG' is the voice of Mary.

A lot of the animators from Top Craft ended up leaving and working for Studio Ghibli in around 1984.

^ thanks for the recommendations mate.

Coming soon an in-depth look at Inch High, Private Eye.