Spoken Word Poetry

Wednesday 17 December 2008

The Telegoons

Too young to remember the original Radio Goon show, this for me, was my first introduction to the genius of the Goons. Far darker perhaps than the audio version but still a must see in its day.

The TelegoonsScript Editor: Maurice WiltshireProducer: Tony YoungSeries 1 Broadcast: 05 October 1963 to 20 December 1963Series 2 Broadcast: 28 March 1964 to 01 August 1964
Three years after the last Goon Show series ended, the BBC broadcast 'The Telegoons'. Television scriptwriter Maurice Wiltshire shortened and re-worked 26 original Goon Show scripts to 2 series of 15 minute puppet films.
Wiltshire had co-written some of original Goon Shows and was well placed to adapt the scripts. He edited the scripts and added a good amount of visual humour to suit the TV medium.
The Goon characters to were brought to life by string and rod puppets, which combined with traditional cartoon animation and library footage gave the programmes a unique look. The puppets' visual characteristics were based on Spike Milligan's doodled impressions of how they might look, creating a somewhat grotesque but worthwhile visual interpretation.
The sound tracks were freshly recorded by The Goons, which brought them back together again for the first time in several years.
The Telegoons was not particularly successful with its adult audience. However, it was popular with the younger television viewing generation which led to regular Telegoon comic strips in 'TV Comic'.
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aNOtHEr dIp INtO ThE mAGpIE mAMmArY pOOoL.

3 comments:

Wastedpapiers said...

I have fond memories of the Telegoons and wonder why they didnt last very long. Great introduction for kids into the world of the Goons. They rather messed up that image you had in your head of the radio shows though.
I saw a 10" Goons "Unchained Melodies" LP in Crewe flea market today coincidentally. I was tempted to buy it but have a all the tracks on other CD's and cassettes.

Russell CJ Duffy said...

Personally I would have bought it just for the sleeve design. I think I rather liked those old sleeves. Far better than the current CD versions. You lose all that fabulous artwork. Imagine Sgt. Peppers without all the fantastic Peter Blake artwork.

Roger the Saurus said...

You can get DVDs of the Telegoons. Well worth a watch. Wish you could get them of The Bumblies with Michael Bentine.