Bananaman (TV series)
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| Bananaman | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Animation/Comedy |
| Created by | Steve Bright |
| Starring | |
| Theme music composer | Dave Cooke |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 40[1] |
| Production | |
| Producer | Trevor Bond |
| Running time | 5 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | |
| Release | 3 October 1983 – 4 March 1986 (reruns 1989–1997) |
Bananaman was a cartoon series, based on the character of the same name and featuring the voices of the members of The Goodies, that aired from 1983 to 1986. It was produced by Flicks Films and DC Thomson's Other Classics for Abbey Home Entertainment in association with Jim Henson Productions. Parts of the character were changed for the series: he was now called Eric Twinge, had a distinctive banana-shaped hairstyle rather than punk stubble, and had a love interest (only when transformed) in the form of Fiona, a newsreader based on Selina Scott and also a possible homage to Lois Lane.[2][3][4]
Graeme Garden (incorrectly credited as Greame Garden on some episodes) voiced the characters of Bananaman, General Blight and Maurice of The Heavy Mob, Bill Oddie voiced the characters of Crow, Chief O'Reilly, Doctor Gloom and the Weatherman, and Tim Brooke-Taylor voiced the characters of Eric, King Zorg of the Nerks, Eddie the Gent, Auntie, and Appleman, as well as narrating the episodes.
Jill Shilling voiced Fiona and any additional female characters, including Eric's cousin Samantha (but not Auntie). It lasted for forty episodes between 3 October 1983 and 15 April 1986.
Bananaman was aired in the United States by the Nickelodeon cable network, as a companion piece to Danger Mouse, but Bananaman never came close to reaching that series' American popularity. The show also aired during the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's (ABC) after school timeslot, and is considered one of the Classic ABC shows.
In 1997, some episodes of Bananaman were used on the cartoon series The Pepe and Paco Show, created by Henson International Television.
Some of these episodes would eventually reappear in print form in The Dandy in 1998, coinciding with the BBC repeating the series that year, and were reprinted in the comic in Spring 2007, now promoting the DVD. Each episode was roughly five minutes from start to end. Phrases from the show, "twenty big men" and "ever alert for the call to action", are still used in the comic today.
Cast
Series
Background and production
Release
Reception
References
Category:1983 British television programme debuts Category:1986 British television programme endings Category:1980s British animated television series Category:Superhero comedy television series Category:BBC children's television programmes Category:Children's adventure television series Category:1980s British children's television series Category:Animated superhero television series
- ^ https://www.screendaily.com/news/live-action-bananaman-planned/5068726.article
- ^ Murray, Chris (15 March 2017). "The British Superhero". Univ. Press of Mississippi. Retrieved 12 April 2019 – via Google Books.
- ^ Rowney, Jo-Anne (27 October 2017). "Bananaman is back - the Man-of-Peel returns in live action debut". mirror. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
- ^ Kamen, Matt (13 January 2016). "Bananaman: The Musical heading to theatres. Yes, really". Retrieved 12 April 2019 – via www.wired.co.uk.