Hi,
I'm fairly new to this list and haven't posted before (I rarely have the time
sadly) but I thought I'd make some observations on the new compliation tape /
dvd episode & the show in general. To put things in context, (I expect) like
most people on this list I grew up with Sooty on the TV in the days of Mathew
Corbett (although I'm old enough to just about remember Harry Corbett doing the
show). While I liked Sooty well enough as a child, I wouldn't say that at the
time I really raved about him (Dr. Who was always my favourite show for as long
as I could remember). These days however I'm a proud father of three and for the
past couple of years or so I've been enjoying the pleasent side-effect of
re-discovering children's shows, most notably those that fall into the
'nostalgia' bracket. Perhaps naturally enough, when first thinking what to buy
for my children, I recalled favourites from my own childhood and I've been
delighted to find that the current generation of little-ones love these as much
- and probably more - than I did in my younger days. I find this an interesting
phenomenon actually and I'll return to that point shortly as I feel that the
overall style and 'feel' of a lot of 70s, 80s and even earlier 90s TV is rather
different from many current offerings, and there's perhaps something that
contemporary TV directors and producers could learn from this.

Anyway, we as a family re/discovered Sooty about a year and a half ago when I
stumbled across a couple of videos (of the Sooty Show, pre- Sooty & Co)
somewhere (I can't recall if it was a jumble-sale, charity shop, car-boot sale
or what, but one of these). I picked the tapes up simply to amuse the children
and was pleased that they like them. But this turned out to be a considerable
under-estimation. My daughters simply loved them and watched them over and over
again. So I searched out some more... and more... until we now have around 50
Sooty tapes (and the girls show no sign of loosing any interest... I'm sure they
must have seen every episode we have at least 20 times.... ). I don't want to
imply that my children watch Sooty exclussively, far from it; they have very
wide favourites as far as televisual entertainment goes which range from Disney
films (mainly the 'classics') to superhero series (especially Spider-man, X-men,
Teen-Titans and Justice League cartoons) and all sorts of other 'nostalgia' type
shows such as Bagpuss, the Clangers, Henry's Cat etc. But aside from superheros,
Sooty is very firmly their favourite. This has been interesting to observe, as
to their eyes Matthew Corbett is the human face of the Sooty show, as seeing so
many videos he is the person they associate with Sooty (and being young they
more or less regard him as a member of the family, like some uncle they know
about but don't get to visit) but we have the videos of the Sooty Magic Show &
Magic Club which feature Richard (and also the Christmas show where he appears
looking a lot younger!) and they accepted him straight away as another of
Sooty's 'freinds', and seem to like him just as much even though he's a less
familiar face (they both asked to see more shows with him in). I think this is
in part due to Richard's in-show character seeming very much cut from the same
cloth as Matthew's performance, being by turns sympathetic, idiotic, muddled,
parental etc but always very friendly and welcoming as a presenter. While I can
think of other TV presenters etc who might fit the role as Sooty's 'right hand
man' I can't really think of anyone who'd do it any better, and perhaps not
nearly as well, as Richard.

So much for the general background and over-view, now on to the episode on
'Magical Children's Favourites'. This was the first time any of us had seen an
episode from any post-Matthew Corbett series, and I have to admit that the
children loved it. But.... and I realise that it may be unfair to judge the
whole series based on one episode, there were a few features of the show that
didn't appeal to the family as much as the old shows do. This honestly isn't a
case of simply no-one liking changes etc, and I'll explain the pros and cons a
bit. The new theme tune went down well, being boppy and catchy enough. The hotel
setting was accepted without comment other than the children feeling it was a
shame that Sooty, Sweep and Soo didn't all share a nice big bedroom like they
had before. They liked the inclussion of Miki (I think I've got that right) the
cat on reception, but they thought Soo was not her usual self. Partly this may
have been the change of voice, but I think this was less the fact that a
differnt voice was used and more the quality of the voice specifically. Soo just
didn't seem to have quite the same character. In the older shows she flitted
between being the voice of reason when either Matthew or Sooty & Sweep were
enjoying some mad ideas, the slightly bossy or parental do-gooder who needs to
relax a bit, the 'girly' type cliched female when this was called for, and
generally a sort of combination older sister, younger sister, daughter,
girlfreind and mother figure depending upon the plot of the episode. In the new
show, we find 3 female characters (and on the whole if there's to be an
expanssion of the cast that's no bad thing) i.e. Soo, Miki and Niki (again, I
think that's right - the human girl anyway!). The only problem with this was
that rather than expanding the female influence on the show it actually came
across more as diminishing Soo's role which was then split between Soo, Miki and
Niki. Niki, who seems a pretty and pleasent enough character but otherwise not
very neccesary to the show as a whole, seemed to get the role of 'practical
female' e.g. going shopping, offering encouragement etc; Miki spent most of the
episode being the 'younger sister' type figure concerned with her comic, while
Soo, well... she just seemed to spend her time in the episode having something
to complain about. My children put this down to her having an off-day, but they
both thought that Soo just wasn't her usual self. Which is a shame really.
There's nothing at all wrong with introducing new characters, and of course in a
fixed lenght episode there's only so many lines to go round, but if it is going
to be done it would have been nice to see some genuinely *new* characters while
leaving Soo's personality intact, rather than seeming to split Soo's role
between three characters. In the Mattthew Corbett shows Soo is integral to the
episodes and comes across as quite well rounded with both strengths and
weaknesses that unfold along with the story. In this particular episode she
seemed to make no very valuable contribution as a character (but would have been
even more missed had she not been present). Niki as I said seems pleasent
enough, but aside from a desire on the part of the programme makers to include
variously either another human, another female character, or a generally pretty
face, there seemed no actual reason for her character to be part of the show and
I think that the children would probably have prefered to see either Soo or
another puppet taking her part, though perhaps the producers wanted to pander
(sorry about the bad pun) to the Dads a little - though as such a Dad I still
feel her role was not neccessary.

Apart from Soo's role, there were a few other format changes (and again I
realise that one episode alone may be misleading) that didn't seem to be quite
on a par with the older shows. Sooty and Sweep came across as being rather more
characterless than previously; they retained the role of mischief-makers,
competing with each other and generally not understanding things etc, and Sooty
made considerable use of his wand, but (and it seems very odd to be writing this
about a pair of glove puppets!) they otherwise didn't seem to have quite as much
'depth' as in the older shows. Like most contemporary TV, there seemed to be a
lot less use of long-shots / wide-shots with the camera lingering on the overall
scene, and a tendancy to make more cuts between characters, moving from close up
to medium range and back again etc. This seems to be a general tendancy in a lot
of TV production, and one presumes the idea is to 'keep the viewers interested'
(and fingers away from channel-change buttons on the remote) by having an almost
constantly changing scene, with the overall feel of a show being fairly
fast-paced and action-oriented. Sometimes this might well and truly justified,
and when it occurs in adult drama, or even in an action-based children's show
like a superhero cartoon or something, it seems in keeping with the subject and
the audience. But when shows that are aimed primarily at a much younger audience
(and Sooty is presumably still aimed mainly at pre-and early school age
children) it appears unnecessary and sometimes counter-productive. As I say, my
own children adore shows like Bagpuss and the Clangers, which, if you ever watch
them, must be some of the most visually slow-moving TV one can find. But they'll
still sit glued to the screen to follow the action. I don't think that as
children they are all that unusual in this, and the sales of videos and DVDs of
70s, 80s and 90s childrens TV shows would seem to indicate that they are well
received by today's young children as a whole, so something about their format
must hit a receptive nerve. My children have also seen their fair share of
modern TV shows that favour the rapid cut, fast music, odd camera angle etc
approach, and frankly they tend to concentrate on them a lot less than more
sedate TV, perhaps because they are so bombarded with (unneccessary) visual
stimulus that the plot, the jokes and the characterisation are in danger of
being missed in all the glitzy eye-candy. I know I'm starting to sound like an
old fuddy-duddy with shades of 'it wasn't like that in my day...' creeping in,
but I am trying to make a serious point. Shows like Sooty are nice nostalgia
pieces for those of us old enough to remember our far-off childhoods, but they
really are every bit as popular with today's generation of young children when
they see them, and there are a lot of factors involved in this popularity. I'm
sure that a good many people would love to see a return of Matthew Corbett etc,
but in reality this is only a factor for those of us who remember him and not
for the children of today generally - time passes and Richard is every bit as
good a presenter for the next generation. In this sense some things are bound to
change but it would be a shame if babies are discarded along with bathwater...
If Sooty as a show doesn't retain it's essential 'Sooty-ness' then there's
really no reason for the show to exist (other than purely as an attempt to cash
in on the name and make a quick buck) and I think that the previiously
established characters (not just the physical puppets) of Sooty, Sweep and Soo
are a part of this, and so too is the pace and 'feel' of the show as a whole. I
might make a comparison with the new Basil Brush show. As a child I loved Basil
Brush and when I stumbled across his return to BBC I bought the DVD of the show
for the children; personally I was horrified. Basil may have remained just about
his old self, but the show he was grafted into seemed terrible. He didn't seem
really neccesary to the rest of the show which was a sort of juvenile comic
soap-opera, while likewise the show seemed to be otherwise a slightly shoddy
backdrop to his familliar character. I certainly would hate to see Sooty ever go
the same way.

Anyway, I'd give a cheerful thumbs-up to the episode of the Magical Children's
Favourites compliation, and for any die-hard old-school Sooty fans out there who
haven't seen it, I'd generally say that you won't be shocked if you do watch it
- Sooty is still Sooty. My own children are desperatley hoping that more shows
(or preferably the whole series) will be released. Personally I couldn't be
happier than to think of Richard continuing in his current role if Sooty ever
gets a new series, but it would I feel be nice (if this ever happens) if rather
than trying to go for retro-look puppets, instead the show's producers went for
more of a 'retro' feel to the show as a whole. Rather than using something like
running a hotel as a plot device (it was totally irrelevant in the episode I've
been talking about) a simple return to mis-adventures of the kind typified in
Matthew's day, where virtually any everyday event gets the full comic treatment,
would seem to be a good move. If the show concentrates on jokes and performances
and then lets things like camera-work and editing more or less naturally take
care of themselves based on the essential action, I think Sooty would have as
bright a future as it ever has had.
Ah well, ramble over...
All the best,
Shaun

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