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Post by timmunton on Nov 12, 2015 14:14:33 GMT
richardwoods said: 'Does anyone know if there are any more individual episodes on compilation Watch With Mother VHS tapes?'
Hi Richard,
I'm pretty sure that there are no other WWM compilations with other b&w Tales Of The Riverbank episodes,
( & also probably no other monochrome ones with the J. Morris narration released anywhere worldwide in that format or on DVD - although I'd be a little less definite on this; ie releases in other countries ).
Quite a few years ago, due to my love for the series & many of the other WWM series I combed through the internet for other VHS Morris-narrated-Riverbank releases etc; but there was only the 7 as mentioned.
Incidentally, if you haven't seen them before, some of the other episodes on WWM: The Next Generation are very good indeed;
Especially the Pogles Wood 'Honey Bees' episode -
That episode hasn't had a DVD release yet, but will be getting one soon - As you & other readers may be aware, the Dragons Friendly Society ( publishers of Smallfilms early - & some later - work ) have pulled out all the stops & are releasing a DVD very soon ( before the end of the year apparently ) called 'Pogles End' which will contain the 14 as-yet-unreleased-to-DVD episodes of Pogles Wood; including the sublime 'Honey Bees'.
Which will mean all 32 episodes ( which is all the ones that were made ) of 'The Pogles' & 'Pogles Wood' will now be out on DVD.
'Pogles Wood' is my all-time favourite TV series so I'm looking forward to that very much indeed!!
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Post by richardwoods on Nov 12, 2015 18:34:05 GMT
Hi Tim, thanks for that. Kal have been sent 5 of the 7 episodes, 2 more to follow when the VHS tapes arrive and are copied to DVD. We are in discussions with contacts at the BBC and potentially the BFI to see if they would be interested in archiving copies too. Assuming no further BW material comes to light, I've noticed that some missing colour episodes are also out there on VHS too, (basically everything up to the more recent Further Tales From the Riverbank is officially missing presumed junked). Looks like I've got myself a new hobby, .
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Post by richardwoods on Nov 12, 2015 18:35:24 GMT
Love Pogles Wood too, not seen it since the late 60's.
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Post by richardwoods on Nov 12, 2015 21:55:22 GMT
Tim Munton said "Also there are probably no other monochrome ones with the J. Morris narration released anywhere worldwide in that format or on DVD - although I'd be a little less definite on this; ie releases in other countries. Quite a few years ago, due to my love for the series I combed through the internet for other VHS Morris-narrated-Riverbank releases etc; but there was only the 7 as mentioned".
Have you any idea how many of the missing colour Riverbank episodes (basically any before Further Tales) are out there, released in any format?
Does anyone know if any audios of the otherwise missing BW episodes exist? If so they could be matched up with the Canadian films to recreate the UK versions?
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Post by timmunton on Nov 13, 2015 1:30:48 GMT
I had the feeling that the only releases of episodes from earlier colour series made before 'Further Tales Of The Riverbank' were of the North American version - ie not the UK/ Johnny Morris versions :
But looking now at Amazon UK; it's clear my memory is wrong : No doubt the following are the ones ( or some of the ones ) you've been looking up -
There seem to be at least 2 different 'New Tales Of The Riverbank' on VHS listed, - although it's not clear if they're the Johnny Morris version; the fact that they are listed as PAL format would raise hope but one of these lists Paul Sutherland as 'Actor & Director', which probably makes it less likely.
Plus there's one called 'Tales Of The Riverbank: Chapter Two' which has a definite credit for Mr Morris; so no doubt is the UK version. The title implies a Chapter One as well' though I couldn't see that listed ( all 3 VHS tapes which are listed seem to be pre-'Further Tales ...' )
When I looked into it before it was quite a while ago ( about 10 years ago or more ), I was very much mainly focussed on seeing if there were any other b&w 1960's episodes - hence my clearer memory of what did - or rather didn't - seem to be available re those.
It's fantastic that you have/will be archiving the 7 with Kaleidoscope with a really good digital transfer ( & possibly also with the BBC & BFI as you mention ) - but such a shame that such a charming, thoughtful, fun & poetic series should have possibly been whittled down by time & events to just 7, all from VHS source.
Though maybe the others, which you mention were last known of in 2007, will re-emerge to the light ...
( hopefully soon & to a DVD or Blu-ray video format also! )
Good luck with your search & enquiries.
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Post by John Green on Nov 13, 2015 2:18:21 GMT
Quote from the official website: Lovingly remastered from the original video series (?) Further Tales of the Riverbank on DVD by award winning creator/producer Dave Ellison This world famous children’s classic, digitally remastered, with some of the most popular characters to appear on children’s television is now available on DVD for just £9.99. Hammy, Roderick and the Guinea Pig are back with nine delightful stories... PayPal — The safer, easier way to pay online. Narrated by Johnny Morris. www.furthertalesoftheriverbank.com/
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Post by timmunton on Nov 13, 2015 2:27:52 GMT
Yes, the 'Further Tales Of The Riverbank' official DVDs ( & previous VHS releases of same ) are narrated by JM; I was referring to colour episodes made before that series; but I didn't make it very clear! Will now edit previous post to make it clearer.
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Post by timmunton on Nov 13, 2015 2:52:38 GMT
Quote from the official website: Lovingly remastered from the original video series (?) Further Tales of the Riverbank on DVD by award winning creator/producer Dave Ellison 'Further Tales Of The Riverbank' was made in the 1990's & is also 'original' in that it is the only series with exactly that name & episode length ( about 5 minutes an episode ). And maybe there's an implication it's remastered from the VHS rather than from more primary sources re the film content. Interestingly its film stock texture looks older; more 1970's than 1990's film ( & I don't mean 1990's videotape I mean it looks older than 1990's actual filmstock )- so I do wonder if perhaps some of the longer & older colour series ( probably called 'New Tales Of The Riverbank' ) was re-edited into smaller segments in the 1990's ( ? ) - Or perhaps it was indeed all filmed in the 1990's but they just used old or old-seeming film stock ! Also : The opening titles on 'Further...' look like they were all filmed on videotape; but throughout the post-titles segments of the episodes it is all on film, as mentioned. The DVDs are excellent & I 'd imagine there'll be a Volume 3 of it sometime ( which would complete the entire series which likewise was out in 3 volumes on VHS )
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Post by richardwoods on Nov 13, 2015 7:17:25 GMT
What's really gutting is that certainly the majority of masters for BW and Colour survived until a few years ago following the demise of SW Films after the making of the feature film. As said before they may well be in a corner somewhere but how will we ever find out unless Philip Morris wants a UK mission to try and track them down.....
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Post by Stephen Byers on Nov 13, 2015 10:52:27 GMT
A search on the web fond this:
Bedtime stories - Read by Johnny Morris
Source Cassette tape Duration approx 45 mins FhG MPEG 1 Layer III 48 Kbps CBR 44100Hz, 16-bit, Mono
While browsing in a charity shop I saw this tape looking rather forlorn, for what it's worth here are the stories.
Charlie and Gladys the Warthogs Lulu the baby Seal The Kookaburras Bubbles the Hippopotamus Chatterbox the Budgerigar Hooter the Elephant Mark and Cark the Jackdaws Mark and Cark's new nest Big Banghead and little Bumpnut Harum Scarum's mistake Snowdrop the Polar Bear Toodle-Oo solves the problem Snapper the Crocodile Tubthump the Gorilla
I'm not allowed to say at what site - you'll have to search for yourself - but it seems that stuff is out there. You just have to search for it. Google is your friend and all that. Oh - and charity shops too!!
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Post by Stephen Byers on Nov 13, 2015 10:55:06 GMT
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Post by timmunton on Nov 13, 2015 13:05:27 GMT
What's really gutting is that certainly the majority of masters for BW and Colour survived until a few years ago following the demise of SW Films after the making of the feature film. As said before they may well be in a corner somewhere but how will we ever find out unless Philip Morris wants a UK mission to try and track them down..... You're probably already doing this; but I suppose the thing to do would be to try & get contact details for those who ran SW Films - possibly from the people at Hammytime Productions, who have put out the recent DVDs. Then ask the SW Films people, if they themselves don't know where the films are, for the contact details of other people who worked in their organization who might know; it's likely someone previously with that organization must know their whereabouts or what happened to them.
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Post by timmunton on Nov 13, 2015 13:24:48 GMT
It says at the Hammytimes Productions website that the b/w VHS releases ( or 1 of them at least ) sold really well - 'reaching number two in the charts & staying in the top ten for 18 weeks' - & that Polygram contracted to release the complete b&w series - this latter obviously never happened; though given its good sales that seems surprising.
The site also says those episodes were shown worldwide for 50 years - which means until 2010, though I'm guessing that the latter day showings probably weren't the JM / UK version.
It's always surprised me that the BBC haven't brought out other Watch With Mother classics on DVD; eg Bill & Ben, Bizzy Lizzy etc ( which although lacking the depth of Riverbank / Pogles Wood & some others, would still be of interest ).
And most surprising of all: Why no DVDs of The Magic Roundabout original TV series ( UK Eric Thompson narrated version )? I believe they all still exist, & surely the b&w ones & especially the colour ones would sell well, as MR, like Dr Who & Dad's Army & others, does linger very strongly in the collective UK consciousness.
There were 5 or 6 of the b&w Magic Roundabouts ( including episode 1 ) on the 2-Disc Special Edition DVD of the terrible modern film spin-off a few years back, tucked away in the extras, & very nice they are too, but nothing else as far as I know. Just those & the 'Dougal & the Blue Cat' film & the old BBC VHS releases.
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Post by richardwoods on Nov 13, 2015 17:33:20 GMT
Looks like quite a bit of colour stuff on there, a lot it has to be said is the Non Missing Further Tales but definitely worth a trawl. On first look no more BW stuff sadly.
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Post by richardwoods on Nov 13, 2015 17:54:30 GMT
What's really gutting is that certainly the majority of masters for BW and Colour survived until a few years ago following the demise of SW Films after the making of the feature film. As said before they may well be in a corner somewhere but how will we ever find out unless Philip Morris wants a UK mission to try and track them down..... You're probably already doing this; but I suppose the thing to do would be to try & get contact details for those who ran SW Films - possibly from the people at Hammytime Productions, who have put out the recent DVDs. Then ask the SW Films people, if they themselves don't know where the films are, for the contact details of other people who worked in their organization who might know; it's likely someone previously with that organization must know their whereabouts or what happened to them. So far I have had a fair bit of correspondence about all this with Ian Campbell at Hammytime. I get the impression that they have already tried to follow this up with no joy. He has also confirmed that Dave Ellison's estate has nothing either. Unfortunately the SW Films trail is pretty cold. As I understand it the company which had everything prior to Further Tales folded some years ago, things have become further mired by multiple moves of the individuals involved and divorces, etc. The strong indication is that it is PROBABLY all junked but MAY be gathering dust somewhere, hence my comment about wanting a rodent obsessed Phillip Morris type to get out there & investigate. Unfortunately I have only limited time and at the moment am splitting it between trying to preserve what's more easily accessible of missing Riverbank and transferring anything missing from the archives in my reel to reel collection. If anyone wants a set of Riverbank discs to upload to You Tube please PM me, or has time to go into the SW Films masters search in more detail then that would be brilliant,
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