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Post by Steven Smith on May 10, 2004 9:19:13 GMT
- another series that I wax nostalgic about (the original b/w version, that is). Does anyone know how many of these exist please? There's at least 3, as I have a Channel 5 official video of them. Thanks.
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Post by Gary on May 12, 2004 18:41:33 GMT
Yes some do at least. I answered this one once a couple of days ago but it's been mysteriously removed.
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Post by Steven S on May 12, 2004 20:59:58 GMT
I think most (if not all) of these exist. At one point I had about 30 of them (5 minutes each) on 16mm film, and I've seen them for sale on numerous occasions...
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Post by Andy Hurwitz on May 13, 2004 4:23:50 GMT
There were at least six episodes released on video (first in two volumes, then all six on one tape). There appear to have been 52 in all made. This series was a Canadian production and Johnny Morris dubbed the narration for the BBC showings. In the late 70s these were shown on ITV with the (presumambly) original trans-Atlantic soundtracks. There is an official homepage: www.hammyhamster.com/history.shtml
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Post by Laurence Piper on May 13, 2004 10:33:46 GMT
There was a different version of Tales shown by ITV in the '70s too (obviously not the same thing that was in the Watch With Mother slot previously) - is this the version you mention? I recall this being shown on Saturday mornings. It wasn't just the BBC version with different soundtrack as the animals in it and the titles were different. Anyone know where this version came from?
The"BBC" version was shown in a 15 minute slot though, Steven, so if any 5 minute episodes are around, they are possibly edited home movie versions.
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Post by William on May 13, 2004 13:26:59 GMT
the series were made 1960-63 and 1971 I think Johnny Morris may have been the only narator but I don't know I'm no expert on this
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Post by Andy Hurwitz on May 13, 2004 19:20:17 GMT
The ITV showings were definately the original shows with the original dialogue. All the characters were the same, although it is very likely that other simlar shows were aired. As to the English version, here is an excerpt from a hamster newsgroup which casts a little more light on it: "Tales of the River Bank: Paul Sutherland, one of the actors who provides the voices for the shows, sent me this note on some of the history of the show: We shot 39 episodes of Tales of the Riverbank back in 1959-1961 right here in Toronto, on film, in black and white. The original characters included Hammy Hamster, Roddy Rat, Guinea the Guinea Pig and Turtle. This show aired on CFTO, CBC Network, CTV Network and about 30 other countries around the world, of which BBC in England was just one. Johnny Morris did the voices for England only, and then the next series, Hammy's new adventures, shot in 1972 by Dave Ellison on the Isle of Wight, was tracked in Toronto and used my voice, as did the original series. The current series, Once Upon a Hamster, was produced in Toronto and uses the voices of Paul Sutherland, Peggy Mahon and Cliff Braggins and features some female characters which the older series lacked. Try linking to www.hammyhamster.com and you'll get lots more info." Only 39 episodes then. The whole page is here: www.aub.dk/~zannie/hamster/faq.htm
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Post by Steven S on May 13, 2004 19:48:18 GMT
Laurence --
The 5 min 16mm versions were TV syndication prints from North America (probably USA, but possibly Canada) ... Several 5 minute chapters made up each story line...
They were *not* home movie prints....
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Post by Laurence Piper on May 14, 2004 8:16:21 GMT
They must have chopped a lot out then as it was a 15 min show here!
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Post by Steven S on May 14, 2004 12:59:38 GMT
I don't think they chopped out anything - -instead they took the 15 minute episodes and made 3 x 5 minute episodes out of them....
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