Bananaman (TV series)

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Bananaman
BananaMan Introduction Shot.JPG
Title card
Genre
Created bySteve Bright
Starring
Theme music composer Dave Cooke
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series3
No. of episodes40 [1]
Production
ProducerTrevor Bond
Running time5 minutes
Original release
Network
Release3 October 1983 (1983-10-03) 
4 March 1986 (1986-15-04)

Bananaman is a British animated comedy series which ran from 3 October 1983 to 15 April 1986. It was based on the comic strip character Bananaman and each of the show's roughly five-minute episodes featured the voices of The Goodies (Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie). [2] [3]

Contents

Parts of the character were changed for the series: he was now called Eric Twinge (rather than Eric Wimp), 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. [4] [5]

"This is 29 Acacia Road. And this is Eric, the schoolboy who leads an amazing double life. For when Eric eats a banana, an amazing transformation occurs. Eric is Bananaman, ever alert for the call to action!"

- opening narration

When Danger Mouse first aired on Nickelodeon in America, Bananaman was shown after it to round out the show to a half hour.

Cast

Written by Bernie Kay. Produced by Trevor Bond. Directed by Terry Ward.

Series guide

"Memory Lane" episode from series 2 was not broadcast until June 1988 but was made alongside series 2.

Episodes

Series 1 (1983)

No. overallSeries no.TitleOriginal air date
11"Bananaman Meets Dr. Gloom"3 October 1983
22"The Big Breakout"7 October 1983
33"Ice Station Zero"10 October 1983
44"The Alien Planet"14 October 1983
55"The Kidnap Caper"17 October 1983
66"House on Hangman's Hill"20 October 1983
77"Destination Danger"24 October 1983
88"Wall of Death"27 October 1983
99"Jaws of Steel"31 October 1983
1010"Banana Kid"4 November 1983
1111"Auntie's Back in Town"7 November 1983
1212"Tunnel of Terror"11 November 1983

Series 2 (1984)

No. overallSeries no.TitleOriginal air date
131"Mystery at the Old Mine"4 October 1984
142"Lost Tribe of the Tapiocas"11 October 1984
153"Trouble at the Mill"18 October 1984
164"The Web of Evil"25 October 1984
175"The Mummy's Curse"1 November 1984
186"The Night Patrol"8 November 1984
197"Fog of Fear"15 November 1984
208"A Tank Full of Trouble"22 November 1984
219"Double Trouble"29 November 1984
2210"The Last Banana"5 December 1984
2311"Intergalactic Olympics"12 December 1984
2412"Memory Lane"15 June 1988
2513"The Final Orbit"19 December 1984

Series 3 (1986)

No. overallSeries no.TitleOriginal air date
261"Disaster at Devil's Cove"7 January 1986
272"Night of the Nerks"14 January 1986
283"The Snowman Cometh"21 January 1986
294"Pirate TV Station"28 January 1986
305"Battle of the Bridge"4 February 1986
316"Harbour of Lost Ships"11 February 1986
327"Visibility Zero"18 February 1986
338"Battle of the Century"25 February 1986
349"The Perils of Ping Pong"4 March 1986
3510"The Great Air Race"11 March 1986
3611"Cavern of the Lost"18 March 1986
3712"Clown Capers"25 March 1986
3813"Banana Junction"1 April 1986
3914"The Crown Jewel Caper"8 April 1986
4015"Operation Total"15 April 1986

Reception

Bananaman was a popular cartoon and is one of the most well-known British superheroes. Taken from the DC Thomson comic entitled Nutty , it was made into a TV animated series of 40 five-minute episodes by Terry Ward of Flicks Films Ltd. [11]

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References

  1. Rosser, Michael; Wiseman, Andreas (18 March 2014). "'Live action' Bananaman planned". Screendaily.com . Archived from the original on 25 August 2024.
  2. Rosser, Michael. "'Live action' Bananaman planned | News | Screen". Screendaily.com . Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  3. Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 111–112. ISBN   978-1-4766-6599-3.
  4. Rowney, Jo-Anne (27 October 2017). "Bananaman is back - the Man-of-Peel returns in live action debut". The Mirror . Archived from the original on 29 December 2017.
  5. Kamen, Matt (13 January 2016). "Bananaman: The Musical heading to theatres. Yes, really". Wired UK . Archived from the original on 13 May 2017.
  6. "Bananaman - BBC One London - 3 October 1983". Genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. 3 October 1983. Archived from the original on 20 October 2014.
  7. "Bananaman - BBC One London - 11 November 1983". Genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. 11 November 1983. Archived from the original on 20 October 2014.
  8. "Bananaman: Mystery at the Old Mine". Genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. 4 October 1984. Archived from the original on 18 November 2023.
  9. "Bananaman: The Night Patrol". Genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. 19 December 1984. Archived from the original on 24 April 2018.
  10. "Bananaman: Operational Total". Genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 18 November 2023.
  11. Murray, Chris (15 March 2017). The British Superhero. University Press of Mississippi. ISBN   978-1-4968-0740-3 . Retrieved 12 April 2019 via Google Books.