The Beano Video

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The Beano Video
Directed byDerek Mogford
Written byJo Pullen
Based on The Beano
Produced byJo Pullen
Darren Kinnersley-Hill
Starring Jonathan Kydd
Gary Martin
Enn Reitel
Kate Robbins
Susan Sheridan
Narrated byJonathan Kydd
Enn Reitel
Music byKick Production
Production
companies
Living Doll Productions
D.C. Thomson & Co.
Distributed by PolyGram Video
Release date
  • 1 September 1993 (1993-09-01)
Running time
52 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The Beano Video is a direct-to-video animated film based on The Beano , originally released on VHS in September 1993 and also broadcast as a television special on ITV and CITV. [1] [2] It marked not just the first animated release of the hugely successful children's comic that has spanned many generations, but also the first animated appearance for characters like Dennis the Menace and Gnasher, Gnipper, Minnie the Minx, the Bash Street Kids, and the Three Bears. The video was directed by Derek Mogford and produced by Jo Pullen at Living Doll Productions and Whizzline Productions. It features voices by Susan Sheridan, Kate Robbins, Enn Reitel, Gary Martin and Jonathan Kydd. Martin and Kydd would later appear in the 1996-98 TV series Dennis and Gnasher .

Contents

A sequel to the video was produced and released on 10 October 1994, named The Beano Videostars , and featured an expanded cast of characters. Both videos drew high enough ratings and video sales to kick off the Dennis and Gnasher TV series. [2] [3] The video was re-released on DVD 10 years later in 2004, by then known as The Beano All-Stars. [2]

Plot

The video opens with a giant comic flying towards the camera, with panels featuring all the characters that the video will focus on; Dennis the Menace, Gnasher, Minnie the Minx, the Bash Street Kids and the Three Bears. The characters instantly come to life, and start breaking out of the panels to interact with each other (or rather, pick on each other).

In In on the Act, Walter the Softy decides to enter a talent show, and tries a ventriloquist act with his teddy. Dennis tries a similar act with a dummy based on a prisoner. The dummy's screaming is revealed to belong to a parrot that Dennis trapped in the dummy, and the softies step up their game with a string quartet. Dennis, Gnasher, Curly and Pie-Face turn the softies into living puppets, operated by the menaces in a tree. Unfortunately, the branch that the menaces are perched on breaks under their weight, and the fall renders both sides unfit to perform. However, Gnasher's fleas start acting up, and his frenzied scratching is mistaken for a dance, earning him first prize.

Next, in Face the Music, Professor Quaver, the new music teacher, arrives at Bash Street School. The kids, to his dismay, don't know how to play instruments properly, nor do they know how to sing, opting for a noisy football chant instead. With the class dismissed, Quaver decides that Winston's yowling is far more pleasant to listen to than the kids, and even conducts the cat with a baton.

In Hotdog, Gnasher teaches Gnipper how to get a free meal at a hot dog stand. Gnasher barks fiercely at a customer, startling him so much he drops the hot dog, which Gnasher helps himself to. Gnipper tries the same technique, and it works, until he gets covered in ketchup, which he forgot to check for.

In Porridge, the Three Bears, tired of porridge made from mouldy oats, head out in search of dinner. They steal Hank's horse to carry them and their equipment, but are eventually thrown into the sea, where they try fishing. They end up aggravating a shark who chases them back to land, where the bears stumble upon cowboys having a barbecue. Ma and Pa disguise Ted as a cowboy with a pair of dancing bears, and Ted launches the cook's roast skyward while the cook is distracted by Ma and Pa dancing. Some coyotes get to the roast before the bears though, and they decide to just head home. They return home, starving and absurdly thin from their journey, only to find their porridge is gone along with all the oats. As it turns out, the horse that they stole earlier is the culprit.

Next, in Minnie Chairs, Minnie has fun with chairs, using them as trampolines or a mountain, much to her dad's annoyance. Sent to play outside, Minnie finds a way to turn the armchair into a chariot, with the neighbourhood dogs pulling it, but she ends up crashing it and wrecking the chair, forcing her dad to drag her down the high street to buy a new one. Minnie causes havoc in the shop and ends up being dropped into a reclining seat which locks her in place, to her dad's absolute delight.

In Soap Box Cart, Dennis's dad is late for his appointment with the doctor to check up on his sprained wrist. But when Dad remembers he can't drive with his hand bandaged, Dennis offers to take him there in his carty. The ride is rough for Dad as he is thrown out several times, soaked, and even run over by the cart. Yet, they make it, and Dad's wrist is completely better. But now it is the only part of him that is not bandaged up after his ordeal.

Next, in Lake Beautiful, Plug is openly mocked by the pupils of Posh Street for being "the ugliest boy in the world". Headmaster tells Teacher that something has to be done because Plug is ruining the good name of Bash Street School. Smiffy tries bringing in a mask for Plug, but unwittingly forgets to cut out eye holes, which causes Plug to walk into a wall and smash his face, making him even more ugly. The school doctor, however, reveals that the waters of Lake Beautiful in Tibet can make anybody handsome, so Teacher and the kids fly to Tibet via Cheap-o Airways. They are dropped from their plane on a sledge, which crashes into a Tibetan monastery, where the monks, who have taken a vow of silence and understand English, show the class the way to the lake. On their way, the class discovers a Burger Bar in the form of an igloo. They all order burgers, chips and hotdogs (with the school funds) and discover that the prices are very high. They arrive at Lake Beautiful, where the Keeper sees the problem and acts upon it, trapping the kids in a snowball and launching them into the lake where they all metamorphose into Plug-like faces, or in this case, Keeper-like faces, as he decided all the class needed a "handsome" treatment except Plug.

In Scorcher, Ted's cave is on fire one morning, and the walls crack to reveal an egg containing a baby dragon. The bears name him Scorcher and put him to work getting them food. Scorcher burns the wall of Hank's store, enabling Pa to reach in and steal a chicken. Scorcher helps to cook the chicken back home, and the bears enjoy a good meal, until the dragon gets indigestion and burns Pa's face by accident.

Next, in Sausages, Dennis is playing fetch with Gnasher, who initially is bored, until he smells sausages on the breeze, and encourages Dennis to throw the stick next door. Dennis is able to spear the sausages on the neighbours' grill and Gnasher hops over the fence and retrieves the stick, sausages and all.

Next, in Minnie Apples, the apples on Minnie's dad's tree are ripe, but Minnie can't reach them on her own. When she tries using a ladder, she is caught by Dad, who forbids her from taking any apples from the tree itself, but agrees that she can have any that fall. Minnie thus tries shaking them loose by stomping around, then charging into the tree itself. She then tries throwing her ball into the branches, but it rebounds off and ends up hitting her dad, whose bellowing ends up shaking every apple loose, right onto Minnie's head, which does not bother her.

In Space Case, Spotty falls into Olive's pea soup, and Plug says that he resembles a martian. Danny tells Teacher that a martian has landed in the playground, which Teacher believes at the sight of Spotty. After the kids help themselves to some of Teacher's biscuits at Fatty's suggestion, Teacher asks where the "martian's" ship is, and is pointed towards a bin in the playground. Teacher is transferred into a dump truck, and tries grabbing the "martian" in revenge, revealing him to be Spotty. What later appears to be more martians later turns out to merely be the other kids covered in green paint from painting the ceiling as punishment.

Next, in Pink Glove, Dennis charges outside, straight into a bowl of sweet-smelling water and a bucket of rose petals, courtesy of a vigilante calling himself the Pink Glove. Dennis clambers out, only to find Rasher in a panic as the Pink Glove has tidied up his sty. Dennis and his pets go in search of the Pink Glove, who uses Dennis's own sock-filled mitt against him, briefly knocks Gnasher out with perfume, tricks Dennis into hugging a teddy bear, and redecorates his room with flowers and soft toys overnight. Dennis narrows the suspects down to Walter, Bertie Blenkinsop and Spotty Perkins, then slides on a block of ice into the softies' chalet, intending to nab whoever puts pink gloves on to move the ice. But the Pink Glove locks Dennis and Gnasher in, and Bertie takes a photograph of the pair when the softies return. Later, Dennis and Gnasher nab the softies with paper chains, and when the leftover gloves don't fit any of them, Dennis uses the softies as bait in a trap. The Pink Glove is revealed to be Walter's mum, who did it to get back at Dennis for picking on Walter.

Next, in Greedy Bears' Picnic, the Three Bears invade two little boys' picnic.

In Minnie Flying, Minnie tries to learn to fly, and fashions herself a set of wings, ending up crashing into a barrel, a tree and later onto her dad's lap. Minnie's Dad tries taking Minnie on a aerobatic stunt plane to get it out of her system. However, all it does is make him ill, and forces the birds to the ground the next day as they are safer there with Minnie now hang-gliding above.

In Big Surprise, Dad warns Dennis that he is overfeeding Gnasher and that he will grow as big as an elephant. When Dennis and Gnasher head for the zoo, Gnasher decides to scare an elephant, and the panicking animal escapes from the zoo, getting himself covered in glue, feathers, and paint, resulting in him resembling a giant Gnasher by the time that he passes Dennis's house. Dad, seeing the elephant, decides that he needs to have a word with his son about overfeeding Gnasher.

Next, in Hare Soup, Pa is sick of porridge and decides to catch a hare to make soup. After getting fitter, Pa heads out to catch one, but is outwitted by the hare, who eventually agrees to make soup for the bears. The hare, impressed by his own cooking, devours the entire broth, and Pa is chased out and beaten for his trouble.

In Molar Mirth, it is Happy Smile Week at Bash Street, and Professor Molaroid, an expert on dental care, is visiting the school. He is unimpressed by the kids' teeth, except Smiffy's, who turns out to be wearing joke ones. After a quick brush, there is improvement all round, and when asked if Teacher would like to join in, it is revealed that his are even worse. When the professor tries eating an apple to prove a point, he chokes on it, turns to be wearing dentures, and leaves in humiliation.

Next, in Gnipper Pecker, Gnipper is freezing in his draughty kennel, but decides to take a leaf out of a woodpecker's book, and pecks a hole in the nearby tree to sleep there. His nap, however, is interrupted by a mother bird who stuffs a load of worms in his mouth.

Finally, in Minnie Clones, Minnie meets her fans, who want to be just like her. She shows them the ropes by tricking a boy into taking a balloon full of hot air off her, while she is weighed down with diving boots, and shooting him down into a duck pond. The fans cause havoc all over Beanotown, and the hapless police report the chaos to the sergeant, who ends up chasing Minnie up a lamppost. Her dad appears from the nearby newsagents, and brings her down with a well-aimed paper airplane. As Minnie is taken home, she is annoyed to find her former fans now idolising her dad instead.

Episodes

  1. Dennis the Menace and Gnasher : In on the Act
  2. The Bash Street Kids : Face the Music
  3. Gnasher and Gnipper : Hotdog
  4. The Three Bears : Porridge
  5. Minnie the Minx : Minnie Chairs
  6. Dennis the Menace and Gnasher: Soap Box Cart
  7. The Bash Street Kids: Lake Beautiful
  8. The Three Bears: Scorcher
  9. Dennis the Menace and Gnasher: Sausages
  10. Minnie the Minx: Minnie Apples
  11. The Bash Street Kids: Space Case
  12. Dennis the Menace and Gnasher: Pink Glove
  13. The Three Bears: Greedy Bears Picnic
  14. Minnie the Minx: Minnie Flying
  15. Dennis the Menace and Gnasher: Big Surprise
  16. The Three Bears: Hare Soup
  17. The Bash Street Kids: Molar Mirth
  18. Gnasher and Gnipper: Gnipper Pecker
  19. Minnie the Minx: Minnie Clones

Voice cast

Credits

Broadcast history

United Kingdom

United States

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References

  1. Kibble-White, Graham (2005). The Ultimate Book of British Comics. Allison & Busby. ISBN   9780749082116 . Retrieved 22 May 2024. On 26 June 1990, the comic celebrated its 2500th issue with Dennis doing a 'twenty-one catty salute!' With children's weeklies finding life increasingly tough, The Beano was adapting to survive. That same year witnessed witnessed the launch of a 'Dennis the Menace' cartoon on the Children's Channel and then, in September 1993, The Beano Video arrived.
  2. 1 2 3 4 McLaughlin, Iain (21 April 2022). The History of the Beano. White Owl. ISBN   9781526777867 . Retrieved 25 May 2024. The Beano characters were also in colour – and in motion – in The Beano Video, which was released in 1993. It was an attempt to take the magic of The Beano and turn it into an animated video. It followed the format of The Beano, being an anthology of short, snappy stories, which brought Dennis and Gnasher, Minnie the Minx, The Bash Street Kids and The Three Bears to life. It was broadcast as a special on CITV and renamed The Beano All-Stars for its DVD re-release. A sequel, with an expanded cast of characters, was released in 1994. While these videos did not challenge the top of the year's best seller charts, they did mark the first time any DC Thomson characters had been animated since Bananaman a decade earlier, and showed that the company was eager to push forward with bringing their characters to life on screen.
  3. 1 2 "David Law". Lambiek Comiclopedia. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
  4. "My Voice Overs". Susan Sheridan. Archived from the original on 10 December 2013. Retrieved 23 May 2024.