wendy house

I left my bear and set-off on the A4 heading to London on the Bath Road.

There were 10 roundabouts in as many miles.  Roundabout overdose.      

What were the town planners thinking of?  

Are multiple roundabouts good for traffic speed and flow?    

Did the planners get a  ’buy one get one free’ deal from the road construction company?

Are these magic roundabouts?   Is this a modern incarnation of circle dancing?

Not recommended for people who grew-up with the English TV series.    Most of the core themes that gave  the TV series  cross-generational appeal have been squished.   For example,   Dougal’s sarcasm and addiction to a white ‘sugar-like’ substance,   Dylan’s narcolepsy, Brian’s ‘Speed’, Ermintrude’s ‘flights’  etc.   Standard good children’s story for  people not familiar with the TV series,  only the graphics and vocal cast are above par

ratings explained

Renamed from the original name “The Magic Roundabout”.   Perhaps the US distributers think that the US English speaking audience have difficulty appreicating film titles with more than one word?   Why not call it ‘The Magic Carousel”?   Are the people responsible for translating UK to US English underestimating the intelligence and imagination of the US audience.    Using the title Doogal,   rather than the orginal character name Dougal is another example of a translation with dubious value.   The IMDB provides a lively discussion on the renaming and recasting of this film.  

Highlights:

• Visual treat: the detailed graphics in the varied spectacular scenes with creative ‘camera’ angles are a real visual treat,  very high quality.
• Super-powered ‘bling-bling‘:   the idea is outstanding,   I want some!
• Lord of the Rings references:   in visuals,   scene structure and explicitly in dialog.
• flatulent moose.  A new character with fairly obvious  accessible appeal to all ages.
• child-friendly goody-bady story:   The classic goody-baddy storyline is fairly easy to follow….  

Lowlights:

• Characters ‘dumbed-down’:   For those familiar with the TV series these characteristis were dumbed-down or simply REMOVED!   Brian doesn’t zoom,  not once!!!!   The ‘Speed’ connection is lost.   Dylan isn’t narcoleptic,   he’s merely ‘sleepy’.   His Narcolepsy could have been used to great comic effect.   Dougal isn’t sarcastic,   worse still he’s  gained a sickeningly soppy overt affection  for Florence.   Dougal does like ‘Candy’,   not specific to the Cocaine-like ‘sugar’. Ermintrude doesn’t fly or have a flower in her mouth.    Ermintrude does like singing, badly. Mr. MacHenry is not there dealing the drugs.  Zebedee is referred to as a ‘Wizard’.   Generally they’ve filtered out many of the extreme characterisations that made the characters outrageously fun for adults.  
• No blue cat.  Dougal’s historical and natural (cat) nemisis did not feature in the storyline.   Why create a totally new baddy rather than leverage and develop the pre-existing characterisation?
• Negative modifications of the female roles:   Florence is not portrayed as the voice of sensible authority.   Florence has a minor role in a frighteningly typical ‘woman as damsel in distress’ format. She’s a victim with not real sense of character beyond loving her dog.   Erminturde is similarly recast as a ‘love object’ that aspires to success in the celebrity world.   If I am to believe the magazines,   aspirations towards celebrity are acceptible for a female. The program producers could easily have built a witty different, legitimate aspirational model for Ermintrude.   They didn’t.   All the action confrontation scenes involve the male characters.   Ermintrude’s contribution to the groups success is through using her voice and dexterity.   Acceptable girly qualities.   Both qualities are the source of humour, ridiculed.
• Voice recasting:       Unfortunately for me the US version has many voices re-cast.   No Tom Baker (Dr. Who),  Robbie Williams (pop star), Joanna Lumley (Absolutely Fabulous), Ray Winston (Sexy Beast), Lee Evans, or  Jim Broadbent.   While these voices are not American most are known to the American audience they are all highly professional recognisable performers.   It’s a sad choice to replace them.    

Note:   This review was written without having seen  the original  UK version.  

P.S. Thankyou to all the wonderful people who turned up at the Panama Hotel tea room yesterday,   such a pleasant suprise,   your company was thoroughly enjoyed and I didn’t have a single Cinderella moment!

Swindon, home of the infamous ‘Magic Roundabout’ also lays claim to the dubious virtue of “Britain’s most dangerous bridge“.

“it was hit by over 130 vehicles in the 1990s alone. That includes one double-decker on 15 October, 1996 which Railtrack deliberately rammed into the structure at 40 mph to publicize the danger of this bridge in particular and low bridges in general”

The site contains an impressive photograph of the double-decker hitting the bridge.

Wendy

I’m about to spend a week driving  in the UK.    I’ll be reading Ben Elton’s “Gridlock” (review from ‘Punch’ 1991).   The book title alone is  personally relevant  given the time I’ll be spending in s ‘Small Car” (Peugeot 205) on infamous roads!

I’ll be driving  on the M25  (nicknamed ‘Road  to Hell), the London North Circular, A4, A40   M4,   M40, M3, M23, M27,   and other lesser known but equally mystical  highways.    I do find British roads fascintating.    There is even a webpage describing infamous bad Motorway junctions!.   Such a thoughtful service to internet enabled drivers.

 The infamous Swindon “magic roundabout” is just one of those life experiences that everyone should have

It is the ultimate ‘traffic calming’ device.   You have no idea where you should be going,   where another confused driver might be coming  from, or who has the right of way.   The ony safe strategy is to drive extremely slowly, keep looking around, and ignore your mobile phone..!

I must confess  my road-geeky-ness inspired me  to read Jack Kerouac’s book.      

I love the description of Ben’s book as a “Comedy Thriller“.   That description applies directly to roads and junctions  like the Magic Roundabout!  

Excerpt from the linked review:

“Gridlock is about that den of capitalist conspiracy, that teeming cesspit of iniquity, that well-known centre of the military-industrial complex, the…er…car industry. Yes, that’s right. Elton has got a bee in his bonnet about motor cars. He doesn’t like their macho image, he doesn’t like their snooty names, and he doesn’t like the carbon monoxide they spew out into the atmosphere. Above all, he doesn’t like traffic jams. Faced with a traffic jam, Elton starts frothing at the mouth with righteous indignation. In Elton’s exaggerated, hyped-up view, traffic jams are responsible for the death of innocent babies. In one scene, for instance, a heart destined for Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital gets held up in a traffic jam and the patient dies.”

When I return I’ll let you know if the actual book lives up to  this generally  rather unencouraging review.   I know the roads so well already they are like old friends

Sleep tight,    Wendy